Even with all this pink we are still TEAM BLUE!

7 weeks, 15 weeks, 21 weeks and 24 weeks...evidently the color of your maternity clothes does not help predict the gender of the baby...or maybe I should have just chose Purple...it worked the first time!

Well, even though at 10 weeks along we tried out the very cool intelligender test...which tests your urine for the gender of your baby...and the results came in G.I.R.L....but the reviews were sketchy and so it was more of a "just for fun" test. But still, very encouraging....as skeptical as I tried to be!

I don't know HOW I forgot how foggy and unclear everyone's ultrasound pictures always were when I'd see them...compared to the amazing technology that my previous OB's machine's had....but alas, I got excited and payed attention to the pricing plans compared to the number of visits allotted, I scheduled with a friend at a local "ultrasound studio" and ended up a little disappointed with the quality of our first 3 visits....the forth visit ended up producing decent results, thankfully!

Our first visit was an early one, just for a peek at our little bean. We went in at 8 weeks and saw the beating heart and a bouncing little bean of a baby.

I spent all of the early pregnancy playing the baby GIRL name game. I chatted with a couple of my online friends...since Eric wouldn't indulge me much until we knew the gender for sure. I figured I could at least enjoy playing it while it lasted. Oh what fun I had playing "NO BOYS ALLOWED"!

So Eric and I showed up for our 17 week ultrasound..which I ended up being only a 16 weeks along, I suppose I got a little ahead of myself...Well, that didn't seem to matter because our proud little bean showed HIS stuff off nice and clear...I did a pretty good job holding it together, but with every reassurance from my sweetie who was trying so hard to comfort me, I found myself getting weaker and weaker and finally burst into tears when the tech left the room for a phone call. When she returned, I could not pull it together and dry it up no matter how hard I tried...and she so sweetly reminded me that this early the parts can be rather swollen, and we'd need to double check next time we came around. Yea, I've seen boy parts 4 times before, and what we saw was pretty clear. Our FIFTH BOY was on his way!

The ride home was awful, Eric in all his proud papa-ness...couldn't wait to share the news and was just BEAMING...while I tried to muffle my tears and not steal away his joy while he made the calls (which I failed miserably at). I was so angry at myself for feeling SO disappointed. Trying to figure out how I could turn it all off and go announce the great news to my mom who stayed home with the kids....just made it all the worse! We sat in the driveway for a while and I Eric even offered to take ME out for ice cream (I had threatened that I would need it, besides, it had worked for Libby last time around...but I didn't even want any; Not even my favorite Braum's single dip, brownie, hot fudge sundae with nuts and no cherry!

Then I had to get the courage up to face the embarrassment of knowing there's no way to cover up the bawling your eyes out look on my face and come in with a smile and cheerfully announce the news to my mom...and after that I had to face telling LIBBY! I knew she was probably even more hopeful for a sister! She, by the way, took the news so much better than mama...she just threw her head back and said "oh! another one!" (or something to that effect, I am after all a mommy of 5 with preggo brain, trying to recall the exact phrase said over 17 weeks ago...but I"m pretty sure that was it) We didn't even have to take her out for ice cream, what a trooper.

Well, so the name game began...and I don't think I could fathom the enormity of the list of names we would be vetoing...I think I could write a book about it! We have been at it for 17 weeks and the only name we have for this baby is ....Johnson.

I never understood not having a name picked out in stone when the baby arrived, or waiting to see the baby to give them a name...well, looks like I may be getting a lesson on it. I've resolved it might just be they way it is going to happen for this little baby boy. I'm thankful for a homebirth knowing that we won't be pressured to pick a name during a short 2 day hospital stay. At this point I'm just hoping that we can figure it out before the beginning of 2011!

Well, our 33 week ultrasound we were joined by the family...the kids, my mom and dad, Jeanette, Regina and the girls all piled into the ultrasound room. It was verified for the 3rd time that there were, indeed, boy parts. I do admit that I started to think that just maybe the first 2 ultrasounds were wrong since we were having such a hard time with this baby naming stuff. I almost convinced myself that just maybe it was a girl and that was why we just couldn't decide. Oh well, so much for a mama's intuition, when it comes to baby's gender, evidently I have NONE! We did, get some great pictures though! He already has chubby little cheeks and had fun playing with his foot and showing off his thumb sucking skills, what a cutie!




Just this week, I finally wrote in to a baby name blog to get some brainstorming help...thinking, that just maybe with a gathering of baby naming enthusiasts they could possibly come up with a list of ideas that I hadn't thought of. Well...so far, no luck...not even anything worth mentioning! At the top of the bad name ideas...was Benedict and Geoffrey, how ironic! It was even the same person who mentioned both names, in 2 different comments! In my response I made sure to include Robert and Gregory as other related names that would be vetoed on the account of my ex-husband. So much for that great idea!

So here we are, 33 weeks pregnant with a giant "are you ready to pop yet" belly to show for it, enjoying the most comfortable pregnancy yet, thank you to seeing our new chiropractor 3 times a week for the past 10 weeks. I can still stand up and get dressed and sleep comfortably...even if changing position is a bit of a struggle, either way, both instances are an amazing feat this far along in a 6th pregnancy...but I expect to enjoy it to the end!

Well, its that time of the year again...I'm PREGNANT!

For the third consecutive year in a row we will be adding a new addition to our family! It worked out that we have had a baby born each year: Jan 2008, April 2009 and our newest addition due mid December 2010. Even though the babies will still be rather close in age, it feels like its been a while since I was pregnant last. Clayt is still nursing and I plan to continue until he's ready to wean. My cycles were a little different this time around. They did not start back up as early and then when I have had them they have been 5- 15 days longer than normal. I wasn't really sure what was going on, so we tested weekly after day 28 until my period would show up. We kinda got into the routine of just "ruling out" pregnancy with the tests rather than being super hopeful each time. So this last test taking time...I saw Eric do a double take just after he'd dropped in the sample...and heard a WOW...the unbelief sort of Wow, if you know what I mean. The test line showed up at the same time as the control line and was darker than the control, no waiting and no doubts about it! It took us both a little by surprise, but it is the best surprise EVER!

We got a little more technical with telling the kids this time around and had them do a little "science" experiment. We had to go over the details really quick since Aunt Sara was on her way up to the door and we wanted the kids to find out first. So I quickly explained that the test was checking the fluid for a certain hormone. We talked about what the control line and the test line meant and that is why there was a C and a T printed on the tester. Parker dropped 5 drops into the "well" and seconds later both lines showed up. I asked them what they thought it meant. Libby started grinning and jumping up and down, Perry, started nodding his head and said "I know what that means" in a grown up understanding tone....Parker...we'll he didn't have a clue, lol, so Libby said, we're having a baby! Just as all this was going on Sara walked through the door and peeked on the table and figured out the news on her own ;)

We made a few phone calls and then updated everyone else on Facebook, I'd been waiting ALL DAY to break the news! We've had such a positive and encouraging response, which is nice to hear!

Erica says: there's gonna be another Johnson around December 2010....hopefully a female version!

Eric says: Whelp, Shwew! Looks like the Johnson's are taking over the world, ERICA'S PREGNANT AGAIN!

Week 9

Well, the weeks are coming and going without a whole lot going on. The nausea has eased up and is non-existant as long as I'm eating regularly. Sometimes I find that I get busy and put off eating too long and I start feeling icky from it, but that's not all to often. I'm still pretty tired, but I think I just have quite a load during the day caring for a 4month old from 6:15-5:15, plus nursing and careing for Corban and the rest of the crew . I'm ready for bed at 9:00, but I'm not sure I'm getting enough sleep at night with Corban getting up 1-2 times a night. The kids got back from a 5 week stay in Montana last week. We are still adjusting into our new routine and getting school done. We gave each of the kids a guess as to what the new surprise was. Perry guessed that I got a new cell phone...which he had just seen in the other room. It was true, but it wasn't the surprise. Parker or Libby guessed a new house, since we gave them a hint, that you couldn't go "buy one" at a store. I thought that was a pretty good guess. After Perry thought about it a few more minutes he guessed it right. They were all very excited.

I had my first OB appointment scheduled for last week but we got a call just in the nick of time that the Doc had to leave for a delivery. I was so thankful that I hadn't loaded all 5 kids up in the car. Though, the diaper bags were ready to go, Kendall was buckled up in her carseat and we were heading out the door in just a minute! We rescheduled it for Tuesday the 23rd, my special day. So I guess I will soon have a new update...since this one is so late!

I'm still struggling getting my water intake up. I've stalled out at about 50 ounces each day while my goal is 75. I do drink other things...usually a couple glasses of milk, sometimes some OJ, so I know those also count, but I still like having at least half my body weight in ounces of WATER.

We are getting the cupboards ready for a Daniel fast that starts on Thursday and goes till Thursday evening. The kids and I will be doing it a little modified, by keeping a few servings of calcium (milk) in there and I will continue with my prenatal vitamins. This is such a great way to help me jump start my eating habits in to more healthy choices. I am doing better each year, though I type this as I sit here munching on a sack full of chemically treated honey, mustard and onion pretzel pieces!

Week 7...Exhaustion sets in

Well, we rounded the corner to week 7 on Thursday. My baby ticker says that the baby is the size of a grain of rice. Wednesday we had dinner and I didn't even make it through watching service online before I zonked out. Eric and were in bed by 8:30, and yesterday didn't get any better. I was in bed by 8:00. I remember getting tired like this with my pregnancy with Corban, I hope I can get past it quickly. I have felt better today, and not needing to eat every 15 minutes. It's kinda hard to think of something (good for me) to eat that often. I usually end up snacking on blueberries, sugar snap peas or baby carrots throughout the day to get me by. I want to make sure I'm eating enough, since I'm eating for 3 (baby, Corban and myself) I called the Lactation Consultant and she said to try giving Corban some extra solids, and rice cereal right before bedtime. We will see how that goes this weekend.

Preblogger info...

Well, I am starting this blog 3 weeks after I found out I was pregnant....a lot of details can happen in 3 weeks so I am posting all of that here....this could get long!

August 11th Cycle day 28, we tested with a Reasor's Generic brand EPT. You are supposed to be able to test 4 days early, and I have always tested early and got a postive. My last pregnancy tested positive 10 days past ovulation. Well it was a BFN...(Big Fat Negative) we checked the result just after a few minutes had past and decided that this test was also "broken" (our little joke) like all the others we have used since we started our TTC journey back on April 10th, 2007.

August 15th- CD 32. We decided to test again. We woke up for the day around 6am and tested first thing. Even Corban was in there with us. Our little method is that Eric is the one who gets to announce what the test says. I peeked at the test just after we laid it down on the counter (you know, to make sure it was starting to work, and the 2 lines were already showing!) I told Eric he better take a peek! We finally got our BFP (that's a Big Fat Positive). We used our other Reasor's Generic brand EPT. Now I'm wondering, maybe I should have checked that test that we took on Monday again..after a few more minutes. I'm really curious if it ended up being positive! Oh well we will never know now! I do think that I ovulated a little late, and figured it must have been around the 1st of August. So, I figured my due date by that date and the calculator said I was due April 24th. I went back and took a peek at my pregnancy journal from Corban and we also tested on the 15th and got our positive. If this baby comes on his or her due date they will be exactly 15 months apart. Baby will have a baby girl cousin that is 6 months older too! We have been praying for a brother for Corban, but girls are really fun too!

We found out I am 4 weeks 1 day pregnant today! I announced it to my Christian Sisters first.

Copied from my post....
I've had some headaches and tiredness this week but I thought it was because I started fasting. (eating only healthy stuff...fruits and vegies, nuts, beans for breakfast and lunch, then a regular dinner. I'm going to do this while the kids are gone. I eat much healthier this way. Hopefully I can loose some of this baby fat before I start gaining more. I'm about 2.5 lbs heavier than I was when I found out I was preggo with Corban...but I was 15lbs overweight then. So, I could use some fitness...though I know to not over do it.
I am planning on continuing to Breastfeed Corban till he is 1 year old.

I've got to talk to Eric first, but I think I"ll be calling the midwife this afternoon and seeing how she does everything and decide if I want to start off going to the OBGYN or just use the midwife the whole time. ....end of post.

I called the midwife and set up an appointment. But ended up calling her a week or so later letting her know that we had some major bills come in and since insurance paying for a homebirth is somewhat shakey grounds, that we were going to go with the OB until January. Which I thought the way my dates worked out ended up being perfect. We can have the OB bill us for the first 23 weeks of care before the year is up and only pay 10%, then in January 2nd I will be 24 weeks, which is the cut off to switch to the MW. Gods timing is always perfect! My first OB appoinment is the 18th of September. We will get to see if there is one or two in there, which is always my first curiosity.

We told some people by phone, My mom came over and Corban wore his "I'm going to be a big brother bib" We also had him wear it to a party we went to for some friends from church, and he wore it at church on Sunday. We had to tell nearly everyone to read his bib, but the few that read it on there own, it was so fun seeing the "lightbulb moment" go off in their heads.

Week 5: Don't really feel pregnant at all. But I know that I am! I lost some weight down to 133.
Doing really well on my eating during the day. Cutting out all the junk sure makes a difference!


Week 6: Well, starting about midweek some pregnancy symptoms showed up. I feel hungry all the time and but I don't really feel like eating and if I don't eat something I start feeling nauseated. Weight fluctuates between 132-134. We are waiting until the kids get home to tell them, still havn't decided exactly what we will do.