Rest of the story - part 2

If you haven't read "The rest of the story - part 1" scroll down.

Well what do you know? God certainly has a sense of humor. I should have learned by now that you do NOT tell God what YOU want or do not want to do. Less than a month later we were pregnant. I have never followed my cycle much since we got the news in 2004 and especially not since Steve started school and we are hardly are in the same city for more than 12-24 hours at a time 2-3 times a month.

I had NO suspicions until I was already at least 6 weeks pregnant and then I started to wonder. I was in denial putting off getting a home test for 4-5 days. At one point a few weeks before, I thought maye I was PMSing (if that is a word), but alas I was not! I was not even the least bit sick until the day after the home test!

To be perfectly honest and transparent, I was NOT a happy camper at first! I have always and will always be adamently PRO-life and PRO-child. But . . . Those first two weeks, I had to deal with all of the emotions that come with an unplanned, poorly timed (I thought) pregnancy. There are upsides to the timing that I can see now.

Baby will be born when I am 34 1/2. Had the baby been born a year later (after Steve was done with school), the docs would have considered me high-risk soley due to my age. "JMU" is being very sympathetic at this point. He has been told that he will be allowed to set-up up to 3 rotations here in Lynchburg in addition to his research month which can also be done here. That means he could be "working" locally for 4 of his 11 months! They are even giving the students a 10-day break in July!

In case you didn't catch the due date, it is Feb. 22, 2010. I am hoping to take 9 weeks off give or take some. Fortunately, Spring Break is one of those weeks (yet another timing plus). I will have to take 5 of those weeks without pay as I don't have much sick time saved up yet. We both feel for my health and baby's health that I need to take more than 6 wks, but 12 wks doesn't seem wise financially.

Well, I think that wraps things up for now. I continue to feel pretty good - at least compared to the horror stories I have heard. We will be finding out the sex of the baby when possible. There are too many other unknowns for me at this point! Here is list of things that you can specifically be praying for (in no particular order of importance - my pregnancy brain is definitely not that organized):

1. Easy pregnancy (no :) time off before birth)
2. Endurance for Steve (last semester of class)
3. Preparation for Lily
4. Trusting God (financial provision)
5. Healthy baby
6. Rest (I am waking up 2-3 times a night)
7. Endurance for me (start school today)
8. Wisdom
9. Peace
10. People will see and accept and know God's power, love, and provision through us