BABY #4!!!! (12 WEEKS)

So... one of the reasons why I have been slacking so much lately is because I have been really sick... because I'm pregnant again! I started feeling really tired, and then sick, in the beginning of July, so I didn't have much time to unpack and get settled in before I became pretty useless. We also didn't have health insurance, as luck would have it, and when we finally did have insurance, I couldn't set up a doctor's appointment any sooner than 2 weeks out. So I basically trudged through the first trimester (by far the worst part for me as far as my constant morning sickness goes) without any medicine! It was very difficult, especially with 2 little kids! At least Shade is able to walk home from the bus stop by himself so I don't have to haul all the kids around every day. And Kellen has been nice enough to help him get to the bus stop in the mornings when it is dark.

Shade is pretty excited! It is hard to say how much Olive understands. I tell her I am sick and that is why I am laying on the couch all day, every day. So anytime she feels "sick" (either tired or hungry), she will often lay down on the couch too. And sometimes she will ask for food to make her "feel better." It's pretty cute :) But anytime she asks if I'm sick (because I'm puking in the sink or laying on the couch), she will usually come and give me hugs and kisses or cuddles and then asks "you feel better?" She is such a sweetheart! The thing is, whenever I tell her I have a baby in my belly, she will stick her belly out and say "I have a baby in my belly too!" So, again, I don't know how much she understands :) And of course, Eli has no idea what is going on.

I gotta say, it is weird this time around. I feel like I barely got time to recover from having Eli, and I'm pregnant again. It took almost 3 years to get pregnant with both Shade and Olive, and a couple of months with Eli (after a year of trying not to get pregnant). This time, I didn't even realize I was pregnant until I started getting nauseated all the time... which means I have no idea when I got pregnant. So they did an initial ultra sound to get a due date - May 9th (something I wish they would have just done with all my pregnancies). Which means Eli was around 6 months old when I got pregnant... These last 3 kids will definitely be close in age! I guess this baby really wanted to get down here!

But another thing, I am really nervous about how my body will handle this one. Having had Eli the way it ended (with him being so big due to having to keep him in an extra 2 weeks), with not much time to recover, I have some stomach muscle issues. And of course I'll have to have another C-Section. And then, since I get so sick (and tired) during my entire pregnancies, I have a hard time taking care of myself - let alone my kids and my house. I seem to get worse dental problems, diabetes, vision, protein and calcium deficiencies, etc, etc, every time. Hopefully this is all in my head and everything will go back to normal after the birth...!