And Baby Makes Three!

Many of you should have already received this news over email, but for our readers who aren't on our newsletter list, we want to share with you our really big, unexpected, and exciting news! We're going to have a baby! Yes, that's right, come May, there will be a new addition to the Tapp household. I'm almost at 7 weeks now, and our due date is officially May 17.

We are still planning on staying in Moldova until Christmas as originally planned. Through the American Embassy, we found an English-speaking obstetrician, who we have seen 3 times already for various tests - blood test, urine sample, and yesterday we had our first sonogram! (For those of you unskilled at reading a sonogram, the black round thing in the middle is my uterus, and the white blob on the right side of it is the baby.) The sonographer told us that the baby is alive and looking right so far... He even showed us where its little heart is already beating! I am overwhelmed at the fact that there is a tiny heart beating inside of me!

We are not only thrilled to find such a nice, English-speaking doctor's office here, but we're also excited about how cheap the health care is! We've paid less than $15 total for all three doctor visits, and this morning's sonogram cost a grand total of $3. So in this world where the value of the dollar is dropping dramatically and killing our funds, at least SOMETHING is on our side financially! :)

I have been feeling ok - very tired and pretty nauseous. I'm ok with that, though, because the nausea tells me that my body is producing the right hormones to make the baby healthy! I feel very blessed to have this happen here, because I don't have large demands on my time, so I'm able to rest a lot and take naps every day. If we were in the States, I'm sure I'd have a job to go to where a daily nap just wouldn't be possible. So although this wasn't a planned event in our lives, we know it is God's perfect timing, and we are already finding things about it to be very thankful for. Justin also wanted me to mention that my sense of smell, which is usually not very keen at all, has become strangely heightened with pregnancy. Riding a minibus last week, the smell of a neighbor's chewing gum made me totally nauseous. And I haven't been able to buy fresh fish - I can't stand to walk up to the fish counter and smell it! I don't mind eating it once it's cooked, so I just have to buy frozen fish and cook it frozen. :)

So we are very excited, although still quite shocked, and we would covet your prayers for health, safety, and good decision-making! I'd also like to request prayer: A blood test that I had last week came back abnormal (high levels of bilirubin, a liver enzyme) and so they want to retest me next week. They said this test comes back wrong quite a bit, so there's no need for alarm unless it comes back abnormal a second time. I'd covet your prayers that it comes back normal this time and there's nothing to worry about!