The most glorious sound in the world/How Baby Rendall Came to Be Part 2

I went to my midwife today for another baby check up. I got an order for a sonogram!!! By next Friday the 14th, we'll know if Baby is a she or he! Below is a recording of baby's heartbeat with a picture of a typical 19 week baby (which looks pretty uncomfortable, btw, don't you think?), the most beautiful sound ever! Towards the end it sounds like there's an echo because the Doppler is picking up the heartbeat from the baby AND umbilical cord:

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How Baby Rendall Came to Be: Part 2

Then came 2012. For our New Year’s Resolutions, in additions to a long list of books to read, we had a few goals, like decide when to have kids and really thinking about our next 5 years. This really opened the door for lots of conversation and especially prayer. 

In fact, having kids was on my heart so frequently, I made it part of my Lenten intentions (I don’t think Chris knew this though). I fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays and went to Church 3 times a week for Lent and my fasting/Mass/special prayer intentions was that I would completely give me heart to God so that he would show me exactly how He wanted us to live and when He wanted us to start a family (meaning kids, job, moving, etc). All through Lent, I knew my heart was softening and I really began to get excited about having kids, sooner rather than later. 

Ironic Life Moment #2: I was on the phone with my friend, Cari, and we were talking about this having kids issue. We talked about it a lot. Cari is a good listener and I always appreciate her feedback and I loved that she was so excited about the thought of Chris and me starting a family. I told her this specifically: “Cari, I’m just not good with gentle-nudgings from God. I don’t get them. Or maybe I just ignore them. I seriously need a big, slap me in the face sign.” Hahahahahahahaha OH BOY did I get it. 

Important Life Moment #2, AKA the Big Slap in the Face: Chris was called, out of the blue, sometime in late March or early April, by a company called PCDWorks. They’re a small family owned design engineering firm, basically a think-tank….every engineers’ dream. Was Chris even looking for a new job? Nope. Well, they liked him, and they wanted to hire him. Here’s the funny part. The job is near Palestine, TX. We would have to move. If we move, I would not be able to teach at West Mesquite. Gosh. New job. Have to move. Rachel won’t be able to teach the same job. DUH!!!! Move and start a family!!!!!! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

We literally felt like we had God’s blessing to start our family, but something still held me up. I was going to be a bridesmaid in my friend Kristin’s wedding in late July. If I got pregnant in April, I would 1. Have a Christmas baby, but didn’t like the idea of competing with Jesus (LOL) and 2. HOW WOULD I FIT INTO MY BRIDESMAID DRESS?!?!?!?!?! Any guys who are reading this can absolutely say that I’m insane, but ladies, I know these same cray-cray thoughts go through your heads. May seemed like fair game though. So, now I’m pregnant. I’m not ashamed to say that NFP rocks. ;-)

The next question would be: when did you know you were pregnant? 7 days later. No, no, a pregnancy test would not confirm it at this point, way too early, but using NFP, I was acutely in tune to my body and something was off. My basal temperature that weekend was higher than normal and I was SO FREAKING TIRED! I took two 3 hour naps two days in a row and was like a zombie. Plus it was Mother’s Day weekend and I couldn’t stop thinking how COOL it would be if I was actually a Mother already. Just in case, Chris and I went out to eat to celebrate Mother’s Day. I also took a pregnancy test that day (too bad no tests can tell you if you’re pregnant 7 days before your missed period…) but it was of course negative. Thus started the waiting game and the longest week ever. 

I took another on Tuesday and there was kind of almost a second line but I thought I was imagining it, so I was sad. I didn’t even tell Chris about that one. 

Then on Friday I was driving to Palestine to look at houses near Tyler with Chris. Cari and I love to play “leave a billion 4 minute long voicemails to simulate having a real phone conversation” in between our actual phone calls, so I think I left her like 5 that day while I was getting gas, and most were about thinking I was pregnant but wanting to wait until a prego test could actually confirm. Well. I was impatient. So I stopped at the next CVS and bought 2 more tests (those, I got for free, after using the mail-in rebate hehehehe). I got to the house where Chris was staying for his job during the week and had to pee, so without even telling Chris, I went to the bathroom and tore one of those bad boys open. Instantly I saw the fateful 2 lines that meant I was pregnant and I showed Chris. We freaked out. We knew we were supposed to wait 2 minutes, so we walked around the deck and got a Coke Zero…because yes…we thought somehow the second line might disappear….amateurs…LOL. We got back and SURPRISE both lines were still there. We knew it!!! We were parents!!!!

It’s so easy to see now that all along, God had planted little mustard seeds in our hearts about all these things….marriage…NFP…our future family. With the right amount of water, the seeds blossomed. And now, we even have a little mustard seed of our own to start growing outside the womb in January 2013.