16 Weeks!

How Far Along: 16 weeks

Baby Size: a stud finder

Current Symptoms/Cravings:  Less flutters, more kicks! Baby Girl is getting bigger for sure! I also know this as pelvic separation symptoms have begun :( When I was pregnant with Crosby, I suffered from a separated pelvis which was extremely painful and ultimately lead me to be induced at 39 weeks (after a week of prodromal labor!) My OBGYN warned me that with each future pregnancy, pelvic separation can start sooner and be more disabling, whooo hooo! It started around 20 weeks with Crosby, and here we are at 16 with BC3. I hope to start physical therapy soon, and may have to re-invest in one of those sexy pelvic braces, because I gave my old one away...you know...because I was done having babies...Craving wise, chicken wings continue to be on the top of my list! Fortunately or unfortunately, there is a place that delivers wings to my office in less than 20 minutes of placing my order! 

Manly Mentions: Just tonight Ryan and Carson and I were discussing that Carson will be so much older when BC3 is born, compared to Crosby (Carson turn's 5 this weekend!). We suggested that perhaps he might even be old enough to change some diapers this time around...He shot that down real fast! Carson has come up with some interesting middle name options for BC3. He recently was introduced to the musical movie "Newsies" and is obsessed with various characters of course. He has suggested that the names "Mudd" or "Crutchy" (or both combined!) might be good middle name choices. 

Baby Prep: Not too much baby prep has occurred as of late as this last week I have been focused on many happy and sad events that are occurring within our family. My Gram, Phyllis Moffitt, is is entering the final phase of her life here on earth as she is struggling to fight an infection that doctors feel they no longer can treat. Extra support and prayers are appreciated not only for Gram, but also for her three children (Rob, Patty Cook, and Doug) who have worked together to ensure that her last moments here on earth are filled with comfort, song, and most importantly love. And my poor mother who is working overtime being a wonderful support to my dad, is also healing from various complications of her own recent surgery to remove some cancerous cells under her hairline. In true Patty form, she is plugging along! In happy and exciting news, I am trying to stay focused on my biggest boy whom we will be celebrating this weekend! I can hardly believe he will be half a decade old! Needless to say, baby prep has not been on my radar lately, but I am still having minimal will power when it comes to cute baby girl outfits...

Third Time Around: The general consensus among second and third time moms is that you definitely pop out sooner with subsequent pregnancies! (As evidenced by my bump pics!) There was one point this past week when it seemed like I could feel my stomach expanding in real time, and it was not comfortable! It also kick started all of that pelvic pain. If it was my first pregnancy, I probably would have been calling my doctor at 10 PM to discuss the intense pain and cramping I was feeling. Instead I re-read my baby blog from my last pregnancy and determined that what I was feeling was exactly the same thing as I did with Crosby. I drank a bunch of water, lay down on my left side and went to sleep. Woke up feeling fine in the morning. Mother's intuition at its best!

Next Up: Bloodwork from my 16 week appointment came back all clear, so no concern for spina bifida or neurotube defects, whooo hooo! My next OBGYN appointment is scheduled for 11/6, when I will have my anatomy scan to check organ functioning, etc. This is when we would traditionally find out the gender...but thanks to modern medicine, we already know its a GIRL! Part of me is secretly excited to take a peek at some lady parts, hehe! 

15 Weeks!

How Far Along: 15 weeks

Baby Size: a baseball

Current Symptoms/Cravings:  One day this week, I totally had a craving for chicken wings! With ranch dressing! Friday is a paperwork day for me for work, so I was able to squeeze in a pedicure for a little mommy pampering at Polished Spa in my office building. I stopped and grabbed some wings on the way to my appointment and ate them during my pedicure. What could be better than wings and a pedi for a pregnant lady? It was amazing! No new symptoms but definitely noticing the lack of tired and nausous old symptoms! Doesn't mean I still don't enjoy a good nap every now and then...

Manly Mentions: Ryan wants to point at that so far the baby loves caffeine (not too much, I promise!), fancy restaurants, and apple cider donuts, lol. We are definitely still adjusting to the idea of having a girl/daughter/sister in the family. When we first told Carson that we were pregnant his response was "YES! That's all I've ever wanted! And it better be a girl..." Thank goodness that was the case or we had a lot of explaining to do!

Baby Prep: Big events in the baby prep department! We traded in my 2012 Mazda5 for a 2012 Honda Odyssey. The Mazda5 did have a third row of seats but left little to no room for groceries or luggage. As a family who does frequent road trips to see loved ones, we knew that this was not going to fly! I am pretty psyched about our new car...owning a minivan seems so lame yet so awesome at the same time! Tomorrow Ryan and I both have Columbus Day off but the boys still have school. We plan to spend the day cleaning out closets and taking trips to Goodwill to make some more room for this baby! I am sure the back of our new minivan will be full of things to give away!

Third Time Around: One thing that I notice about being pregnant at the moment is that I do not have many other friends or acquaintances that are also pregnant at the same time. My closest friends are super psyched for a baby girl to be joining our kiddo crew, but it feels funny not to be pregnant around the same time that they were as I was with our first two rounds! I do have another close local friend who is a few weeks a head of me, and I am excited to spend time with her as preggos and on maternity leave - she definitely is a friend that has been to Hell and back to have her kiddos as well so its awesome to have a pregnancy comrade. I have another close friend also expecting down in the mid-Atlantic, but can't out her yet! Its been fun to check in with her about what stages we are in, etc. As a third child, hopefully BC3 will roll along with our already established posse - which feels different from when I had Carson who created the posse! 

Next Up: Next week I have some more blood work done to screen for not genetic issues, but rather developmental issues such as spina bifida and other neurotube defects. Such a relief to hear that we had no genetic abnormalities discovered via the Harmony test. Crossing our fingers for normal results with this next blood work as well! 

This week we took BC3 and her brothers apple picking! Here are some fun pictures:

14 Weeks!

How Far Along: 14 weeks

Baby Size: a stress ball 

Current Symptoms/Cravings:  Baby kicks and flutters! With Carson I felt them at 16 weeks, Crosby at 13 weeks, and with this one I swore I felt a first flutter at 12! But by 14, I am no doubt feeling movement, crazy I know! I guess by #3 you just know what to pay attention to! I have always craved eggs while pregnant. This time around its in the form of egg salad or deviled eggs...lets make that an eggs and mayo craving! Morning sickness has slowed down significantly, as have late night potty trips and epic fatigue! Whoooo, second trimester! Round ligament pain is also in full force, which makes sense if you take a look at the size of my bump for 14 weeks! The question is...will BC3 be a petite flower like Carson? Or a moose baby like Crosby?

Manly Mentions: The name game has officially begun! Ryan and I of course do not agree on anything...even "to C or not to C" (that is the question). We do have one C name that we both are fond of if we decide to go with a third C. Otherwise, we are at a total loss! Its crazy to know the gender so early! At least we still have time...Carson insists that we call our baby girl "Bunny Rose". Oh man....Crosby on the other hand is completely clueless about whats going on. He is very fond of his baby doll, and when we tell him that there is a baby in Mommy's belly, he completely freaks out and wants it removed immediately! 

Baby Prep: Clothes, clothes, clothes! I have a serious baby clothes shopping problem...I thought it was bad with the boys, but girl baby clothes brings it to a whole other level....in a very short period of time I have either purchased or consigned a significant amount of clothes! Now that I have gotten it out of my system, I hope to scale back in the near future! I have also started making a list/registry of baby items that we need. Since we were pretty sure we were done having kids, I gave away 75% of our baby gear, including all of my maternity clothes! I have been able to put together a fairly decent selection of clothes for myself from borrowing through friends and consigning, but baby gear is a whole different story! Its also fun to pick out girly baby gear...not gonna lie!

Third Time Around: Something I am feeling a little frustrated about is preparing a nursery for BC3. The problem is that we have run out of rooms in our house! Carson has a very large bedroom so we originally had Crosby in a crib in Carson's nursery, however that proved to be unproductive in the sleeping department. So we moved Crosby and his crib to our guest bedroom where he sleeps just fine. His clothes and everything else still remain in Carson's room in the massive walk in closet! So far I have started claiming the guest room closet for BC3, but I am unsure if Crosby will still be sleeping in the crib by the time she comes! She will most likely sleep in our room in the beginning and perhaps Crosby will transition into a big boy bed by the time that BC3 is ready for the crib....or not! I am definitely not rushing Crosby out of the crib as the last thing we need is a 2 year old roaming freely around the house at night. But I really really want to be able to decorate a girly nursery! Where our guests will sleep? Who knows! Moving to a larger house may also be in our future over the next year or so...

Next Up: I am excited to continue to feel movement more and more on a consistent basis. Its so reassuring that everything is moving along nicely. I don't have another prenatal appointment for a few more weeks, so movement is great feedback! 

Because baby sizes are fun....here is what you missed the first few weeks! Decided to go with another "Daddy Version" instead of the typical fruits and vegetables! 

5 Weeks - a BB

6 Weeks - a nut...as in nuts and blots

7 Weeks -a power button on your remote or TV

8 Weeks - a quarter

9 Weeks - a large marble

10 Weeks - the head of a hammer

11 Weeks - a golf ball

12 Weeks - a small measuring tape

13 Weeks - a car's gas cap

It's a Girl!

Science sure has changed since we started in this baby making business! I am one of those people who must find out the gender of the baby, as I am too much of a planner. I give total props to those people who choose to wait until birth to find out!

With Carson we found out he was a boy around 20 weeks. We went in for his anatomy scan and the cord was between his legs which meant the ultrasound tech couldn't tell us if he was a boy or a girl! We ended up going to a private clinic a week later where he was loud and proud about his male gender. With Crosby we also found out around 20 weeks, although the ultrasound tech had guessed that he was a boy a this 13 week ultrasound, so we had a hunch all along. 

In between Carson and Crosby, I had 3 miscarriages - at least one of them was proven to be due to chromosomal abnormalities. In the last few years, a new screening was invented that involves a simple blood draw sometime after 10 weeks of pregnancy. From this blood sample, a lab is able to separate fetal DNA (actually placenta DNA which is identical to the DNA of the fetus) from the mother's DNA. The results of this screening would let you know with 99% certainty about chromosomal abnormalities. 

To my knowledge, there are two tests currently on the market that accomplish this feat. One is called Maternit21 and the other is the Harmony test. In a matter of 10 business days, both tests are able to tell you not only whether or not your baby has any chromosomal issues, but also its gender based on the presence (or lack there of) of a Y chromosome! AMAZING!

This test is normally a very expensive test not covered by insurance unless you are over 35 years old. But because of my history of loss involving chromosomal abnormalities, my doctor was able to bill the lab claim as a "high risk pregnancy" screening, and it was covered 100%! 

I had my blood drawn at 12 weeks pregnant on Friday September 18th, and was told to expect results in 10 business days...which would bring us to tomorrow! But being the crazy person that I am, I chatting with other women on online pregnancy forums and asked them about their experience with test result turn around time. Three women who had their blood drawn earlier in the week than me all received their results back in 6 DAYS! Not even 6 business days!

This past Thursday, day 6, I stared at my phone all day long! But no phone call....however at 8 am the following morning I had an email from my doctor's office saying that the Harmony results were in and everything came back normal, whoo hoo! (Most important result, right?) The email also said "would you like to know the gender? If so, give us a call!" 

I promptly tried to convince Ryan to do a conference call with me but he insisted that he wanted to be together when we found out the news. I had a regular check up later that day, so I called the office and asked that they write the gender on a note and seal it in an envelope for me to take home to open all together as a family. 

When I got home that day, we decided to let Carson open note as he is working on his reading skills. We coached him that a 4 letter word that started with a G was a girl, and a 3 letter word that started with a B was a boy. He flipped open the envelope and Ryan and I immediately saw pink foot prints! We were SHOCKED! Poor Carson made his best attempt to read a somewhat old fashioned font involving a curly G, and instead shouted "8-i-r-1!"

We already had two boys, and any miscarriage that we were aware of the gender had been a boy...so I think we were all convinced that we only make boys! If I was being completely honest with myself, I wondered what the purpose of a third boy would be from a fate/spiritual perspective. Why another boy? I have two boys! I am happy with my two boys! I wasn't sure that having a third boy would make me feel more complete as a mother. Regardless, we would obviously love whatever God gave us, as this baby was a miracle to begin with!

When I found out that BC3 was a girl, a rush of excitement and wonder came over me and I finally understood what this pregnancy was all about! A GIRL! I was thrilled! Totally shifted my perspective on this pregnancy from a place of confusion and shock to complete joy and exhilaration! Yay Team Pink! And the shopping...don't get me started on the baby girl clothes shopping...

Here are some fun pictures from our gender reveal! Love the note our nurse typed up for us, so thoughtful!