16 weeks

I'm 16 weeks pregnant now. It doesn't seem that I am that far along...this whole pregnancy has been a blur! Life is keeping me busy and pre-occupied...but when the kids are in bed and Jonathan and I have time to talk, we like to speculate about baby #3. Will we welcome a boy or girl? Will we ever agree on a name? Will Talmage be helpful when he/she arrives and will Charlotte get jealous? We also talk a lot about the delivery process. I am hoping to deliver naturally this time around for lots of personal reasons, and though I feel completely unprepared for that- I also feel really CALM. I know it's the right plan for us, and I'm pretty excited to experience giving birth in a whole new way. If all doesn't go according to plan, that's okay too. I'm trying not to put any pressure on myself, but just hope for the best! In the meantime, I've got some reading to do ;)

My next appointment in 4 weeks will be to find out the gender! We thought about waiting to find out until baby is born, but I'm just NOT that patient. I couldn't do it... but I admire those moms that can. The problem is that I want to start sewing projects and picking out baby clothes before he/she gets here...and I can't do gender-neutral stuff. It's just not me! :)

We've heard the heartbeat twice now. Each time very faint, which makes me nervous. All the more reason to be excited for the 20 week ultrasound. I'm feeling better for the most part, except I still can't bring myself to eat very much. Switching vitamins has helped a ton- the gummy chewables are much more easily digested and I've had no problems with them. I have very little energy and I'm tired pretty much all the time. But at least the really sick phase is gone :)

I'm seeing the midwives at the hospital here because I really love our hospital. Whenever I go to appointments, though, it is quite the ordeal... park in the garage, take an elevator, go through two different buildings, take an escalator, and another elevator. Haha. It's really not that bad, just different from what I'm used to. All three (or four? I've met three.) are very personal and genuine- just one of the reasons why I will always see a midwife versus a doctor. I love that they remember my name and medical history without looking at my chart, and that they cater to my delivery plan. Can I also just say that I am *really* thankful for my husband's job and the insurance we get through it. The Lord is truly blessing our family through these great but tender mercies.

As far as prepping for baby, I've not done anything whatsoever. I have ideas of projects and a mental checklist of what we will need, but we are so not there yet. Baby will sleep in our bed hopefully for the first few months, and then he/she will move to a small-sized pack and play on the opposite side of our bedroom. I want to set up some kind of baby area with a bed, dresser, and changing station. We are limited on space so it will have to do, and then depending on whether babe is a boy or girl- eventually they will "move in" with big brother or sister :)

I know it's so soon to be thinking about all of this stuff, but it hit me hard the other day when I realized that we are almost HALFWAY there- and that only a few months will remain before we meet our new child. The kids are over the moon excited- they point to my belly all the time and say "hello baby". Talmage is completely convinced that he's getting a brother- and he won't hear otherwise. It worries me a bit how he will react to having a sister if that's the case. haha. Sometimes he surprises me though...like today, he started talking about the "she" in my tummy: "She is so far from you, mom. You need to reach her and she needs to come out! Open your throat!" I kid you not.

I said back, "Did you call it a 'she'? Do you think baby is a girl now?"

"Yeah", he sais. "A she-girl."

After a few moments he realized what he had said and quickly changed his mind back to boy. Cracks me up.

I wish these next four weeks would FLY by! I really am not that patient! :)