Update on Pregnancy and Babe: 21 weeks

Here we are at 21 weeks pregnant (sorry - no photos. Let's just say that I was a much cuter and skinnier pregnant lady with my first than my fourth). I'm getting rounder & can't suck all of my belly in. I suppose that's what happens with a 1 lb baby inside plus all the leftovers from the first three.

First things first... we had our extensive ultrasound today and we'd like to announce that:

Hannah, of course, really wanted a girl. She told Grandma, "I am trying to be brave because I am the only girl besides mom." But she shed no tears and thought it was really fun to see the babe on the ultrasound screen. She liked seeing the mouth open/close and the little hand.  She is mostly excited to have a new baby in our family.

Despite thinking a girl would even things out in our fam, we are pleased that our babe was looking quite healthy & right on schedule for his mid-October delivery.

We were not greatly surprised at the gender since Smith's tend to grow mostly boys (I've assured Hannah that they grow wonderful girls though few in number).

Jimmy comes from a family of 9 boys & 3 girls. On the Smith side there are 11 grandsons & 4 grand-daughters. On the Price side we have 9 grandsons & 7 grand-daughters. (did i count right? ... including those expecting).

Even though my boys seem to have oodles of energy and I wonder how I'll keep up with one more energetic tot, I feel like the Lord will bless us with the strength and patience to do and teach all that we need to.

If we had a girl, Hannah wanted to name our baby Nellie (after one of the 3 baby spiders in Charlotte's Web). Abe thinks we should name our baby Pickle (he thinks he's quite hilarious).

So, I suppose Pickle will have to be a suitable nickname until this babe arrives. After that, I'm sure we'll all agree on naming him Almonzo so that his nickname will be Manly (ya know - from Little House on the Prairie). Kidding about the name.

Here's our babe snuggled up to the placenta. Can't imagine that would be very pleasant for him! I love having ultrasounds. It's reassuring to know all the parts are there and it's fun to see the babe move. Life is such a miracle!!

I am feeling pretty well these days save some sinus/spring allergy things & occasional backaches. Jimmy asked if I needed to talk to the doctor about my chronic fatigue. I assured him that pregnancy + keeping up with 3 energetic kids was enough to zap all energy plus some.

My nausea was pretty icky from week 5-12 ... which was early for me. I didn't barfo very often but it sure wiped me out. Jimmy was so great and took over dinner many nights so I could lay down and try to feel better. I can't imagine all the women who are deathly sick or sick their entire pregnancy who still have other children to care for. It would be so hard to function as a family. So I'm grateful the 1st trimester sickness wasn't any worse.

So - HERE WE GO! - heading into the last half of pregnancy with 131 days left. That sounds like so many - especially with the heat of summer striking soon.  I see watermelon, popsicles, feet propped up in my near future.

Here's our babe waving hello to y'all!
We're really excited about another baby boy coming to our family. Max has no idea what's about to take over his life. Abe has decided he is going to be gentle with our cute little brother. Hannah will be a great helper and big sister no matter what.

See ya in 131 days cute baby Smith!