Most of you reading this have probably already heard our news - I delayed posting it because there were so many people I wanted to tell in person - but we have been blessed with another baby!!! We are expecting our fourth child in late November! I am too thrilled and happy and excited and grateful to express it in words! We'd been praying so hard for this for a number of months now. The girls, especially, are going crazy with excitement - it's going to be a long 8 months for them to wait!
Of course, I'm a little nervous, too. My thyroid condition bears a higher risk of loss and of pregnancy complications, so I'm always a little anxious at first. So please, if you are a praying person, pray for our new little one to be a sticky, healthy baby!
I had a feeling this cycle would be "it" - but then again, I have that feeling every month! Still, I couldn't resist - I actually bought the pregnancy test in Target expecting to save it for a couple of days since I thought it was probably too early to test - but of course, impatient as I am, I didn't even make it out of the store! Yes, I took the test right there in the public restroom at Target. I had to go anyway. And hey, at least I paid for it first! But wow, the other people in the neighboring stalls who heard me crying with joy and thanking God must were probably thinking, "WOW, that woman must have been *really* constipated!" ;)
But, the very early positive, at least, saved Steve and my friends from days of obsessing on my part. Still, I'm not bad at all compared to some of the stories at www.peeonastick.com. Now there's a website for some serious obsessing! :) Although, I've always been tempted to try the breastmilk-instead-of-urine-on-the-test technique. There's a theory, and I have no idea if it's true or not, that hcG, the pregnancy hormone that home tests look for, shows up sooner and/or in higher concentrations in breastmilk, so if you're a lactating woman who is trying to get pregnant, you can use breastmilk on a home pregnancy test instead of peeing on it. From a non-scientific but purely logical point of view, this would actually make sense to me, since hcG shows up sooner on a blood test than a urine test, and breastmilk is actually called "white blood" since it has so many similarities, as far as bodily fluids go. Anyway, I still have one test left in the boxes from Target (yes, I did buy several tests so I could use them every couple of days and make sure the line is getting darker - it is) so I might try this just out of weird curiosity :)
According to my chart, my EDD would be Thanksgiving Day - but my chart was actually a little weird this cycle, with two temp spikes, so Fertility Friend says it could be Nov. 25 or Nov. 27 depending on which possible ovulation date we use. And the nurse practicioner I saw the other day for initial labs thought Nov. 29. So anyway, I'm going with Thanksgiving as an average, and regardless of which due date I use, knowing our kids, it'll probably be December before he or she decides to come out anyway!
I'm still not sure where I want to receive my prenatal care and where I want to deliver. I'm so torn on this. Of course, I want the most natural, low-intervention birth possible, but with my thyroid issues and with the scare when Andrew was born and had some time in the NICU, I'm a little nervous about a non-hospital delivery. (I know, I know, I need to rent The Business of Being Born - I think everyone on the planet has seen it already except for me!) Still, take away my crunchy card if you must, but I have to do what makes me comfortable. So I started my care here, at Grace Maternity and Women's Health. It's an all-female, joint OB/CNM practice close to our house and delivering at Northwest Hospital, a very good hospital (from what I hear) which is also close to us. From their website, they sound pretty progesstive - low intervention, specializing in VBACs (not an issue for me, but a good sign of their attitudes toward birth, etc.).
My first visit there, last week, was a bit of a challenge for two reasons. First, the kids were NUTS. I mean, in rare form - totally crazy. The nurse practicioner looked at me like, "...and you're sure you want more?" as we yelled over each other and ducked flying crayons and Bunny Grahams. I was frustrated, she was frustrated, and I was frustrated that she was frustrated. Second, we have a complicated insurance situation right now (we're still waiting to get on Steve's new company's plan, and are covered under our old plan through COBRA, but this has turned into a mess itself). So I was also getting frustrated with the receptionist and the billing staff. Anyway, I left thinking I'd at least give them one more chance. Well, the next morning, the NP whom I had seen called me at home to check on me and make sure I'd "gotten everything I needed from that visit and had all my questions answered." I was very impressed by that. Also, at an LLL meeting today, one of the Group moms told me about her (very positive) experience with that practice. So I think this may work out.
But insurance companies and decisions and constant peeing notwithstanding, it is just SO wonderful to be pregnant again. :) Sometimes I think about all the graces and blessings in my life right now, and I just can't believe it.....but it just gives me something else to contemplate during this Holy Triduum.
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