Monday, September 9, 2013

An Announcement

We are expecting another baby!


I've known for what feels like ages, and it's been so hard to keep it in.  Tom and I are in disagreement about how soon to spread the news.  He prefers to wait...I think there might be more complex reasons under the surface, but the main one he gives is to wait for the risk of miscarriage to decrease.  But having experienced a miscarriage in the past, I feel like the more people we can get praying for the safety of the baby early, the better!

I'm due on March 25th.  It's the Feast of the Annunciation, so it's easy to remember.  Of course, my other two came a bit early, so this one probably won't get that birthday.  There are lots of other good feast days in March, though.

There was a bit of disagreement over the due date.  In the past, I have charted my fertility, though I wasn't doing so this time around.  Of course, once you understand how your body and your cycle work, it's not like you can unlearn that information.  So I had a pretty good idea of where I was in my cycle in the months leading up to conception.  When I went for my first prenatal checkup, the midwife calculated a due date based on menstruation.  I told her that date was no good: not only do I always ovulate late in my cycle, but in fact, I thought I could pretty accurately pinpoint an exact date of ovulation.  She didn't seem to trust my intuition, though.  There was a nine day discrepancy between our dates, and that was too much for her to feel comfortable with.  She asked me to get an ultrasound to confirm.  So I did...and guess who was right?  Humph!  I understand why asked me to do it, but I'm still kind of frustrated, because ultrasounds are astoundingly expensive (even with insurance), and we had explained that we were trying to keep the costs of the pregnancy down as much as was reasonable.

Anyways, thinking about having three kids is pretty exciting and crazy.  Somehow, it feels like a really significant number to me.  As if with three, I'm crossing some sort of line, and now things are getting real.  It's funny, though, because three isn't even that many kids!  But it suddenly feels like we're much more on the verge of being a big family.  Which is a little scary, but overall thrilling.

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This is a section where I would love some advice from other parents, especially those with bigger families than my own!

Having a third kid is going to bring some practical challenges.  For one, we'll need a new car (i.e. new to us, but definitely used).  There is no way we can fit a third carseat in the back.  Isn't it the most ridiculous thing that three grown adults could fit in the back of my car, and yet three tiny little children can not?!  Car seats are way too big.

I've heard some people say that if you buy just the right combination of seats, it's possible to fit three in the back of some cars.  Frankly, I'm not even going to bother looking into this.   I can't afford to spend hundreds of dollars on three brand-new seats when we already have three that work perfectly well.  Besides, we'll need a bigger car soon enough anyways, so I'd rather use our money for that.  Our double stroller already takes up the whole trunk as it is, so I'd love a little more space to fit all the "implements of childhood" we seem to have to cart around.

My mother-in-law is going to lend us her Jeep again this winter because unlike our car, it actually functions on ice and snow, and she's afraid of her grandbabies getting into an accident.  We plan to use that opportunity to sell our car - get some money in the bank - and then shop around for a used something-or-other with more space.  I'm pretty certain we'll have to tap into our savings for a house, which is disappointing.  But at least we'll have a little time to shop around for a deal. 

Does anyone have any family vehicle suggestions?  I would be fine with a mini-van, but Tom hopes to find something which is easier to repair himself (he tells me the engine on a mini-van is very hard to access) and also "less uncool" if possible.

We also need to figure out a sleeping arrangement for the kids.  We plan to keep them all in one bedroom.  Space and location-wise, it just makes the most sense.  But I'm not sure what sort of bed to put everyone in.  Based on what we already own and a few beds various people have offered us, we have many options at our disposal:  Two cribs, two toddler beds, one single bed, a set of single-sized bunk beds, and a set of double/single-sized bunk beds.   When the baby comes, Sly will be three and a half, and Stella will be nineteen months...so I'm thinking bunk beds will need to wait a few years (?).  Any thoughts or suggestions?

****

My first trimester is wrapping up here, and I'm looking forward to some easier days (please, Lord!).  Morning sickness wasn't too bad this time around, but I have been feeling pretty exhausted most days.  It's been so much harder to squeeze a nap in now that I have two kids to watch.  And they were on completely separate nap schedules (!!!) for most of this pregnancy.  I was resorting to desperate measures, like trying to catch catnaps on the floor of their bedroom while they climbed all over me.  Until a week ago, that is, when I just could not handle it anymore, and forced poor Stella to adjust herself to Sly's nap cycle.  There were a couple rough days for her, but blessedly, they took place while we were visiting the in-laws, and I therefore had many extra helpers so still got my daily nap anyways, no matter what the children were doing.  Haha!  Things are great now, and I've had a nap almost every day since.

I also decided to wean Stella completely.  She was only nursing in the middle of the night, three times, and it was merely for comfort.  It was taking too much out of me and robbing me of precious sleep and I felt like I was just dying of thirst all the time.  So I just cut her off cold turkey.  Amazingly, she's been sleeping completely through the night ever since and for the first time ever in her short little life - around 11 hours!  It's pretty awesome.


Anyways, if you could remember me and the little one in a prayer, I would be very grateful :-)


26 comments:

  1. What joyful news, Christine! Prayers for a healthy and enjoyable pregnancy!

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  2. Congratulations! Of course, we will all be praying for you!

    We'll have to chat one day about your other questions. No time now.

    Praying for a restful second trimester!

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  3. Congratulations!! How exciting! I don't have a large family by any means (we have 3 boys) but adjusting from 2 to 3 was a breeze. I just felt so relaxed as I had already seen it, heard it, or smelled it. :)
    Prayers for an easy pregnancy and a happy, healthy little one!

    xoxox

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  4. How wonderful-- congratulations! Jack was due on the Annunciation, but he was born on the 20th (no complaints). Aside from the first, #3 was our easiest transition. I'm sure your three will adjust well to being in the same room. Our friends have their four girls together- their youngest joined the older three when she was three months or so, and they do just fine. Prayers for you all!

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    1. I was just looking at this and I have no idea why I put "Aside from the first..." Going from none to one was the hardest! I just thought I should clarify :) I hope you are feeling well!

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  5. Congratulations!!! And I agree with Hillary! For me going from no kids to one was the hardest and going from two to three was a breeze!!! What wonderful news!

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  6. Congratulations! So exciting! I keep the baby in my room for almost a year, then we shift kids around and get them organized in whatever new configuration works best after much thought. Bunk beds not before age 6 for the top. We enjoyed a mini-van while having between 3-5 kids, but once you have the 6th, you grow out of those. They are great family vehicles. You just THINK you lose your cool factor, but that doesn't really happen until you're driving around a 12 or 15 passenger Chevy Express! I will keep you in prayer.

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  7. Congratulations! So exciting! I keep the baby in my room for almost a year, then we shift kids around and get them organized in whatever new configuration works best after much thought. Bunk beds not before age 6 for the top. We enjoyed a mini-van while having between 3-5 kids, but once you have the 6th, you grow out of those. They are great family vehicles. You just THINK you lose your cool factor, but that doesn't really happen until you're driving around a 12 or 15 passenger Chevy Express! I will keep you in prayer.

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    1. haha - I've told Tom the same thing: "If you think a minivan is uncool, what happens if we have enough kids one day that we need a 12-passenger van?!"

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  8. Congrats again!!! :D

    Keith is pretty anti-minivan too ... he is convinced we can get by with a station wagon so long as it has those rear-facing seats in the back ... but at best that's assuming we don't have any more kids before Michael's out of a booster seat, lol.

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    1. Ha! Rear-facing seats + car sickness {which you hopefully never have to deal with, but still} = a very, very messy disaster!

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  9. Congratulations!! What exciting news! Prayers for a healthy pregnancy and for luck with the car situation. Apparently Pittsburgh has one of the worst used car markets in the country, weirdly enough. But I'm sure something will turn up in the next six or seven months!

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  10. Congrats! I had my suspicions (but seriously... you were here last week! You could have told me!)

    Have you told Sly's Godfather yet? Because he's here at my house... let me know if I can mention it or not. (And if you haven't told him, he's going to be in Pittsburgh for the next week or so, fyi)

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  11. Congratulations and prayers for a healthy pregnancy! That's such wonderful news! Don't worry about going from 2 to 3 kids, it's really not a huge switch. I'm in the camp that going from 0 to 1 was the hardest transition. 2 to 3 was a snap for me.

    I'd look for a minivan if you can find a good used one. I'd recommend a Toyota Sienna. I've had one for 8 1/2 years so far and we're really happy with it. But if you're anti-minivan, you should be able to fit three car seats in the back of a Subaru Outback. We spent months searching for a car that would fit a car seat and two boosters when I was pregnant with my third. Of course, you'll outgrow a car like that really fast once baby #4 comes along.

    Since Sly and Stella are so young you might want to consider getting a trundle bed that way you can push the bottom bed out of the way during the day; and you won't have to worry about anyone falling out of a top bunk. We're going to be moving two of our girls into one room soon and I'm very nervous at the prospect of putting one in a top bunk and they're 12 and 8!

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  12. Congratulations!

    I'm not good on advice for larger families, due to big health risks, we stopped at two. Fantastic that you finally have them on the same nap schedule, that first trimester nap is really needed. :)

    We inherited a Honda Odyssey and it is fantastic for our family of four and the occasional person or two that may join us. We have the model that has two bucket seats in the middle row that can be removed and a short and long bench in the back. If you seriously consider one, you could take one of the middle row seats out and use the back and one of the middle row buckets. There's still room behind the rear seats (which fold away) to put the stroller and plenty of room if you should go grocery shopping with all three.

    To hear my sister and best friend, three wasn't that big a change from two. :)

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  13. Congratulations! Already sending prayers for you and your precious child :)

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  14. Congratulations! We just had our third child in May. We now have a 4 yo, 2 yo, and 4 mo. Honestly, I'm with the others who say it was an easy transition. WAY more relaxed now. Definitely a lot of work to keep everyone fed though...still working on the logistics of meals, etc. It will probably be better when the little one isn't nursing and therefore attached to me. You're right though, three kids does seem like SERIOUS parenthood now!

    As for the van, have your husband reconsider the repair-ability of a minivan. My husband fixes our cars all the time and says that the engine is no more difficult to access than a sedan. We drive a Mercury Villager and though its not stylish by any stretch of the imagination, we LOVE that it's so easily repaired.

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  15. Congratulations! I love all my babies of course, but it was with my 3rd that I finally relaxed and really enjoyed all the babyness. So much easier then the first 2.

    I think it's time for you to embrace the coolness of the minivan. We've loved our crossover, which we bought while pregnant with #2, but we're due to have our fourth any day now and then we'll be pretty cramped with no cargo space or any good way of carpooling extra people around. We plan to stick it out until this baby outgrows his infant carrier and that will get us to almost 4 years with this car, which isn't awful but I don't know that I would buy a car that would probably give much less then that. I guess we'll be looking at a full sized van next.

    I've heard that 6 is the magic age for the top bunk, but I know people who've done it sooner. This new baby will be kicking our older baby out of his room shortly, so we will be trying out 3 to a room for the first time as well and haven't decided yet what we'll be doing. It's tricky.

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  16. Prayers for a healthy pregnancy! :)

    We have a 4 year old, 3 year old, 17 month old and I am due mid January with our 4th (so 15, 22 and 21 months apart.)

    We have a Chrysler Town and Country we love. We also have the bucket seats in the middle and the bench in the back. I looked at an SUV like my husband's but the sliding doors are so much easier and also so much easier to get in than stepping up! We have debated getting a Suburban for more space (my double jogging stroller is huge) but decided since our van is only 3 years old and almost paid off we will wait (and it is decent on gas!)

    As for rooms, all 3 have separate rooms for now. The baby will room with us, and we will move my daughter out of the largest room to her older brother's so him and my third (another boy) can share. We are having a boy again this time around (boy, girl, boy, boy) so it makes sense to let the 2 boys share and my daughter and the baby have their own rooms. Then eventually my oldest will get his own room again and the younger 2 will share since they are closer in age.

    Sorry so long, hope that helps! :)

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  17. Ahhhh :)!!!! Congratulations!!!!
    I will be praying for the little one inside you and as well as the rest of your family!
    I am so excited to read more as you progress through your pregnancy!
    :)
    God Bless.

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  18. Congratulations! We just upgraded to a 2004 Honda odyssey and I love it an inappropriate amount. I never thought a 9 year old car could make somebody feel like such a baller. I guess my standards have changed a bit. Our mechanic thinks we can get another 100k out of it easy, past the 110 it already has. I just love the remote sliding doors and the fold flat rear row. Oh Honda, I'll never stray.

    We have our 3 year old in a floor bed (twin on the floor) and our 17 mo old in a low ikea crib, and they'll probably remain in that configuration for the next year. I am a huge fan of caging those babies until they start breaking out on their own :)

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  19. Congrats! As far as your due date disagreement with your midwife, I also ovulate much later in my cycle than the textbook day 14, so after having a similar conversation as you experienced with my first baby, I have just fudged the date of my "first day of last cycle" to match up more closely with a textbook cycle so the date I know I most likely conceived falls around day 14.

    As far as vehicles go, we have progressed from car to minivan to full-size van to 12 passenger van which we currently drive. We are expecting # 7 in February. :)

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  20. Yayyy, y'all are going to have so much fun as a family of five!

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