Christmas decorations are headed back to the attic and boxes of baby clothes and gear are coming back down. As sad as I always am to put Christmas away in boxes, this year it comes with a different kind of excitement and anticipation. My half-packed hospital bag is lying on the floor in my bedroom and I've started to hunt and collect for the items necessary to pack an actual diaper bag- something I haven't had to do for some time! In fact, while I know it was not THAT long ago, I am having a hard time even recalling exactly what I need to put in there. Baby Girl is only 2 1/2 years old, but the newborn stage seems like a lifetime ago.
This pregnancy has definitely been different than my first two.
With R, I was sick the entire first trimester, like REALLY sick. The back pain started pretty early on and continued until the day she was born and it was almost unbearable because it wasn't a normal ache and pain. I had a rib out of place and even if I went to the chiropractor, less than an hour later it would be popped out again. Trying to fix it was futile and that meant that sitting for any amount of time could very well reduce me to tears... and I DON'T cry. And don't even get me started on the acid reflux! Then I never had a single contraction until the day R was born.
With Baby Girl.... well I've said it before and I'll say it again- that was my FAVORITE pregnancy : ) No sickness, no weight gain, no hormones, just a beautiful baby handed to me one day.
And then there is this little miracle baby... Thankfully I was only sick a couple of times the whole pregnancy and that had more to do with what I ate than anything else. At least that was something I could somewhat control. But nothing quite prepares you for the exhaustion that comes from pregnancy combined with taking care of two toddlers. When I was pregnant with R, I worked 40-hour weeks and then left work most days to my second job as a personal trainer and that was NOTHING compared to the exhaustion of being home with my two sweet little crazy toddlers and growing a baby at the same time! Night time never seems to come soon enough and naps are infinitely too short. The indigestion has been bad but tolerable, but that dang rib is out again and causing some serious pain! At least it waited an extra ten weeks or so this time around to start causing problems. And I have been having contractions for weeks! There have been multiple times now that I was certain she would be here any time.
I don't say any of this out of complaint because I know how blessed I am to have my three girls. I am just amazed at how different each experience has been.
These past few weeks have been quite a whirlwind. I knew once Thanksgiving hit, I would look up and it would be 2015 and I was right! My due date is February 4th and I'll be surprised if she holds on that long. The doctor said that she is measuring quite large, but I know measurements can be pretty skewed at this point, so I'm not going to stress about that just yet. But at 34 weeks she was supposedly measuring 5 1/2 pounds, and every appointment my doctor continues to ask me again if I want to schedule a C-section. Nope, no plans of that here. Of course who knows what God has planned. I'm just praying for a safe and easy delivery and healthy baby and mama whenever she arrives!
Now that Christmas is put away, I can focus on this upcoming little one. Every effort I had previously made to get the new nursery in order or to get all of Baby Girl's things into the room she now shares with her big sister had always been put on the back burner. Now I've really got to get things moving!
It has been nice to have Jeff home for the past week or so. With his previous job, he had very little time off, but this year he was able to take off quite a bit and still have a week leftover at the end of the year to be able to enjoy the holidays at home with me and the girls. We've been pretty spoiled! Most of those days were spent in our pjs watching Disney Junior, which is perfect for me since even one overly strenuous day can give me days of contractions to follow. That being said, I was not nearly as productive during his time at home as I would have liked. Oh well! I'm working to balance the never-ending checklists of things that need to be accomplished before little one arrives and simply enjoying our last few weeks as a family of four.
Any way you look at it, 2015 is going to be a great year, and it's going to start with a new addition to our growing family! We can't wait to meet her!
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