Time to Catch Up!

Baby Blues... or Pinks
Wanna know where I've been for the past month? Clearly it has not been in front of the computer blogging. B-E-D. That is where I have been. Oh, baby, have I been sick. Oh. My. Goodness. This pregnancy has been so physically challenging. Alright, so my friends who have had multiples are probably laughing hysterically at me right now and calling me all kinds of wussy names (sorry, Stef, I'm weak), but this has definitely been the most difficult pregnancy I have had. I have felt like warmed up poop most days and on days when I feel "better", I felt like luke-warm poop. The only thing that keeps me from reaching for the nearest vomit receptacle is laying horizontal. So horizontal I have been. My poor children have had to clothe themselves, get their own snacks, entertain themselves, etc. I literally cannot get out of bed without waves of nausea consuming me. Okay, I'm done with the complaining.... for now. =)

Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment and got the news that the baby's heart rate was only 130. Last time it was 154. The old wives tale says that anything under 150 is a boy and above 150 is probably a girl. My boys' heart rates were always in the low to mid 130s, so I was pretty disapponted. I was also informed that now I have to wait until 20 weeks to find out the gender when initially she told me I could find out at 18 which only added to my disappointment.

Fortunately, I have wonderful friends who encouraged me on Facebook and I felt a wee bit better by the end of the day. However, after all that disappointment, James decided that it would be a good idea for me to go ahead and take the Intelligender Test after all.
If you're not familiar with the test, it is basically a home urine test that has shown to be over 90% accurate in their clinical trials and 82% accurate in real world trials in determining the sex of the baby. Initially, I had decided not to take it because of the margin of error. I was afraid to get my hopes up. But after yesterday, I didn't figure there was much harm. According to the website, when false readings were given, they almost always indicated "boy" when the baby was actually a "girl". Apparently, it's difficult for the test to give you a "girl" reading unless you are actually having a girl. So this morning I took the test. The liquid turns green to brownish-green for a boy and yellow to dark orange for a girl. And my results:

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The darker color on the bottom are the crystals that did not completely dissolve, which is normal.

So.... suffice it to say that while I will not be making any emotional investments based on this result, it does give me hope that Bubba is, in fact, Bubbette. Please keep praying for me. I cannot emphasize to you enough how important this is to me. It's all I've ever wanted for as long as I can remember. During my other pregnancies, I prayed for a healthy baby. Apparently, I needed to be a bit more specific for God, so this time I am praying for a healthy baby GIRL.

John's "Meet the Teacher" Day
Yesterday, John went to meet his new first-grade teacher. He starts school on Monday. Since this is another new school, he was a little apprehensive, but he ended up really liking his new teacher. She was very sweet and John seemed to take to her. He liked his classroom and was proud of his new desk. Here are a few pictures...









Matt's Four Year Portraits
Last week, I took Matthew to get his four-year-old portraits done at Portrait Innovations (my favorite studio) and he did a great job! He looked so handsome and grown-up to me. One of the things I love about Portrait Innovations is that they take at least 60 poses and then they give you a CD of all the poses they take, not just the ones you purchase. Here is a sampling of Matt's photo shoot. Isn't he adorable?!?