We're pregnant! Again! For the last time! Most definitely! At least I hope so. I'm due March 1,2017 so we're anticipating a mid-late February birth.
Here are answers to your burning questions:
1. You do know how that happens, right?
Yes, actually, we do. Apparently we're pretty good at it, too, seeing as how this is the fourth time in six years. Or is that a question? Do you not know? Do you need me to explain it to you?
2. Was this planned?
Absolutely. I know how babies are made (see #1) and we planned every one of our children.
3. Is this the last one?
I really hope so. Surprisingly since I have so many planned kids, I hate being pregnant. Each child is basically a dedicated year of my life to misery and discomfort. And that's before we include all the breastfeeding. I figured out at one point that at the end of this pregnancy, over the preceding 7 years I will have been pregnant, post-partum, or breastfeeding for 4.5. I think that's enough. We'll take permanent measures next summer.
4. Are you hoping for another girl?
Honestly, yes, but another boy would be just as loved and welcomed.
5. You're probably going to move now, right? Your house is so small!
It's actually not. It's 2500 square feet. People forget we have a huge room upstairs that's mostly storage. We haven't quite figured out how things will be shuffled, but they will be. Asher spends most nights in a different room than Eden and Elijah anyway, and the baby will sleep in our room until he/she is probably about 4 months old. Plus I really hate moving. I did it a lot between 2001 and 2010 in various ways (into and out of dorms, switching rooms in Mom's house, moving into and out of houses and apartments) and there's nothing quite like being downtown at this stage of our lives. There's a house I love about a block away that was recently for sale, but at $300k, it's a teensy bit out of our price range. Plus, I hate the thought of ANYONE else living in this house. My current plan is to move out of it in a body bag.
6. Do you know what you're having?
People. I'm 12 weeks pregnant. No.
7. Will you find out?
Yes. In about 8 weeks or so.
Edited: We've decided to wait until our 29 week fetal echocardiogram to find out for various reasons. We don't fault anyone for having as many ultrasounds as they or their doctors want, but reading a few things online make us a little concerned about overexposure and since the fetal echo (see question 13) will be about an hour long procedure, we've decided to skip the 20 week gender ultrasound. All that said, if a reason arises and an additional ultrasound is deemed necessary, we'll do it.
8. Will you tell us the name?
Nope. It was actually kind of fun not telling anyone what we had decided on and NO ONE COMPLAINED ABOUT EDEN'S NAME! It was great. We'll redo that.
9. Really? Not even family or close friends or ...?
I mean, you might get it out of my kids, but that's playing dirty. (And there's no guarantee they'll tell you the real one. Elijah has some doozies of suggestions.) We did tell a select handful of close friends and family with Eden, because we loved the name so much, but sadly, not everyone is on the list of close people we trust not to rain on our parade.
10. Do you have a name picked out yet?
Not really. We have a list of names we like, but it's hard to focus and narrow it down until we know a gender.
11. Will you have a shower?
Well, my Abilene baby showers have a notoriously low turn out, which is disappointing and embarrassing, especially since the wonderful people who have thrown me these showers have put so much effort into them. Plus this is my 4th baby in 6 years. I've pretty much got everything I need. We may have a diaper shower (a friend asked about doing that for me early next year) but we'll see. It feels greedy and uncomfortable to me to have another shower when I had three for Asher and one for Eden.
12. Are you having another home birth or a hospital birth?
We're planning for a home birth. I've seen the midwife twice, once for an establishing visit and then once to hear the baby's heartbeat. She couldn't find it at the first appointment because it wasn't quite 10 weeks yet, but the second time we heard it clearly and strong at 150.
Edited: this may change. We'll keep you posted.
13. So Eden's heart didn't scare you off more kids?
Well....it almost did. But Eden's doing so incredibly well it almost feels like her whole situation was a fake out. She does have a serious heart condition and we do have to keep an eye on it and her growth and development, but...it's so mundane after the first few months of insanity its almost like it's nothing, if that makes sense. All that said, because of her heart, this baby has a 3% chance of having a heart condition as well, instead of a .009% chance every other baby has. That means we need to have a fetal echocardiogram between 25 and 31 weeks (during the holiday season) to check the baby's heart. We're still figuring out the ordering and scheduling of all that but once it's worked out, I'll report back. We're choosing to look at it not as 3% chance something is wrong, but 97% chance everything is perfect. Those are pretty great odds.
Edited: a fetal echocardiogram has been schedule for December 14, when I'm 29 weeks. I'll have to drive to Dallas the night before and stay in a hotel (woe is me) for the appointment at 930 in the morning. It'll take about an hour for the echo, then another hour or two for evaluation and the doctor's consultation with me. Luckily, we get our favorite cardiologist, Eden's primary cardiologist, to do the exam. Woo!
14. How are the other kids taking it?
I think for Asher it's old hat at this point. Elijah keeps suggesting weird names. Eden....is 19 months old. She doesn't know.
15. Have you felt the baby kick?
Well, since I'm only 12 weeks, not really. I've felt a few little weird flutters that could just be gas, but might also be baby making him/herself known. I'll definitely start feeling stuff in the next few weeks. I'm already showing (of course, I started this pregnancy looking about 3 months pregnant, so people may not really notice for a while) and I'll just get bigger and bigger and more uncomfortable as the weeks go by.
That's all I can think of for now. If you have any questions I haven't answered, feel free to post them. ;-)
We're adding another book worm!
Edited to add:
16: What's this baby's animal going to be?
Well, we've got a bird, a mammal, and an insect. I suppose we should go with reptile or amphibian, but we're leaning towards another insect, a bee. It's gender neutral, which we like, and kinda sorta raises awareness that we need to save the honeybees...so there's that.
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