Pregnant. Again.

Oh. My. Goodness. It's funny...when I was pregnant w/ Sam, I had the "first blog entry" saved as a draft until a "safe" date to announce. When you're already chasing around 2 toddlers, you don't have a "saved draft." You sometimes forget to take your prenatal vitamin and wonder if you even had any water for the day. :)

This is...well, unexpected. I joke w/ Jason that lately I barely fold his underwear and we're pregnant. Since I have NEVER had regular cycles (if any) and have PCOS and am considered "anovulatory" (don't ovulate), after years of trying, we finally went to a fertility specialist. She pretty much said I had a 15-30% chance of ever conceiving, and it'd be with fertility drugs that WOULD make me ovulate.

Hmmmm....well, I had one cycle after Sam. Pregnant 10 months later. One cycle after Mary. Pregnant again. I'm sorry, people. This seems like a miraculous conception to me. :)

So...3 kids under 3. You do the math. It may be years again where I actually eat a meal without cutting up small bites for the little people at the table. Or don't have my hands caked in Desitin. But you know what? I prayed for a baby. Even just one. And for some reason God has blessed me with two beautiful, healthy children and now one on the way (due July 20th). I also get early ultrasounds b/c the doctors never know when I ovulated. So I've had two ultrasounds, have seen the baby's heartbeat. And I got to HEAR it last week at my first OB appointment. My doctor just laughed. I feel like I should get a punch card there. :) Is my 3rd visit free?

Also, many of you may be concerned about my back. At my 3-month follow-up from surgery, I couldn't even have an x-ray done. My surgeon also laughed and just said, "We've been busy, have we?" How embarrassing. :) Well, I'm thankful I had the disc replacement surgery. I can tell I've gotten quite a bit of feeling and strength back in both legs. And yes, I'm still stiff and have nerve pain. Since I had a disc replacement (and not a fusion) I still have motion there. (Fusions eliminate mobility and cause stress on the adjacent vertebrae, probably resulting in future fusions.) SO when I move once in awhile, I'll have pain b/c there's scar tissue that gets irritated. So if it's the bottom of my foot, I can say, "Oh, that's my S-1 scar tissue." Weird how much you can be educated on an issue after dealing with it for awhile! :) But walking and ice and Tylenol has helped immensely. The surgeon was glad I had the surgery BEFORE pregnancy (in fact recommended it if I did want any more kids). He just said to keep my abs strengthened and watch weight gain. No pressure. :) More steamed veggies, please?

This pregnancy is just ALOT sooner than expected. But again, we're excited. It will be crazy going from a family of 2 to a family of 5 in just a few short years. Please pray for a safe and healthy pregnancy for both baby and me. :) Oh, now off to mini-van shopping...