Drum Roll Please....ddddddddddddddddd

GUESS WHAT GUYS!!! WE FOUND OUT WHAT WE ARE HAVING!!! SUUUUUPER EXCITED! ARE YOU READY?

We have:

ONE little princess and THREE little boys! ;)

Joe smiled and said, "ha! no one is going to want to date my daughter with three protective brothers and a protective father!" It was cute! I'm sure he was feeling a sigh of relief that the wedding count will only be ONE! ;)
(we have all but one name picked out and will reveal those names as soon as we decide on that last boy!) :)
I will just say this: nothing rhyming, nothing starting with the same letter/vowel, nothing weird...just classy, normal, names. ;)

Even more great news is that they were all perfectly healthy! The specialist I'm going to is amazing! He went to each baby and showed us: "Here's the brain with all hemispheres intact, no midline defect or fluid present, skull intact, perfect...here's the heart with four chambers, there's the aorta and pulmonary artery, perfect...there's the umbilical cord with the two arteries, perfect, etc..." He measured all the leg and arm bones...all perfect! It's like I would hold my breath until he would get through a certain organ and then exhale when he would say perfect...and so on and so on...Oh yeah, and none of the babies or placentas are over my cervix, which could cause spotting and bleeding, especially when I begin to have contractions. Tabor was actually pretty suprized that none of the babies were sitting over my cervix! So that's a really good thing!

(sorry I have no sonogram pics this time, he was focusing on various body parts and I never really got to see a good picture of the whole baby...next time!) He wants to start seeing me every week/sonograms every week.

It is just so fun now! We can start registering for things and start getting to work on the nursery. The babies seem so human and real to us, now that we know what we are having...they are not just little blobs of tissue and organs anymore. (obviously, they were always more than that...I'm just depicting how this news has completely made this all more real) Joe and I are ecstatic!

He also did an exam to check my cervix for any thinning, etc. (sometimes they have to suture the cervix shut, which is not a fun surgery and can be very dangerous for mom and the babies)...well, you know he wants me to carry these babies for 34 weeks and then he will take them no matter what...after looking at my cervix, he laughs and says, "well shoot, with THAT cervix, you could carry these babies to 36 weeks!" Everything looked great! ;)

Now...onto my MAIN problem area...my weight. (or lack there of)

I met with my nutritional specialist yesterday as well. She was WONDERFUL. However, she was very concerned that I have only gained 16 lbs while pregnant. She told me to throw everything I have ever thought about food out the window. GET READY FOR THIS....
I need to concentrate on eating fat, fat, fat. Everything I put into my mouth must count, calorically speaking. She said throw the veggies out, fruit out...I need to eat as much FRIED FOOD as possible! Let me list some of the things she wrote down for me to eat (EVERY TWO HOURS, EVERYDAY!)

greasy bacon, egg, lots of cheese (cheese, cheese, cheese)

pizza: deep dish, double meat, double cheese (keep it always stocked in your fridge)

fried meats: fried chicken, fried steak, fried french fries dipped in ranch or cheese sauce, fried everything

whole milk with powdered milk ADDED TO IT! (gag!)

lots of milkshakes, hot fudge brownie sundaes, banana splits

trail mix with lots of nuts, chocolate candies, some dried fruit

King sized Snickers bars and any other candy bar that has chocolate and nuts

if I'm CRAVING fresh fruit, I must drench it in Nutella or chocolate sauce or peanut butter

if I'm CRAVING veggies, I must drown them in lots of butter/oil/cheese

casseroles with lots and lots of cheese, butter, cream cheese

pasta with lots of Alfredo sauce

and she said fast food was my best friend: double bacon cheeseburgers, extra bacon/extra cheese, lots of mayo, extra fries dipped in ranch dressing or cheese sauce with a large chocolate milkshake

anytime I eat out, get a large decadent chocolate brownie hot fudge sundae with ice cream and sauce and nuts...if I'm too stuffed, take it home and eat it right before getting in bed!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME FOLKS? I felt bad because I kept laughing at her when she was saying all this...it just goes against everything I have EVER DONE or BELIEVED! I pride myself in being a typically healthy person who gets all my fresh veggies and fruits and protein a day...who exercises regularly, etc....God is really trying to teach me patience and COMPLETE TRUST AND FAITH in Him throughout this entire ordeal. I guess this is everyone's DREAM diet...and it normally would be for me too...I just am NEVER hungry and when she was listing all these foods, my stomach was actually cramping up and I felt as if I were about to vomit. And it's not about gaining the weight...I could care less about my figure or anything like that (in fact, I kinda just chuckled to myself as I typed that)...it is just so incredibly difficult for me to eat........anything.........let alone fried, greasy, fatty foods every two hours! It is SO weird! And absolutely NO exercising...doc doesn't even want me up walking around! But you know what...this isn't about ME. I need to look at this as my JOB, and it is the most important job I will EVER have in my life. What I do now, will affect my children for the rest of their lives. So, I will use my strong self determination (and lots of prayer) to force this JUNK down my body, every two hours, every day, until these little ones are born!

Okay, enough about food...and I apologize that this post is getting REEEEALLY long and verbose. One more subject: house arrest and bedrest...

Doc made sure that I wasn't working anymore and has put me under "house arrest" for the next few weeks before I begin my complete bedrest. I asked him what all that entails and he said, "no getting out and going shopping...stay home and take it easy...no housework...etc"
For my bedrest at 20 weeks, he said bathroom privileges only (including one shower a day, sitting down). Like I said earlier, I will start seeing him every week and he said if I continue to be as healthy as I am now, he might even let Joe and I have one night to go out and eat every week when I'm on strict bedrest!

God is just teaching us so many things, everyday..and it is so apparent that many people are praying for us and our babies! Keep sending those prayers and thoughts up for us! MUCH APPRECIATED! more than you will ever know...

Love,
Joe, Suz, baby boy 1, baby boy 2, baby boy 3, and baby girl ;)