Helllloooo Baby #3!
Oh man, I am going to get way behind in my blogging again, because this morning sickness is ALLL day sickness for me this time around. I'm just barely keeping up with my work, my kiddos, my dog and my house! Actually, I'm not really keeping up with my house... it's a mess. But it's not going anywhere right? I'll get to it eventually... Maybe when I'm in my second trimester. ;) Also it's like I'm allergic to washing the dishes when I'm in my first trimester. I gag the whole time. I have no idea why. Sam has helped me a lot with the dishes lately, thankfully! Anyway! I'll stop complaining and get on with the fun part of pregnancy.
The first fun thing about being pregnant for me is taking the home pregnancy test and having that special, "Oh my goodness, I'm having a baby!" moment all to myself. The last week of July was when I started suspecting I was pregnant. I wasn't really having any symptoms yet, but I was late and I'm very regular. There was just that feeling of knowing I was pregnant. I didn't feel like I even needed to take a test to know. With two pregnancies under my belt I'm feeling like a pro. ;)
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| This was my face right after finding out. |
I took a test the night of July 31st. Some people tell their husbands before they take the test and wait for the results with them and that's cool. For me, I like that few minutes or hours of being the only one that knows. :) I can't keep it to myself for long though! I went and sat down on the couch next to Sam afterwards and showed him a note I had been keeping on my iPod about thinking I was pregnant and the expected due date. He was confused by it and wasn't sure what I was trying to tell him. I guess my note wasn't organized enough to get the point across. So I just said, "I'm pregnant!" He said, "Oh well, why didn't you just say that?" Haha!! He continued by saying, "That's cool. I like odd numbers. I mean two is good, but three will be cool." He also told me he was starting to suspect I was pregnant because I had been talking about being hungry a lot and I only do that when I'm pregnant! I had no idea I did that. :D
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| Jane is so excited to have another sibling |
Once I had told Sam, the next question was when and how to tell everyone else. We figured if we told Jane she would tell everyone she saw. So we had to be ready to tell anybody by the time we told Jane. I ordered the books pictured above and below from Amazon Prime and had them in time for dinner at my parents that Thursday. I can't keep a secret about anything this exciting from my parents for any amount of time. So I told Jane to go show Marmee the Baby Makes Five book. It took my mom just a second of read the cover to realized what it meant. She said, "Really???" I nodded my head and she came and gave me a big hug and said, "Congratulations! That's so exciting." Then I told Jane to take it to Pappaw and it took him about the same amount of time to make the connection. He gave me a "Really?" look and said, "Another one? I guess it was just a matter of time. This is why I need to keep cross fitting!" :D
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| Atlas is not too sure about being a big brother. ;) |
I like to wait until after my confirmation appointment before telling a lot of people or announcing on Facebook. I think it's partially because my mom's first pregnancy was a molar pregnancy. It's where there is a problem with the placenta and it becomes an abnormal mass that takes over the baby. In my mom's case the placenta also became a tumor and was cancerous. She found this out at her first ultrasound appointment. So imagine thinking you're pregnant and instead being told your baby is gone and now you have cancer and you have to start chemo. :,( I don't know how she did it. She's amazing and God is good to give us the strength we need. The other things that go through my mind are ectopic pregnancy, early miscarriage and even having a false positive home test. So I like to wait until I see my sweet baby in the right place with a strong heartbeat before I let myself go and get really excited about having another baby. It's hard for me tell people and have them be really excited for me when I'm not letting myself be excited yet. Those are my reasons for waiting. Once I get that confirmation I can't wait to tell the world! :D If I received other news at that appointment I would still let everyone know so they could understand what's going on with me and pray for us.
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| Yay for family visits! |
I was so happy my mother and brother-in-law came into town for a visit shortly after I took the pregnancy test so I could tell them in person! Sandra was very excited for another grandchild. Joseph was happy and told us congratulations. My favorite person to tell this time around should be no surprise. Jane has been asking me if I had another baby in my tummy for quite a while. (During the couple of weeks when I knew and hadn't told her yet, she actually didn't ask.) When she would ask I would tell her "Not yet! But do you want another brother or sister?" She would respond with a very emphatic, "Yes!" So I was pretty sure she would be excited about having another sibling. I made sure to record me telling her and it's the sweetest! I love it. I'll have to share it soon. I started by asking her if she knew I had been sick and sleepy. She said yes. I asked her if she knew why? She said I needed to go to the doctor. I told her I was going to the doctor soon because there's a baby in my tummy. She said yup and patted my tummy. A few seconds later it started to set in. She curled her arms up in excitement and squealed a little. I asked if she was excited and she nodded yes. Then I asked her if she wanted another brother or a sister. She said brother first but then quickly changed her answer to sister. I asked if she wanted both and she nodded yes. Haha! I told her we might not be able to do both, but she'll probably get one of them! :) I told a few other close family member through private messages. We also told just a few other friends and co-workers we saw in person before the appointment. They were all very supportive and loving. :)
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| Little baby #3! 8 weeks 2 days! |
Finally, I made it to 8 weeks pregnant and it was time for my confirmation appointment! I like to schedule my first appointment with an OB/GYN to get that early ultrasound for a more accurate due date and like I said, to make sure the baby is good and in the right place. My confirmation appointment for Atlas was pretty bad and I couldn't stand the doctor. So needless to say I found someone else this time! She was very nice and treated me like a person and not just number or a process. It was a very normal appointment. She didn't act like I was crazy for wanting to have a midwife and do a home birth. I told her if anything should happen to make my pregnancy high risk I will definitely be coming back to her. I told her about my previous OB and how she wouldn't let me go to the bathroom before my ultrasound because she wanted to see the baby from my belly even though I insisted I really needed to go. This doctor told me that was silly and with my size and how far along I was there shouldn't be any reason we wouldn't be able to see the baby from my belly even without my bladder being full. As soon as she put the doppler down on my belly you could see the little jelly bean baby! She measured the baby and said baby was right on track for my calculated due date of April 1st. Then we got to see the little heartbeat! It was staying around 166. She said everything was good! Woohoo! I took our baby announcement picture that same day and announced on Facebook shortly after. It always feels so good when everybody knows and I'm not keeping such a big secret anymore.
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| Oh so perfectly imperfect! |
So remember when my friend Esther got married in March and I said on my blog that we were going to be pregnant together next? No? Well, I definitely did. Don't believe me check it out here! You know what I'm about to say... Esther is pregnant too!! And our due dates are only 10 days apart. It's so much fun! Even though we live states apart now we keep up with each other and our pregnancies through texts and calls. Hopefully we can grab a bump picture together at some point!
Let's go through the typical pregnancy questions. So now that we already have a girl and a boy in our family the question is "Now that you have one of each, do you care if you have a boy or a girl next?" The answer is mostly no. I really would love either! Two boys close in age would be fun. But it's been longer since I had a little baby girl around so I would love that too. Also we've had the name picked out for our next girl as soon as we named Jane. ;) If it is a girl her name will be Alexandria. It means defender of mankind. We love that. With a name like Alexandria there are so many nickname possibilities! We would call her "Xan". Also I'm really loving the middle name Rei. It is found in Hebrew Biblical text and it means "My shepherd, My friend." So not only would we hope for her to defend man kind but she would also be a friend to all and help shepherd hearts to God. The middle name isn't set in stone yet, but it's a pretty strong contender. I feel like because we like the girl name so much is the reason why I'm slightly leaning towards another girl next. I like Flynn if it's a boy. It means Son of the red haired man or reddish. It's just too perfect. ;) I think Samuel goes well with it and I've always loved the meaning of Samuel. It means God has heard. I mean it's a pretty good name choice too. It's not as for sure as our girl name though. Mostly because we like a lot more boy names than girl names. ;) That one is just the top contender for me right now. So at this point it's either Alexandria Rei Daniels or Flynn Samuel Daniels. I had to see them typed out together. ;) Can you tell I love names and meanings???
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| Perfect birth and baby. ;) |
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| Jane had a baby in her tummy! |
Another question I get asked right after "Do you want a girl or a boy?" is "What do you think it is?" I can easily say I think it's a girl. Normally I don't lean very heavily either way because I usually say well... It's a 50/50 shot of being right! I did have inklings with both Jane and Atlas and was right both times. But this time it's so strong that I will be surprised if it's a boy. And it totally could be! I'll adjust if it is. Because I love little boys!! Why do I think it's a girl so strongly, you ask? Well, my symptoms seem very similar to when I was pregnant with Jane. I gagged a whole lot with Jane and I am doing the same this time. I get motion sick in the car easier. I've having similar food aversions and cravings to when I was pregnant with Jane. So far the heart rate has been fast and girl heart rates are usually faster. The last thing is whenever I'm praying for the baby I cannot stop saying she and her. It's all feminine pronouns. I correct myself all the time. It's unusual for me because like most people I default to he/him. Jane is pretty adamant about having a sister, but we shall see! We should be able to find out the gender in late October. Not long now!! Can't wait! It's one of my favorite parts of pregnancy.
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| First bump picture at 11 1/2 weeks! |
A few more details that you might like to know. Baby #3's due date is April 1st 2018. Jane came exactly on her due date and Atlas came 11 days early! (FYI, I disagreed with the doctor's due date for Atlas and on my calculations he was only 3 days early.) It will be interesting to see what this one will do! This baby shares the same due date that cousin Ellis had this past year!! My brother Scott said I was taking the "Me too!" thing too far! I promise I wasn't planning it. Haha! ;) There are a lot of beginning of April birthdays in the family. I would list them all, but I can even keep up. My dad, cousin Ellis, cousin Holden and cousin Colin are the first that come to mind. I think I'm forgetting a couple. Anyway, moving on. Atlas will be 2 years and one month older than this one and Jane will be just about 2 months shy of turning 4! We seem to be on that a baby every two years track, but we're not necessarily trying to be. ;) Of course we feel immensely blessed. I might be thinking a little harder about baby #4 though because the first trimester was a doozy this time around. Pregnancy with two littles is not for the faint of heart.
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| It's been hard, but we've had some wonderful moments! |
Something else not for the faint of heart? Home birth, but you can bet I'm doing it again!! Atlas's birth was one of the best, most positive, most enjoyable experiences of my life. I mean, don't get me wrong. Jane's birth was one of the best days of my life too, but it was also the one of the hardest, most painful and most stressful days of my life. Seriously, it left my body battered. Her birthday is one I'm incredibly happy and grateful to have in my life, but I really hope I never have to relive a day similar to that one. Now I don't want to give the impression that Atlas's birthday was perfect and completely painless. I can't imagine a birth going better though. (Other than the fact that my midwife was at another birth and had to race to get to me in time and arrived an hour before he was born.) Let's just say this baby's birthday has a lot to live up to. I'm doing my best to build the same environment and team around me as last time. I'm very pleased to say my amazing midwife, Sallie Witte, will be guiding me through pregnancy and home birth again. My mom will be my super awesome mom-doula as she always has been. I'm going to enlist my dad to take care of Atlas and get the birth pool up and running again. Call me crazy, but I'm considering letting Jane stay home and be present for the birth. Sam will be in charge of her. They'll probably watch a bunch of movies together while they wait. (or one or two movies if it's as fast as Atlas) Unfortunately, because of my previous fast labor and my mother-in-law, Sandra, having moved up to Dallas it seems unlikely that she'll be able to make it down here fast enough to be my extra hands and photographer. You never know though, every labor is different, she might make it! I'll have to prepare a backup just in case. So I'm taking applications. ;) haha! but seriously... are you interested? The pay is getting to be involved with the beginning of someone's life. Completely priceless if you ask me. I'm only half kidding...
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| Making sure the kiddie/birth pool still held air and water. :) |
Just a couple more interesting tid bits of this pregnancy so far and then I'm done, I promise! ;) In the middle of September my family took our traditional trip to New Braunfels. It's my favorite vacation spot! I'm pretty sure I felt the first few itty bitty baby kicks on that trip. :) A really fun fact is that during the last three trips we've taken to New Braunfels I've been pregnant all three times! :D With Jane I didn't even know yet, but found out a week later. With Atlas I was about 16 weeks pregnant and I got to feel him kick Jane while she was riding on my tummy down the Comal river. With each baby so far their first vacation in and out of the womb has been to New Braunfels. I love it. Hopefully a blog post about our trip will be coming soon!
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| First item bought for baby #3 |
My bump feels waaaay bigger at 14 weeks than I ever have felt at this time. It's like my body knows exactly what's coming and it's just getting ready early. ;) I also gained some more weight than I'm used to right at the beginning. I blame Hurricane Harvey! I got stuck inside for almost a week and ran out of my healthy food. I feel very fortunate for that to be my biggest complaint through all of Harvey.
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| 14 1/2 weeks! Finally feeling better! |
It was a rough first trimester. Very tired, struggled to get enough sleep, lots of food aversions, hard to eat, tons of gagging! I only threw up twice which is pretty good. I worked really really hard not to throw up every time I brushed my teeth and washed dishes. ;) Ok so today I'm 14 1/2 weeks and I'm feeling the most normal I've felt since the symptoms started. Yippee!! Almost no gagging or nausea. I also weaned Atlas a week ago. So that probably helped a lot too. Hopefully it will keep getting better from here on out! Last fun fact! On my side of the family including my parents, brother, uncles, aunts and cousins, I will be the first one to have more than two kids. (of course, Lord willing everything goes well with pregnancy and birth.) I think it's why I can't seem to get my head around three kids! ;) I'll get there. I'm definitely excited to have a slightly bigger than average family. :)
Mark 10:13-16
Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.
