Back the mack truck up - you're having *ANOTHER* baby??

::I apologize in advance for the lengthy posts, past, present and likely future. I am going into 'documenting mode' and so it is more for me and the family than to bore everyone to tears. If you bear with me, it'll wane back into daily events that are more pic heavy.::

So some of you may have noticed the floating baby in the womb widget to the side of the blog that was added months ago, and while it may have sparked some curiosity, I did not blog about the most obvious and biggest news we are anticipating.

Yes, we are expecting a new addition!

We found out mid December and couldn't be happier. The kids had actually long since put in their request for a new sibling - *ALWAYS* refreshing to our ears to know that while they have the normal squabbles that all siblings have, they still love welcoming a new baby brother or sister to the family. I was initially concerned that Ashley's reaction might be less than welcoming, as I would have reasonably expected. I think back to myself at that age and the thought of reacting less than favorably to a new addition would not have been out of the realm of possibility for me. I also coupled that cringing feeling with the infamous story that has been told by my in-laws getting pregnant with #5 and the reaction of all the other kids. Neil was the only one to be overjoyed with the idea of welcoming a new sibling, and even offered to share his bed with the new baby. This story was particularly on my mind since I had just put Neil's birthday book together and that was the story my MIL {mother-in-law} submitted.

BUT we were pleasantly surprised that the kids were all excited!

SHEW!

Now, I should also to point out that our last pregnancy {with Drew} ended in the most spectacular of fashions. He decided he would have none of being plain old #4 and as a result was born in our car. I won't bore you with the details of *that* story, but you can read it by clicking here.

So, you'd better believe my first phone call come Monday morning was to the birthing center, where I joked with the midwife that yes, despite having given birth in the car the last time, we went back to that well. Fortunately, one midwife felt bad about what happened last time and that she "owed us one". We will be exploring avenues not traditionally taken for a birthing center in order to avoid a potential birthing catastrophe. It's a fun story to tell people, but honestly it is enough to jangle nerves because we are exceedingly blessed that nothing bad happened to Drew. We want to take all the necessary precautions to make sure our newest bundle will arrive in the safest possible scenario, sans EMS on standby.

So, that is how our December kicked off. We found out we were pregnant and days later we celebrated Neil's birthday, followed by Christmas and New Year's, which I plan to document soon. Soon after those holidays, I went into what I not-so-affectionally call the "mack truck phase". Those of you who are veteran mommies will totally understand what I mean. The nausea kicked in full blown about six weeks sooner than normal, as well as the fatigue. The nausea left almost as quickly as it arrived, but the fatigue has hung around like unwelcome guests and three-day-old fish. Even now, it is almost a day-by-day condition that I need to monitor carefully. The fatigue has been exacerbated by my recently diagnosed condition, hypoglycemia.

So, the challenges have been there, but I work to move past them each day and do the best with what energy I *do* have. As of today, I am 25 weeks and our due date is August 21, although I fully expect this new little one to arrive more than a week early. :)