Yep, Baby #3 is in the oven folks! We are very excited!
I've had 2 appointments so far. At 10/11 weeks we had the first appointment and officially confirmed that #3 is in there. Which was a big deal because we were all a bit skeptical. Maybe because I have had ZERO "symptoms" for pregnancy. No nausea/sickness, no tenderness, no excessive tiredness (at least that I can notice beyond the average tiredness of raising a 3 yr old and 1 yr old!), not really making any extra trips to the bathroom, and even now (at 16 1/2 weeks) my pants still fit and i'm not really "showing." (And yes, I understand many women are angrily jealous that I haven't spend the last 6 weeks hugging a toilet every morning. A few have told me that to compensate, I should have a dozen kids. Ummm, no, thanks.) The only indication that there's a baby who has taken up residence inside is that I haven't had a period since early April. So I insisted that the midwife check for a heartbeat at the first appointment. She was planning to say no and just have me come back in 2 weeks because it's hard to find the heartbeat at 10 weeks. I promised to not be disappointed if she couldn't find it; she had warned me it might be too early to hear, but i still insisted. (Plus, I just didn't feel like making another appointment when the office is 30 minutes away.)
Eventually she gave in; she found the heartbeat very quickly, thump thump thumping away at a happy 153. It was real!
Last week we had my 2nd prenatal appointment and the heartbeat was harder to find because baby kept kick kick kicking. We heard plenty of healthy and strong kicks and summersaults going on in there, but eventually we found the heartbeat for a short while and it measured at around 143-144 beats per minute... though the midwife said it may not be accurate with all the disruption from the kicking. What a feisty little one in there!
At the next appointment we have the anatomy ultrasound! The big question in our house right now is: boy or girl? Munchkin insists that it's a sister. We've asked, "what if the baby is a brother?" and her response has always been, "NO! It's my sister!" Ruthe doesn't really seem to understand or care yet. As for Brad and I, we would love a boy or girl. Another girl would be so much fun, and we seem pretty good at raising daughters so far (our whopping 3 1/2 years experience!). Brad's the perfect daddy for our girls. A boy would be a whole new adventure, and I know Brad would love to have a mini-Brad to play sports with without having to fight against social gender norms (he does play hockey and throw balls with the girls, but for whatever reason people still expect me to be painting their nails and playing dress up instead of running and playing sports outside).
So yeah... everything is great so far. At 16/17 weeks I feel like I'm starting to "show" a little if I really have to pee. It's like a bladder bump instead of a baby bump. :-S
Due date is Jan 9, 2014 according to my last period. Though we are all praying that the u/s shows I'm a week further along or so... we really REALLY want this baby to come in December! We have a high deductible insurance where we pay EVERYTHING for the first $5000, then insurance will cover everything after that. We've already met the deductible for 2013. Meaning, if baby comes in December, insurance will cover everything. Plus we can claim baby on our 2013 tax return. (Merry Christmas to us!) But... if baby comes in January, we have to pay $5000 out of pocket right away (and we're still playing off medical bills from February of this year!), and we can't claim baby on tax returns for 2013. To top it off, our little car just can't handle 3 car seats... which means we need to upgrade to the family vehicle, a mini-van! And our meager savings have all been going to pay for previous medical bills, so we have nothing saved to buy a van. So, that December baby is sounding better every second. I asked the midwife about the chances of inducing because of these circumstances (I REALLY do NOT want to be induced, but we're facing some serious financial issues that may make it worth it), and she says she will not induce unless I'm past my due date, and that I'd need to talk to her OB partner, but that hospital rules say absolutely no elective inductions before 39 weeks (even if 38 weeks is "full term"), and my 39 week mark is Jan 2. Drats. So, as you can guess, We are hoping and praying that this little one will decide to make an arrival between Christmas and New Years Eve. Prayers from friends and family are greatly appreciated!
