Baby #3

Disclaimer: This post might contain too much info for you. If you don't want to know the nitty gritty of my pregnancy so far, stop reading here. There is another post under this one that I did today that might be more to your liking. :)

Most of you probably already heard the news that Scott and I are expecting our 3rd baby by now, but we've been keeping it pretty quiet up until now. I don't exactly have a wonderful track record with pregnancy, so we were trying not to get too excited at first. But now that I'm past the first trimester I thought it was time to start writing about it and how things are going so far.

First off, this pregnancy was a bit of a surprise. We were trying, so it wasn't an accident at all, but it definitely happened MUCH sooner than we planned. I guess that just goes to show what a waste it is to try to plan anything to do with pregnancy. I think Scott was secretly a little bummed that we didn't get to try for more than a month. :) So we were both surprised that it happened so quickly, but we were very pleasantly surprised since it was something we both wanted very much. After all that happened last summer, the doctors were worried about this (or any future) pregnancy being another tubal one. For some reason, once you've had one, your chance to have another one quintuples from the normal rate. So after a few ultrasounds and weeks of every-other-day bloodtests, they determined that I had a normal pregnancy. After that the worry was about miscarriage (from scar tissue left over from last summer's adventure). But I've been monitored very closely and I'm pretty much out of the woods in that regard. I've heard the baby's heartbeat a few times and I've seen it on the ultrasounds and between that and all the rounds of bloodwork I've had to do, they say everything looks perfect.

How I'm Feeling

Strangely, I've felt better during this pregnancy than during any of the others. At first I worried that something was wrong because I always felt miserable before and if I wasn't feeling that this time, maybe I wasn't really pregnant after all.... Of course that was ridiculous and I was reassured the entire time that everything was looking great and that I should just enjoy the fact that I wasn't feeling any sickness. I am thankful that I didn't have to deal with that this time around. I remember hanging over the porcelain throne when I was pregnant with Pumpkin while Mister was left to his own devices until I felt like I could venture further than 2 feet from the bathroom without being sick. I remember feeling exhausted and drained and the LAST thing I wanted to be doing was taking care of a toddler when I was feeling so terrible myself. I can't imagine having do deal with that this time around too. With two children to take care of.....and all the mischief they can get into.... So I've learned to appreciate and enjoy the fact that I'm not sick and not worry that something's wrong. Many people are telling me that since this is so different maybe the baby will be a girl. I honestly don't have any preference either way. Hard to believe, even for me sometimes, but I really don't care if it's a boy or a girl. I would be happy with either one as long as it's healthy.

Other than that, the only thing I have really noticed is that I'm tired ALL THE TIME. Literally, I feel like one of those narcoleptics that can fall asleep anytime, anywhere. I could take a 4 hour nap and still be exhausted by the time bedtime comes around. It's hard to feel motivated to do things because of how tired I feel, but I'm really making an effort to get the boys out of the house anyway. They fight less when we're out doing things than when we're home, so it's kind of a way for me to take the easy road, even though it's hard to get out. Hmmm, would I rather deal with the fighting (while I'm exhausted and short-tempered) or would I rather make the effort to get out and let them take out their energy on the playground (or playing with friends)? Which one is more relaxing? Exactly.

Body Changes

Gotta love being pregnant after you've already had 2 children. While I don't look pregnant to strangers, you can definitely tell if you already know. If you just hadn't seen me in a while and didn't know I was pregnant you'd probably be thinking to yourself: "Man, she's been indulging a bit too much in the pizza....." Lovely. The stage where you're too small for maternity clothes but too big for your own clothes is my absolute least favorite. At least when you're huge and about to pop people know why you're so miserable and uncomfortable. People jump up to give you their seat, open doors for you, grocery store employees offer to help you to your car, or just get me something I need/want so I don't have to get up and do it myself. Nothing fits then either (nope, not even your maternity clothes - at least not in a cute way) but at least you've got a bunch of sympathy. At this stage people just think you look fat and think maybe you should just get to the gym more. No sympathy, no spontaneous attempts to make my day easier. It's wonderful for the self-esteem, I tell you. I keep telling myself that it's worth it in the end, and yes, I know it really is worth it, but still, that doesn't make me feel any better about having to go up a size in my clothes (and even those are getting tight now) and up 2 sizes in my bras (already?!). And the thought of how much hard work I'm going to have to put in to lose all the baby weight just makes me want to cry if I think about it for too long..... Hopefully this is the last time I have to worry about that though. Scott and I always agreed that we wanted 3 kids, so here we are! :)

One thing that was a great side effect of being sick though, was that I lost a bunch of weight at the beginning of my pregnancies. By the time I was back up to my beginning weight it was much later on and the scale was much easier to step on. This time, since no sickness is involved, I've just started gaining weight from the get-go. Lovely.

Food Feelings

Since I haven't been feeling sick, I've pretty much avoided all the food aversions I felt with my two boys. With Mister the smell or sight of meat just made me want to lose it. Not if it was just a little, like in a soup or a casserole or something. But a slab of it - like a steak or big piece of chicken or fish. Hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. Ugh. With Pumpkin it wasn't anything specific all the time, it was just random. Whatever struck me as gross one day would be fine the next, but when it was gross, it was unbearable. Scott was totally baffled by that.

I haven't had too many cravings yet. The only noticeable one is citrus. I'm loving orange juice, lemonade and limeade. Could drink that stuff all day long. With Mister all I wanted was fruit punch flavored Gatorade. With Pumpkin it was cherry icees (slurpees would do in a pinch, but it was an Icee that I really wanted). The one trend I've noticed with all 3 is that I'm just REALLY thirsty when I'm pregnant. I'm also really into Lifesavers right now. I probably hadn't had them since I was in middle school or so, but I've rediscovered them and LOVE them now. I get hungry (you know, the insane pregnancy hunger) all the time and I MUST eat something that sounds good to me. If I feel that way but can't think of anything that sounds good to eat it reduces me to tears because I'm so hungry but for some reason absolutely can't eat anything unless it will hit the spot. Scott hates those times because he's willing to cook me anything or get me anything to make me feel better (bless him) but I can't think of a thing that will make it better. I can usually think of something eventually, but by then we're both feeling pretty frustrated. Ah, the joys.... :)

Despite the minor discomforts of pregnancy so far (both physical and mental) I'm thankful that things are going so well so far and I'm really excited to be a mom again. I love my boys so much and I know I have more love to give to another baby and I can't wait for our family to be complete. When I was expecting Pumpkin I was geniunely worried that I couldn't love a second child as much as my first, so I felt very anxious about that almost the entire time. Now that I know it's possible I'm just excited this time. I really want to enjoy this pregnancy and document it. I feel like I didn't enjoy Mister's and I completely missed Pumpkin's (busy taking care of Mister and enjoying all our alone time together before he had a sibling). This time I'm hoping to take the time to really experience and enjoy this pregnancy. This baby is already endearing him/herself to me by not making me sick. :)