I am days away from beginning my third trimester! I have been so fortunate to be 3 for 3 on having easy peasy pregnancies. I have always enjoyed being pregnant. I know that every pregnancy is different but as far as how I feel, I would say that all three pregnancies are close in comparison. I am lucky to not experience any morning sickness. I will say that I did have some moments of brief nausea at the beginning with this pregnancy but it was very short lived.
This pregnancy has been my easiest. I have yet to have ANY cravings! That's so crazy to say but true in every sense. I have been really conscious of the choices I make when it comes to eating. I don't have an urge to eat anything sweet or even overindulge. There have been moments where I've over eaten but nothing in comparison to how I've been in the past, pregnant or not! I think that has a lot to do with how good I feel. I've only gained 11 lbs so far and that's something I am so proud of! I have a history of gaining 30+ lbs and so far (fingers crossed) I won't even come close to reaching that.
Truthfully, our lives are so much more busier that I honestly don't "remember" that I'm pregnant. I am only reminded that I am when my round belly gets in the way of what I'm doing! I will say that I've reached the point where I'm making zombie noises with my every movement.
I had my glucose test and check up today. It really hit me with how far along I am, which only means I don't have many weeks left! I am officially considered "high risk" because I've had two pre-term deliveries (both born 4-5 weeks early). Thankfully, both my kids were born at a very healthy 6lbs and did not have any issues that they had to stay in the NICU. It came to no surprise that my OB wanted to do the 17p injections again with this pregnancy. I have a home health nurse that comes out once a week to administer a progesterone shot right in my rump! As much as I dislike them, it has helped the weeks go by. So along the way, I've discussed with my OB that, 1: I should not labor at home like I did last time. (what can I say, I'm a hippie!) My labor with Amelia, in total, was 2hrs, start to finish. She's expecting this labor to go even faster! So now our goal is to head straight to the hospital once I start having contractions and/or my water breaks. And 2: having a history of both pre-term delivery AND fast laboring is NOT an ideal combo so we are going to be vigilant with my care to try and prepare for his arrival as best as we can. I plan on taking an early maternity leave instead of working up until I have the baby like I've done in the past. Can't you tell I am trying hard not to have the baby in rush hour traffic on 85S?! I'm due back in 3 weeks at my 31 week appointment for an ultrasound to measure the length of my cervix. If my body decides to do what it's done in the past, baby boy will be here in about 7-8 weeks! INSANE!!!!
We have not done a single thing to prepare. We jokingly talk about "baby #3 getting nothing." Definitely NOT true but I think we're experienced enough now to know what's important to have and not have. We are 80% set on a name but are openly discussing choices. We are the people that everyone makes fun of (and idgaf) that wait until we see the baby to see if the name we've chosen is fitting. It's worked for us in the past and we don't plan on changing our ways! Since having Amelia, I've gotten into couponing. I've slowly built up my diaper and wipes stockpile. I don't plan to rebuy anything that we didn't already use with Amelia. Sorry buddy, you're stuck with all pink errrthang!
Now onto the updates in our household!
Amelia started preschool in January after my mom left for 4 months to Laos to visit her family. In the last 6 months since starting school, Amelia has grown by leaps and bounds. She is my independent child! She will play for hours on end, alone with her toys, lost in her own world. She sleeps on her own and is so easy to put to bed - something we've never experienced with Benson! It used to be that we had to lay with her until she fell asleep and then slowly sneak out of the bed, trying so hard not to wake her, but really always ending up falling asleep right with her! Now it's a kiss, quick back scratch, a "good-night, sweet dreams" and we're out of the room. I know she stays up talking to herself until she falls asleep, which is the most absolute precious. My favorite is on weekends when she'll wake up early and climb into our bed and fall back asleep. Once the door's closed, Eric and I don't know what to do with ourselves and all the free time we have! (Maybe that's how baby #3 came about!)
We just celebrated her FOURTH birthday! So hard to believe she's 4. She requested an alpaca birthday. It all started when my dad bought her a "cuddly alpaca" stuffed animal. For the first few weeks of getting it, she carried it everywhere. I mean everywhere. Slowly we started getting her the alpacas in other colors and her collection grew. She has a name for each one (Lemonade is the yellow one, Orange is sorbet, blue is blueberry, white with pink and blue polka dots is Cotton Candy - her all time fave and so on). So when we started talking about having a party, alpacas came up. I knew I HAD to entertain her love for them. I mean, who has an alpaca party? I searched high and low for alpaca printed things. It was really hard to put together for coordinating purposes but I did it and it was so cute. We hired a face painter and she had a blast being the center of attention. She just started gymnastics and dare I say that this is her "calling"! She really really enjoyed ballet. I think she enjoyed that something special belonged to her. Ballet was cute and it was a great 'get your feet wet' in an extra curricular activity. But she wakes up the morning of gymnastics day and is beaming all day, waiting for her class. Eric and I decided we're going to let her stick with it since she enjoys it so much.
Benson ended the school year with awesome grades. Benson also finished out another soccer season with Eric as his coach! This was Eric's first time being a head coach and he did such a great job. We couldn't have asked for a better group of boys to mesh well together so early in their season. With Benson's passion for soccer increasing, we took a chance at him trying out for the Academy (read: traveling) league. And what do you know? He made it!! There is a lot of commitment involved, both time and financially. We ultimately left the decision up to Benson and if he was willing to commit to practicing more and harder. We were willing to support him and make our schedule work if he was willing to commit. After a lot of thought, he accepted the offer and we are set to play this fall! We just got his jersey number and it's 25, same as my dad when he played soccer! So cool to pay a little homage to his grandpa! We couldn't be more proud of the young man Benson is growing into. He has really stepped up in our household, being more responsible and helping out more with his sister. I am really excited to see the dynamics of my children when baby 3 gets here!
Eric and I just had this discussion over dinner last night, but we are expecting to have a very very busy fall. It will take a lot of effort on our part to keep connected with each other with how much we will be a part! Starting in August, both kids will be in school. (Amelia starts pre-k!) Eric starts his night classes again, twice a week. Benson's academy training will begin, practicing twice a week and games on Saturday, potentially Sundays too! Amelia will have gymnastics once a week. AND we will be having a newborn to add to all the chaos!! I'm planning on taking a long maternity leave to soak in the fruits of my labor but once I start working again, it's on like donkey kong!
Eric and I end almost every night, laying in bed talking about all the things our kids did or said, talking about how much we love them. Pregnant, emotional me is crying at this sap ass shit!! Ha! I really feel like we're starting to live the life we've always dreamed of. There is nowhere else I'd rather be than running around after a long day of work to watch my kids do the things they love to do all the meanwhile enjoying it with "my person." (Grey's Anatomy reference) This is it people. I am here. I've made it. I am so lucky to live this life I live, making memories with the people I love.
If you've made it this far, bless you. Until next time, I'll leave you with some pictures from our last photo session!
