Baby #3

I'd say it's about time to write about Baby #3! 

I found out I was pregnant in July, in the middle of a bunch of crazy stuff going on. The kids were getting sick a lot, our van was having almost constant car problems, leaving me and the kids often stranded at home with no car (ugh!) and it seemed that not a whole lot was going right. Additionally, my little brother got married that month and I spent almost two weeks away from home, on the go! (Thankfully, I didn't start feeling sick until RIGHT after I got back from that trip). I remember taking the test, seeing that it was positive, and not being able to help but feel excited. (Nervous too for sure, but mostly just excited). However, I worried just the tiniest bit that Michael would feel more stressed out about this news than anything else. After all, life was expensive and stressful at the moment. I still wanted to tell him in a semi-cute way, since I told him about being pregnant with Kate in a very lame way. (Um, a text. Yeah, I know. I KNOW! Long story). So, I quickly ran to Kohl's and luckily found exactly what I was looking for - a "Big Sister" shirt). I then waited a very long few hours for Michael to get home from work. As soon as he walked in I said, "What do you think of Kate's shirt?" He took a look and said, "REALLY?" with a huge smile on his face. I wanted to cry that he reacted so well. Actually, I may have. Haha. (Hey, pregnancy messes with your hormones).  :-)  I snapped a quick photo to document it, though it's a terrible picture because Kate would NOT hold still.

As I mentioned, I started feeling sick right after our trip to Idaho Falls/CA. So, around the beginning of August. Ugh. I am fortunate enough to not be completely bedridden sick when I'm pregnant, but I still definitely rarely felt GOOD. So far, each pregnancy has been a little worse than the last with how sick I was. I didn't have insomnia like I did with Kate, but I often felt weak and nauseated. For the most part this disappeared relatively early into the second trimester, but it still happens occasionally. It gets even worse when I don't eat often. And oh my goodness, I have to EAT. I always swear when I find out that I'm pregnant that I'm going to try to not stuff my face constantly that I'm going to eat healthy, but then when I'm actually pregnant I remember how it feels.... and it feels like - GIVE ME ALL THE FOOD. AND IF YOU OFFER ME AN APPLE I'LL PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE BECAUSE THAT IS NOT GOING TO FIX THIS HUNGER. Yeah, not very ideal. They always say that you don't actually need to eat THAT much more when you're pregnant to get the nutrients you need, but um, if I don't eat a lot I feel SICK. And weak. It is incredibly annoying. My biggest pregnancy cravings have been chocolate milk, (which I never normally drink!) steak, hot wings, pizza, hot wing chips, and burgers. Sigh. Why can't I crave fruits and veggies?

I told my family about the pregnancy about a month before I told the rest of the world. I sent my family this picture text -

And put this picture up on Instagram and Facebook to make it public knowledge-

I included the caption - "Matthew is really excited to be a big brother again! Kate's not too thrilled about becoming the middle child. Baby 3 coming in March!"

We found out the gender in mid-October, right after our NYC trip. I was so excited and nervous. While me and Michael were both kinda sorta thinking that it was a boy, we definitely weren't sure. And after I was so completely wrong about Kate, (I was totally sure she was a boy) I didn't trust my instinct at all. We took the kids to the ultrasound, so it was a family affair. ;-) We found out it was indeed a boy and were super excited! (We really would have been excited either way). I made this quick video as a gender reveal:

I am pretty much feeling good physically, and terrified mentally. While my kids really are good kids, they are energetic toddlers and can be a handful... and on days when they're being crazy and I feel like a mess I ask myself what the heck I was thinking. ;-) But, I remember feeling the same way when I was pregnant with Kate, and somehow I've managed that... well, mostly....... ;-) so I assume it'll all work out with this one as well. I might lose my mind in the process, but I'm excited to have a third. This baby boy and Kate will be slightly over 2 years apart, so let's just hope that Kate doesn't enter full-blown Terrible Two's just as this baby boy is making his appearance. Haha.

Also, I cannot even begin to tell you how terrified I am of labor and delivery. I always thought that I'd become more prepared and calm about it with each baby, but instead it is opposite! Now that I know that my labors are super hard and super FAST, (and probably only going to get faster!) I am a bit of a wreck when I even think about it. Like, I think about going into labor and delivering this baby and my heart starts to pound and my blood pressure rises and I feel all panicky. I absolutely HATE that I feel this way! I'm scared because I didn't get my epidural with Kate until I was almost completely dilated (I was literally unwillingly pushing while getting my epidural) and so I'm thinking that I probably will end up delivering this baby naturally whether I like it or not. And I am not so good at handling pain-free labor. Actually, I'm terrible at it. Terrible! Those super women out there who do it naturally and love it? I am so jealous.... because that is totally not me. I wish it was me though! All you natural labor and delivery moms out there, SOS! Teach me your tricks for getting through it without basically being traumatized... because I'd love to not go into panic mode whenever I think about labor. It's kind of putting a damper on my pregnancy, haha. AND WHAT IF I GIVE BIRTH IN TRIAGE, OR WORSE, IN THE HALL!? Ugh. On the bright side, I suppose super fast labors means that it's only a couple hours of horror and then I get to meet my sweet baby boy! Oh how I love my babies.  :-)  Can't wait to meet this little man.

And that's pretty much it for my pregnancy update!  Oh, here's a picture of me at 23 weeks. (I'm 24 weeks now).