#3

Now that the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, I feel that I should document some of what the last 4+ months have entailed as far as this new baby is concerned.

I was pretty sure I was pregnant early in September, but had to wait a few weeks to make sure.  I spent that time coming to terms with what was sure to be.  This wasn't planned, exactly - but Kyle and I had both hoped to add a new one within the next year or so.  Our "plan" had been to wait another 6 months or so.  But, plans are made for changing.  And, as it turns out, this plan is better than the one I had wanted.

Once I got the positive test, I tried to think of a creative way to tell Kyle.  I couldn't think of anything.  I plopped down by him and said "So.  You've got till June to decide if you want a minivan or not"  He said "ok, why?"  And I added "cause that's when your third kid is due"  He was surprised - but not panicked at all.  We were happy.  We've always known a third was in our future.

This baby is due June 11th, officially.  This means I'll get to take the last few weeks of school off, and I'll have the summer at home.  In addition, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to take off of work through December -giving me a full 6 months of maternity leave.  Some of that is still up in the air, but I think it will work out.  This goes well with Abby, hopefully, starting pre-school in the fall.  In theory, I will be able to get up and take her to pre-school while Kyle stays home with the younger two.  Then I'll be home with just 2 while Abby is at school and Kyle at work.  Easy peasy, right? ;)  More importantly, taking 6 months off will allow us to save some pennies to help us scrape through the second half of the year where we will be paying for pre-school AND childcare for two.  That's gonna be rough, but it's just 6 months and then Abby will be in kindergarten the next fall (what? sigh.)

This pregnancy has been easy on me.  I had some nausea, but nothing that a snack or some sour candy couldn't fix.  I had some exhaustion, but it was manageable and relatively short lived (I mean, apart from the standard- always-tired-baseline I rock now ;)  I haven't had any real aversions, and no super strong cravings.  However, I have a preference for salty things and I've lost my gusto for sugar.  I'll eat it, sure - but if you offer me a cookie or chips and salsa?  I'm probably going to pick chips.  The only day I had a true crazy craving was the day that I could not stop thinking about green olives.  I craved that briny salty goodness.  I bought a new jar and made a batch of egg and olive salad.  I ate almost all of it in one sitting and finished off almost all of the olives too.  That made me pretty sick for a little bit...but at the time, it was exactly what I needed.

While this pregnancy has been easy in a lot of ways, it has not been without complications.

We had our first scare the day before Thankgiving.  We came home from dinner out with the girls and were ready to start bedtime and cleaning the house in prep for Brittany and Jason to join us the next day.  I started getting some cramps and discovered that I was bleeding fairly significantly.  I was pretty scared and decided to go into the ER to get checked.  I couldn't imagine going through thanksgiving day not knowing for sure if I'd lost the baby or not.  I was 11 weeks at the time.  So, off to the ER I went.  Karen came over to our house later and Kyle took the train to join me at the hospital.  After a lot of questioning and waiting, they did our first ultrasound and showed me a very strong heartbeat.  I cried and cried and could not stop crying.  I was so relieved.  I had an internal tear and was sent home with instructions to avoid heavy lifting and to "take it easy"  The tear is now all fixed and that's not been an ongoing issue.

Kyle was great - he did 99% of the cooking and cleaning and all of the lifting on Thanksgiving day.  He took really good care of me, and made sure I didn't overexert myself...even when I was sure I was fine.

So baby has continued to grow and develop.  During our 12-week ultrasound, the doctor flagged a few things she wanted to follow up on - a thick neck fold for one.  We went back at 14 weeks and the neck fold was normal, but the cord and the brain had some soft-signs for some other disorders that she wanted to follow up on.  Specifically spinabifida, heart defects, or cleft pallets...but at 14 weeks, things were too small to see.  So we went back today. The doctor said that the brain, spine, and heart all look good to her - but she wants to check again in a few weeks.  The only for sure abnormality now is that I have a 2-vessel umbilical cord instead of a typical 3-vessel cord.

This isn't completely uncommon.  It happens in about 1% of the population (which I guess is not uncommon in baby-land-speak)  Most of the time it doesn't mean anything, but I will get at least monthly ultrasounds to keep an eye on baby's growth etc.

In more exciting news - the tech said she could tell us the gender today.  We opted not to find out, but we had her write it down for us in a sealed envelope.  Which is sitting on our kitchen counter.  Kyle does not want to find out yet, but I do...so we are keeping the envelope closed until we come to an agreement. :)

So.  ALL of that to say - YAY! We're having a baby!  We're excited. I'm not worried about the ultrasound stuff as there is nothing yet to worry about.  We'll keep you posted.

If you're still reading this.... Hi mom.   :)