Big news! And many praises!

Hi friends/family!

We did not expect to have this kind of news to announce for at least two more weeks, but at my 14 1/2 week ultrasound the tech was able to tell the gender on at least 4 of the 5 babies. What a fun ultrasound! It took an hour for the poor woman to do the requisite measurements and try to get the babies to "show their stuff."

Drumroll please . . .  It looks like three are definitely boys, one is definitely a girl, and one is almost certainly another girl as there is nothing between the legs. :) We could actually see the "three little lines" that identify a female fetus on the other little girl. We were just overjoyed! We both wanted 2 girls and 3 boys (but would love and be grateful for whatever God gave us, obviously). Since the boys were so much easier to spot, the tech identified them first, and Gavin and I were both getting a little nervous that maybe

ALL were boys! Imagine, a home with 6 boys. 

When we got home we asked Isaac what he would prefer, before telling him, and he thought about it and said, "I think 2 girls and 3 boys would be good." So all three of us got our wish, looks like!

Of course, the single biggest praise is that all are measuring right on target or above for gestational age, and all look perfectly healthy. They sure were active during our hour-long session! 

They're so cute; they are all cuddled up together in one clump on my right side. One little girl is above the line of my belly button, two little boys are under her, then another boy is on the right and the other little girl is on the left under them, but they're just packed in all together, butting heads, backs and legs running into each other. (See 1st picture, below.)

The babies are making themselves increasingly obvious as they kick and prod and roll. It's fun, and I look forward to when Isaac and Gavin will be able to feel/see them. However, I wonder how much it might affect my ability to sleep??!! 

I've gained 19 pounds - yay! "Only" 61 to go (sigh). I would really appreciate prayers for a roaring appetite. It's hard to force myself to eat enough so that my body will have enough surplus for when my stomach has hardly any space and I cannot eat enough in 24 hours to meet the needs of all 6 of us! But of course I am intensely grateful not to be feeling nauseated much at all anymore. Thank you for praying me through that yucky phase!

We have lots of additional praises: 

More gifts to our Organization account (including from Anonymous - thank you!!!) to help cover medical bills, baby needs, and Gavin's helicopter Flight Instructor check-ride next week (which is a a prayer request, too); a good haul of 0-6 month pjs at the MOPS (Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers) clothing exchange yesterday; more coordinating and working and planning by dear friends and family to try to organize diaper drives and contact companies about our unique situation - I guess we're the first missionaries in the history of the world to have quintuplets!; and last but very much NOT least: more volunteers to rock, change and feed babies! Hooray! :)

AND a couple of extra large gifts for use in the next year and beyond: 

A family member gifted us cleaning service that will cover deep-cleaning the house at least twice a month for a year! That leaves only the day-to-day sweeping, mopping, wiping counters, etc. for our dear volunteers or ourselves to do. HUGE RELIEF!!

The same family member is also covering approximately a third of my tummy tuck/abdominoplasty (see the "Four realities" post of 4/24), which at first I was a little embarrassed to mention, as I felt like people would consider it a vain dream. However, as of last night am no longer ashamed to admit I will continue to pray for God's provision on this one. We bought the book "Raising Multiple Birth Children: A Parents' Survival Guide," and one of the final chapters was on tummy tucks. (Men and any women who are squeamish, you may want to sign off here.) The author, who had triplets, writes that even eight months after her children's birth, "The muscular separation of my abdominal wall looked like the Grand Canyon!!  . . . when I sat up my guts would pop through the deep herniated crevasse." 

I found out that's called a ventral hernia, where the abdominal muscles have just had to separate all the way down to allow the skin and babies to keep growing. I am going to check with our insurance rep to see if they will at least cover the muscle/hernia repair. Removal of the feet and feet of extra skin is considered cosmetic only. So THANK YOU, dear family member(s), for helping me get that much closer to a normal abdomen someday!

Now for pictures:

Okay, here's the jumbled picture: there are three babies in here.
Unfortunately, it's hard to get the 3D plane and scope to include the best parts of them all.
One baby is head-down at the top. You can see his/her little back and left arm and ear.
Another baby is snuggled up to him/her on the lower left; his/her back is up against the first baby's head.
You can also see the legs, bottom left, and an arm of that 2nd baby.
The third baby is scrunched in the lower right, head to head with baby 1,
with his/her belly shoved up against  Baby 2's miniscule bottom.
They already love being together! :)

Back of body and head, with part of left arm at top

Sorry, this one's a little freaky - more skull-like than face-like, but you can see the body and left arm really well!

Hopefully this one is fairly clear

cute little face profile on right, tummy in middle, leg on left

Another self-explanatory one; I like it that you can see the little legs and feet at middle right.
And the face (top left), though blurry, is cute, I think. :) The right arm is up against the face, I believe. 

With love and appreciation to EVERYONE who is praying and helping us through this!

Carrie, for Gavin too