If you could choose one way or another...

So, would you rather have a pregnancy that felt like 6 months or 12? Assuming both end with a healthy baby, I'd recommend the former.

You might remember that my last pregnancy ended in a dramatic, unappealing way - thankfully with a healthy teeny tiny baby. The nice thing about that pregnancy was the length. It seemed so short & went rather quickly. Having a 2 year old and 4 year old made my days too busy to watch the calendar, but the real reason it was so short was that I didn't find out I was pregnant until I was two months along and then delivered 3 weeks early. It had been a very busy summer and my sister and her family were here visiting from Connecticut, so I wasn't keeping track of things. I won't give you details about what made me realize I might be pregnant.

When I went for my first check up, I thought I was 8 weeks along. Turned out I was 12 weeks along. That was a nice surprise! Ironically, the day before I found out I was expecting, I had been telling a dear friend (as I was holding her brand new baby) that I thought my two girls might be plenty. As we know, someone else is in charge and knows better what we need!

Fast-forward to the summer of 2009. Since the evening of August 16, 2009, I have known beyond question that I was going to have another child. After Lydia, we were pretty sure we were done having kids. It was such a traumatic experience, and I don't really want to die young, so we both agreed that we were fine with our three girls. Again, someone else knows better what we need and knows the plan from start to finish. I later found out that, forsome time, Tim had been feeling like there was another baby that needed to come. He hadn't told me because he felt he couldn't ask me to put my life on the line again. He had been praying that I would come to the conclusion on my own. It came in a profound, undeniable way that is too sacred to share here.

With faith that the assurances I received meant everything would work out ok, Tim & I agreed that we would try for one more.

We reinstated our AFLAC policy, which has a great maternity benefit and figured out when the maternity waiting period would be satisfied, and then- you know.

We are very blessed that fertility has never been a struggle for us. You might say 'the first time was the charm' on this one. I have known basically from conception that I was pregnant. That was in November. Add the time of fear and anticipation from August, count ahead to my Aug 2 due date, do some fancy math, and there you have a 12 month (mentally) pregnancy.

If you get to pick, I would highly recommend the 6 month version.