Baby Boy #4

I'm about 2 weeks out from delivering this little guy so I better write something down before my brain and memories turn to complete mush.

Baby #4 is a rainbow baby just like Carter and Rhett were and this pregnancy followed my most difficult (physically and emotionally) loss of the three. Overall, it took a little over 1.5 years to conceive this time around with the help of about 5 months of fertility treatments. This 1st trimester was my most challenging by far. I think it was the combination of being on progesterone, having all the boys home for summer, things being difficult at work, the Fresno heat and Rhett being in a very difficult phase. Normally I have a decent amount of morning sickness from weeks 6-8 but this time it lasted throughout week 13 and the exhaustion was off the charts. My saving graces were Richard and Ms. Rachel during this time.

 

 

Fast forward to our 13 week scan and of course everyone I'm close to is dying to know gender. Richard was confident it was another boy...and because of the sacred way in which he came to that conclusion...I believed him and felt the same way. Sure enough, as soon as the wand hit my stomach our little guy made himself very known just like all of his older brothers. Literally no one believes me, but there was zero disappointment in that room. Richard and I felt very at peace and very excited to complete our family this way. I've always had this specific dream of a car full of 4 loud, dirty boys piling in after practice and I'm pumped to see that come to fruition someday soon. The only thing I'm sad about is not being able to use any of my cute girl names. Guys, someone please use the names Hallie, Kate, Annie or Summer...love them!!

The rest of the 2nd trimester I felt quite a bit better physically speaking but it went by super quickly. Along with usual family Holiday busyness and my additional church and work responsibilities, I was taking my real estate classes online in preparation of getting my license. I'm not planning on a career change per se, but it's always been my dream to be licensed and I figure it's not a bad idea to have an extra skill set in my back pocket. Because of new CA Dre regulations, the classes I was taking needed to be finished by the end of 2023 or I'd have to start over so most of the evenings of my 2nd trimester were spent doing my classes until I would inevitably fall asleep on the couch. Happy to say I did finish before the deadline!

By the time the 3rd trimester hit, I was showing much quicker this time around which was new territory for me. I'm sure part of it has to do with being a 4th pregnancy but I'm sure most of it was my fault in not finding the energy levels to work out as much as I should have (besides constantly lifting my 40lb Rhett). But luckily besides some pretty bad back pain, things have continued to be business as usual. I am so grateful to have been given the chance the carry life, but I am also so excited to be completing this chapter of our lives :)

Baby Boy #3

As much as I’ve neglected this little corner of the internet, I will say I’ve come back here a lot to reference past pregnancies and the monthly updates with Carter and Drake. If nothing else, I’ll print this sucker out once our family is complete and it’ll serve as a collection of our “baby books” 🙃

I owe it to myself and nugget #3 to document at least a little bit.

After trying for baby #3 for a little over a year, we decided to seek some medical help. I called at the beginning of February and booked my appointment for the end of March 2020. Obviously the world went down the drain fast in March as Covid hit, but surprisingly they were willing to keep my appointment. We started off by doing blood work and follicle scans. Everything came back normal which was both reassuring and frustrating. Because everything was "normal" I wasn't a candidate for a lot of popular infertility medications. So we continued regular follicle scans for a few months to try to better time things.

In July, I finally got a positive pregnancy test! It was days before Richard's birthday and I was so excited to surprise him. One thing to know about me is that I am kind of a psychopath when it comes to pregnancy tests. So I continued to test until I got a result that wouldn't be super faint and believable enough for Richard. But upon testing, I noticed that second line start to fade and I knew it was a chemical pregnancy. I ended up telling Richard a day before his birthday that I was pregnant, but that it wasn't going to last. I miscarried a few days later. 

At my next appointment, I spoke to the NP at the doctor's office and explained the miscarriage and told her it wasn't my first rodeo. She then gave me instructions to take progesterone pills 2x/day for the last 2 weeks of each cycle moving forward. This would help build my uterine wall to better support a pregnancy. Besides extreme fatigue and some weight loss (which I didn't mind!) there weren't too many side effects. And the very first month, it worked!!

We confirmed the pregnancy with an ultrasound at 8 weeks after my normal two week bought of morning sickness and were so excited and grateful. 

We told the boys pretty nonchalantly a few weeks later on our traditional pizza Friday by saying we had a big surprise after dinner and put the ultrasound on top of a cake. Once we told them, the first thing out of Drake's mouth was "can I have more pizza?" Lol. Unphased. We told our families about a week or so afterwards and were impressed the boys didn't spill the beans.

A few weeks later we found out we were expecting another little boy. Both sides of our family were pretty openly disappointed but Richard and I were excited. I always imagined myself with lots of little boys and the news just felt right. 

The remainder of my pregnancy went very smoothly just like with Carter and Drakes with the exception of increased back pain and just plain exhaustion in the 3rd trimester. 

Baby #3 Maternity Photos

 

32 Weeks - Baby #2!

Well, I'm basically done with this pregnancy so I better just buckle down and get to documenting! I've found myself looking back at old blog posts from Carter for comparison sake so I know I'll want to do the same for future babies!

This pregnancy has been a bit more difficult than Carters was. I think most of this has to do with the horrible Fresno heat that I completely avoided last time and the fact that I've been terrible at exercising this time around. My weight gain has been about the same but holyyy smokes am I tired and lazy by the end of the day. That might also be because my sweet baby Carter is a total 30lb nutjob that I run around and pick up all day ;)

Baby #2 has also been muchhh more active than Carter was. I was a bit concerned at the beginning because I couldn't really feel him move until about 20ish weeks this time around. However, once I had my ultrasound they told me that my placenta is in front this time (not placenta previa, don't worry) so it pads a lot of movement. I honestly think God did this on purpose to help protect the baby from Carter's rough housing. Also, the baby is so nonstop that I can't even imagine what it would be like to feel 100% of everything.

I've also been having a lot more braxton hicks this time around. I've tried to be extra good about drinking water since I know dehydration can bring a lot of those about, but it is to no avail. Good thing I know what real contractions feel like now or else I'd probably be going to the hospital for a false alarm!

Besides a pack n' play which we got this week, we haven't bought anything for baby #2 and don't really expect to need too much! I'll need to stock up on the essentials (diapers/wipes) and probably some tiny winter clothes since Carter was a spring/summer baby. I've also been looking at double strollers and baby carriers but I'm still not 100% sure if they are necessary so I'm a bit gun shy.

I'm still debating on whether I'm going to do a drug free birth again or not. Again, I was NOT planning on doing that last time but it really wasn't that bad and the recovery was a piece of cake so I'm tempted to do it again. My labor was about 3ish hours total last time and I've heard the 2nd time goes even faster. Is there any truth to that? I feel like anyone can handle anything for a few hours but if things last longer for some reason than that I will most definitely be getting an epidural.

Carter will give "kisses to baby brother" and knows where baby brother is, but I really think he has absolutely no idea what he's in for. I mean, he's still a baby himself at 17 months! Whenever he sees another tiny baby he is very, very sweet though. Oftentimes I have to try to stop him from smothering them with kisses which is probably really annoying for other Moms (hello, germs) but always kind of soothes my worried Mama heart.

We're pretty set on a name and a handful of people know it already. It's not as agreed upon as Carter was and I get pretty sensitive about negative comments so we're not sharing it widely until the ink is dry on the birth certificate! Haha. I'm a firm believer in needing to see the baby first before naming it anyways, so who knows if it will stick. Luckily Richard and I have always agreed on all of our baby names so it works out really well.

The due date my Doctors have given me is November 1st but I'm thinking it will be November 6th (I have my reasons!) As long as I get to take Carter trick-or-treating for the first time then I will be happy with any arrival :)

All in all, this little boy is growing right on schedule (I always measured 1.5 weeks behind with Carter), kicking up a storm and making me all sorts of tired. My last 2 week OB appointment is next Thursday and then I will start going weekly! Ah! It still just doesn't feel real yet. I'm sure once I get to washing the newborn hand-me-downs I will end up in a puddle of tears and hormones but for now I'm doing good. 

I have no cute posed bump pictures yet. I am determined to at least get one before this is all said and done but here are a few random work elevator selfies for posterity sake! I wear more than just navy, black and stripes, promise!