Pregnancy Update

Where to start? I know I haven't blogged much at all about this pregnancy! I'd like to give a little pregnancy overview for those of you who are interested, and for my own journaling purposes as well. Right now I have completed 36 weeks of pregnancy, putting me in my 37th week - I'm in the home stretch!! I'm not sure whether to be excited about that or terrified to tell you the truth. I am SO looking foreward to having a newborn in the house again (LOVE newborns!!) but pretty afraid of the labour that I know is inevitable in getting there, lol. The other day, the thought of the looming labour hit me and my thoughts were "what did I get myself into?!?!" Another thing that is looming over me are the baby names. We've hardly spent any time talking about names or looking for them. I have a fear of being one of those families that has the baby and the baby doesn't have a name for days. I mean, come on, haven't these people known that they were pregnant for the last 9 months? I am starting to understand how that happens, though!

So after the horrible pregnancy that I had with Oliver, I had to admit that I was very hesitant to go through another pregnancy. Scott was ready long before I was to have another. I kept telling him if we could go straight to the baby stage no problem, it was just the pregnancy that I didn't know if I wanted to go through again. But eventually my fears subsided, and we decided to take the plunge. Scott and I both wanted to plan for the baby to be born at a different time of year than our other 2 (with birthdays 2 weeks apart it gets a little crazy!) but never really thought about what that meant during the busy time we were in until it was too late. I guess you could say God threw us a curveball - which usually happens when we 'plan' things so well, doesn't it?

My pregnancy started out amazingly well compared to the previous 2. With both Kalia and Oliver I had a lot of morning sickness. It was an amazing blessing to me not to go through that this time. It seemed that by eating smart I could almost totally avoid the nausea (and the throwing up!!) that had been such a problem the last 2 times. I was VERY tired though. We ended up moving in with my parents during this time after selling our house in Morris, which ended up being an another great thing. Mom was so helpful with the kids and making sure they didn't get neglected during all of the rest times that I needed. Thankfully Kalia was still napping or at least having a good quiet time almost every day. Perhaps moving, contracting a house, and taking care of 2 little ones could have added to the fatigue . . .

It was fun telling the kids about the coming baby. Kalia was excited - she had been asking for a baby of 'her own' for a long time already! She is determined for the baby to be a girl, though. The one time I was tucking her into bed and asked her what if the baby would be a boy. She looked just shocked, bowed her head and clasped her hands and prayed "Dear God, please would you give me a baby girl?" Then she looked at me with a pleased expression and said "He told me He would!" Oliver was happy to be called Big Brother, though I don't know how much he grasped the idea at first. Throughout most of the pregnancy, he has been convinced that my bellybutton is the baby. A couple of weeks ago we saw a friend of mine from college and her newborn and then it seemed to click with Oliver after that. Now he even points to my tummy and tells people I have a baby in there, and we've been reading this story about babies in mommies tummies. I'm very curious to see how he'll react to the baby because he is a little posessive of his space and his mommy and daddy cuddle time. Kalia was the first person we told, and she's been giving my belly snuggles and talking to the baby ever since. She instantly came up with the nickname "Baby Skittles" and is never afraid to suggest names for the baby. One that she seriously wanted us to consider was Purple Pansy. Hmm . . .

My pregnancy made it so that a lot of things that we had planned for me to do with the new house being built didn't really pan out. I had been so excited about painting, for example, but ended up hiring that out. The few things that I did help with took really long because I only came to the house when I could muster up the energy to put in a good few hours of work.

I also started showing very early and it seemed as though my baby bump got big fast! People were always suprised that I was only as far along as I was. As soon as baby started taking up more space inside of me, I could feel my lungs and chest getting tight. I guess there is still some damage there from my last pregnancy. So, especially in the heat I have been short of breath and lightheaded often. It's managable as long as I get enough rest and drink lots of water which is good for me anyways! Being pregnant in the heat of summer has been quite something - especially when we didn't have air conditioning! We've had a very humid summer and that sticky air did get quite unbearable at times. The week BEFORE we got our AC installed, it was around 39 degrees with like a million percent humidity, lol. We stayed away from home or in the cool basement as much as possilbe. Other than the heat and some trouble with my sciatic nerve, the middle months of my pregnancy went very well. We were fortunate enough to get a fair amount of cottage time in, so the lake was close by to cool off :)

Now as I'm nearing the end I feel just HUGE!!! Already over a month ago I asked Scott "How is it possible that I will get any bigger?!" He had no reply, haha. I keep getting people who gasp when I say that I'm not due until September, or say 'oh you poor thing' or tell me how huge my baby is going to be. Yeah. Thanks. Even Oliver when he comes to sit on my lap now says 'Squishy! Beep beep baby!" Kalia is still quite set on getting a little sister, and to tell the truth I really wish we knew what we were having so that we could work with that now already. Now is the time for baby clothes to be sorted and lots of laundry.

One really weird quirk about this pregnancy has been my addiction to strong smells! Whereas with my other two I sooner had an aversion to strong smells, this time I find myself really liking some smells that aren't really even likeable smells! Things like children's afterbite - LOVE IT!! Some other smells that I wish I could just sniff right up (but won't . . . becuase they're probably bad for me, lol) are my hairspray, the floor cleaner I use, coffee grounds (which I usually do not like the smell of), the smell of alcohol (don't worry I'm not drinking any), and the strong smell of the natural shampoo I use. Oh yeah - and the smell of gas when we fill up the van. Poor baby! I'm sure there are more, but I just can't think of them right now. But you can definitely get the gist of the abnormalcy of this!

I have never been the kind of person who just loves being pregnant, but this pregnancy and how it has gone is really a tremendous blessing. One thing that I feel I could never get enough of is feeling the baby move, kick, and stretch inside of me. I always love that connection that I get to make with the baby before he or she is born. I am very thankful to God for this healthy pregnancy and the little one growing inside of me that I can't wait to meet!!