Pregnancy Announcement: Baby no. 3

For the longest time, I never thought we’d get here, yet here we are with our EXCITING news – We’re expecting baby number 3! It hasn’t been too hard to keep to ourselves, just because I’ve been so nervous throughout the first trimester, hoping everything went as planned. After two very unexpected losses last year and a few hard months of consequential infertility, I had to mentally prepare myself for anything. When we finally got to hear that precious heartbeat we had waited so long to hear, followed by a healthy report from our NT scan, my anxieties started to subside and I finally allowed myself to get excited.

One. Two. THREE.

Baby no. 3 is due to arrive around July 15th, but if they’re anything like their two older brothers, we should probably expect them to arrive closer to the 4th of July. (which also happened to be my first due date with the ectopic, crazy!) I’m currently 16-ish weeks pregnant and with two boys already in tow, I have been getting LOTS of questions on when we’ll find out gender. Although I’m just as excited to find out as everyone else, I’m not lying when I say I just want a healthy baby and delivery for us both. We did try to find out the gender a few times – twice with the SneakPeek at home blood test and at our NT scan at 12 weeks. The blood test was inconclusive both times, since I couldn’t provide enough blood and the at our NT scan our little nugget wasn’t being very cooperative and the tech felt uncomfortable guessing since it was still so early. Apparently both boys and girls look the same between 12-13 weeks! So, I kind of took those as a hint that patience is a virtue and I need to hang on a little while longer until our 20wk anatomy scan. Better to be safe than sorry! I don’t mind either way and I know the next 4 weeks will fly by. It all goes so fast, so why try to rush it? Being my third baby, I’m a little more laid-back about the whole thing. We’ve already come so far! Gender would just be a nice addition to the joy we’re already feeling.

The boys are over the moon excited and it’s so fun being able to experience this with them at an age where they kind of understand. When I was pregnant with Hudson, Aden was still such a baby himself, so for all he knows, Hudson’s always been around. With them both being almost 4 & 5 at the time the baby arrives, they’re at a great stage where we can ask them all kinds of things like names and gender. You never know what will come out of their mouths at this age, including but not limited to “there’s a baby in my belly, too!” or “Mommy, when will I get to go back into your belly?”.  They seriously can’t wait and I can’t wait to see them take on the big brother roles to another sibling.  They’re the sweetest with each other, I can only imagine what it will be like when we add a new tiny baby to the house.

Overall, my first trimester was challenging. I was pretty sick and exhausted the entire time and I’m just now starting to get my stamina back. Weeks 10-14 were by far the worst. Even now, every few days I feel pretty terrible and have to just kind of take it easy for the day. I’ve been getting migraine headaches every so often that I think are a mixture of me not drinking enough water and the increase in hormones. I had them a little with the boys, but not as frequent. And as far as cravings, I had major aversions to meat and really seasoned or salty things up until week 14. I still can’t chicken, but I’m able to tolerate real food a bit better than before. The whole first tri, I basically existed on Spaghettios, Cherry Haribos and Chocolate Milk. I once had a really strong craving for a Jimmy John’s tuna sub and that was basically the closest I got to eating “real” food. My husband loved me! Actually, he felt like I was another picky toddler.

Overall, this pregnancy feels a lot different then both my boys, but then again their pregnancies were so different from each other, too, so I think it just goes to show that each one is on it’s own. I did have to take 200mg of progesterone up until 11 weeks, so it’s hard to tell for me what’s caused by the actual pregnancy and what’s really from having to take that pill. I’m carrying differently (much rounder) and I’m a lot moodier. Both can most likely be accounted to the pill, being in my 30’s and having two toddler boys.

Anyway, we definitely plan to share the gender reveal once we know, so stay tuned!

Photos by Rachel Nolan | Tee by Bee & the Fox  | Letterboard by JutMade