Four

Big news, long overdue, but I guess such is life for Baby #2 (and I can say that because I am Baby #3). Not that we are any less excited or anxious for another little miracle, but with one running on the ground, it's hard to find the time to blog about the one on the way. Nonetheless, we are thrilled! We were praying for God's perfect timing and my due date very perfectly coincides with Benton's spring break. Now we will just have to wait and see if this little nugget decides to debut during that seemingly perfect timing!

So, backtracking a few months, we found out on July 3 that God has blessed our family with another addition.

How we found out...

Benton and I ran to the grocery store for a few things one night after putting Haven to bed and we were both thinking the same thing - while we are here, we should go ahead and buy a pregnancy test. We both knew it was possible for it to be positive, but I don't think either one of us really thought it would be. Low and behold, as we were getting ready for bed, our dummy-proof test said, "Pregnant!"

First appointment...

I had a phone appointment on July 12 where they gave me a due date of 3/6/12. Then we heard this Little's heartbeat for the first time on July 27 and they came up with a revised due date of 3/1/12, but didn't officially change it (I mean, what's five days in baby land? They're on their own timetable anyway!). I felt terrible because I told my sister that I needed her to babysit while I went to the dentist. So, she got the news first...

Spreading the news...

Amy babysat again on July 30 so Benton and I could go to a dear friend's wedding. When Amy came over to my parent's house, we sent Haven out in her big sister shirt. Amy's reaction was "Oh, Haven!" as in, you're life as you know it is about to end :) From what I understand, Amy had the same reaction about herself when I was born. We told my parents in the same way the following Saturday (8/6) and once again, they were totally caught off guard. I guess no one thought we were foolish enough to have another baby while Benton is still in school ;) Once again, it took my mom a long time for it to click, but once it did, she quickly ran Haven out to the garage to catch my dad before he left to play golf. We didn't see his face, but we heard is reaction which was, "What?!" in a shocked/surprised/excited tone. I told my brother and his family the next day as I declined poolside cocktails.

We tried to get Betsy and Josh over to my parent's house to tell them in person, but they couldn't make it, so everyone on Benton's side of the family got an email or text with the picture followed by an immediate phone call telling them to check it and call us back. Faye was working, so she didn't see the picture for a quite awhile, but Jim actually checked the email on his own before Faye got home, so he knew, and it sounds like may have encouraged Faye to keep looking at the picture until she got the message. Betsy called immediately with excitement and also called me out for spending the entire day with her a week before and lying to her about not being pregnant. I felt terrible for that too, but we wanted to tell her together.

We slowly started telling a few close friends after that, but didn't make any big broadcasts for awhile. We had planned to tell all of my extended family at the family reunion in OKC in August and my dad unknowingly made the announcement for us. He thought everyone already knew and felt terrible, but it really was perfect that the announcement to his side of the family came from him.

Other Appointments...

We had our "in the clear" sonogram on August 24 and the baby was still measuring ahead of the original 3/6/12 due date. The sonographer was trying to give us a 70-80% guess on the sex, but this little squirt would not cooperate and had it's legs crossed the entire time. Little stink!

I had a boring appointment on September 19 that Benton did not go to. That was my first ever OB appointment to go to by myself because he went to all of Haven's. {tear} Poor Baby 2 :(

Pregnancy Symptoms...

Tired. Miserably tired. I took a nap with Haven everyday for months, but had to stop because I was having a hard time sleeping at night. I felt pretty sluggish/yucky in the mornings for a few weeks, but that was fairly short-lived. Similarly to my pregnancy with Haven, I've had issues with brushing my teeth in the mornings, but they were more extreme this time. With Haven I would usually just gag, but with this baby it was the real deal, throwing up. It's annoyingly counterproductive and lasted beyond 20 weeks. I had a short fight with headaches, but I'm not sure if that was caffeine related or not. I've had Braxton Hicks contractions and acid reflux for the majority of this pregnancy, but have only had the sciatic nerve numbness twice to date. I am confident I felt the baby move around 16-17 weeks. I may have felt it earlier, but was hesitant to say officially until then. I'm not sure I want to document this, but I feel guilty not doing it because I remember it so clearly. I guess I was a little hormonal because very early on in this pregnancy, Benton told me that if this was how it was going to be, this was it, and I quote, "We are never doing this again!" He only said it that one time, so I guess it got better? I haven't asked :) Overall, I don't really have anything to complain about. Everything seems to be a little more intense than it was with Haven, but that pregnancy was so easy, it would hardly be possible for me to have less symptoms.

The big reveal...

We frequently asked Haven if she wanted a baby brother or baby sister, but she would pretty consistently answer with whichever was the latter (brother or sister, answer = sister; sister or brother, answer = brother). On October 17 we asked her twice if she wanted a sister or brother and both times her answer was sister. Her wish came true because we found out "it" is a GIRL! I know there are lots of scary things about having two girls (drama, boys, weddings, etc.), but there is nothing better than having a sister. And as an added bonus, this baby girl already has more clothes than the Gymboree distribution center.

Big Sister...

I'm not sure if Haven "gets" it or not. My mom got her this awesome Big Sister book that she LOVES to read and seriously has memorized because we have read it so much, but I'm still not sure she knows. We will probably talk more in depth about the baby and where she is in late January or February. Since Haven has been so into the "what's that?" question, I am hesitant to talk about the baby in mommy's tummy for fear she will start pointing to non-pregnant people's tummies and asking, "what's that?" I also know toddlers have no concept of time, so March is an eternity away to her.

And poor Dutch...his life just continues to go down the toilet!