29 weeks with #4

(19w5d)

 

This pregnancy is literally flying by.  I’m trying to enjoy it and take it as it comes as it is most likely my last.  But baby girl is due in 77 days now and that’s CRAZY!

(21w)

 

Overall, I feel pretty darn good.  Just in the past day or two I’ve been getting some braxton hicks if I’m too active.  They don’t hurt, they’re just uncomfortable and they make it hard to breathe.  This past week though, I’ve had a headache in the front of my head almost every day.  It’s not a migraine, but it’s this annoying pain that comes and goes throughout the day.  It hurts above and behind my eyes which makes me wonder if it’s sinus related.  Actually I was quite worried about a brain tumor last night…  But I went to bed early last night and slept well and I haven’t had a headache so far today which is nice.  I might need to get my eyes checked though because it could be from eye strain as well.  I always jump to the worst conclusion though, but after 5 days of straight headaches I was getting worried.

 

 

I’m up about 13lbs right now.  I only wanted to gain 15lbs this pregnancy but being that I have 10-11 weeks to go, I don’t think that’s going to happen.  Bummer.  I guess if I can keep it under 25 that’ll be good and usually later in pregnancy I start losing weight anyway.  This past week I’ve gotten a few “foot cramps” in the crease where my right foot meets my leg.  They hurt a LOT and they usually happen at night and I have to get up and walk them off, which sometimes takes quite a while.  Sometimes my pelvis does this weird clicking thing (that it’s done in past pregnancies) when I try to roll over in bed or get up, but it’s not terrible.   Just a little uncomfortable.

(22w4d)

I started checking my blood pressure at home this week more frequently, mainly because of my headaches.  I wanted to make sure I wasn’t getting pre-eclampsia.  They have been high at times.  The systolic number has gotten up to 148 and the diastolic number has gotten up to 89.  140/90 is considered hypertensive which could put me at risk for pre-e.  Normally I’m in the high 120’s/70’s and I can usually get back there if I relax, but on the first takes I’m usually in the 130’s/80’s.  Not too much cause for concern but I’ll keep an eye on it.  My OB didn’t say anything about it yesterday, but that’s not super surprising.  I switched from Dr. Klis to Dr. Patel, who has more GD experience, but I’m not sure I like him much either.  He did the standard belly measurement and I asked him what it was and he said 32 weeks.  I was like What?!?  And he said Why?  Aren’t you 32 weeks?  I was like umm… I’m 29 weeks.  So he “remeasured” and said I was 29 weeks but I’m pretty sure he was just pulling that out of his butthole.  I could have been measuring 25 weeks and he wouldn’t have told me any differently.  It’s annoying and it makes me not trust him.  I also asked the nurse if there was protein in my pee and she, without looking at anything, said “Oh… Um… I don’t think so.”  Great.  Thanks for looking in to that.  I’m kind of sad that this is my last pregnancy and I don’t really like my OB.  Most likely either one of them won’t deliver her anyway so I guess it doesn’t really matter, but it’s disheartening.

(24w2d)

The biggest news is that at 26 weeks I passed my GTT with flying colors.  I was SHOCKED.  Totally and completely shocked as I was sure I’d have GD this time around too.  I was supposed to eat normally 2 hours before the test, but I had to go in the morning so I had eggs one hour before the test because I knew if I drank that stuff on an empty stomach it would make me sick.  And I knew if I ate carbs it would raise my results even more.  So I had 2 eggs and water and that’s it.  I tested with 2 of my meters right before and right after they did the blood draw and my meters said 117 and 129.  The blood draw, which my OB says is the most accurate by far, said 93.  …  That is a HUGE difference and I’m not 100% sure I believe the results.  But the cut off was 135 so either way, my meters or theirs, I passed.  The odds of having GD twice (possibly 3 times) and NOT having it the 4th time is slim to none.  But I’ve been following this GD diet for over a year now and drastically changed my eating habits last August so apparently it’s working.  My OB has told me numerous times to quit testing, but testing occasionally is what keeps me on track.  My numbers have still been pretty good for the most part anyway, so that’s good.  I’ll just keep an eye on them until she’s here, just for my own peace of mind.  And sometimes your numbers start going up at the end of pregnancy anyway, so if they do I want to know.  It makes me a little nervous that I won’t get the extra monitoring I got with Ben and Jamison and even Abbie towards the end of pregnancy, but also a little relieved since the hospital/OB is 50 mins away and I have 3 kids to deal with now too.  I’m not sure how I’d pull that one off taking them to NST’s and BPP’s with me all the time.  But it does make me a little nervous to not have that extra monitoring.

(26w)

Mark and I took a weekend trip to Vegas and we got to see my good friend Steph and her hubby while we were there.  Steph is due early Oct with her first and it was so fun to see her and talk all things baby, and everything else.  I have a bunch of friends having babies from now until April and all but one of them is having a girl!  Crazy!

 

 

I have been realizing lately that Jamison is going to have some issues when baby girl arrives.  He is still very much the baby of the family and I’m not sure he’s going to handle having a little sibling the best.  I think he will adjust, but it’s going to be rough for him I think, like it was for Abbie when Ben arrived.  J’s arrival was so easy since the big kids were a little bit older, but J is going to be too young to understand why I have a baby on me all the time.  And he’s pretty much used to being on me all the time right now which doesn’t help.  Mark and I call it his reset.  He just needs to come snuggle for 15-30 seconds and then he’s off doing something else again.  But he is a snuggler and he’s not going to like me dividing my attention at all.  Fingers crossed that it’s not as bad as I’m anticipating it to be.  I am sad that he won’t be the baby anymore too.  He’s still SO much a baby to me, it’s hard to believe there’s going to be someone even smaller than he is around again.  I am super excited about her arrival, but I’m sad for Jamison not being the baby anymore.

(28w3d)

 

I’ve had a few dreams lately about having her in the car on the way to the hospital.  I am nervous about that drive since I almost didn’t make it with Jamison and the hospital is 3x’s further away now.  I need to get my “deliver baby in car” bag ready and in the car, among other things so if that does happen, we’re at least prepared.  I’m sure worse things could happen but it does make me a little nervous.  I guess I know now that if/when my water breaks I need to at least stay near the hospital, although it was really nice to deliver only 20 mins after I got there last time and do most of the labor at home.  If I could do that again, I would be happy.  And if we didn’t have a NICU stay this time, that would be nice too.

(29w)

And I think most people that read this blog already know, but we are planning on naming her Josefina Jayne and call her Josie.  So we’ll have J and Josie, which I think sounds cute together.  Jayne is my dad’s mom’s middle name.  We were debating between Jayne and Elizabeth (my mom’s mom’s middle name) but Josefina Elizabeth is a really long name.  And with Jayne we could call her JJ if we wanted.  J and JJ.  We’ll see.  I’m sure I’ll have 15 more nicknames for her before she’s 3 months old, just like I have with the other 3.

11 weeks to go!!!

21 weeks

I am almost 22 weeks pregnant now and overall I feel great!  Sometimes I don't really even feel pregnant, which then makes me worry that something is wrong.  I have pretty good energy for the most part, and I am able to sleep pretty well still.  Sometimes my bottom hip (I sleep on my sides) gets a little sore and I have to switch, and I get up in the middle of the night to pee at least once, but that's normal.

My belly is definitely getting bigger, and I have felt baby girl on and off for a couple weeks now, but not consistently.  She has her times of day where she's more active and I feel her a lot and sometimes I can poke around on my belly and feel something hard, but I'm not sure if it's her head or butt or back.  I've only gained about 4.5 lbs so far, and I'm pretty darn happy about that.  Every once in a while I get the back "crunches" when I stand up where it's pretty painful until whatever aligns again, but not frequently.  I've only had SPD pains a few times.  Its a little hard to bend over now because it feels like I have a brick in my belly and it hurts.  But I am still wearing all my normal clothes for the most part.  I kept all my bigger sized pants and shorts from before I lost 25lbs earlier this year knowing that I wanted to get pregnant.  So I am wearing those bigger shorts now and they are still comfy and some are even still a little big.  All my shirts still fit fine too, some of them are just getting a little short because my belly makes them ride up.

The kids are pretty excited about baby girl.  Abbie is always telling me that she's going to have to help a lot since I'll have my hands full with Jamison and she'll have to hold the baby while we're eating or carry her when we're out and about.  (Not going to happen.)  I have my anatomy ultrasound tomorrow and Ben knows we're going to a doctors appointment and he keeps asking me if we're going there to get the baby out.  It's pretty cute.  The kids both call her "our baby", which I love.  My mom keeps telling me what we should name her, which I don't love.

I am anxious about the ultrasound tomorrow.  I always get anxious before my appointments, but this is the big one where they could find something wrong and it's scary.  I have a good feeling about her, but you never know.  Luckily Mark is going with me so that makes me feel a lot better.  Last time I had an OB appointment I had the kids with me and it was over an hour and a half late, which was super annoying.  The kids did amazingly well, but by the end of that wait, all of our patience is fried and we're just ready to leave.  I am so thankful that J is such a laid back little dude and will sit in his stroller the whole time and watch all the action around him.

As exciting as it is to have another baby, and as much as we all want her, I am a little sad too that Jamison won't be my baby anymore.  He's still so little, and I absolutely love having him as my baby now.  I feel a little guilty that I'm jipping him of some of his time of being the youngest.  It does make me a little nervous to have 2 babies too.  J will only be 19 months old when #4 is born and he will still be too little to walk through a parking lot by himself.  So I will be carrying a baby in an infant carrier, a 30+lb baby in my arms and the diaper bag.  Pretty much a pack horse.  Maybe I can just wear Jamison to make things easier.  I do want to get a Tula Toddler eventually but they are expensive so I'm saving money for it.  A friend was over with her 6 month old and I was holding him for a little bit and Jamison definitely wasn't too happy about it.  He wanted me to pick him up and was watching me very closely.  I will definitely have to make room for 2 on my lap, which is perfectly fine with me.  Jamison is such a little snuggler and it's one of my favorite traits of his.

Overall, this pregnancy has been great and I hope and pray to God that tomorrows ultrasound reveals a healthy baby girl.  I will feel much better after it's over.

14 weeks

I am finally in the 2nd trimester, although if I’m being honest, the first trimester went pretty quickly.  I don’t feel like I have to nap every day now, which is nice, and generally I feel pretty darn good.  Every once in a while I get some twinges if I move weird and I swear I’ve felt the baby move a few times already, but that could be my imagination.  Last time I thought I felt them early too, but then I didn’t REALLY feel Jamison until I was like 22 weeks along, so we still have a while to go.  I’m still up about 4lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight but I’m still in a normal BMI range, so I feel good about that.  I’m going to try hard to not gain a ton this pregnancy.  And my blood sugars have still been good too, although I am limiting my carbs most of the time to help them.  My fastings have been in the 70’s, and hopefully I can keep them there throughout the pregnancy.  Time will tell I suppose, but I feel like I am, in general, more healthy and aware of how things affect my body this time around.  And 3 kids keep you active even if you’re not trying to be active.  But we take the kids for walks or bike rides most days.  The other day wore a maxi skirt on our walk around the neighborhood and normally that wouldn’t be comfortable because my thighs used to rub together (chaffing), but they didn’t this time.  I feel thinner and more healthy, and I don’t mind getting a baby belly, as long as I can keep the fat off everywhere else.  But as I said, my diet is REALLY helping this and I have no doubt that we got pregnant so easily this time because I had dropped about 25lbs which helped my hormones regulate.

This time I opted to get an advanced blood test that was offered to me because I’m over 35.  (Or I AM 35, but whatever.)  They do a more “high tech” blood test than the regular state ones where they pull the baby’s DNA from my blood and test it for a bunch of different genetic issues.  The ONLY reason I got this test was because it will also tell you the gender.  I was so anxious to know the gender, but at the same time, I didn’t want to know because I was nervous something else would show up from the genetic testing too.  I called every day to see if my results were in for about 4 days straight and finally I just gave up because I would get a sick to my stomach feeling every time I called.  Today, the OB’s office called me and she told me that all the genetic testing came back negative (thank GOD) and that “the DNA findings were consistent with female”.  Honestly, I cried.  I have had a feeling all along that I was carrying a baby girl, and I’ve told quite a few people that, but you never know if it actually is intuition or just me really hoping for a girl.  All of us wanted a girl (Mark, Abbie, my parents and me) and Ben wanted a “boy that wears a bow”.  So he was a bit disappointed but Abbie was so excited she was screaming.  And Mark is super excited too, and I think relieved because he knows I’m good with 4 if we had 2 boys and 2 girls.  It’s fun to know already at 14 weeks, although they said it isn’t 100% positive, but more like 99%.  Close enough for me.  We’ll confirm at the 20 week ultrasound.  I have also had a feeling that this baby is healthy and that I can sit back and relax and enjoy this pregnancy since it is most likely the last so hopefully the 20 week ultrasound doesn’t pull up any other concerns.

I am very short on patience with my big kids lately, which is partly why I thought it was a girl.  My emotions all run high, no matter what they are, and I remember them being like that with Abbie too.  I also don’t always sleep the best (and normally I sleep like a rock) and I have some crazy dreams (and normally I don’t really dream at all).  And I want chocolate all the time, which doesn’t help with sticking with my diet, but I am still successful with it most days.

We are so excited to have this last baby, although some days I wonder if I can handle 4 of them by myself while Mark is at work (or even worse, deployed for a year).  Life is nuts with 3 of them (and 3 dogs that always want attention too) and our house is very loud and chaotic most days.  We went shopping for a bike for me this weekend and just getting the older two to stand still and not push over whole rows of bikes was a challenge and Mark was with me.  We walked through Hobby Lobby and they asked us to buy them something about every other foot they walked which is exhausting.  Jamison is by FAR the easiest to deal with right now and the big kids can do well when they want to, but when they don’t want to, it’s hell.  Mark and I both came home exhausted and I know adding another one to the mix will make it even more crazy, but also fun.  Sometimes.  Hopefully by the time J and baby girl are 4 and 6, Abbie and Ben will be more mature and easier to deal with.  But it still terrifies me to think about Mark being gone a lot with the military and me dealing with 4 kids by myself.  It’s a process to get 3 kids to bed by myself now.  I can’t even imagine getting 4 kids to bed.  We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Overall, we are super excited about December and the arrival of our newest family member.  And we are THRILLED that she’s a girl!  Now to pick out a name… =)

9 weeks in to pregnancy #4

Last Friday I had my first appointment for this pregnancy.  It was a little weird not having anything until I was almost 9 weeks, but that's how it worked out this time.  I am trying my best to just enjoy this pregnancy (since it will most likely be my last) and not let worry take over.  I've had a good "vibe" about it since I found out and I haven't been too hesitant to tell friends and family members like I was last time.

Overall, I feel pretty good.  I am tired, like I usually am in the first trimester, and I could easily sleep 20 hours a day, but other than that, I feel good.  Sometimes I don't feel great between 4-6pm, but I think it's because I get hungry.  If I eat a snack I'm usually much better, but 4-6pm is the witching hour here where I'm trying to fix dinner, the kids are going nuts, the dogs are hungry and it's just chaos.  So let's add another one to the mix.  Why not?

My new OB, Dr Klis, seems pretty nice.  The OB practice is HUGE.  There are 14 OB's there and a ton of other NP's.  It was interesting going to a place that big since all the other places I've been to are pretty small.  It has a cafe and gift shop in the waiting area its that big.  Crazy.  I had a whole list of questions for him and he answered them pretty well, although some of his answers surprised me, like I can have ibuprofen from weeks 12-32..  That was news to me, since I haven't taken it in any of my other pregnancies.  I REALLY wanted an ultrasound this time, just for peace of mind that the baby was alive and there was only one.  Dr Klis ordered one, which was great, but the place couldn't fit me in.  Luckily a lady at the front talked to the manager of the whole place and she walked me down there really quick so they could do a quick abdominal u/s.  We saw the little bean and the heart rate was 165, so I was excited about that.  It took about 3 minutes and they kept saying this isn't "official" which was fine with me.  I get a "real" u/s in 3 weeks before my next appt with the OB.

I am already showing, which is great...  I guess 4 babies will do that to you.  Ever since I found out I was pregnant I've been 4lbs heavier but I'm still in a normal BMI range so I guess that's okay.  This is my first "AMA" pregnancy (advanced maternal age) since I'm over 35, so I get special treatment because of that I guess.  I can't sleep through the night now without getting up to pee, so that's fun too...

Nine weeks down, 30ish to go!

Expecting #4

Last week – Tuesday to be exact – I decided to take a pregnancy test.  For the past few weeks I’ve been going through the whole game – am I actually feeling these pregnancy symptoms or not?  The mind can play some crazy tricks on you and so I didn’t know if I was feeling pregnant because I kind of wanted to be, or if I actual was.  Part, or a lot, of me thought that there was no way on earth that I actually could be pregnant.  This was our “practice month” and we literally tried once.  One time.  With Abbie, it took 8 months.  With Jamison, it took a full year and progesterone and Clomid.  The whole plan was to try to get pregnant over the summer so we can have #4 by Dec 2017, when Mark will probably get out of the military (and we lose military insurance).

Around 10am, I decided to take one of the tests I’d just picked up at the Dollar Store.  I looked at it for a few seconds and saw the control line show up, so I set it down and figured I wasn’t pregnant or it was too early to test.  For whatever reason, I decided to go check it “just in case” a few minutes later and I about passed out when I saw a faint line in the test line.  It’s that feeling of excitement and shock and “holy shit” that hits you all at once.  I thought maybe it was wrong because it was a dollar store test, so a few hours later I took another one and that was a very faint positive too.  Two days later I took another one and it was a tiny bit darker than the first and on Saturday I took another one and it was a little bit more dark.  So my HCG’s are going up, which is good.

I had a pretty bad headache and asked Mark to come home a few hours early from work, partly because of my headache and partly because I couldn’t wait to tell him, but of course he didn’t/couldn’t.  But when he did get home I think he was just as shocked as I was about the whole thing, and excited too.

Of course we’re excited about this, but if this baby sticks, I’ll be due mid-December.  Ben’s birthday is Dec 8th, so we’ll have 2 birthdays pretty darn close together.  I guess we were hoping to have another baby some time next summer, but it’ll also be nice to have him/her in December and then be able to do more camping next summer.  We are supposed to go camping in Monterey the week of Thanksgiving this year, but I’ll probably cancel that trip once I get into the second trimester, or move it to spring break or something.  I still have to go do the whole pee test on base to get the referral to an off base OB and since I have Jamison’s 1 year appointment on the 29th, I’m planning on just doing it then.  I guess OB’s around here don’t usually see you until 11-12 weeks and I’m only 5 weeks right now, so we still have a ways to go.


So far I’m feeling pretty good.  A little more tired than usual, sometimes a little crampy and my boobs feel weird sometimes, but nothing unbearable.  Mostly I’m just hoping this baby sticks.  It’s bitter sweet though.  This will be my last pregnancy (unless we have a pretty big “oops”) so I’m trying to enjoy it as much as possible and not spend the whole time worrying about things out of my control.  We probably won’t tell the kids for a while yet, and we’re not making it public knowledge until much later as well.  I’ve told my parents and a handful of close friends, and one of my cousins and I might tell my 101 year old grandma soon, but other than that, we’re going to wait a bit to tell everyone else.  I want it to be our secret for a while and I want to make sure this baby sticks before we broadcast it to everyone.  Although with this being #4, I’ll probably start to show pretty soon.  Not to mention Jamison isn’t even a year old yet…  He’ll be a year next week but part of me feels like I’m robbing him of his “babyhood” a little bit.  If everything goes well with this pregnancy, he and the new baby will be about 19.5 months apart.  Abbie and Ben are 31 months apart (2.5years), Ben and Jamison are 40 months apart (3.5 years) and Jamison and baby #4 will be less than 20 months apart.  I guess we’re getting to see a few different year gaps which is fun, and it’s also good because I’ll be 36 when I deliver this baby.  I wouldn’t want to be much older.

 

So fingers crossed that this baby sticks!!  (And toes crossed that it’s a girl!!!  Although I’ll be thankful for any healthy baby.)