Yowza. The computer I usually use went haywire. But I'm back on line now. I don't like this particular monitor at all, but I guess I will have to deal with it. When you get free Internet access, you don't complain about the details.

So anyway. A funny thing happened shortly before Easter, shortly before we joined the Catholic Church. My husband said to me, "If we ever have another kid, we'll have to have a boy and name him John."

I looked at him like he was nuts. I mean, at the time, Baby E was only 9 months old. And I'm just getting a little old for all this baby birthing stuff. I mean, I'll be 39 soon. I'm pushing 40.

But, he explained, one of the names we gave our oldest is Zachary, and one of the names we gave the baby is Elisabeth, and that is just like John the Baptist's parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth. So if we had a boy and named him after John the Baptist, we'd have paid tribute to the whole family.

I ha-ha-ha-ed him away and put the whole thing out of my mind. There was enough going on back then. But we're NFP folks and have been for a long time, so there's always that "Hey, it could happen" attitude between us as it is.

So then, a couple weeks after Easter, I was waiting to ovulate. And waiting and waiting and waiting. And little E started to wean, which I found discouraging and stressful, because she was only 10 months old, and I figured we'd go at least a year. And then after a long time of waiting, I started dropping everything I tried to pick up, and my husband suggested that I should probably take a pregnancy test.

(Does anybody else out there start dropping stuff when she's pregnant? My mom did, too. Our joints just get so loose. And the premature arthritis in my hands makes me clumsy anyway.)

So, as I'm sure you already figured out, the test was postive. My husband grinned from ear to ear, "Who would have thought John the Baptist had such a sense of humor?" Obviously, John the Baptist decided this was a very good idea and prayed for a namesake. And God agreed. So we think we're having a boy and working on names with "John" as part of the mix.

All this goes to show you that the Saints really do hear us. So be careful what you say. Or throw caution to the wind. Whatever suits your fancy.

Anyway, I'm 16 weeks pregnant and doing much better now that the relentless morning sickness is beginning to abate. The baby's heartbeat tested fine yesterday, and I'm only the slightest bit anemic (due to being unable to keep any meat/poultry/dairy protein and only the tiniest bit of veggie protein down). My dr. suggested I try to eat lots of nachos since I can cover the four basic food groups fairly easily and I haven't had any trouble with refried beans. And hey, that actually sounds pretty good. Why is it I can keep a little salsa down but not a piece of my husband's perfectly grilled chicken? If you can't tell by that Rx, my dr. is something of a folksy, down-to-earth, homeopathic-minded physician. She's a year younger than me, Catholic and totally trusting of the way God designed women for childbirth, which are all reasons I love her to pieces.

So...there's one other thing I want to say. I have a list here of women out in St. Blog's whom I have been praying for, because I know you all want so badly to conceive. We went through two years of infertility ourselves before conceiving our son, so I know how you might be feeling right now about my news. I remember so many times feeling a mixture of happiness for the couple who was expecting and pain/sadness/confusion at the state of my own empty womb. I really wish there was something I could do to make it all better, but all I can do is pray for you, and please know that I do. Every day. And often much more than once a day. And I never fail to ask the Blessed Mother and St. Gerard to pray for you, too. I am sorry that you aren't currently sharing this experience with me, but I pray it will be soon. Soon!

--Sparki