Micah for the record

Went to the doctor today. His heartbeat was a strong 150. He actually kicked the doppler a couple times while they were listening, it is so fun now to see him move like that!! My blood pressure was 120/80. I asked my doctor if that is high, she says that's actually baseline, and that with Cara's pregnancy it went up a little in the end but it was nothing to worry about. So, that's good. I gained 1 pound, so I'm up a net 5 pounds this pregnancy! I had hoped to work out (not doing so hot at, besides lifting 34 pounds a hundred times a day) and eat healthy (doing much better at now that I'm cooking more like I used to before the nausea hit in the first trimester) and not gain any weight. My doctor and I agreed since I was overweight before the pregnancy, that it would be ok as long as I was eating healthy and not starving myself (which hello, if you've met me, you know that's never a problem), that I could gain no to little weight. Well, we have 11.5 weeks left, so we shall see. She said with Cara's pregnancy, between 28-30 weeks, I gained 10 pounds!!! However, I had a job and money back then and was eating out a lot at Ninfas and Schlotskys, and since that is not the case this time, I think we'll be fine. I love this baby already more than I knew was possible. I thought I'd feel more guilt over taking away from my LOVELY first child, but I think this baby is going to be an awesome part of our family. I am completely at peace with this pregnancy, and so far, with God's blessing, everything has gone smoothly!

I attended an amazing Freedom Conference at our church last night. It's something that our women's ministry puts on once a quarter and last night the topic was free to pray. We had speakers get up and talk about the sin of not praying, praying for your kids, the lost, your husband, with others, etc. It was amazing!!! These ladies had some great insite that was truly from the Lord. The conference usually lasts about 1-1.25 hours, but last night it was 2 hours and no one even noticed it!

I came home and Eric and I continued our talk. I told him everything I wrote down and we talked about what we could specifically pray for each other and our families. I felt such a peace when I woke up this morning, and started my day quoting God's Word and praying to Him; what a good way to end the day last night. You know, Satan can grab hold of you in many things. One lady pointed out last night all the 'false altars' in our life. Our kids, our hobbies, our husband, our homes. Not that these are bad things, but that you can truly 'worship' them instead of having your focus be on Jesus. I thought we were doing so good because we gave up cable (aka NO tv unless we have a netflix movie every few days), but then I realized we had just replaced it. Eric would sit on the computer next to me on the couch while I read various books. They were this cute series by this Christian author I found, but still, we weren't communicating, we weren't studying God's Word, we weren't praying like we used to together. So we made a decision last night to do it EVERY night. We don't have to talk for 2 hours, but have more than that superficial 'what do you have tomorrow, i have this.' God is drawing us close for a reason, and we are trying to make it not for just a season. I praise God and thank Him daily for the church He planted us in, for NewGround (our sunday school class), for our friends and family. We are truly blessed!! Love to all!