third pregnancy {faq}

-You do know how this happens, right? Umm... yes? Pretty sure. 

-Was this pregnancy planned? Not by us! I remember feeling slightly nauseous the night before Thanksgiving and then had the sudden impulse to eat a bowl of cereal to feel better. I thought, 'No way but maybe I'll take a test in the morning just in case.' I was still nursing Drew and hadn't thought about the timing of our next baby. We knew we wanted at least one more but hadn't discussed when. Thanksgiving morning the lines turned blue lickety split and I was beyond excited. I didn't tell anyone right away since I didn't really know anything and wanted to see my doctor first. After the initial excitement, I went through a day of feeling overwhelmed. My baby wasn't even one yet and how could I do four under four? That lasted a whopping few hours and I was back to being over the moon about it. I'm really trusting God doesn't give you more than you can handle. Also, I am praying for a good sleeper. That would be a Minor baby first. ; )

-Is it a boy? More often than not, rather than asking if we know the gender, people (mostly strangers) ask if it's a boy this time. Welp, we don't know. We didn't find out this time! But I'm guessing a girl. And we'll be thrilled with either! (My sweet neighbor, Loretta, literally prays over my belly every time she sees me. 'Jesus, please let this be their boy.' But then she always says they had three daughters and 'three strikes and we were done.' I'm all, Strikes?! Well, that's not really the best way to look at it...)

-Has this pregnancy been the same as your other two? (I think people ask this to try to figure out if it will be a boy or girl...) I have felt the same exact type of nausea as my other pregnancies. And by type of sickness I mean all day, every day, can't open the refrigerator, eat a ton of cereal, gag brushing my teeth, etc. sickness. But I'm thankful for it. I was really holding out for this to stop by 16 weeks or so like the last two times. No such luck. I'm 38 weeks pregnant and still just as sick. I had really bad heartburn towards the end of my other two pregnancies--more with Drew. This pregnancy, I've had heartburn since the end of the first trimester. Drew had more hair than the girls, so maybe the old wives tail is true about heartburn and the amount of hair. If that's the case, this kid better come out with Rapunzel hair. Like I get heartburn from drinking water.

 I've also had bloody noses at least once a day since then. I had a few at the end of my last two pregnancies. But, this time, basically every time I laugh too hard, bend over for too long, or scratch my nose, I get a bloody nose. Which basically helps the nausea situation not at all. They tell me this is normal. So overall? I'd say this is about exactly the same as my other pregnancies just amplified by about a trillion. I'm way more achy this time but I've been reminded I'm older now. Thank you very much. 

-Cravings? I haven't really felt like much to eat this entire pregnancy. Just the thought of opening the refrigerator door is discouraging. And, wouldn't you know, toddlers eat all the time. So I'm basically preparing/cleaning up food non-stop. Oh, the irony. I did go through a phase in the first 12 weeks of my pregnancy where if I didn't eat three bowls of Kellog's Pops cereal in the evening, I thought I might die. (Pregnancy is so dramatic, right?) So, my non-GMO, organic, whole foods philosophy about eating was compromised for the sake of survival. (Kind of like on Friends when Phoebe was pregnant with the triplets and wanted nothing but meat...) I hadn't even seen a box of Pops since high school but, wouldn't you know, I almost single-handedly ate 8 boxes of it during the first 12 weeks. 

-Are the girls excited? Drew has no clue what's going on. Bless her heart.The girls on the other hand are definitely more excited this time. They sing to my belly, come up with the best/most imaginative names (Nosu? Add it to the list!), ask how the baby is feeling, and are generally thrilled to be getting a new baby. 

We've been blessed with three wonderful pregnancies and, while this one has definitely been the most difficult, we would never take it for granted and are praising the Lord for another little soul. Things are about to get a little crazier around here, but we wouldn't want it any other way.