The Scoop

So...now for the details that many of you have asked for. I think I honestly had myself convinced that I wasn't going to be pregnant for awhile. After pregnancies only 5 and 6 months after the last few babies and now with Ivye going on 8 months I assumed my internal body clock had finally slowed a little. My sister, who has 9 children of her own, has gone from having them every 18 months to now every 3 or so years and I know that siblings that have gone before can be a pretty good indicator of what ones future could possibly hold due to the fact you came from the same 2 people and the genetic makeup does not vary that drastically. So it was that once Ivye reached 7 and 8 months and no pregnancy popped up that I realized I may actually go unpregnant for quite some time. After getting used to that strange and foreign idea I suppose I finally kind of started subconsciously planning around that theory. But, of course, God has very different plans and I had no clue what exactly He had in mind.

I had tested about a week and a half ago knowing that if I was going to show up pregnant this month then I would've gotten a positive about then. It was negative, as all of the tests the last few months have been. I laid the thought of it down after that and never thought twice about it after the fact. But when Brad noticed that I was overly cranky and irritable he gently brought attention to it this past Thursday. We both assumed it was just due to hormonal fluctuations...definitely giving no right at all to be crabby and hard to live with....so just making me aware that I needed to reign it in a little and be more attentive and sensitive to those around me. Friday morning arrived and we set off for a holiday weekend at his parents.


We arrived early Friday afternoon only to have Grayson start running fever...something we have not had to deal with in ages. Due to the fact he has done nothing but outside work mowing our own yard and working a paid job shoveling rocks for a fellow city council member I figured it was a sinus infection due to breathing in tons of colleche dust. By Friday evening he was in so much throat pain that Brad and I set off with Gavin to see what we could find to aid him. While at the store I teasingly asked Brad if he wanted to pick up a pregnancy test since I was having mild heartburn issues. We teased and laughed and I told him it would be futile since it'd just come back negative anyway. I'd already tested and there were no other signs or symptoms to say that we needed to retest. Before leaving he said to go find a test. So, we actually did end up heading home with a bottle of sinus relief, some sort of throat relief and a pregnancy test.

I was in no hurry to take it since I thought...thought being the key word here....that I already knew the answer. And I'd already drunk a ton of water that day so in the small event it would have reason to come back positive it would probably not since everything would be so diluted anyway and the likelihood of any hormones being picked up was slim. I had reached my own conclusion that if I was still having heartburn by the end of the day that'd I'd just test the next morning. So, in typical Nikki fashion, I waited all of 2 hrs. Never in my life have I ever been known for patience and knowing it sat in the bag and knowing it would be negative I felt obligated to go get it over with. So, it was that I took an obligatory bathroom break. Much to my utter dismay I watched the color move across the tiny window and a little pregnant line light right up. I stared at it for awhile and then grabbed the box to verify that it was indeed a positive result. Seconds past and after the initial shock wore off of I wrapped all of the evidence back up, placed it back in the store sack and left no trace of what had just been discovered in a bathroom some 200 miles from home.

Brad was with his dad messing around with music so I went and fetched Evye since she and Grayson have been impatiently waiting for this moment for months now. I took her into our room and pulled my secret out of hiding. She jumped and squealed and was as elated as I thought she would be. She hurriedly went and called Grayson who came in to see what all of the hushed excitement was about. His very Grayson like comment was, "Man...it took forever this time." Yes, Grayson....all 8 months. Evye eventually got Brad's attention and couldn't wait to reveal the news. I tended to Gavin while she took Brad back to have a peek. He came back in grinning from ear to ear with a knowing look as we exchanged glances. He had seen.

With Evye still begging to proclaim to the world the creation of a another new baby I finally allowed her to tell Brad's sister, who was there with her husband and baby also. Brad wanted to hold out and be the one to tell his parents as his ultimate birthday gift but as time went by and the natural chaos of family gatherings kicked in the opportunity never presented itself. We returned home late into the night for him to immediately go on shift this morning so we still have lots of people to tell tomorrow!

Later Friday night after children were bedded down in sleeping bags all across his parents living room floor the two of us snuck out of the house. We walked and talked in the breezy dry west Texas night air for 2 entire hours. Walking, talking, planning, trouble shooting, dreaming and just being in love and in awe over how great our God is and how abundantly blessed we really are.

This pregnancy took a day or two to sink in given the timing of it and the fact I had falsely convinced myself that I would be unpregnant for awhile. As we work on building a business, drawing out plans, submitting paperwork, dealing with builders and the busyness of it all I had come to rely on my seemingly endless amount of energy and the fact that I could accomplish any given number of things within a mere half a day's time. I was feeling very good about the fact that I was not being interrupted by puking episodes or the vast need for sleep that seems to overcome me during the 1st trimester of every pregnancy. And along the lines of accomplishing things and the changes in our lives......our lives have taken a very different turn as God has been faithful to reveal to us the very special plans He has for our family in this new chapter we enter into. Much more on that later, as it is a topic all its own. But for now, our family has taken on several huge undertakings that, to me, seemed better completed without being pregnant while trying to accomplish it all. But I truly know more so now than I ever have in my entire life that His ways are indeed so much higher than my ways and His thoughts are so much higher than my mere mortal thoughts and plans. And He has indeed created this baby for such a time and place as this and as He continues to add to our lives He will give us the grace, strength and mercy to carry out everything else He has called us to.

Sometimes the timing may seem a bit off to me as I sit back and view life through my narrow little window but I have absolutely no doubt that the Lord knows every intimate detail about our life and that we are being blessed with a very successful business, more children and a new direction for our family's life. I am already deeply in love with this tiny little being that grows silently within at this very moment. Our children are already embracing this baby in its watery world as they talk to it, speak to it, love it and convince this baby that it certainly is the most loved, treasured and desired baby in all of the world. I find it absolutely amazing that with each new baby the excitement and anticipation only multiplies. I know I've said it so many times in the last few pregnancies but it never ceases to amaze me that with each new one it seems to get easier, not harder, and that my ability to fall in love all over again and embrace yet another new life is instantaneous.

And for the record, I could place money on the fact it is a boy. Given the fact there is no morning sickness, no signs and no symptoms of even being pregnant at all just screams boy to me. With all 3 girls morning sickness seemed to have started before I even had a chance to test and it lasted well into the 12th and 13th weeks. So far with every boy pregnancy there has been nothing. And now even 18 days into this I am still feeling far from pregnant...which is a very good thing considering everything we still have yet to accomplish. Since we are going with our local midwife this time and no longer making the drives back and forth to Fort Worth for every appt I will not be getting a sonogram. Our local midwife doesn't have sonongrams done unless a justifiable need arises so this will be our first surprise baby ever. In a bittersweet way I will deeply miss our regular trips to Fort Worth and spending entire weekends with Mother and Thomas. But, I am so entirely at peace with delivering our baby here...this time with assistance! No more 95 mph trips through torrential downpours for Brad, no more wondering if it's time for baby, no more hotel nights...though that had to be one of the most fun parts about Ivye's birth, no more uneasiness surrounding the coming of our new baby. Just sheer and utter God given peace and the serenity that goes along with staying here and having a baby. And there is no doubt that trips to Fort Worth can still be arranged since we seem to be up there all the time anyway. This just takes the forced, mandatory part out of it....a very good thing. Oh yes....and no more wicked women racing me to the midwife's little home beating me to the birthing tub.

All of that to say, there will be no ultrasound this time around. I think it's easier to swallow since I am so entirely convinced it's a boy. But, as I have said to others, I am completely up for a surprise. It'd be the shock of a lifetime to have a completely morning sickness free pregnancy and then deliver a sweet baby girl. I think it'd be fun for Ivye to have another sister that close in age too since she is a bit swamped by boys. But I dearly love our many boys and will gladly and proudly parent many, many more. If history is any good indication...which it has proven to be so far....this baby is indeed a boy in every regard and Grayson will have his 6 man team.