Oh, buddy. Here we go again.
This may be a long winded post, because I have a lot of thoughts on adding our third child to the mix. But I'll keep the business related info first, and how things might change next year and the personal at the end for those who have some time to indulge me.
Business wise - As always, adding a baby to the family is always a big adjustment. This is our last baby too, so while a big part of me wants to continue rolling steam going forward, another part of me wants to cherish this last year of having a baby in my life, and also make things easier on myself as I have a feeling being a family of 5 is going to be tricky with daycare and such.
SO! As of right now, my fall is currently booked full. I am slowing it down starting in the end of September and will not be accepting any bookings from November 2018-April 2019. I will be booking pretty normally come spring of 2019 as long as this baby is healthy. If you're wanting on my schedule for this year or next year, I recommend doing it sooner rather than later. I still have openings this summer for photography or video sessions!
Personal - Oh man. Do I have thoughts on this pregnancy. First thing I want to say is how thankful and grateful we are for this pregnancy, truly. That said, I am scared out of my mind, yo!
My husband and I went back and forth quite a bit over the past year on whether or not to have a third child. Ultimately, we thought we'd always regret it if we didn't, since we always pictured our family as a family of five, and I kept hearing God's voice telling me "Wait! I have one more for you!" But as soon as that test read positive, I had a whole slew of worries crop up that I didn't have in my past two pregnancies. The other two were pretty much pure excitement, and while the excitement is still there, it's just a whole mix of emotions that is a new thing for me.
Most of my worries are purely and entirely selfish and I'm definitely aware of that. Things like weight gain and sleeping though the night anytime soon, buckling three kids into car seats or cleaning up after three, three times a day.
It's funny, SO many people have said "Oh, but you'll only have one in diapers at a time!" and while I agree, it does make life slightly easier, I am not worried about changing diapers in the least. You know what I AM worried about? ...Three kids catching croup, hand foot and mouth or the inescapable stomach bug every winter. That stresses me out! Also, three kids crying at the same time multiple times throughout the day. All of them needing me 90% of their waking hours. Like I said, selfish things, but they worry me nonetheless. Will I have enough patience? Will I not only get through the day - but actually get all of us through the day with love and laughter and not having a stressed out mom? I'm sure we will make the adjustment eventually, and ultimately, I can't wait to have three kids around the table for Thanksgiving dinner and family get-togethers.
As the pregnancy progresses, I find the excitement is pushing some of those fears aside, and I can feel my bond with this baby grow with every passing day. It won't be long before I start feeling butterfly's, and the love I feel for this little one is already taking it's place in my heart.
A few common questions I've been hearing are...
When are you due - Middle of December again. I've always gone overdue, so my guess is December 19th! (A day before Ahna's birthday)
Are you finding out the gender? - YES! For Lena, we found out alongside our friends and family at a gender reveal party, and Ahna was a surprise at birth. So we are changing it up again and this time Dan and I are finding out alone right in the ultrasound room! We are hoping to do this in another month or so. I think any way you find out is special, and we are happy to have experienced it in different ways.
Do you really want a Boy?/I hope it's a boy! - I've heard this for both Ahna and this baby's pregnancy, and I'm not going to lie, it somewhat drives me crazy. Lol! Yes, we would absolutely love the opportunity to raise a son, however, it is what it is and we hope everyone will be just as excited for us if we are adding a third girlie! We truly are excited either way and we can't wait to light up the sky with pink or blue fireworks to reveal to the girls!
Are the girls excited? - Yes! Lena is over the moon excited and she is already such a good big sister, I can't wait to see her with this new little one now that she is big enough to understand more things and be a "big helper." Ahna, well, let's just pray she can share Mommy, haha! I think she will do just fine, especially with a 3 year age gap, but she doesn't understand yet what's going on. She keeps saying their is a baby in her belly. She is really fond of babies though, so we've got that going for us.
How are you feeling? - The first trimester brought morning sickness and fatigue, just like the last two. I am happy to say the past couple days I have felt the morning sickness (aka all day sickness) ease up and I made it to the gym for the first time in months!It felt great! Hoping this is the end of it and we are on to the more comfortable part of the pregnancy and I have more energy to get things done.
At this time, we have no names picked out, in fact we haven't even discussed it and don't plan to until we know the gender so we can eliminate 50% of the search.
One thing that's different this go around is my choice to get an epidural! For the past two I had a strong desire to go un-medicated and while those two experiences were the most self-empowering experiences of my life, I found myself having anxiety about doing it again and I realized there's no point in stressing myself out if I don't have that desire anymore, and I don't. So I am really looking forward to having some pain relief this go-around. My only concern is that I've heard some women having side-effects of site pain and headaches afterwards. I'm curious to hear from those of you who have done both and/or your experience with an epidural! Post in the comments!
That's it for now! I'll be sure to update you all with gender and photo's in another month.
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