Thursday, March 17, 2016

almost there


I am 39 weeks pregnant today and tomorrow this little babe will join our family. This process has felt like an eternity, but suddenly today I'm feeling like I blinked and bam, it's go time! I am terribly nervous, but the majority of me is just so excited to meet this sweet person we are blessed to add to our family.

This time around I have done very little to document this pregnancy, which I already regret. I feel bigger and much less comfortable this time than I did the last two (we're talking beluga whale huge), but perhaps that's because it's been so long since I've been pregnant and I honestly don't remember how I felt before. I'm telling you, you forget everything bad about pregnancy as soon as your baby turns six months. Lou was almost two when I got pregnant so I had a good amount of time to have that little portion of my memory wiped clean. I am officially down to three pairs of pants and three shirts that fit and I am pretty much doing laundry constantly because otherwise I will be running around town in pajamas, and half of my belly will probably be showing.

All in all this really has been an amazing pregnancy. I felt nauseous for about 20 weeks, but not so nauseous that I actually threw up. I had some major heartburn in the latter half of this pregnancy, which was different than Min's and Lou's. With them I got heartburn super early on. I also got incredibly swollen with them (we're talking feet and ankles, hands, and face...especially my nose) but this time I have hardly noticed any swelling. Perhaps it's because I was pregnant during the deep summer heat with both of them, I'm not sure. I was dreading my monster pregnancy nose but my face has stayed relatively normal looking. That has sure been nice. I'm just so grateful for a healthy pregnancy. I did have one little scare a few weeks ago when the baby wouldn't move. It is usually incredibly active in the morning but even after all the normal things I usually did to get the babe moving, I still didn't feel anything. It was an awful feeling. My doctor was out of town but Robert suggested we just run to the office when they opened and have a midwife or another doctor find the heart beat. I ended up feeling a few teeny movements by the time we arrived, but they weren't like they normally were at all. Something just felt off. Hearing that steady, strong heartbeat was so relieving! The midwife who helped me was so sweet and made me feel so good about coming in. I was a little embarrassed because hello, it had only been a few hours of not feeling the baby, but she said that it is always better to err on the side of being overly cautious in this situation. I loved her. I had to run over to the hospital to do a non-stress test afterward, and although it took drinking lots of big sips of ice water to get the baby moving, we finally saw what we wanted to and I felt a million times better. Thank heavens it was just a scare and since then I've felt the babe move like crazy.

Overall, the baby has been strong, moved a lot, and I've had enough energy to at least make dinner most nights, clean the house, take laundry up and down the stairs...you know, regular mom stuff. It is also amazing to have both of my girls be pretty independent right now so I can just let them play if I need to get things done. In fact, Robert and I have been talking about how easy our life is right now. I mean, I guess easy is a relative term because we do have two little girls who are as wild as can be, but for the most part they are super independent, feed themselves, they can both talk and tell us what they need, they are easy to find babysitters for and they have both slept through the night like champs for the last two years. We are in for a ruuuuuude awakening! (Literally, since I will probably be awake at all hours of the night for the next few months. Oy!)

Since we didn't find out the sex of the baby it has been pretty difficult to buy anything in preparation for their arrival. This has both been wonderful and terribly difficult. The things we have bought are: a bigger car, since no matter how much Robert wanted them to, three carseats weren't going to fit in the back of my Mazda (farewell sweet Mazda that brought our other two babies home from the hospital ): ), a new rocker for the baby's room since we were using a tired old pink one from the 1980's that was just kind of gross (and which Lou pooped on once during her potty training days), two gender neutral newborn outfits, and I made a new minky blanket since pretty much all of our blankets are very much girl blankets. We purchased diapers and wipes a few days ago (we are both a little sad about having to buy diapers again) and my cute mom bought us a new Moses basket since our other one is totally trashed after Min and Lou. Other than that, I think we should be set for this little babe. 

Robert and I go back and forth as to whether we think the baby will be a boy or a girl. I just keep feeling like it will be a girl because that's all I can wrap my mind around. If it's a boy I will be blown away. Excited, but blown away. I think Robert's fairly convinced it's a girl too, but lately he's been changing his tune a little with talk of boy. That's the beauty of a surprise I guess...the not knowing and all the wondering. Minnie is convinced it's a boy because she needs someone to dress up as Prince Eric when they are playing pretend and she's Ariel. I've been trying to persuade her that even if the baby is a girl that she'll still love her. Minnie isn't easily swayed, but I think we are making some progress. She tells me that she "already has a sister," which is a valid point, but a house full of sisters wouldn't be the worst thing, would it? It's like a house full of best friends (or worst enemies...depending on their stage of life I guess). There is something pretty sweet to me about sisters and the thought of three little girls just sounds nice. I have loved being a mom to two sweet daughters. There is something so special and sweet about them. Then again, a boy would be such a fun change. I feel like it would be so nice to see and feel what a little boy would be like around these parts. I also just really want a boy for Robert. He has said that he doesn't care, and I know that's true, but I think it would just add a new dimension to our family that would be wonderful. Again, I'm happy either way. The fact that God is giving us another chance to welcome another one of His children into our family and home is absolute magic to me. He has chosen this particular spirit to join with us for this life and the life to come and whoever it is that comes has been hand picked by Him. Why would I ever want to have a hand in that? He knows so much better than we do and I am just so excited to meet this person God meant for us to love.

1 comment:

  1. Fun to read this after knowing the secret! Can't wait to meet the lil cutie in person. Hope recovery goes well. Love you lady!

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