McBaby 3: 20 Weeks

OHHHH WE'RE HALFWAY THERE!!!! OOOHHHHH!!!!

Wowzers this is flying by way too fast.  I know I type this every time but I can't emphasize it enough.  I can confirm that with each pregnancy the belly pops bigger sooner and the time just speeds up way too fast.  I'm just seriously proud that every two weeks I can remember to take a bump picture thus far.  It's the little things!

Last week we had our big baby ultrasound to check out all the body parts/organs.  Everything looks great so far as they can tell.  I had the scan done at the Office of Advanced Maternal Fetal Medicine (high risk specialist) instead of at my regular OB's office.  Nothing super alarming, but since this is my third c-section my OB wants to ensure my old scar site isn't thinning out again too soon or my placenta isn't doing any weird things (with subsequent c-sections your placenta can implant oddly and do damaging things each time).  Nothing so far, so fingers crossed!

Daddy's nose!

The HARDEST part was looking away when the technician hovered over the naughty bits.  My husband made me look at him the whole time so I couldn't peak.  So, I guess we're officially waiting until D-Day.  Honestly if he wasn't in the room with me I think I would have snuck a peak!  We're really excited though and I am happy we're waiting.  You just don't get truly surprised anymore  these days, so we're hanging onto it while we can!

As far as Mama goes, I'm feeling great!  This week I even got 5 workouts in, that never happens!  The collagen seems to help with the round ligament pain and my bump support belt during exercises.  I've gained 10lbs so far and I looked at my past weight gain charts with the two girl's and it's right on track as before.  Hopefully I can keep it to 30-40lbs like my usual.  No swelling, nausea, heart burn or weird side effects yet.  My hair/nails are growing like crazy but this veteran knows I'll loose all of it around February haha!

My husband seemed a little bit in shock this week when his 20 week update hit his phone.  I guess this first half flew by for him too. He's almost finished with our farmhouse desk and next month we'll tackle that big project.  I'm definitely starting to feel that nesting mode sink in.  I love it and embrace it each time.  I love the energy that comes with it and the feeling of getting my space organized.

Norah asks on the daily "How's the baby doing?  Is she getting bigger?"  She's obviously team girl.  "I'm going to change her diaper and shop for clothes for her.  Can I sing her to sleep?  Can she sleep in my room?"  Gosh I just love her big sister role this pregnancy.  I can't wait to see her hold this little guy/gal for the first time.

NAMES!  We've nailed down a girl name.  Whew!  The boy name though...we have a short list but nothing that's a hard yes for both of us.  We just may leave the hospital without a name if this little babe is a boy!  We're keeping our names on lockdown until delivery day too.  So many secrets this pregnancy HaHa!

Cheers for an uneventful first half!

McBaby 3: 18 Weeks

We're one week away from being about halfway for this pregnancy!  EEEKKK!!  My to do list needs to start getting serious!  This week we have our big anatomy ultrasound!  Fingers crossed my placenta, baby, old incision site all are holding up well.

This last week I've finally started feeling more like myself.  I am back to drinking coffee in the morning again!  That and meat were my biggest aversions this pregnancy.  I am still drinking all the green tea and of course it's watermelon season!  Just like previous pregnancies, no nausea or heartburn but the round ligament pain is real. Other than that I'm feeling great!

Scarlett definitely isn't noticing anything different, but Norah for sure is!  Every day she comes down in the morning and asks how the baby is growing.  I always say it's getting bigger and bigger!  She kisses and pats my belly.  It melts me.  When she was 2, and I was pregnant with Scarlett she didn't know really what was happening to Mama.  This go around she does, and it's so much more special.  She loves being involved.  She just told me this morning she wants to go shopping for the new baby some clothes.

She got to go with me to my last OB appt, see the baby in ultrasound and hear the heartbeat.  She loved that!

I'm still working out 2-4 days a week depending on my night shift schedule.  I'm done with the long distance running already.  That round ligament pain in a b*tch this third time around!  I've already busted out the bump support belt.  Instead I'm doing small distance runs and 2-3 mile long fast walks!  I'm still lifting/CrossFit too but of course scaling the weight and movements down tremendously.  

We created a small registry if people want to buy us anything for the new baby.  It never hurts to start early!  We're just sticking with Amazon this go around.

McBaby 3 Registry

We definitely need a bassinett, diapers/wipes, breastfeeding/bottle supplies and a few odds and ends still to buy.  Next month we're shipping the kids off to Nana and Pops for a weekend and finally after almost two years in the house, tackling the office!  Thus far it's been a junk/computer/storage room but we're finally getting everything hung up, storage and a desk built and the room finished!  We'd like to save a corner for baby too if Scarlett isn't quite ready to vacate her crib upstairs yet.  After that is finished, we'll feel a lot better about welcoming the baby home.

This is flying by so fast.  I hope I can keep up with pictures and making little notes for this third one!  <3

Adios First Trimester!

Already 1/3 of the way to meeting this precious baby of ours!  Time is flying by so fast, we can hardly keep up.

12 Weeks

14 Weeks

Mainly I've been really nauseous which is a new symptom!  Especially strong smelly urine which unfortunately I deal with a lot at work!  I've was extremely tired weeks 8-12.  I probably napped daily whether I was working that night or not.  I've had a few food/drink aversions....ground meat, chicken, COFFEE, yogurt greek shakes and hot dogs. 

Foods that I've been really getting after:  watermelon, Sprite, green tea lemonades, salad, feta cheese, ice cream, acai fruit bowls and chips with salsa. 

I'm still working out as usual, just no more maxing out on lifts and running slower.  I've been trying to keep the weight gain as minimal as I can this first trimester too.

I have been slowly feeling the ol' round ligament start to pull a bit when I roll out of bed, so I'm adding collagen to my diet to see if that helps!  I read something a few weeks ago, so I figured it couldn't hurt.  At least I can't possibly gain anymore stretch marks after two kids at this point, so I don't have to worry about that! LOL

We are already mapping out future weekends to ship the kids off so that we can get a few big things accomplished before baby is here and I get too big to help effectively.  We really want to get our downstairs junk room finally finished into our office (and enough room in one corner for baby's bassinet when we want to move them out of our room for a little while).  My husband is buying wood today to start on our farmhouse desk, so excited!  And an additional book case (he already built one).

It will look like this, but all stained dark walnut. 

Also, we need to purge a lot of the kid's clothes into manageable size tubs.  We don't need 4 tubs of 2T clothes!  We'd also like to go through baby stuff and weed out what we didn't use with Scarlett.  So we have a few projects to do, but nothing a few weekends without kids can accomplish. 

We'd also like to find a bunk bed set for the girls to share when Scarlett is ready to transfer to a real bed.  We need one though that is pretty low for the bottom bunk, almost just sitting on the floor so we'll have to spend some time looking or Dad might have to build us one!  That would leave Scarlett's room to move the new baby into when we are ready for them to transfer upstairs.  Filling this house up with kiddos!

We are putting together a list of things we'd love for baby #3.  We'll get an Amazon wish list up soon.  Mainly it's new nipples for bottles, BFing freezer bags and a few new furniture items.  Also Mama NEEDS a jogging stroller this go around.

We have started putting money back for my unpaid maternity leave.  How is that that the US still doesn't have paid maternity leave?  I did with my first one in the Air Force and it was phenomenal.  I got lucky with my second babe and timed it between finishing school and starting my new job.  This baby we're saving up the difference for, which thankfully we planned a bit ahead so we have time to save.  We plan on keeping Scarlett in daycare and Norah will be in school, so hopefully that will give me time with baby alone to heal and recover through the first few months of postpartum without chasing two other kids around.  I'm hoping this third c-section was as easy to recover from as the second, but you just never know. 

Alright, enough rambling!  We can't wait to meet this little nugget of ours!

McVay Party of 5!

Oops we did it again!

~ Due November 2019 ~

This go around I am still breastfeeding Scarlett and my cycles were crazy, so I tried for the first time an ovulation kit to see if I were even popping eggs out yet.

Peak Day Happy Face

To our surprise, yes I was but later each month than I thought.  Good thing we did this to try!

Two (long) weeks later....

If you stare hard enough your mind just plays tricks!

I always take two just to be sure!

I told my husband that morning at breakfast at Dilly Diner.  I gave him his "early" birthday gift.  By the third one, it's like, what's one more?

Holy crap we are doing this!

Poor Norah has NO idea what's about to happen! haha

We went to Europe when I was 7 weeks and managed to NOT spill the beans.  Also we snuck away each country for a cute picture!

We had our first ultrasound at 8 weeks and we were both nervous, probably me more so.  As a L&D nurse, I know the first 8-10 weeks are crucial and fragile as far as miscarriages go.  Statistics generally show if you see a healthy heartbeat at 8 weeks, you have a 95% chance of no miscarriage.  That first ultrasound is always gut wrenching!

We decided to again, tell our friends/family at Norah's birthday party.  It's just too good of an opportunity to tell everyone at once in person!

We have decided to WAIT to find out the gender at c-section delivery day!! We both are on team girl because well so far...we're 2 girls in now!  But you just never know.  We can't wait for November!  Here are some more pictures from our sweet little announcement mini session with the awesome Hazel and Haze Photography (Enid, OK).

Are we REALLY ready for 3!?!  Is anyone ever really ready??  <3

Scarlett is ONE!

I still can't believe this already happened!  Our sweet Scarlett girl turned one year old!  Here's a link to what we were doing that exact day one year prior! Scarlett Kay's Birth Story

She just rounds out our female dominate family oh so much.  She loves her Norah, Mama and Daddy so much.  It's so hard to remember our life now before she came.  Norah won't ever remember a time without her.  I love it!

We celebrated with family and friends at our home!  Oh course, Mama chose a pumpkin theme for our Fall babe.  We had cupcakes, a smash cake, sugar cookies and pumpkin spice chex mix!

This girl was a little hesitant on her cake at first but once she got a taste there was no stopping her!

YES

Next we opened presents and cards!  Thankfully big sister Norah was there to help haha!

Huge thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate our sweet baby now toddler!  We made it our first years raising two kids.  It was a little rocky at first, but I love our family so much.  We can't imagine our lives right now any other way.  We love you sweet Scarlett, may this next year pass a little slower please!!