Wallace party of 8!!!!

We have waited as long as we possibly can to announce this exciting news…but the time has come and we could not be more thrilled!

WE ARE PREGNANT WITH BABY #6!!!!!!

For those of you who listened to my talk in AZ  then you knew this announcement was coming! (I let the big secret out because I wanted the group to know why there was a bucket on stage!!!!) But I wanted to wait to share here until we were in the “safe” zone! We are 13 weeks now and are due August 31st!

Many of you who have followed along on my blog know we miscarried a baby back in November. You can read more of the story on that post, but we weren’t exactly trying for another at the time. However, after losing that child we found our hearts really open and longing for another.

Yet, that didn’t come without much fear. Did the timing make sense? Would I miscarry again? Could I really take on another child? Would the kids respond well? What would other people think? What do WE think? Six kids is a LOT!

But God decided to create life once more for our family before we’d had the opportunity to answer those questions! Such a miracle and such a gift!!!!! I was pregnant again with this rainbow baby the very next month after the miscarriage!

Last year I wrote about the word “abide” and how much I was learning about God through focusing on its definition. It was amazing to see as the year played out just how many times that theme continued to come up…staying rooted in what mattered most, staying near and holding fast to the Lord no matter what circumstances were happening around me.

I haven’t yet taken the time to write out my thoughts about a word for this year, but the idea of courage continues to come up. Whether it be facing one of my biggest fears in January speaking for the first time, or beginning to stand up for myself in difficult conversations, or being bold to truly live free in who God has made me to be….I continue to feel this nudging to not tuck away in fear, or to shrink away, but to look at the struggles and hesitations I have square on and press through them.

Having a sixth child fits right into that. Of course I’m afraid, of course I wonder if I’ll be able to handle it,  of course it’ll be a lot….But I do know, without a doubt that I can walk forward, with Matt, and with all courage, because God, who is a good Father, saw fit to give us this blessing we had hoped for.

Perfect love casts out fear and I can’t forget everything that I have learned from last year about abiding in Him…because that’s exactly the answer to where any courage will come from…Jesus. Strength will come from a life rooted first in Him.

So…here are a few updates:

My Health: Sadly, pregnancy itself is not something I enjoy. I wish it was, but I’m really not one of those women that has the “glow” at all. It’s rough, and I’m normally very sick. My glow is more like an ill green color that stays for months. For four pregnancies I’ve had a lot of preterm labor and overall I just feel horrible the majority of the time. It was the same for all five of the others, and this one is turning out exactly the same.

Every morning and evening I am either throwing up or am close to it, which gives me a super short window in the middle of the day to get things done. I’m now taking a medicine to help with the nausea, but it also makes me extremely tired, so I try to take the least amount possible.

I’m in the care of some great doctors who are going to help me guard against the preterm labor and see if I can avoid bedrest again, but please pray for me if you think of it!

Exercise/Fitness: Since the miscarriage I have to admit that fitness has not been a priority at all. My body was going through a lot with that loss and then immediately getting pregnant again. Although my heart would desire to keep up with everything, my energy level and ability just isn’t there. I am hoping to begin to feel better in these next few weeks so I can start walking/running again and maybe start lifting some lighter weights to build back up some strength.

This past summer I was in the best shape I’ve been in since having kids. I had so much energy and was feeling so strong. It’s really tough to see the gains I had only a few months ago disappear so quickly. But I also know what it will take to get it back and that the priority right now is a healthy baby, my other five kids, and trying to not throw up every day! 🙂 I am confident I will have the strength to start again…when the time is right.

The Baby: Everything is looking great! There have been no complications so far (other than the extreme nausea). We’ve had a number of ultrasounds and blood tests and everything regarding our lil peanut is perfect! At our most recent ultrasound they gave me a sealed envelope with the gender written on a card inside, but we haven’t opened it yet! It’s killing me to find out, but apparently the blood test that I did yesterday will have the most accurate results on it so we want to wait to get those back just to make SURE before we embrace whatever is written on that card!

The Kids: They were all so close in age that none of them remember any of the others being born. They are SUPER excited about this new one and have been so kind to me as I’ve felt terrible these past few months.  They love to ask all kinds of questions about pregnancy and about delivery and I just smile from ear to ear whenever I hear them daydreaming about the games they’ll play together or things they’ll teach the new brother/sister. Melts my heart to see them so happy about it.

Matt: He has been absolute gold. He’s been taking care of me when I’m sick, holds my hair when I’m throwing up and does it all without even a speck of grumbling. He has shifted and adjusted everything as much as he is able to open his schedule to be available to help as much as he can with the kids and house. Everything from making sure the car has gas, to helping get kids to and from activities, to doing dishes, to letting me sleep longer in the morning, get to bed earlier in the evenings, to bringing me the random foods I crave at all hours of the day/night, or picking up medicine I need…He is beyond a gift to me.

There have been some tearful emotional moments thinking I can’t handle it…and every time he is quick to remind me that this is all a blessing, we will be thankful and rejoice even when it’s hard, and he reminds me over and over again that he’ll be right there with me to help me get through it all. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love him.

My favorite thing is how he literally gets choked up at the thought of being up at night holding an infant once more. I’m sure that just sounds crazy, but we had the first five kids so fast that we didn’t really know how quickly it all flew by until it was all over. With the space between the fifth one and this one we’ve truly been able to see just how brief those seasons are and can’t wait to really slow our hearts down to soak it all up.

Life: The other parts of life…including where we live, what car I’m currently driving (we’re maxed out on space now), school and whether or not to keep homeschooling, my blog and how much time I’m able to give to writing, and a number of other topics are all hot discussion items as of late. It would appear that this sixth baby is shaking up our lives like a snow globe and really helping us to look once again at adjusting many different aspects to help us narrow down even more what to prioritize.

All of those other things are good, of course, but it may mean that some of the other dreams and hopes we had are needing to be set aside for a bit in order for us to create space for this dream to flourish. No doubt I’ll give updates here as we know more…so far it’s all just in the discussion phase, but we definitely are not taking any of this lightly. All dreams are secondary to the one we have for this family of ours.

Bottom line is this: This hasn’t been an easy road and I anticipate it increasing in challenges as I continue to grow. We covet your prayers as we seek wisdom and make big changes. We would love for you to be a part of this journey as our family continues to grow and we are so excited about this miracle rainbow baby! We want nothing more than for others to celebrate with us! I’ll keep you posted on how everything progresses, and of course be looking out for a gender reveal soon! Eeeeeeeeek!!!! Fingers crossed for pink! 😉

Oh, and if you have any baby product recommendations or things you think are a must have please please please comment below! We have literally gotten rid of everything so we are starting ALL over again!!!!