38 Weeks! Come on Baby Girl!

Well, here we are in the final stretch!

Oh, how I would love to say "this has flown by" but it has not.  :)  Not one bit.  Every day of this pregnancy has been a million years and I can't wait for her to be out and in our arms.  I do love pregnancy, but lately the pelvic girdle pain is no joke.  Rolling over in bed at night nearly has me in tears, but has to happen often to prevent hip pain.  Yup, I'm definitely a big whiner right now.

I've been having a lot of pre-labor stuff going on for weeks now.  No idea how I'm still pregnant after some of the series of contractions I've had!  Guess that's what happens when you're on your 5th baby.  Every day we hope it's the day she will come to meet us.  I've been eating a lot of pineapple, going on 3 mile walks, bouncing on the yoga ball, and doing labor-inducing yoga.  :)  And praying this girl comes before 41 weeks and that I will know when to make the call to go to the hospital.

My appointments have been going well.   Baby's head is engaged now at a -2 station, and I'm 2 (maybe 2.5) cm dilated and 50% effaced.  Just waiting (and waiting) for labor to kick in!  We all are dying to meet this baby girl.

Time to come meet your family chickadee!!

Baby Watch - 36 Weeks

 Time is flying now, but May seems an eternity away.  I'm 36 weeks along.

I noticed baby dropping last Thursday and it caused crampy contractions all day Friday which had me on high alert!  I thought for sure she was coming but then they went away in the evening.  It kicked my butt into high-gear nesting mode.  I've deep cleaned the pack-n-play bassinet, done one million loads of laundry (my favorite), got the carseat ready, and packed our hospital bag.  I've been so darn crampy since then and just loads of uncomfortable pressure from her head down there.  Anyways, I've definitely become a big whiner now the last week and told Mitch there's no way I can do this another 4 weeks or more.  It's going to be a long month.  I'm praying this girl doesn't make us wait too long.  Lord, grant me patience.

My 36 week checkup went well yesterday.  She's measuring on track and has a strong heartbeat, blood pressure is good, and I'm about 2 cm dilated so at least all those contractions have started a little pre-work.

I was super spoiled last Sunday with my church moms group throwing me a baby shower for our monthly gathering.  I was not expecting a baby shower at all so was overwhelmed.  The girls got to come and loved hanging out with their friends, making onesies and bibs and opening gifts.  Look at these adorable onesies...we can't wait to use them.  But mostly I felt so blessed and grateful to be showered with everyone's prayers for this baby and our family.  We have a pretty great church family.  

I of course failed to get very many pictures.  :)  

I'll be 37 weeks in a few days so we're officially in baby watch mode now.  So very excited to meet her soon!

34 Week Bump

Well, things are getting real around here.  Time to start getting ready for baby girl's arrival!

I'm feeling pretty great for being about 8 months pregnant.  Some little aches here and there and feeling the exhaustion if I push myself too hard.  I have to do a double take every time I see myself in the mirror...that bump is getting large.  I'm enjoying feeling her kicks and punches in there.  Baby's getting so strong but also seems to enjoy some long, hard naps for much of the day.  

My 34 week appt went great today.  She's measuring on track and has a strong heartbeat.  I was given papers to prepare for labor and delivery which was eye opening!  I finally get to bring one visitor to appts so Ada got to come and listen to the heartbeat today.

We are all getting anxious to meet her and see what she looks like and acts like.  Won't be long now.

30 Week Bump

30 weeks down.  Only 10 to go!  

I'm feeling good.  Not sure if I mentioned this last time but my appts are every two weeks now!  So I went in again today and everything looks great.  Her heartbeat has been around 140 bpm for a while now.  My next appt will be a tele-health checkup from Gulf Shores! :)  And in other news, we are now allowed one person to come with to appts so the kids are excited to take turns coming now and listening to the heartbeat!  We do have a name for her and can't wait to share it when she's born.  

28 Weeks - Hello 3rd Trimester!

Baby girl has been growing 28 weeks in there.  Sweatpants are my life right now.  I honestly only put jeans on for a few hours each day to teach piano so I take my belly pic then.  I'm a few days late getting my pic this week and there's no piano today so you're getting the real deal here!  :)

I ran for the last time last weekend.  It's too uncomfortable now.  So it's looking like yoga and walking for the next few months!  Otherwise I'm feeling pretty great.  Just impatient.  It's been so snowy and cold lately, so I'm getting excited for some spring weather where I can get outside and get fresh air on a walk.

Everything was looking good at my appointment this week.  Heartbeat is around 140 bpm.  I had to take the glucose test and get my tdap shot and then head to the hospital to get my rhogam shot (youch!).  Needles EVERYWHERE that day.  But I got to listen to her heartbeat again at the hospital and that is just one of the best sounds ever to listen to.  

Being in the maternity ward got me a little emotional thinking of the reality of being back there soon meeting our new baby.  I saw a dad walk out with bags and come back with a carseat ready to take baby home and it hit me.  Don't mind me if I'm a little sentimental over the next few months preparing to have a baby and a teenager in the house.  Holy cow.

Baby...24 Weeks

Baby girl sure is growing and movin' and groovin' these days.  Last week, we were doing show and tell and I guess she didn't want to be left out since she started dancing in there and the kids got to see my belly bouncing around for the first time.  They've loved feeling her little kicks.  At the same time, she seems to be a big napper and always sleeps in and I sure hope that continues after she's born. :)  I wake up so excited to feel her kicking in the morning and hours later she will grace me with her presence.  Getting her beauty rest in there for sure.

My 24 week appt went really well today.  Her heartbeat sounded great and the bump was measuring right on track at 24 cm.  Once again, I'm baffled by this number phenomenon.  Next up, the fun 28 week appt....glucose test, rhogam shot, and tdap vaccine.

I'm feeling really good right now.  No major aches or pains.  A bit of hip discomfort while sleeping is all.  Still enjoying a little jogging on the treadmill and a lot of yoga.  Soaking up the 2nd trimester energy while it lasts.

We've been shopping like crazy now for this little lady.  Our mail lady isn't too thrilled with me.  Baby shopping is probably my very favorite thing in the world to do.  The girls really love shopping with me and feed the addiction.  And Ada loves going through her little outfits, counting them, and laying them out.  She asked me to get this "before" picture so we can get an "after" picture later.  

These are sweet, precious times.

Bump Update

I've been pretty terrible at writing updates along the way this time.  Past pregnancies, even if not published yet, I wrote updates on how everything was going at 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, etc.  Here I am at 15 weeks and this is truly the first time I'm writing anything!  But here we go.

The 1st trimester was a little rough on me.  I think I had worse morning sickness with Maddox and Kallie, but this one just lingered longer and laid me out for weeks and weeks.  Eating has just been tough.  To be clear, I'm hungry for food ALL. THE. TIME. And if I don't eat, I want to throw up.  But when I start eating, I want to throw up.  There are many things that are regularly on our menu that are just disgusting to me right now.  Just the smell of popcorn makes me want to gag.  Enchiladas are so gross. :(  Sweet Grady cooked us enchiladas for the first time a while ago, and the first bite about had me running for the bathroom.  Not because they weren't delicious, but....pregnancy.  I had to force that thing down so that he knew how delicious it actually was and would want to continue cooking for us.  Meanwhile chips and salsa are my fav.  Peanut butter.  All the dairy.  Smoothies.  But I really had to force all the food down about every hour to keep myself from getting sick.  It's getting better now at 15 weeks with my normal appetite returning, but that's really only within the last week that it's been relenting.  I kept up my running until around 8 weeks and then between 8-12 weeks I could only make myself run twice total.  Since then I've been ramping back up again.  I haven't gained a pound yet....but I was working on losing a little quarantine weight before getting pregnant, so that doesn't say too much.  Ha.

This baby has been prayed for for years now, so it's all worth it.  I just cried the morning in my 6 week ultrasound seeing a little flickering bean on the screen.  I couldn't believe it and still can't.  We haven't seen the baby since then, but I heard the heartbeat at 11 weeks (150 bpm) and 15 weeks (145 bpm).  Now we're counting down to the big ultrasound, when yes, we will find out what this tie breaker will be.  But mostly I'm just dying to see the shape of a healthy baby in there.  Please pray that Mitch will be able to be with me at that ultrasound.  He no longer can come to any other appointments, but the ultrasound he still can.  December 23 is the big day!

Telling the kids after my 11 week appointment was so great.  We wrapped up some gifts for them all to open and they were shocked and excited!  We had to wrap up school early that day because everyone was too focused on the baby.  We told our families with Kallie wearing that "Big Sis" shirt...took them a second to believe it wasn't just a hand-me-down.  We tried for a while for this little one and had dreamed about that day we could share the big news with family since it was so unexpected.  What a gift.  The girls had been praying for a baby every night for years, and it has been so sweet to hear them not give up on that prayer and to now switch their prayers over to thanksgiving and excitement of expecting the baby brother or sister.

Uh, side note, Ada's been very interested in pregnancy tests after learning about them from a few of the YouTube families we watch, so that was what she opened.  It wasn't until later that she asked how it works and I informed her and she was disgusted.  She assumed I put it in my armpit or something.  I was dying.

Baby is still mostly tucked away down there, but should be making it's real appearance soon.

12 weeks...

14 weeks...

I've of course been checking out my past bump pictures to figure out when the heck this bump is going to pop out and make me actually look pregnant.  Guess it will be a few more weeks.  Patience is not my strong suit.  Grow baby grow!

Hoping (40 Week Appt)

I had my 40 week midwife appointment yesterday at 40 weeks 3 days!  I really did not expect to make it to that appointment.  Everything is perfect with me and baby girl…my blood pressure, her heart rate, her growth, everything.  I’ve progressed to a good 3 cm over the last week which is a bit crazy.  It’s nice to know that some of the Braxton hicks I’ve had which are getting progressively more uncomfortable are doing some work, but I don’t want to skip that early labor phase that gives us time to get to the hospital.  Not to mention she felt her head way down there...I mean seriously the thought of that.  She is so ready to come out, but just doesn’t want to.  We scheduled my 41 week appt for Friday (yes, that would be in MAY) to do an ultrasound and NST (non-stress test) which is routine if you go a week over due.   Here’s to hoping I don’t make it to Friday’s appointment but I sure would love to see her on ultrasound again if I do.

Speaking of “hoping” it seems to be the word of the month.  I find myself saying it or typing it multiple times a day.  As everyone’s guesses of her birthday came and went, I would say, “I sure hope your guess is right.”  When the big full moon / lunar eclipse came and everyone thought she would be born (that was TWO WEEKS ago) I would say, “I hope so!”  I hoped she would come during the storms the last few days.  I’ve hoped she would come every night for the last few weeks.  I’ve hoped I wouldn’t have another week of work for the last few weeks.  Really if I look through my last few weeks of texts I could probably count the word “hope” a million times.  There’s a lot of hoping going on over here.

I really can’t believe I am 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant.  I feel pretty great physically.  I’m definitely slow moving and waddling, but no major aches, pains or swelling to complain about.  My mind has been on a rollercoaster over the last few weeks.  I’ll go through days where I feel like I just can’t be pregnant any longer and will complain that she’s NEVER going to be born and I can’t do this anymore.  Then I’ll go through days where I feel great and relaxed, thankful to be so healthy, and ready to wait however long it takes her.  The last few days have been great/relaxed days.  I actually think we are making our family and friends more anxious and impatient than we are.  J  Although I think ALL of my patience is being spent on this baby girl leaving little for her big siblings.  They have really been troopers dealing with me.

Well…here’s to HOPING this is my last pregnancy post. J

She's getting so big :)

 

"Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart."

The Most Pregnant I've Ever Been

Well, here I am, 39 weeks 4 days, and still pregnant!  This girl has now won against her brothers and sister if staying in the womb the longest were a baby contest.  The previous record holder was Grady at 39 weeks 3 days.

And I’m starting to think it could be another week (or more, yikes!).  I might see my due date after all!  But at the same time it feels like I could go into labor at any moment and it has felt that way for a couple weeks now mostly based on my history.  I feel like a ticking time bomb.

Yesterday.  I look like I'm crying.  Maybe I was.

Everything is well with my health and baby’s health.  I had an appointment yesterday and everything checked out perfectly.  She’s growing, has a strong heartbeat, and is still active in there.  I’m 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced.  Before she checked, I told her that even though it’d be nice to hear some progress is being made, I would much rather hear that I’m 1 cm dilated since I know how quickly I can dilate when in actual labor so that is perfect.  I’ve never been more than 1 with any of the kids at my checkups.  I was given the option to be induced which I declined for now.  I’m still quite hopeful that she will come soon when she’s ready.

As for leaving the house and dealing with the constant staring and comments from strangers (and coworkers and everyone else), I've started playing the Madagascar penguins over and over in my mind...

38 Weeks

Weight gain: 36 lb   Ada: 35 lb   Grady: 41 lb   Maddox: NA (already born)

I start off the day feeling fabulous and thinking it will probably be weeks until she will be born and I’m okay with that.  I end the day tired, cranky, slow and ready to just be done already.  Every morning I start over again feeling fabulous.  I remember this same exact feeling the last time, at night wondering if this is the night and in the morning thinking...okay, I can make it through another day.

Health-wise I really do feel great.  No major aches or pains and no major swelling or anything.  It's just my mood that needs an adjustment some days.

 

Last Saturday it was a beautiful spring day. Ada was napping.  The boys and I were outside.  I had finished cleaning the inside of my Yukon and was sitting back in a lawn chair just soaking up the sunshine.  Maddox’s fishing pole got stuck in a tree and after trying for a little while to get it out he yelled for me.  I told him that if he’s going to keep getting it stuck in trees then he’ll have to figure out on his own how to get it out.  Grady said, “Maddox, her belly is too big to get out of the chair.”  He’s right…that really was half of the problem.  I keep telling them that she’ll be here very soon and Grady always gets excited, “Then we can cuddle again!”  Not that it has stopped anyone yet from constantly crowding on my lap, but I can't wait to be able to give them all a squeeze without that big ole belly in the way.

At my 37 week appt. (37 weeks 3 days) everything was great.  My next appt. is tomorrow which would be a cool birthdate...4/14/14.  But my guess is April 21st...7 lb 3 oz...20 in.  :)  What's your guess?

36 Weeks w/ Baby Girl

Seriously, where are these weeks going?!  It seems as if every time I blink another two weeks have passed by.

yes, my butt gets bigger than my belly when I'm pregnant :)

If you didn't already know that I’m a numbers nerd, now you will know.  I love tracking my weight gain compared to my past pregnancies and the “recommended” pregnancy weight gain.  It's interesting to me and I get excited to check my weight each week.  It isn't really a personal thing to me at all while pregnant (or ever really)…it’s just a number and purely scientific to me.  I sort of took it to a whole new level while pregnant with Ada and created this graph so I could see the comparison visually.  With her pregnancy, it was against the recommended weight gain limits (25 to 35) but this time since I know that I clearly gain between 35 to 45 pounds quite consistently every time I changed the trend lines to my own trend.  Even better.  It’s me and how I gain weight and as with all matters we should only compare ourselves against ourselves.  Yup, I’m a nerd.  Maybe I shouldn't share this.  Eh why not?  

36 Weeks with the Four - I guess 36 weeks is a pink kind of week.

At my 36 week appointment today everything looked good with her heartbeat at 140 bpm and measuring right on track.  I'm 1 cm dilated and her head is locked and loaded now!  I sort of thought she had dropped Friday night because I was really achy for an hour and feeling a lot of weird movement and then I woke up the next day able to breath and without the major pain in my right rib!  Kinda weird.  I'm not sure if that's actually what I was feeling Friday night but I wasn't surprised today when I was told her head is engaged...hope she stays that way!  I'm enjoying being able to breath again.   It makes me feel even better than I did before which was already great.  Waddling now, but great.

Over the weekend I did baby laundry, boiled tiny binkies and bottles, somewhat packed the hospital bag, and cleared my camera's memory card.  Now we pretty much just wait. First for Mitch to get home...then for her to arrive.  I've been giving her pep talks to wait for her Dad.  :)

Itty bitty ruffle butt pants....ahhhhhh

34 Weeks

The weeks are just flying by now!

 

I’m really feeling great and at my 34 week checkup yesterday, everything was perfect with baby girl in there. 

Big news…WE SETTLED ON HER NAME LAST WEEK!  That feels good.

I can't believe I'm in my final weeks of pregnancy...final as in FINAL ever.  I'm going to miss this a lot so I'm trying to enjoy every last minute of it.

32 Weeks

I did make it in to the hospital for my Rhogam shot (ouch!) and Mitch and I went back a few days later for the birth center tour.  The tour went well and we feel more comfortable with where to go and what will happen while we're there.  I'm not too comfortable with the part about getting admitted downstairs first before going up to the birth center considering I was getting admitted with Ada while pushing and after she was born.  :)  We'll see how it goes though.  I love visiting those places and hearing the little lullaby play overhead when a new baby is born.  I only wish we were at the hospital that baby Abe was born at that day. :)

I painted the nursery this weekend!  We are quite in love with the color and looking forward to finishing up the room.

 

Everything was perfect at my 32 week appointment.  Strong heartbeat and belly measuring right on track.  Baby girl has been head down for four weeks now and hopefully she plans to stay that way.

I love it when my due date comes into view on my work calendar.  It's crunch time.



30 Weeks with Baby Girl

Other than being a whiner about some of the things strangers say to me, I really am enjoying pregnancy and can’t believe I’ve hit what I consider the home stretch already.  I love watching my belly grow and feeling and seeing baby movement.  Hearing that little heartbeat at my appointments and seeing that little baby squirming on the ultrasound.  Sorting through tiny newborn clothes.  Dreaming about what she will look like and act like.  Sitting in her room that hasn’t even been started and staring at the blank walls getting inspired.  Talking with the kids about having another baby sister.  Wearing maternity clothes.  Remembering my other three pregnancies and then looking at the three big kids that resulted from those 9 months.  I just love it. 

 

 

I had a midwife appointment Monday.  Everything looks and sounds great with a strong heartbeat at 150 bpm and belly measuring 29 cm at 29 weeks so right on track.  By the way, how cool is it that your belly should measure how many weeks you are?  As a numbers nerd, this is a phenomenon to me.  Now I start having appointments every two weeks.  I pre-registered for the hospital this week and scheduled us for a hospital tour next weekend so that we know the logistics of where to go and what they’ll do when I’m in labor.  I’m a little bummed about not being at our old hospital in Ames, one minute from our house with the large birth suites and familiar faces and routines, but oh well, not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.  I NEED to go to the hospital sometime this week for my RhoGam shot like I was supposed to do a couple weeks ago.  Who procrastinates on such a potentially important thing?  Ugh….this girl.  Why can’t the OB office just do it like at my 28-week appointment like my old OB office?  Oh well, again, not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, it’s just difficult not to compare.

 

The time is near!

26 Weeks with Baby Girl

Saying goodbye to the 2nd trimester and hello to the 3rd!

photo credit: Grady :)

Everything is going great.  I had an appointment last week and had that extra ultrasound to check her heart which she wouldn’t give us a good glimpse of the first time.  She cooperated quite well this time and everything looks perfect.  She also gave us another peek to confirm she is a girl.  She would not however move her hands away from her face or stay still to get a profile shot of her face.  So the tech turned 3D on for a minute to show us her hands both in her face.  It was adorable.  Mitch had told me in the past that these 3D ultrasounds are weird…he told me to give him some clay and he could create a clay model of her.  I personally think they are amazing.  I mean, I see where it can look a little weird for example since she’s moving so much her arm and chin look a little distorted.  But still it’s amazing how much detail you can see about her already!  I just love seeing how perfect she looks in there. 

 

I also had my glucose test (yuck).  Everything else is checking out great.

 

Naming is going well.  We at least have about five ideas that we both like but I’m not sure if we’ve pinpointed “the one.”  I’ve still been diligently searching through lists and lists of girls’ names up until about a week ago I decided to just quit.  I just re-read the baby name book girls section again after I had just read the whole thing before finding out it was a girl.  But I think I’ve seen them all 100 times by now.  I did find a new one that might end up being the one, we’ll see.  Our boys name list was solid and I’m a little sad that we won’t be able to use one of these.

 

Beckett

Everett

Camden

Finn

Hudson (okay this wasn’t approved by Mitch but I love it so much and I’ve tried to sneak it back on the list every time for the last three kids)

18 Weeks (now 19) with Quatro

The bump really seems to be showing and growing these days.  It always seems to look small when I look at these pictures though.

 

 

 

I had a very quick prenatal checkup Monday.  Checked all the basics including belly size (between 18 and 19 so right on) and heartbeat (in the 150s).  Our big ultrasound is in three weeks on Dec 16^th!  I’m dying.  I had a dream that we were at the ultrasound and I peeked when the tech told us to look away.  It was in 4D mode and I could tell that it was clearly a girl.  Ha!  I promise not to do that in the ultrasound.  I just can’t wait to get a good preview of that little one.

 

We just started getting serious about names over the weekend.  We’re actually doing better than I thought we would, but haven’t decided on anything for sure yet.  I’m having a harder time with girls’ names than boys this time which is unusual.  Our only thing with the boys name is that whatever we decide we must have a backup since there’s a little boy cousin being born two months before.  J  There are so many cute girl names for kids that just don’t work on adults for me.  And whenever I’m looking at names, I tend to first picture them on an adult being called on in a global business setting, then an 18 year old crossing the stage at high school graduation, then a child starting kindergarten, and then a little newborn baby.  If I still like it, I'll do a little further research on the name, put it with a middle name and our last name, put it with our other kids’ names, etc.  I usually can’t get past the first adult test with the girls names.  I realize trends change and a name that doesn’t work on an adult now might totally work on an adult 30 years from now, but I still struggle with it and want it to be a strong enough name for the future, not just a cute name for a little kid.  I had a list of 16 boy names that has been cut down to 5 that I like a lot and Mitch likes at least a little.  And out of a list of 14 girl names, it is down to 2 possibilities that I’m really unsure about.  Mitch actually agreed to more of the girls names than that but I’ve cut out some of my own ideas after further thought.  I’ve been through a million baby name sites and have re-read the entire baby name book again.  My favorite name website right now by far is nameberry.com.  I love how their search is organized and I love how the name results include not only the meaning of the name, but also a little description on the current trend of the name, similar names, famous people with the name, pop culture references, and nicknames.  I also love their large amount of random name lists and that when you look at a specific name it shows you which lists that name is on so you can kind of get a feel for what the general "theme" of the name is.  Anyway, the boys will not consider any name other than Crawly.  Grady actually glares at me when I ask him for name ideas other than Crawly.  I love sharing my ideas with them though.  Rainbow, Sky, Apple, Tuesday, Ernie, Bert.  “What?!  That is soooo ridiculous, Mom.”  But Crawly is acceptable?

14 Week Belly

The baby is definitely growing.  Apparently it's the size of a lemon now.  It's always funny when I look at these pictures.  I feel so much bigger than I actually look.

Weight gain: +5 lb

All is well with me and baby according to my checkup yesterday.  The baby is stubborn and was wiggly all over in there again so she had to chase it around to get a good listen of the heartbeat.  150 bpm.  When I lay down you can see the itty bitty bump and you could see it shifting from side to side.  Crazy.  I have felt some taps down there but nothing strong yet.  Looking forward to that!

My next checkup is in four weeks (Nov 25th) and then the big ultrasound (Dec 16th)!  I was hoping she would have me schedule the ultrasound next time at 18 weeks but no such luck.  Oh well, just practice for splitting my patience between four kids. :)

baby.

So.  This is happening.  Right now.  Inside of me.  A growing baby...

Yup, that's right.  Baby #4 is due April 25th, 2014!!!  We're so excited to bring another baby home.

Now if you have all day, feel free to read on to catch up on the last 7 weeks of baby's life.  :)

August 13^th, 2013 (3 weeks 4 days)
Here comes baby #4!  I’m staring at this blank page and deciding where I should start our next chapter.

Let’s start with vacation.  Over vacation at the cabin in Minnesota Jamie and Emily announced they are expecting their third baby!   While out on the boat Sunday with Mitch and the boys, we were talking about how awesome it is that Cleveland grandchild #10 (wow!) is on the way and Mitch mentioned he thought that we would be making that announcement soon.  I said I doubt it but chuckled that maybe I’ll be sending him a picture of a pregnancy test after I go home and he’s still up at the cabin for the week.  He said he wouldn’t be surprised. J  Really I didn’t doubt it either it just sounded like the right thing to say and I was trying not to let my mind “go there” for fear of getting too excited about it.

Monday, on my drive home with Maddox and Ada, after the flat tire and amidst my battery dying, my mind really started to “go there”.  I was pulling into St. Cloud looking for an auto place to stop to have my battery checked before it officially died and ran into Walmart quick to get Ada some formula which I had forgot to grab for our ride.  We walked right by the pregnancy test aisle and I decided to grab a box.

At this point I had built my emotions up enough that I couldn’t wait and I took it when we got home Monday night at midnight even though it was a little early to test.  It came up negative.  Figured I’d take the other one in the morning since that’s when you’re supposed to, and it was still negative other than if I turned it in the exact lighting my imagination could almost see a line there.  I kept checking back to see if it changed.   I was a little bummed but worked to get my mind back to where we were planning to try for an early winter baby.  I just wasn’t convinced yet though.  After we dropped Maddox off for his first day of pre-k, Ada and I were going grocery shopping and I bought one more box just in case the other ones were too early.  I planned on waiting for the next morning to take one but of course I couldn’t and I took it right when we got home.

This time there was a very faint line that took a little less imagination than the last one.  I knew it!  We knew it!  I took the other one a few hours later just to be sure and there’s clearly another faint line there.

So, here we go!  I don’t plan on texting Mitch a picture.  Besides the fact that he probably couldn’t see the line through a phone picture, I think I’ll wait until he gets home to tell him so he doesn’t have the torture of trying to keep it a secret all week while with his family.  It will be tough, but I want to tell him to his face anyways.

According to my calculations, our baby will be due April 25^th, 2014 (Anzac Day for you Australians out there, which is funny because I was just talking to Lala about Anzac day)!  Our family is turning out exactly as we dreamed it would. So blessed.

8/18/13 (4 weeks 2 days)
I made it until Mitch got home from vacation to share the news with him. 5 days of torture!  He’s so good…he came home with cookie dough ice cream today…a pregnancy staple.  We’re so excited to be expecting our fourth and final child and can’t stop talking about it.  I set up my first prenatal appointments and can’t wait for our first ultrasound at 8 weeks on Sept. 13 (Friday the 13^th…yikes).  We’ve decided to keep it a secret until after that which I think is going to be tough with Ada’s birthday party and Labor Day weekend coming up.  I’m feeling great so far, just painfully tired.

 

8/30/31 (6 weeks)

Not too much to say about being 6 weeks.  I don’t feel pregnant other than the extreme exhaustion.  Do you ladies remember that first pregnancy and how you could just come home after work and relax on the couch all night? This is a picture of me relaxing on the couch now. Three blurry kiddos jumping on my lap.  :)

 

I can’t wait for our ultrasound in two weeks to see the little peanut.

 

 

 

9/3/13 (6 weeks 4 days)

I spoke too soon.  Nausea has set in.  Wish I could curl up into a ball and sleep all day.

 

9/6/13 (7 weeks)

Getting worse by the day.  I’m always painfully hungry, which makes me feel sick, so I eat which makes me feel even more sick (and throw up).  I’m damned if I do, I’m damned if I don’t.  Eating is such a chore, nothing sounds or tastes good even though I’m constantly starving.  Everything smells…I think I could smell ADM from our house the other day or something equally as gross.  And as crappy as I feel, I have a strange appreciation for morning sickness…daily affirmation that there is indeed a growing baby inside. 

 

9/10/13 (7 weeks 4 days)

Dysgeusia: a distortion of the sense of taste.  Never heard of it until I googled, “why do I have such a bad taste in my mouth during pregnancy?”  I don’t remember anything like this in previous pregnancies.  I just want to actually enjoy food again.

 

9/13/13 (8 weeks)

Let’s quit focusing on the sick and focus on this instead.  The tiny little reason behind all the sickness…

 

 

 

This never gets old.  Seeing that incredible itty bitty heart beating inside of me for the first time.  It’s so amazing and so relieving and fills my own beating heart with instant love.  I have to admit I couldn’t tell what I was looking at other than a little blob of a baby.  I actually pointed to a part of the blob and asked “is that the head” and she said “no…that’s the yoke sac” and then she showed me the orientation of the really curled up baby and asked if I could see it and I laughed and lied, “Um…yeah…sure.”  But that tiny little flickering heart is undeniable and a sense of wonder.  I mean seriously, the baby is a fraction of an inch long so its heart right now is just a tiny spec yet I can see it beating already.  There is nothing more miraculous in life.

 

9/16/13 (8 weeks 3 days)

We shared the great news with our families and a lot of other people over the weekend.  Mitch was in Ames tailgating and going to the Iowa/Iowa State game so I couldn’t wait for him to get home Sunday so we could finally tell the kids.  They got big smiles and were asking questions the rest of the night while staring at my belly…”Is the baby going to fall out of you?”  This will be fun talking about the growing baby since they’re both older now.  Maddox seems to recall a lot from my last pregnancy because he keeps saying “Yeah, just like Ada” when we’re talking about this baby and how my belly will keep growing and then we’ll go to hospital to have it.  And he still refers to that whole process as my belly hatching and I think we’ll leave it at that.  I showed them a picture of what the baby looks like right now while it’s growing its arms and legs and they thought it was funny.  Maddox and Grady both think it’s a boy or rather are convinced and won’t even entertain the fact that it could possibly be a girl.  Actually Grady has been talking about having a baby brother since before I even knew I was pregnant.  :)

 

9/27/13 (10 weeks)

Wow, time is flying by as usual!  I’m already ¼ of a way through this pregnancy.  Good news…I feel wonderful (albeit tired)!  This week I finally am enjoying food again and the nausea is completely gone!  Also I’ve had way more energy…not full energy but at least our house is clean for the first time in forever.  While I’ve been saying this has been the worst pregnancy, now that I’m actually through the worst of it, I don’t think it was really much different than my 1^st tri with Maddox, I just threw up a few more times this time (because I’m older and more wimpy now).  With Maddox, I was super nauseas from 6-8 weeks too.  With Grady, it was much milder but lasted a lot longer (8-14 weeks).  With Ada, pretty much no sickness at all.  This one, same story as Maddox (knock on wood).

 

I had an appointment yesterday and although it’s too early to normally hear the heartbeat she wanted to give it a try.  After what felt like hours but was really only minutes of torture not being able to find it, she went to get the cool new handheld ultrasound thing!  Awesome….it’s just like a little phone sized screen with a cord to the Doppler thingy.  After we saw where the baby was hiding, she checked again and found that perfect sounding heartbeat at 175 bpm.  I just love that sound.

 

People have been asking if we’re going to find out the sex.  We’re not planning to this time.  I pretty much left it up to Mitch, since I’ve equally loved both ways of finding out.  Remember, we found out with Maddox, didn’t find out with Grady, and found out again with Ada.  I recalled Mitch feeling a little frustrated not finding out in the ultrasound with Grady but then ending up loving finding out for ourselves “in real life” in the end.  To my surprise, he answered right away that we should wait to find out.  I’m so happy with that choice!

38 Weeks w/ Baby Girl

Well, I feel….great. Which is awesome other than the fact that I feel like I could easily be pregnant for another 2 weeks...not cool.  Earlier this week my hip was all out of whack, I couldn’t walk and thought for sure I was DONE, but apparently it popped back into place and we’re good to go now. I surpassed Maddox’s arrival yesterday (37 weeks 6 days) which subconsciously I consider my due date with all subsequent children. And today I’m surpassing the dream I had of an Aug 24 9:00 AM birth. I’ve tried not to think this way but some things are out of my control. So subconsciously I am past my due date now when really I have 14 whole days to get there! My mind also assumes I will wake up to my first contractions in the middle of the night since that is how it started with both boys. So every morning, I wake up and think…”Dang...nothing. OK, I can get through another day.” I will be thrown for a loop if my labor starts in the middle of the day. It’s really becoming quite obsessive. I forgot how it feels to constantly be wondering when and how you are going to go into labor.

Weight gain: +35 lb
w/ Maddox: NA    w/ Grady:  +41 lb

I have nothing to report from my doctor's appt today other than everything looks good and I've made no progress since last week which is fine because I know how fast I can dilate once I'm in labor so starting at 1 cm is perfect.  Oh and she said at my appt next Friday we can set a date to be induced if I want.  I really don't want to be induced but maybe I'll set a date for right after my due date or something.  I don't know.

Grady wanted me to take some pictures of him after Mitch took my belly pic tonight.  I told him to pick a spot and smile.  He chose a few spots and a prop.  Goof.

Slapdash Ramblings

Friday I crossed the 37-week line. FULL TERM! You can come meet us now, baby girl!  My doctor's appt went really well.  All the normal stuff looks great...blood pressure, heartbeat, and size.  She is head down (very down), hips up and I am "very soft, at least a good cm dilated, and 50% effaced."  I was happy to hear that all the random contractions I'm having are doing a little work!  1 cm is a good starting point...I went to the hospital 1 cm dilated with Maddox and he was born 7 hrs later.  Now we just play the waiting game! 

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I took some family pictures yesterday.  Head on over and check them out.
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Grady has now been binky-free for 3 weeks. Considering he has a big time binky baby/toddler, it was surprisingly easy to get rid of it. Mitch just randomly asked him one night if he could sleep without it since he’s a big boy now and he didn’t even put up a fight. He didn’t ask for it the next night. The 3^rd night, I was cuddling with him at bed time and out of nowhere he said to me in deep thought, “I’m not a big boy. I’m a little boy.” Which is weird because usually he argues that he’s a big boy. I agreed with him that he was kind of little still but growing up into a big boy and he dropped the subject. It was pretty adorable. He hasn’t mentioned it since.

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I failed to mention here that we brought Fella “back to his family” in June. He had always been a biter and it had gotten REALLY bad especially with me. Then after he peed on my laundry 3 times in a week, I was done. Mitch brought him back to the shelter. He was part of our family for a whole year and him and Maddox were best buds, so I was mostly worried about the boys but they handled it great and they’re happy Fella is with his cat family now. He’s apparantly living the farm life now (or maybe Mitch just made that up but I’m not going to ask).

I have to admit this one makes me miss him...a little.