it’S a . . . .

***baby girl***

Sooo those who did not understand the subtle announcement on our Christmas picture may have been a little surprised when they saw me and my huuge bellay in the Disneyland pictures.

That’s right, number 4 is well on her way to joining this family at the end of May.

Those who know me well know that I am a weirdo when it comes to making the “big announcement” but I guess that’s what this is.

 

Some background information about this pregnancy:

Let’s start way back when we only had 3 kids.

I was busy.  Like way busy.

D had so much going on work-wise that our roles were becoming pretty divided.

Not anymore than anyone else’s, just divided for us because I was so used to him being available more.

And although he was still an amazing help with house and home- he had become so busy that I found myself truly running the household.

So I wasn’t quite ready to add more kids as soon as I thought I’d be.

D was actually ready before me.

Then again, he doesn’t have to gain 35 pounds and carry a baby around for 9 months

 

Then when I received my “I’m ready feeling” that always comes with wanting another child, I began experiencing some strange female issues that caused me to believe there was no way I could be ovulating.

After a few months of this, I called the doctor’s office and they felt I should come in and be seen.

Doctor Julia was not available for a couple of months, so I agreed to see a new doctor I had never met before.

This Dr. Wesley gave me a full exam, ran some blood tests and then subscribed me Clomid, (an infertility drug) although he suspected everything would be fine.

I really liked him and thought he was pretty funny.  (I mean, who makes ya giggle at dreaded female checkups)

A few days later, I was quite surprised when I learned that my test results revealed high levels of Prolactin, a hormone produced by the pituitary gland when nursing or getting ready to nurse.

And I wasn’t nursing- or getting ready to any time soon.

I could find no super scary information on Google about side effects from this issue other than failure to ovulate (infertility)  and a possible non cancerous tumor on the pituitary that could be treated with meds..

Even that scary word was mentioned in a very non-alarming manner.

 

Anyway, I was told to fast and return for additional bloodwork.

Convinced that the first results had been a fluke, I was surprised when once again, the nurse reported my tests had come back high in Prolactin.

This time, the doctor ordered a CT Scan.

That part was not that fun. (not that the bloodwork was either)

The results of that scan revealed that I had a possible small tumor called a microadenoma on my pituitary gland that caused it to produce the high levels of Prolactin.

I was prescribed a medicine that was meant to trick my body into not producing such high levels of it anymore.

 

I took one round of this medicine, had one normal cycle- (it must have worked) and also took the Clomid.

Then I went back to the doctor two weeks later for a “follicle check” to see if I was now ovulating.

I was.

By this time, people were beginning to find out what I had been going through and I felt a little sheepish mentioning the “T” word, as well as possible infertility since there was a chance I could already be pregnant.

This was also the week that D found out he would no longer be working for Advanced Healthcare.

Kinda scary for us.

 

A little under 2 weeks later, I took a pregnancy test.

It was a strange kind I had never used before, and it looked negative.

But the next day when I saw it in the trash, it was kind of positive.

So I waited a little longer and then bought a new kind.

When I went to take it, I accidentally dropped it in the toilet- which like flooded the whole thing.

Annoyed,  I fished it out, still tried to use it and then threw it away.

Very frustrating.

And yes, gross.

 

The next day, the test looked sorta positive from the garbage, but I was too cheap to run right out and buy another, so I waited a little longer before I purchased a new one.

And it was immediately positive.

 

 

Holy cow.

I was excited and so grateful that my little incident had only caused a small hiccup in our plans, instead of the potential struggle it could have!!

I was also grateful for a doctor who treated our small bout of “infertility” aggressively.  Heaven knows I am not a patient person.!

Of course, being me, I was not quite excited enough to tell the world yet.

But also being me, I began showing the day I took the test.

I really wanted to at least wait til 12 weeks before revealing our news and fortunately for me, those closest to us were too scared to even suspect due to our health issues.

D began hunting for new health insurance, but thanks to the impeccable timing of it all, I was uninsurable as a “pre existing condition.”

So we were left with no choice but to pay Cobra up the wazoo to keep our same insurance plan.

In spite of this second, non desirable turn of events, I was just overjoyed there was a baby on the way!!

 

I initially felt healthy and great.

 

And then it began . . .

First came the miserable allergies.

Then came the exhaustion that would characterize basically the entire pregnancy.

Man, could I sleep!

Every morning I woke up with what I would imagine a hangover would feel like.

That’s why I didn’t even budge during our big bad wolf (Farmington tornado) episode.

And if l laid down to nap, I was gone for hours!

I also began experiencing ligament pain in my abdomen almost immediately.

This baffled me because you would think those ligaments would be sufficiently stretched by child 4.

Nevertheless, my uterus felt like a Chinese star every time I stood to use the restroom in the night, and I had to stand still for a minute for things to shift back into place.

 

Then I had an early bout with the usual tailbone pain that caused me to waddle very early.

And the week before the actual nausea set in, I had the flu.

This would be the third time that this happened to me, where I went straight from flu nausea to pregnancy nausea.

Seems like a rip off.

 

I became dehydrated almost immediately and the familiar dry, cracked lips became commonplace for me.

This is also very routine as first water (I live on Dr. Pepper or Root Beer for a week or two initially) and then all beverages cause me to gag and want to cry at the very thought!

Water is very notoriously the worst though.

 

I decided to stay with the new doctor who’d been privy to my particular “issues,” even though I had no problems with my last doctor.

This would make my fourth doctor and fourth pregnancy.

Does that make me sound finicky or what?? (and I swear my only criteria is not mentioning my weight!)

Anyway, right at 12 weeks (as with my others) Dr. Wes was able to predict the gender.

And I was so overjoyed to be having a girl!!

For some reason just having one more boy than girl made us feel like we were truly a boy family and made me a boy expert.

And so I was well aware of just how much I would feel that if this one were to be a boy as well.

 

By 11-12 weeks, friends and neighbors were definitely suspicious of the baby bump, as well as me being due timing-wise to get prego.

So I had to come clean and tell the truth as people started asking.

There were a few confused at the feasibility of it since I had just barely explained I was infertile.

And well, I was, but only for like 3 seconds!

When I told my mom, she said “Well I suspected when we were together last weekend, but I knew you would tell me when you were ready.”

So much for hiding it

 

HERE’S The pic we sent to our family

(nana didn’t get it and had to have it spelled out- then again, she has very bad vision)

 

 

 

 

 

Next we told our kids in a cute little creative way (the pink Converses) , and did not get as excited of a response as we had envisioned.

At least, initially.

But before long, their enthusiasm picked up and the baby growing in my tummy became a common topic around our house.

I overheard C explaining to M that it was basically her baby.

They have both asked soooo many questions from how she eats, sleeps and goes to the bathroom, to what she feels when I go on roller coasters or play volleyball, to  . . .

yup, how she got in there and how she’ll get out.

C says she’s gonna watch the doctor get her out, since I sure as heck don’t know how

We’ve also received a lot of name suggestions, from Izzy or Rosie (from We bought a Zoo) to Layla and Roxy (both neighbor’s dogs).

They’ve both talked about changing her diapers and holding her a lot.

C has decided that M can change her first diaper and then she will hold her

And oh, the shopping.

Every time we go out, she disappears from my side and I can see her head bobbing around from rack to rack as she picks out several outfits with complementary leggins, sweaters, shoes and headbands.

It’s adorable.

When we initially asked E what’s in my belly, he responded with “b-ball.”

Now he says, “baby.”

 

 

 

At least now I could tell people I was feeling so awful all. the. time.

I really thought I was going to die a slow, painful death due to nauseating smells!

As per usual, D got in trouble for wearing deodorant, chap stick or any other odorous product.

He always thinks the current pregnancy is worse sick-wise than the others.

And I have to concur that when you are in the thick of it, it truly seems to be!

 

My kids’ breath stunk, whether they just woke up or just freshly brushed,  and the lingering smell of soap on them after the bath about did me in.

Every candle, perfume or car freshener was put away.

Far, far away.

 

I lost all ambition/motivation and slept all. the. time.

Some nights I would ask D if he was ready for bed at about 8.

That is unheard of at our house as we usually turn in between 11 and midnight!

 

 

As mentioned before, I did get the flu again, right before Disneyland and actually threw up 6 or so times.

I’m not gonna lie, I enjoyed it a bit.

Strange??

I felt good for most of our trip, but still rotten at night.

I also ate one too many Monti Cristo’s that pushed me over the edge.

 

The hardest part on this trip for me was going from being a girl who, at maybe the second glance, was also likely pregnant to “the pregnant lady waddling around Disneyland.”

I was beginning to morph into Shrek already, and I swear that transformation happened in just the matter of a week!

And no matter how often I told myself to just be grateful to be pregnant like I do every time, I still had/ have a hard time with my pregnant self image.

But I do feel like with this pregnancy, I have truly been grateful-er due to the slight complications I went through to get pregnant.

And there have been at least 3 miscarriages in my neighborhood alone since I conceived, two of them being after 20 weeks, which have also only made me more grateful-er with every day I have been allowed to carry this baby.

 

After the trip, I had a beastly sinus infection which began the second all encompassing symptom of this pregnancy- inability to breath!!

I wasn’t sure if I could take an antibiotic, so I attempted to fight it off with OTC meds such as Mucinex D.

That appeared to work, although I felt badly because I usually take close to no drugs when prego and it seemed like that’s all I ever did these days was pop drugs for allergies and pain!!

Was crossing my fingers this baby did not come out with 4 arms!

 

And true to form, though I do not desire a flip book of my weekly growth, I do always like some evidence that I was actually pregnant in the form of pictures.

As well as proof that although I don sweats most days, some days I still make an effort to look presentable.

Yet I don’t like to ask others to take these pictures, which makes them into nerdy sort-of self portraits.

 

22 ish? weeks

 

 

 

24 ish?weeks

 

And sometimes I still don the sweats

25 ish? weeks

 

And the girlie herself, makin a debut whether she wants to or not:

 

 

Someone is beginning to get a little cramped in there  . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

UP NEXT:  Covert operation, D’s 30th bday!