And we're still okay!

At the beginning of this pregnancy I was already pretty sad about its end - as we figure that this will be our last time having a baby. I wanted to savor every little thing knowing that I will more than likely never be pregnant again (even though we would love to have more children). And, in a lot of ways I still feel that way. Every little baby hiccup and kick is still amazing to me, and there is the thrill of the unknowns (happy unknowns) - will he look like Canaan? Be big or small? Have red hair? What will his personality be like?

We are so blessed to have this little one on his way, and we feel really confident at this point, in huge part because of all the support and answered prayers, that he will come home to us healthy and near/at full term.

But we are also at the point now where we are ready to be done and move onto a hopefully more calm, normal life for a while (albeit one with of course much less sleep and post-baby physical recovery for me).

So far during this pregnancy (between BJ and I) we have had 3 hospital stays (total of 4 stays this year) and have faced/continue to face preterm labor, anemia, kidney stones (this and the recovery after the birth of Canaan are the two most painful things I have ever experienced), hydronephrosis (compression of the tube between my bladdar & kidney causing my right kidney to atrophy), extremely low blood pressure (in the hospital this week I was at 55/34 - they actually brought in another blood pressure machine because they thought theirs must be broken) and BJ's pericarditis (inflammation around the heart).

Yes, it's getting a little ridiculous! :) With all this drama I'm starting to get a little more nervous about the BIRTH (please not in the car, PLEASE not in the car)! I'm just praying things go smooth since we have a pretty bad track record lately! BUT, no matter what, we have a truly amazing and faithful God who, with each challenge, has helped carry us through. It seems like EVERY time I start to feel overwhelmed and unsure there is suddenly a solution out of nowhere - usually in the form of an amazing friend or family member stepping in to show our family love and support. It's easy to keep coming back to how blessed we are!