Surprise!

Have you noticed that I haven't been blogging as much lately? Well, that isn't because we haven't had a lot going on, its because...I'm pregnant with baby #3! Well, let me start from the beginning...
*I'm going to apologize now for this being a long post. I just want to document everything!

Finding Out: Right after Gavin got out of the hospital, I had a wacky period. I blamed it all on stress. When my period was scheduled to come around again, it didn't. I also had a few symptoms, so after three days, I sent Brian out to get a pregnancy test. The funny thing was Brian bought two things that night: a pregnancy test and a bottle of wine. The wine was actually for Beth, but I'm sure the cashier got a kick out of it. I took the test and it came back as positive immediately. I knew in my gut that I was, so I wasn't that surprised. Brian had been bugging me about wanting another baby for a while, but I was a little more hesitant. With everything we'd been through with Gavin, I wanted to make sure we didn't take on more than we could handle. We weren't trying to have a baby, but we also left it up to God. I guess he thought we were ready and that's all that mattered. Brian was thrilled with the results and I have to admit I was a little giddy at the thought. We cried and hugged and then the shock and freak out started setting in. Macie would turn three in October a few short months later we would have a third child. Three c-sections and gallbladder surgery in a little over three years...wow! We found out on April 12th. Now we had to figure out when I was due. I honestly had no idea! I guessed that it may be around December 18th, but it could also be sooner than that.

Symptoms: Just as with previous pregnancies, I've had plenty of symptoms. Three words can pretty much sum up this pregnancy so far...nausea, heartburn, and exhaustion. In the beginning the heartburn was so bad, I almost couldn't bare it. I've also been more tired than I ever remember. Probably working full time, taking care of two little ones, and being a full time incubator is more than my body can handle at this time. There have been several nights where I am passed out by 6:00! Poor Brian. He has really stepped up and is tyring so hard to take over as much as he can. Our house is a disaster, but he's doing the best he can. I've gotten sick a few times, but for the most part I just feel like I'm going to throw up and don't. I honestly think this is worse. Some other symptoms I've had are acne, irritability, not wanting to be touched, and extra sensitivity to smells. One other reason I suspected I may be pregnant was that my blood pressure was up when it got checked at school. I had issues with Macie and it raised some suspicions for me.

Telling People: Our initial gut instinct was to keep the pregnancy a secret. I wanted to get through the rest of the school year and make sure everything was OK. We each picked one person to tell because we knew that we would go crazy. I told Patti and Brian told Jesse. Neither Brian or I are good at keeping secrets, so it wasn't long before we'd each told our closest friends and I told my boss. I was starting to not feel well and busting out of my clothes, so we started telling more people. We figured that if something did happen, we'd have our family and friends to support us. We told people in a variety of ways...I videotaped Macie and showed it to my parents; we randomly mentioned it to Allie one night at dinner; we told Beth when we were holding Parker, Brian randomly made a comment how our family would look like this soon; Macie called Grammie and Pops to tell them; we told Katie over the phone; Annie found out at Allie's birthday dinner; Macie told my grandma at Easter, so the word was out! Although we've had some good reactions, most people were shocked to say the least!

Uh Oh: Katie was actually the first family member to know about the pregnancy. She called the day after we found out to tell us she was getting married on December 17th and wanted the kids to be in the wedding....crap! We kind of stuttered a bit and said yes. I knew we were going to have to call her back and let her know there was no way we could make a commitment like that until we knew when I was having the baby. She was upset with us, but we didn't plan this. We had just talked to her a few days earlier and she wasn't planning on getting married until 2012 so we thought we were in the clear. Now we had a major problem on our hands! We promised Katie we would call after our appointment on May 26th. I had an ultrasound scheduled so we would know an exact due date then.

Belly: As I mentioned before, my belly popped out almost immediately. I guess it hasn't had enough time to go back! I am already wearing maternity clothes and I feel huge. The worst part about this stage is that you look and feel fat, not pregnant. Unless people know, you just look like you are gaining weight. The good thing is, I was down close to 20 pounds before going to Florida so I will start this pregnancy a lot lighter that I did the last two! I've taken a few pictures and will post them soon.

Strep: The week before Easter, I was feeling awful. I literally wanted to sleep all of the time and was running a low grade fever. Brian was worried about me, but we thought if I got some rest, I would be fine. I had to work because I was out of sick days and those days were rough. Not only did I have a fever off and on but I was so achy. Towards the end of the week, my throat started hurting badly and was swollen. I could barely eat or swallow. I knew that I needed to go to the doctor, but I called Dr. Crutcher's office first. The nurse said that it sounded like I had strep and that I should be seen right away. I pretty much knew that I had strep too, but I was bummed. I actually had my tonsils taken out when I was little because I had strep all of the time. I did get strep once in college though. As soon as they tested me for strep, it was positive. They said I was a rare case. Lucky me! The funniest moment came when the doctor came in. The nurse had asked me if I had any allergies. I told her z-pac and she wrote it down. The doctor kept asking me about smoking 2 packs a day. I thought he was just being funny. He would make comments like, "Your chest sounds pretty good for smoking that much." "How do you have enough time to smoke that much." They say that if you can get it down to 8 cigarettes a day during pregnancy, it will be better for the baby." I finally said, are you joking because I don't even smoke. He felt so badly for reading the paper wrong and was very relieved that I didn't smoke that much. I have to say I got a good laugh! After that, he prescribed me some medicine and I was on my way. Everyone assured me it was safe to take while pregnant, so I took it. I felt much better in no time!

Macie's Prediction: Macie is very excited about a new baby. Well, she thinks she is anyway! Her big prediction is that I am having twins. She tells us every day that we are having 2 babies. I have to admit, the thought was both exciting and terrifying at the same time. She would say, you are having a boy baby and a girl baby. However, if we ask her what I am having, she almost always says boy. Only time will tell...

The best kept secret: We've decided not to find out what we are having this time. I've always wanted to keep it a secret, but we haven't in the past. We already have a girl and a boy. They were both born near winter, so we are set on clothes. This is will be our last baby, so I want to be able to experience that surprise at the time of birth. Of course the planner in me will probably go crazy, but I'll be so busy in the next few months that I won't have too much time to think about it. We did say that if Macie was right and we were having twins, we would find out. My gut says boy, but we shall have to see!

Names: We already have names picked out for our little one. If it is a girl, the name will be Lilah Jean. If it is a boy, the name will be Nolan Russell. Lilah and Nolan are names that I love. Jean is both of my grandma's middle names so it only seems right. When Grams B found out she yelled out, "Yay" and started clapping. Russell was my grandpa's (Dad's dad) name and is my dad's middle name. He is the last Boyles, so I would like to honor him and carry on the Russell name. The cool thing is, all 5 people in our family will have 5 letters in their name and have an A. If it's a girl we will all have an I and A! Am I crazy...yes, but I think it's cool!

Food Cravings: Like every good pregnancy, I've had plenty of food cravings. Usually, I get something stuck in my head and I'm not OK until I get it. The bad thing about this is that we've been eating out WAY TOO MUCH! Some of my cravings include Auntie Anne's pretzel with cheese, chips and cheese, Taco Johns, fruit snacks, fresh fruit, and popcorn with chocolate chips. It sounds like I'm eating all of the time, but really I can't eat as much at time. Probably because I'm bloated!

Mother's Day Scare: Mother's Day started off not so great. I was spotting and having mild cramps. I've had the cramping with both other pregnancies, but never the spotting. I woke Brian up and was very upset. I didn't want to over react, but this has never happened to me before. I could tell Brian was upset too. I went through every emotion and played every scenario in my head. I didn't want to think negatively, but I was so scared. I laid around for a while and tried to relax. The spotting stopped a few hours after it started but I still didn't feel too well. We decided not to call the doctor and wait and see what happened. The next morning, the spotting started again. I knew I had to call. Dr. Crutcher wanted me to come in for an ultrasound and lab work. We cancelled Gavin's therapy and I headed to the doctor after school. I hated that I had to go by myself, but there were no other options. I was terrified that they wouldn't find a healthy baby not to mention I had lab work. I had to wait forever in the office. I knew they were fitting me in, but I was freaking out. Finally, they called me back. And guess what....they found ONE baby with a heartbeat! (Macie was wrong) I got to hear it and everything. I can't even tell you how happy I was and I even shed a few tears. They also found a hemorrhage (she told me a much longer name but I can't remember it enough to type it). Basically, when the baby implanted, it caused some irritation and bruising in my uterus. This is more common than I ever knew. Dr. Crutcher had already left for the day, so the tech made me promise I wouldn't look anything up on the Internet and would wait to talk to the doctor the next morning. I was so happy to have a baby and wiped from the day, I honestly didn't care!

Due Date: When I had the ultrasound, I was able to find out my actual due date. Turns out the baby only measured 7 weeks 1 day. That made my due date Christmas day. How funny is that? Because I will have a scheduled c-section, I won't actually have the baby on Christmas day, but he or she will definitely be the best Christmas gift! The crazy part is I found out I was pregnant at just a little over 3 weeks. That is really early! I was concerned that the baby may just be small, but turns out the lab work matched up with the ultrasound, so Christmas day it is! The Christmas due date means no traveling for the holidays this year and it is going to make things tricky for Katie's wedding:(

Appointments: My first ultrasound and labs were last Monday. Tuesday I was able to talk to Dr. Crutcher's nurse and she told me that everything with the baby looked great and I had no restrictions at this time. She wanted me to come in on Wednesday for more labs to make sure the levels were doing what they were supposed to. I went in and had a little bit of a rougher time, but I survived. I called on Thursday and was happy to find out that the levels were consistent with the ultrasound. Dr. C wanted me to come back in today for another ultrasound and my full pregnancy labs. Brian was able to come with me. Even though the bleeding had stopped and we had good results last time, I was still nervous. I'm so glad Brian was there. We had awesome results! The baby was growing right on track, we could see and hear the heartbeat, and the hemorrhage had shrunk! The tech seemed to think it would go away soon. Although the baby was a little blob, we could pick out arm buds, a head, and even see it's little heart pumping away. Such an amazing moment! After that high, it was time to go for the full lab work up. Have I ever mentioned before that I HATE needles? This would be my third stick in a little over a week! I had the same lady every time, and bless her heart, she is probably glad she won't see me for a while! I just know my limits and how to handle myself. I always tell them where it is best to stick me, bring some water to drink, and ask them not to tell me what they are doing. I've learned the hard way. She started trying to stick me in my arm and I told her no. Finally, she gave in and stuck me in my wrist...and what do you know...everything went off without a hitch! I didn't freak out at all and when I walked out, Brian was shocked that they were already done and my face was its normal color. I'm so happy and relieved to have my last set of pregnancy labs done. My next appointment isn't until June 7th when I will finally get to see Dr. Crutcher.