melted smoosh

{read parts one and two first} my daily devotion on Sunday morning, March 5, was such a special promise for me. my pulse quickened as i read over the psalm for the day, thinking, "please let it be true!" and sure enough, the pregnancy test i took that morning was strongly positive, and my bloodwork hCG levels had nearly tripled in 48 hours.  each day that passed was a gift. we told our families the happy news, and a few weeks later, i announced our pregnancy to our close friends via a cake (our tradition for all announcements, good or bad), and an explanatory meme.  we are so thrilled. Little Peanut is due November 8, and we can't wait to meet our baby! 

{ part one } we were home visiting family the week after Christmas when i took another pregnancy test. the very faintest shadow of a line appeared. i remember staring at it and saying "no freaking way!" quickly, i calculated my due date to be September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which seemed fitting since i had been praying the Memorare prayer in addition to my usual prayers for God to bless our family with another baby. i tiptoed back into the bedroom and whispered the good news to Nick. but i was already holding the idea of this pregnancy loosely, afraid that we would lose this one too. we flew back to Pittsburgh the next day, and in all the chaos of traveling, i didn't take another test until the following morning. two days later, the line should have been noticeably darker, but it wasn't. no matter how i squinted at it, there was just no way to convince myself that things were progressing normally.  the same pattern continued ov...