A day in the life of 11 weeks pregnant with 4th child!

Thankfully I am still wearing my clothes but I would be lying if I said they "fit". You will not see ANY pictures of me on this blog until I have a baby belly. Now if I were teeny tiny and only had a little pooch that looked like a cantaloupe, then maybe. But let's just say the belly is not the only place my body gains weight! I have two new sets of friends that I don't particularly care for. I will spare you the details! So even though you are asking me to post pictures, I am saying NO for now. I will not show a bloated distended bowel belly, or a water retaining belly, but I will show you a real baby belly (maybe a few weeks).

My pride is causing me a little bit of pain. I am not, no matter how many other pregnant moms of their 4th and up are, wear a single piece of maternity clothing until I am in the second trimester (This means I will wear them at 12 weeks and 1 day). NOT GONNA DO IT! Thankfully I have lots of Summer dresses and elastic waist skirts and one pair of shorts I can still wear (with them unbuttoned of course) and no one knows. Now if you saw me during the day in my yoga pants and tank tops you would think one or two things. I can hear your whispers now!

A. What happened to that girl who ran marathons? She must have injured herself and can't run cause DANG!

                                                                          OR

B. Do you think maybe she is pregnant?

Right now I gotta be honest. The gaining weight thing is hard for me. It was not hard the other three times but I must say that after a year of running almost 1,000 miles, two marathons and my smallest adult size ever, it is hard. As vein as it must sound to some of you, I am sorry. It's CRAZY to see my body change so fast. And when all of my Mom friends of large families say "You show quicker with your 4th!" They ain't lyin'! Lord have mercy! My friend Minnie, who by the way says WHATEVER comes to her mind, said something that I feel explains it best. "Girl, of course you are showing! That uterus has graffiti all up in there and it knows what to do! It says Josiah was here, Ava Beth was here, Ezekiel been here! Girl, it's a trained machine!"  This is why I love Minnie. She really doesn't care what you think about what she says and she "rocks my face off." (another Minnie quote)

It's a funny thing. After Ezekiel I did not think I was going to have anymore babies. In fact, while I was training for the Austin Marathon I was about to call and set up a doctor's appointment for Jeremy (if you know what I mean). He was ready! I was too! The thought of being pregnant absolutely horrified me. Now I am shocked by my way of thinking back then. I can't remember what exactly stopped me from calling a well-known Doctor in the Austin area to make Jeremy's appointment. Would you believe the Doctor's name was Richard Chop? I DO NOT lie. Google him! And worse, he does not go by Richard but the knick name for Richard. Need I say more? Regardless, we never made the appointment and now I know why and I see God's hand in all of it. He knew my heart would change and I would desire a 4th. He is the one who gave me the desire. He knew Jeremy would cave and despite his fear of the unknowns, trust God. As soon as Jeremy said He would trust the Lord with His plan, not ours, we were instantly pregnant. 

I do not own ONE SINGLE PIECE of maternity wear. I sold ALL of our baby stuff on craigslist and I do not have ANY baby clothes because I gave them all away. But I know God will provide and it will all come together. Even though the weight gain is hard and homeschooling three kids while being extremely tired or sick is tougher than ANY marathon I ran, it is all worth it. I am one of those women who LOVES being pregnant. I LOVE IT! I love my belly, I love even the sickness because it reminds me of the miraculous thing taking place in my body. 

For fun I thought I would share with you how my morning sickness tends to strike and what things I am eating.

Brushing my teeth is the worst possible thing ever! But of course I still do it! I was on the phone with my friend Kim and told her I was going to listen to her talk and I would brush my teeth and try to be distracted because I usually cannot do it without a few dry heaves. 

Food is tricky, tricky, tricky. I sometimes dry heave WHILE I am eating. I can sometimes open my mouth too wide and need to dry heave (I have a big mouth so this happens a lot). The garage has a smell I cannot handle so I do not go in there. I can't stand the smell of our cedar trees in the back yard. I can't stand dog food smell! UGH!!!!!!  Raw meat of any kind requires a phenagrin before preparing. I made homemade pizzas over the weekend and now  I can't stand the thought of eating pizza. I rarely want anything twice except for cereal. Usually whatever we have to eat in the house DOES NOT sound good at all. I never, never, never eat what I made for dinner. For lunch today I had rice and spinach. Not together but separate. Then around 3pm I was famished and made a fried egg sandwich. Every single night between 8-9pm I eat cereal. I did this when I was running 30 miles a week. Cereal has always been my 4th meal of the day! Love it! What kind? It must be Grape Nuts with a spoon full of sugar sprinkled on top and ICE COLD milk. Then I can sleep.

And something kind of silly but I can't hold a conversation! I am so distracted and I don't want to talk about anything serious if I don't have to. I know sounds weird but I just get too emotional. :)

So there you have it! I have not talked much about my pregnancy but wanted to let you know what's been going on with the pregnant woman! Oh and "Minute to Win It" makes me cry. I cry every single time someone wins a level. 

I'm almost to my second trimester! Yeah! My Doctor made me promise I would go get my H1N1 shot before I saw him next. Thankfully pregnant women are top of the list for the shot so Friday I get a shot. Not looking forward to it but glad I have a Doctor who makes sure I am healthy! 

Thanks for tuning in to my "crazy talk" and I now feel like I am about to throw up. No lie! It's been a crazy, emotional and gut wrenching week with the wonderful trials life brings but wanted to stop and think on the amazing things God is doing. Must be why I am being picked on so much by the world's worst "picker"! And I think he specializes in "pregnant women" because everyone knows how "crazy" we can be! :)

11 weeks down and loving every bit of it! Even when the emotions are flaring and the butt is expanding, I will take it!