The Details :)

So, the secret is out! :) I'm so happy to finally be able to share our exciting news! We are expecting baby #3 around March 18th! That means I'm 12 weeks (and 3 days if you want to know exactly ;) along now. We found out a long time ago -- it seems like forever! It was July 11th, which was the week of Jude's birthday. We had been talking about when we wanted to try to have baby #3, but we couldn't quite decide. We knew we definitely wanted more kids, but I really wasn't excited about another summer pregnancy. So, that meant we either needed to go ahead and get pregnant in July or August or wait until May or so. I didn't really want to wait that long to get pregnant again, but I was nervous about just going for it already. Turns out, it had already been decided! (We knew all along that it wasn't ultimately up to us when we grow our family -- I just mean that I was already pregnant when we were having most of these discussions on the "right timing.") God's timing is ALWAYS best, and I've never looked back since seeing that positive pregnancy test!

I went to the doctor at 7 weeks and had an ultrasound. Everything looked great, and we got to see that beautiful little heartbeat! It was going strong at 155 bpm, and it was SUCH a happy sight. No matter how many babies we end up having, I'll never get tired of that feeling of elation when I see my baby for the first time. I went back to the doctor last week at 11 weeks. Again, everything was great. I heard the heartbeat via doppler that time, and it was 150-160 bpm.

I have been feeling great, and that's a huge blessing that I do not take for granted! I haven't been sick with any of my pregnancies, and I haven't even felt slightly nauseous this time. Sometimes it's weird to not have "pregnancy symptoms", but I have to remind myself that this is just how my body does pregnancy. I'm certainly not complaining! I have been pretty tired. I think I've been more tired with this pregnancy than I was with the other two. Probably because I'm more active and get less sleep. Duh! I sneak a nap in whenever I can :) I've also been hungry. That's always my main pregnancy symptom -- I'm hungry, hungry, hungry! I don't think I've been quite as hungry this time, though.

We have kept our news a BIG secret all this time. We just told our families last week. It was a fun secret to have, but we're glad it's out now! Everyone keeps asking me how far apart Jude and this baby will be. They will be 20 months apart. Aubrey and Jude are 22 months apart, and I think their age difference is perfect for us, so hopefully 20 months apart will be perfect, too! I'm kind of nervous about having 3 kids 3 1/2 and under, but I'm so excited and up for the challenge. I KNOW I won't do it gracefully everyday, but I'm praying for the strength to be the best mother I can be. Yes, it will be hard, but this is what I want. I have always wanted to be a mother to lots of little children, and I'm so humbled and blessed that God is giving me the desire of my heart. He is so good!

Now, I feel the need to "come clean" on a few posts on the blog. This is hilarious because I KNOW no one else cares, but I hate that I had to fib a few times (mostly in my Week in Review posts), so I just wanted to say what I was REALLY doing a few times. You know, just so I can have a clean conscience ;)

I was still nursing Jude when I found out I was pregnant (we were in the weaning process). Remember my weaning post?? Well, the reason I decided to just quit cold turkey was that little positive pregnancy test ;) I know it would have been perfectly fine to keep breastfeeding while pregnant, but it's just not something I felt up to. I think nursing and being pregnant at the same time would have been too draining, so we called it quits. As soon as I quit nursing him, I kept thinking, "I'm going to be doing this again in 8 months." Crazy!

We found out I was pregnant on Monday of this week. David was taking Jude to get his shots that morning, so he was still at home when I took the pregnancy test :) Like I said, it was Jude's birthday week, so it was a crazy week! On Monday of this week was when I went to the doctor for the first time. The kids really did go play over at Rebekkah's house, but I didn't drop our clothes off for the consignment sale... I was having an ultrasound instead! (Obviously, Rebekkah knew where I really was. I did tell her the news, and she was sweet enough to babysit. She also did a great job of keeping our secret.) And the reason David was "over this way" was because he left the doctors appointment after the ultrasound to come pick up the kids because my appointment was taking forever. We met at McAlister's after I finished so I could get the kids and he could go back to work. Finally, Monday of last week was my second OB appointment, not my yearly ;) My yearly checkup was scheduled for that week before I found out I was pregnant, so I didn't feel too bad about making that one up. Ha! Also, when we went to dinner with my family on Tuesday night (right after Aubrey broke her collar bone) and David's parents on Friday night is when we shared our happy news with them. The only other thing I've omitted is some naps! I've taken quite a few naps since finding out I was pregnant, but I thought people might get suspicious if I talked about too many naps, so I left a few of them out. Haha! Whew! I feel better after getting all that off my chest ;)

Thanks for your sweet congratulations. We feel so happy and blessed to be growing our family again. We know having children and parenting is an awesome responsibility, and it's NOT something we take lightly. I'm excited to document this pregnancy and share our experiences on this blog! :)