Numero 4...

I am a little behind on making this announcement on our blog...

but we are happily expecting Baby #4...

the middle of March 2016

I was certain I knew the gender of this baby- I was quite nauseous the first trimester and KNEW it was a girl...since I was sick with Ellie and not with my other boys. However- I was wrong and our little guy made it very clear.  It is a boy and although we thought that a sister would be good to dethrone our little princess- she says she likes brothers and we are all excited to have another little fella running around.

I think he and Jase and going to be quite a pair!

 

I had a bit of a scare at about 16 weeks where I had some bleeding. After an ultrasound though- everything looked fine. I had a small sub chorionic hemorrhage but it didn't appear to be anything to worry about. We did see that he was measuring about a week small though.

 

 

^^22 weeks. Jase is still such a baby to me! ^^

 

 

^^25 weeks. And although I feel like the pictures are quite flattering- I am actually pretty big! He may be measuring small but I certainly am not! I had several people tell me around this point that I had really "blossomed" (that's a kind way of saying "wow, you are huge all of a sudden." And I really cringe when I tell people that I am not due until March! I got quite large with Brig and it looks like this boy is going to be similar.^^

 

 

A few random facts:

-The first trimester I really craved sour things. especially lemons, limes and grapefruit. And sour candy did the job pretty well too!

- I threw up one time the first trimester but was queasy pretty much all the time. SOOO grateful for the second trimester.

-My sciatic nerve just barely started to hurt during the third trimester.

-I have only gone to the doctor twice (and I am now 28 1/2 weeks)...my doctor has been in New Zealand for the past year and so I didn't have as many appointments with his fill in as I maybe should have. But he moves often and there hasn't been anything to make me concerned (since the bleeding- which I did go right in after)

- I feel so much peace with this pregnancy. That sounds silly- but with my third I was so anxious and worried that something was going to go wrong and I just feel complete peace this time.

- I think I get more excited to actually have the new baby here with each pregnancy- I cannot wait for this little guy to join our family.

- I often get looked at or told how crazy I am for having so many kids. I try to subtly tell them that this probably won't be the last...I feel so blessed to be about to have children and find so much joy and fulfillment in having a family. I don't love being pregnant and children can be such a challenge- but I want to fill our home with the sound of happy little people and help them grow into thriving adults who can in turn have their own families.