Spilling the Lentil Beans

John and I are excited to announce that we're expecting a baby girl in May! As you might guess from the picture, she's currently the length of a spaghetti squash and 22 weeks along! That puts her around 11 inches from head to foot and weighing about a pound. 11 inches is a sheet of paper, which is just mind-boggling!

The spaghetti squash I'm holding is from our garden from this summer and we ate it in Lentil's honor last night.

We've lovingly nicknamed our baby girl Lentil since she was once the size of a lentil bean. Even though she's grown into the size of a lime, avocado, bell pepper, and beyond, the nickname "Lentil" stuck. As a foodie, I get a kick out of the weekly fruit and veggie comparisons in the BabyCenter emails.

Gingerbread mommy baked for Christmas

I realize that 22 weeks is quite a wait to be sharing our news with the Internets. But we wanted to tell family and friends in person or on the phone before they found out via Facebook or some other form of social media. We didn't start telling our immediate families and my extended family until I was in my second trimester, which around Thanksgiving. I miscarried at 6 weeks back in June [he or she had an estimated due date of last week], so we wanted to be sure the risk of miscarriage was lower before spreading the good news. Since we spent Christmas in Chicago with John's family, we waited until then to tell his extended family.

However, there was one family member John shared the news with very early on: his grandmother. She passed away in early September 2012 and John was able to say his final goodbyes a few days beforehand when he had a moment alone with her. She wasn't able to speak, but was still able to respond in a non-verbal way. He talked about the Chicago Bears (one of her favorite things) and she responded positively. He then told her that I might be pregnant and she had a very strong response.

There's a similar story with my family. The day that my grandfather passed away was the day my Mom found out she was pregnant with my younger sister. Things definitely happen for a reason and I believe that God's timing is perfect.

We're so grateful for the love and support we've received in our big announcement and are extremely thankful for the baby girl growing inside of me. I can't wait to share more of this journey with you!

Pin It