Baby #4!!!
Okay yikes, I am really really trying not to have this baby get the fourth child treatment, so I think it's about time she gets her own blog post. Especially since I'm over 37 weeks pregnant, whoa!!
So, rewinding way, way back.... I actually found out I was pregnant the morning of Kate's birthday!! (mid January) Matthew (very rudely, ahem) asked me if there was a baby in my belly because it looked like there might be. Considering that if there was, it was microscopic, I kinda wanted to kick his bum and send him to his room, but instead I just told him that was rude and how dare he ask me that. ;-) It got me thinking though....
I took a test a few hours later and what do ya know - POSITIVE!!! I actually kinda freaked out a little inside because I'd taken a test about 4 or 5 days earlier and it was definitely negative. Obviously I tested too early, but still. The positive test took me by surprise. I was super excited though!!! I celebrated the day with Kate and spoiled her as much as I could. I also went to find my box of 2T boys clothes. I'd just recently pulled out that size for Joshua and had left only a few items in there for him not to wear... one of those items was a shirt that said "Best Big Bro." While Matthew was already a big brother well before he was 2, Joshua definitely wasn't, so there was no way in heck I was going to have him wearing that shirt and giving people the wrong idea. BUT, I thought it would be a great way to let Michael know. I knew it would totally take him by surprise as well since I'd told him about my negative test the week prior.
Michael was understandably very distracted when he got home from work since it was Kate's birthday! It was the first time he'd seen her that day so he was being the usual Super Dad and and showering Kate with all kinds of love and attention. We had a plan to immediately go to Chick-Fil-A for dinner when he got home (Kate's choice) so he started loading up the kids into the car without paying attention to Josh's shirt at all. Well, eventually I was totally dying inside and laughing so hard!!!! He could NOT figure out what was so funny even when I was saying, (while laughing) "Josh!" Finally he was like, "WHAT!?" and I was like, "Josh's shirt!!!!" I was driving and he was in the passenger seat, but I managed to peek over at Michael as he was looking at Josh's shirt and oh man, the look on his face was SO priceless. His eyes got HUGE!!!! It's funny to me that our fourth kid (FOURTH kid, people) sorta felt like the biggest shock to both of us, but it really did! I could tell his head was spinning. And then of course I start cracking up even more. Michael was in a bit of a daze after that, but we of course managed to still have a wonderful time with the family and celebrate with Kate the rest of the night. I did, however, make Michael take a pic later that night with the "announcement." I told him to recreate his face and he gave me this. ;-)
They were SO excited to see that pink, to say the least. Especially Kate! Well, I don't think Joshua really knew what was going on, but he was excited that his siblings were excited and that he got to eat a cupcake.
And not only have they been excited about the fact that they are getting a sister, but they have been so involved and excited about every aspect of this pregnancy. They think my growing belly is awesome, the kicks are even awesome-er, and ask every week at the grocery store to see the food item that baby sister is as big as. (And then they all have to hold it.) They love coming up with name ideas and seeing videos of the way the baby is progressing. I will really miss how much fun they are to teach and have so involved in all of this! Cuties. (This is a pic of them holding a sweet potato, which is what baby sis was at 18 weeks.)
Anyway, I feel like even though the sickness definitely got better about halfway through the pregnancy, the physical discomforts started soooo early. I swear my hips were already ripping apart around that time. Ha! My back hurt a lot and I had Braxton Hicks sooooo much. I couldn't believe how early all that was happening. It's like my body was like, "Oh yep, I've definitely done this before - let's get this party started!" Some days are super uncomfortable, but luckily sometimes my body gives me a break and I feel great. It's really so different.
This baby is similar to her siblings in that she is almost always on my right side, and gets the hiccups soooo much. She is similar to just Matthew in that she always has a foot up in my right ribs. (Seriously it's never the left, only the right.) She is so wiggly and anytime I've seen her on an ultrasound she has her hands near her face. (Also a Byram trait.) I always joke that I already know what she's going to look like. We don't have a ton of genetic variety in our family. :-)
Hmmm, what else do I want documented? I started wearing maternity shorts super early. I don't get why people want to put this off as long as possible. They are SO comfortable! Seriously the best! Oh, and being pregnant for all of the Phoenix summer is dumb. I'm already miserable here in the summer, but being pregnant for it is awful. I don't even sleep with a sheet. I feel menopausal with how hot I am all the time! Ha! On the bright side, the weather will start to get better in a little over a month and it'll be nice to be able to actually take Baby Girl outside for fresh air.
Naming this baby has been hard! I always knew I loved the name Kate, so she was easy. And if she'd been a boy, we already knew we were naming him Luke. But when she turned out to be a girl we were pretty stumped. We both really love the name Emily, but we gave it to Kate as a middle name because we didn't know if we'd ever have another girl. We eventually came up with a list of about five or six and have narrowed it down to two. We'll probably make our final decision in the hospital when we feel the pressure. :-)
Sleep has been pretty rough the last month. Any time I wake up in the night (which is OFTEN) my hips are in soooo much pain. This is new. While I experienced normal third trimester discomforts with my other kids, I have never had so much pain through the night like this. I usually feel like a total cripple while waddling over to the bathroom. Luckily, it is MUCH better throughout the day. I have tried to stay as active as I can throughout the pregnancy and feel like I've done a pretty good job with that.
I am finding it hard to find time to get proper nesting in. I clean something and with three other kids running around, it's dirty again 10 seconds later. I haven't officially moved Josh out of the crib so I set her up with a swing in our room for now. She doesn't really have a room just yet, but she DOES have a dresser and I finally managed to get my baby girl clothes washed and put away so YAY! I looooved being able to pull out all Kate's old clothes again. And the bows! I've bought several brand new ones because they're all made with nylon now and sooo much better than they were even a few years ago. Can't wait to dress this girl up!
I am getting close to 38 weeks now, and since I'm already dilated to past a 3, I know that birth is very, very near. I know I am probably super ridiculous to most people but I am beyond anxious about the birth. My births are SO fast and I am pretty positive that I once again won't have time to get an epidural. This is so NOT my style. Please don't get me wrong - I know how unbelievably blessed I am to have healthy babies that come when they are supposed to, so there are understandably people out there who deal with much bigger issues who probably want to punch me in the face- but man, I am really not the natural labor type, and I hate that I don't really have a choice. I would seriously do ANYTHING (other than put my baby in some sort of distress or danger) to be induced so that I could plan better and have some pain relief, but I have never made it to my due date before and it has proven impossible to find a doctor that would induce me before 40 weeks, even knowing my history of extremely fast births. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for the labor and delivery to be over so that I can enjoy the newborn phase and have that looming anxiety gone. I am 3 for 3 for going into labor at night, so I am sort of expecting in my head to go into labor while I'm trying to go to bed. Ha! BUT! You just never know! It's even possible for me to make it to my due date for the first time ever, though I'd be super surprised if I did.
And check it out - I've even managed to take some pictures of my belly here and there! Go me! Any day now! Cross your fingers that I don't give birth in triage, and especially not in the car! Agh! Ready or not, she will be here soon! Can't wait to meet you Baby Girl!
So, rewinding way, way back.... I actually found out I was pregnant the morning of Kate's birthday!! (mid January) Matthew (very rudely, ahem) asked me if there was a baby in my belly because it looked like there might be. Considering that if there was, it was microscopic, I kinda wanted to kick his bum and send him to his room, but instead I just told him that was rude and how dare he ask me that. ;-) It got me thinking though....
I took a test a few hours later and what do ya know - POSITIVE!!! I actually kinda freaked out a little inside because I'd taken a test about 4 or 5 days earlier and it was definitely negative. Obviously I tested too early, but still. The positive test took me by surprise. I was super excited though!!! I celebrated the day with Kate and spoiled her as much as I could. I also went to find my box of 2T boys clothes. I'd just recently pulled out that size for Joshua and had left only a few items in there for him not to wear... one of those items was a shirt that said "Best Big Bro." While Matthew was already a big brother well before he was 2, Joshua definitely wasn't, so there was no way in heck I was going to have him wearing that shirt and giving people the wrong idea. BUT, I thought it would be a great way to let Michael know. I knew it would totally take him by surprise as well since I'd told him about my negative test the week prior.
Michael was understandably very distracted when he got home from work since it was Kate's birthday! It was the first time he'd seen her that day so he was being the usual Super Dad and and showering Kate with all kinds of love and attention. We had a plan to immediately go to Chick-Fil-A for dinner when he got home (Kate's choice) so he started loading up the kids into the car without paying attention to Josh's shirt at all. Well, eventually I was totally dying inside and laughing so hard!!!! He could NOT figure out what was so funny even when I was saying, (while laughing) "Josh!" Finally he was like, "WHAT!?" and I was like, "Josh's shirt!!!!" I was driving and he was in the passenger seat, but I managed to peek over at Michael as he was looking at Josh's shirt and oh man, the look on his face was SO priceless. His eyes got HUGE!!!! It's funny to me that our fourth kid (FOURTH kid, people) sorta felt like the biggest shock to both of us, but it really did! I could tell his head was spinning. And then of course I start cracking up even more. Michael was in a bit of a daze after that, but we of course managed to still have a wonderful time with the family and celebrate with Kate the rest of the night. I did, however, make Michael take a pic later that night with the "announcement." I told him to recreate his face and he gave me this. ;-)
And don't get me wrong - we were both SOOOO excited about this baby. Four kids definitely seemed like a lot, and we were like, "Are we crazy to have so many in 6 years????" but we were absolutely thrilled with the coming addition!
Anyway, after a few more weeks I definitely started to feel SICK. I have gotten progressively more sick with each of my pregnancies. It is hard for me to eat the absolute first thing in the morning because I usually have a kid or two demanding attention in some way, not to mention our routine usually consists of getting ready and THEN going downstairs for breakfast, but I quickly learned that my body just couldn't handle an empty stomach for even a little bit. If I didn't eat really quickly, I was literally dry heaving. My appetite changed for a while and I didn't crave the same things. It was actually kind of difficult to find foods that sounded good, yet I would also feel really sick if I didn't eat a lot. I was SO HUNGRY. Not super fun. Luckily it stayed manageable (I am SO GRATEFUL for that) and never really impacted my life too much. I was even able to enjoy Hawaii completely, other than the motion sickness of the boat and plane rides!
We told the kids about the baby right before Hawaii since we'd decided that after we returned from that trip we'd be okay with the kids telling anyone about it. (And they definitely told anyone and everyone, ha!) They were SO EXCITED!!!! I'd had a hunch that the baby was a boy so I tried to prepare them for that, even though both Matthew and Kate insisted that they wanted a baby sister. I was a little bummed that they'd most likely be a tiny bit disappointed if it was a boy, but figured they'd get over it. (HA!!!! Yes, I'm a terrible gender predictor. I pretty much thought all my babies were boys. I guess 50% isn't the worst....) :-) Anyway, I finally got Matthew and Kate at least saying, "Well, if it's a boy we'll be happy, but if it's a girl, we'll be REALLY happy!"
And I should probably explain at least a little why I thought this one was a boy. By my fourth kid, I was pretty sure I knew my body really well and how it reacted to being pregnant with each gender. I noticed that I was SO much more hungry with my boys than I was with Kate. My food cravings also seemed more similar to what they were with my boys. I didn't really go off of how sick I was since I felt like each baby just made me more and more sick, but I really was convinced the baby was a boy!
We ended up not having insurance for about 6-7 weeks because Michael had a job change. Not fun to not have insurance when you're pregnant and have three little kids, by the way. Luckily we got suuuper lucky and nothing drastic happened during those six weeks! BUT, my big 20 week anatomy ultrasound was supposed to be during those six weeks and I knew I'd have the hardest time ever making it to 23 or 24ish weeks before getting to see the baby and finding out the gender! I also hated that I couldn't check on the baby, since I tend to worry. So, for the first time ever, we went to one of those ultrasound places where they tell you the gender of your baby as early as 15 weeks! I got a recommendation from a friend of a place to go and it was actually right down the street from us. Woohoo! I made my appointment for when I'd be 16 weeks along, which was mid April. (And the day before Easter) I wanted to tell the kids in a fun way, so the plan was for the ultrasound tech to tell me and Michael the gender and let the kids see the baby, but not let them hear the gender until we got home. Before our appointment I made some simple gender reveal cupcakes - three in each color.
I remember telling Michael that I was tempted to not even make any pink ones because I was so sure it was a boy. But Michael (the reasonable one) insisted that I make pink ones too just in case. So I did! I frosted them, separated them by color, and off we went to the ultrasound!
The place was SO nice. It was a HUGE sonogram room that was made to be comfortable and nice, since they run their business off of those rooms. :-) They had big comfy couches, a big screen TV in front of those couches, and even a kids play table. The lady got right to it after I laid down and showed us the gender area right away. Michael walked right up to the screen, looked at me with big eyes, and mouthed in shock, "THAT'S A GIRL!!!!!!"
I couldn't really tell, though I definitely didn't see the obvious boy parts, so I looked at the ultrasound tech to see if Michael was right. She smiled and said, "Yep it is!" I just about died from shock and excitement! Another girl!! Kate was going to get her little sister after all! And I was going to get another daughter! I was sooooo excited! Michael looked a little horrified again, though was able to keep it together better than he was at the ultrasound when he found out that Kate was a girl. Hahaha. It was really difficult for me to keep it quiet and not let the kids know - Michael kept having to remind me to be quiet so that the kids didn't hear anything. (Kate and Josh are pretty aloof, but Matthew definitely would've picked up on it if he'd heard anything.)
As soon as we got in the car to go home Matthew asked us if we knew if it was a boy or a girl and we told him we did, but that he'd have to wait a few more minutes to find out. As soon as we got home we grabbed the plate of pink cupcakes (um, thank heavens for Michael making sure I made them! ha!) and sat the kids at the table in front of them. Then we recorded their reactions. I posted the video to social media, but here are a few pictures:
They were SO excited to see that pink, to say the least. Especially Kate! Well, I don't think Joshua really knew what was going on, but he was excited that his siblings were excited and that he got to eat a cupcake.
And not only have they been excited about the fact that they are getting a sister, but they have been so involved and excited about every aspect of this pregnancy. They think my growing belly is awesome, the kicks are even awesome-er, and ask every week at the grocery store to see the food item that baby sister is as big as. (And then they all have to hold it.) They love coming up with name ideas and seeing videos of the way the baby is progressing. I will really miss how much fun they are to teach and have so involved in all of this! Cuties. (This is a pic of them holding a sweet potato, which is what baby sis was at 18 weeks.)
Anyway, I feel like even though the sickness definitely got better about halfway through the pregnancy, the physical discomforts started soooo early. I swear my hips were already ripping apart around that time. Ha! My back hurt a lot and I had Braxton Hicks sooooo much. I couldn't believe how early all that was happening. It's like my body was like, "Oh yep, I've definitely done this before - let's get this party started!" Some days are super uncomfortable, but luckily sometimes my body gives me a break and I feel great. It's really so different.
This baby is similar to her siblings in that she is almost always on my right side, and gets the hiccups soooo much. She is similar to just Matthew in that she always has a foot up in my right ribs. (Seriously it's never the left, only the right.) She is so wiggly and anytime I've seen her on an ultrasound she has her hands near her face. (Also a Byram trait.) I always joke that I already know what she's going to look like. We don't have a ton of genetic variety in our family. :-)
Hmmm, what else do I want documented? I started wearing maternity shorts super early. I don't get why people want to put this off as long as possible. They are SO comfortable! Seriously the best! Oh, and being pregnant for all of the Phoenix summer is dumb. I'm already miserable here in the summer, but being pregnant for it is awful. I don't even sleep with a sheet. I feel menopausal with how hot I am all the time! Ha! On the bright side, the weather will start to get better in a little over a month and it'll be nice to be able to actually take Baby Girl outside for fresh air.
Naming this baby has been hard! I always knew I loved the name Kate, so she was easy. And if she'd been a boy, we already knew we were naming him Luke. But when she turned out to be a girl we were pretty stumped. We both really love the name Emily, but we gave it to Kate as a middle name because we didn't know if we'd ever have another girl. We eventually came up with a list of about five or six and have narrowed it down to two. We'll probably make our final decision in the hospital when we feel the pressure. :-)
Sleep has been pretty rough the last month. Any time I wake up in the night (which is OFTEN) my hips are in soooo much pain. This is new. While I experienced normal third trimester discomforts with my other kids, I have never had so much pain through the night like this. I usually feel like a total cripple while waddling over to the bathroom. Luckily, it is MUCH better throughout the day. I have tried to stay as active as I can throughout the pregnancy and feel like I've done a pretty good job with that.
I am finding it hard to find time to get proper nesting in. I clean something and with three other kids running around, it's dirty again 10 seconds later. I haven't officially moved Josh out of the crib so I set her up with a swing in our room for now. She doesn't really have a room just yet, but she DOES have a dresser and I finally managed to get my baby girl clothes washed and put away so YAY! I looooved being able to pull out all Kate's old clothes again. And the bows! I've bought several brand new ones because they're all made with nylon now and sooo much better than they were even a few years ago. Can't wait to dress this girl up!
I am getting close to 38 weeks now, and since I'm already dilated to past a 3, I know that birth is very, very near. I know I am probably super ridiculous to most people but I am beyond anxious about the birth. My births are SO fast and I am pretty positive that I once again won't have time to get an epidural. This is so NOT my style. Please don't get me wrong - I know how unbelievably blessed I am to have healthy babies that come when they are supposed to, so there are understandably people out there who deal with much bigger issues who probably want to punch me in the face- but man, I am really not the natural labor type, and I hate that I don't really have a choice. I would seriously do ANYTHING (other than put my baby in some sort of distress or danger) to be induced so that I could plan better and have some pain relief, but I have never made it to my due date before and it has proven impossible to find a doctor that would induce me before 40 weeks, even knowing my history of extremely fast births. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for the labor and delivery to be over so that I can enjoy the newborn phase and have that looming anxiety gone. I am 3 for 3 for going into labor at night, so I am sort of expecting in my head to go into labor while I'm trying to go to bed. Ha! BUT! You just never know! It's even possible for me to make it to my due date for the first time ever, though I'd be super surprised if I did.
And check it out - I've even managed to take some pictures of my belly here and there! Go me! Any day now! Cross your fingers that I don't give birth in triage, and especially not in the car! Agh! Ready or not, she will be here soon! Can't wait to meet you Baby Girl!
No comments:
Post a Comment