Grad School:

As I write this, Mike is at the last class session of his MBA program!  Wow.  2 years, a lot of life changes and an intense amount of hard work later and he is done!  It is time to celebrate!!!  I hope his classmates have started tonight!  (I should note that his last class period was at O’Gara’s in St. Paul – his classmates and many of his profs were going to be present…I’m sure it’s very academic.    ).  I am so proud of Mike and this achievement!  Graduation is May 16th!   I hope you can join us later this summer because we are going to have a big party to celebrate! As busy as the past two years have been, I marvel at God’s provision in terms of time, energy and endurance for our entire family.  Mike and I have often commented that although this period of life has been busy and involved a lot of juggling, it has never been a burden.  I’m excited to see what the “next” chapter holds for us as a family.

Pregnancy Update:

I had my 39 week appointment today with my midwife.  Again, it’s hard to wrap my mind around the reality of Rachel’s impending arrivial!  We are all getting excited.  Rachel has dropped quite a bit since my last appointment.  She is at -1 at this point and her head is no longer able to be felt externally  so we’re heading in the right direction!  Contractions are an everyday part of life.  I probably have 3 dozen+/day.  They increase as the day goes on, but haven’t progressed.  They aren’t painful, just keeping me aware of Rachel’s presence!

A friend asked me today how I’m doing with the “waiting.”  As of now (remember I am dealing with an extreme amount of hormones so this could change at any point!   ), I am content.  Both Noah and Levi were nearly 42 weeks before they made their arrivial so I’m psyched up for a wait.  More than anything, however, I’m just enjoying time with my boys and the relative “simplicity” of life.  I’m especially trying to soak up time with Levi…he is still such a little guy and I’ve been enjoying a lot of extra hugs and snuggles.  It’s difficult for me to fathom that he’s soon going to be a “big brother.”  I can see my own “middle child syndrome” coming out as I process through how I’m going to meet the needs of each of the children.

Prayer Requests:

Someone asked me how they can be praying for us.  My two prayer requests at this point are as follows…

1.  The details and timing surrounding Rachel’s birth.  Levi’s birth was short.  We know that there isn’t time to waste when labor begins with Rachel.  I’m praying we are all able to get to where we need to be in a relatively stress-free fashion.

2.  The upcoming adjustment for our entire family — especially for Noah and Levi.
More to follow in the coming days!

As of this writing, I am 13 weeks along. I’m ecstatic to let you know that the baby is healthy! I’ve even felt it move two times. God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good!

To answer the question you probably are thinking…Yes, this child came as a surprise to us. That being said, we feel like it’s impossible to be anything but excited about the gift of a healthy baby! The loss of two babies puts this into crystal clear perspective.

We have known about this baby for almost 8 weeks. I found that I wasn’t ready to share with anyone until we knew everything was normal. The first 7 weeks of knowing (but not sharing) were quite a faith journey for us. The Lord surrounded me with his peace from almost the moment we found out.

One night, I was complaining to Mike that I was feeling extremely tired. He jokingly made the remark, “You aren’t pregnant, are you?” That thought pestered me for the next few days. 3 days later I took a test and it was positive. Wow.

We made a phone call to my midwife, Katherine Simon. Over the next several days, she had me begin the process of having my hcg levels tested. My hormones were multiplying at an appropriate rate. That was good news!

A week later, I was able to get in for an ultrasound. I figured I was almost 7 weeks along at that point. We went in for the ultrasound and the tech (who was an amazing, compassionate woman) couldn’t find the heartbeat on the external ultrasound. I set myself up for loss. However, when as she started the internal ultrasound, she found a heartbeat. PTL! A big surprise to us was that I was only 5 weeks, 4 days along. It is normally impossible to see a heartbeat until 6+ weeks of pregnancy. I consider the reality of seeing the heartbeat nothing short of a gift from God! The coolest thing for me was the realization that our baby’s heart had probably only started beating with the past 24 hours! Our God is an amazing Creator!

Fast forward nearly 5 weeks and Mike and I found ourselves in the office of my midwife. She answered all my questions and tried to find the heartbeat. She was unable to do so. It was interesting because I knew nothing was wrong. When she couldn’t find Glory Baby’s heartbeat, I knew in my heart we had lost the baby. This time, I simply knew everything was ok. This baby was fine. I knew that with every ounce of my being.

Katherine was able to get me in for an ultrasound within the hour. What a blessing to see a healthy, squirming baby dancing around! Wow. Life truly is a miracle and something I can’t take for granted! We had the same marvelous ultrasound tech again this time. She spent nearly 45 minutes with me, simply allowing me to watch the baby. She held the ultrasound still and I was able to just watch this little miracle move around. Talk about a moment of awe! I fell in love.

Here is our first public photo of Baby Bruder #5!

As we move ahead, we ask you for your prayers…
- For our baby to continue to grow and develop in a healthy manner until it’s arrival!
- That I have the physical strength/energy I need to care for Noah and Levi each day.
- For the Lord’s provision surrounding the arrival of this new blessing.
- For our family as we learn how to have 3 kids, only 4.5 years apart! This is overwhelming to me at times. I struggle with how I’ll ever meet the needs of all three of my children.

Thank you for your joy, your excitement and your willingness to share in this journey!