Appointment Summary 8-24 weeks

Since I started this blog a little late, and didn't know exactly what direction I wanted to take it, I haven't been updating with every doctor's appointment. I think I might start. I love looking back on the other two boys prenatal appointments and just their daily schedules and routines when they were younger. Type A much? Yes, I don't deny it.

My first appointment at 8 or 9 weeks went great. I got an early ultrasound, which was completely unexpected but I was so excited. We wanted to announce our third pregnancy on our Christmas cards, but I didn't feel like we could until we heard or saw a heartbeat. So you can bet that our Christmas were ordered that afternoon. Baby's heartbeat was 175 and I was feeling extremely nauseous.

My second appointment at 12 weeks was again just standard. We heard the heartbeat, and asked a few random questions. Oh I think it was at this point when the doctor told me that I had a hernia and diastasis. My hernia sticks out right at the belly button and my diastasis means that my stomach muscles have completely separated leaving a hole above my belly button. Hot, right? I will most likely need surgery a while after I give birth as long as Tom and I are done having babies. Trust me, we are done!

My third appointment was at 17 weeks and again, just standard.

Fourth appointment was at 20 weeks. We had the ultrasound this appointment too which was so much fun! I had been having some back problems, so I got some tips as to how to help my posture and how to relieve some of the pressure. Heart beat was about 147.

Fifth appointment was at 24 weeks. I passed my glucose tests with flying colors. Hooray! However, my iron levels were low. I'm a little nervous about that. But they will test again at 28 weeks and hopefully I'll have gotten them back up. Starting at 28 weeks (my next appointment) I will go in every 2 weeks. Then at 36 weeks, every week!

I can't believe in just a few short weeks I will be in the third trimester! I am getting so excited to meet this little man it's unbelievable!

Bedtime Struggles

Our lovely house has three bedrooms. Three bedrooms is plenty for a family of four, but for a family of five, two kids are bound to share a room. We had been struggling when to put Jack and Finn in the same room for quite some time. Then one afternoon, Finn broke his crib and made the decision for us. Jack had bunk beds in his room already, so off Finn went into Jack's room. Our bedtime routine has never been more challenging. The kids aren't falling asleep until at least 9 PM and this has been going on for over a week an a half now. The thing that frustrates me the most is that now the only time during the day when Tom and I would be able to talk in peace and quiet no longer exists. It's frustrating and it causes friction between the two of us. I just hate how this happened so abruptly. But we don't have any other options, so I guess we just keep dealing with it night after night and hope that some night in the very near future, bedtimes can not be so crazy, chaotic, and full of yelling and threatening remarks. Because honestly, I'm not sure how much more of this I can handle.

Ultrasound, the 3rd time around

I remember my 20 week ultrasound with Jack like it was yesterday. We were living in Omaha and I loved my doctor's office. I remember eating some skittles right before my appointment, just to make sure we could watch the baby dance. We were dead set on not finding out the sex. I remember everything feeling like a dream. I couldn't yet feel the baby move, but I could see it practically doing flips on the monitor. It was so amazing. I thought the coolest part of the entire ultrasound was seeing the details of the beating heart and the four chambers. I was just amazed. I was flying high after we left. We were so clueless as to what a newborn was going to be like 24/7 or how much this baby was going to change our lives - good and bad, but mostly good.

Finn's ultrasound was a tad different. It took place when my mom and brother had just gotten to Colorado for Brendan's rehab. I was still grieving and barely had time to even remember that I was pregnant. I remember that Tom was with me at this ultrasound. And I remember a million things not going how I had hoped. The baby was breach. My placenta was low. And she couldn't get a good view of all 4 chambers of the heart. This all meant that I had to come back a week later. Not to mention multiple times because of my placenta issue. I still got giddy seeing my baby on the monitor and how big it was, but something inside of me kind of felt like "been there, done that." I figured this baby would come out with blonde hair, just a little of it, and would hopefully be the same angel baby that it's brother had been. Boy was I completely WRONG. Finn popped out with so much dark hair, the first thing I said was "where did this come from?" And angel baby he was not. I couldn't believe how two brothers could be more different. When all along during my pregnancy I was thinking how easy this was going to be second time around because I had done it before. Tisk tisk on me.

With #3's ultrasound, I was so relaxed. Maybe it's because we already knew it was a boy. Maybe it's because I know that this baby is it's own. It's not going to be just like Jack or just like Finn. Although I pray every day it's an easy baby for us. I can't wait to discover who this baby is and who he looks like (I'm secretly hoping he's bald with a just a dusting of blonde hair).

Some days I wake up and I can't believe that I am going to be a mother of three boys. THREE BOYS. That seems insane. But I feel like the luckiest woman in the world.