Late November I was feeling very tired. But who wouldn't? I was the mother of a 6 month old, a three (almost four) year old, nursing, pumping and working full time as well as keeping up with the house and extended family events. Just one of those would make anyone tired. And I was doing it all! So when I went in for my 6 month checkup with my OB-Gyn (at 8 months), I told him how tired I was.
He asked, "Could you be pregnant?"
I responded, "No, I'm nursing."
"Could you be pregnant?"
"No."
"Could you be pregnant?"
"No?"
"Well, let's do a test to be sure."
When the nurse returned, she informed me that she put the "sample" on the stick, turned to set the timer and turned back only to see that it had already turned positive.
Woah.
Seeing as I write EVERYTHING down, I pulled out the Franklin Planner (aka my lower case "bible") and estimated my due date. July 9th. The doctor thought I might be 10 weeks along so we might already be able to hear the heartbeat. I was thankful that I had continued to take my prenatal pills (due to nursing) and took a video of my Doctor trying to find the heart beat. While he was doing so, he congratulated my husband. What a perfect way to tell him the news!
When he got home from work late that night, I told him that the Dr. had a message for him and played the video. He sat there, watched it and smiled. "Another baby," he asked. I said, "Yep." And he gave me a hug.
Weeks turned to months and the never ending Iowa winter of doom finally did end. My pregnancy was flying by (which is what happens when you're 1/3 of the way done before you find out) and we were trying to prepare the boys with the arrival of another sibling.
We all were thinking this might be a girl. All of my symptoms were different than the previous two (although they differed from each other as well) and it would be nice to have some estrogen (other than mine) in our home. Liam wanted "a sister or a puppy." I informed him if I were to have a puppy, we'd better call Discovery Health to do a show on me.
The day of the big ultrasound finally arrived. The tech squirted the goo on my tummy and my husband and I had our first view of "Sweet Pea". Once all the technical stuff was done, she asked if we wanted to know the sex. We informed her we did and she scanned down to the "area". One look was all it took and I said, "Is that what I think it is?" Yep. Another penis. THREE boys. At the ultrasound they changed my due date to July 24th. That did not work with my possible conception dates (I told you, I write everything down) so I let them think the 24th, but as my OB says, "That machine wasn't in the room with mom and dad..."
We told the boys that they'd be having another brother. Liam asked, "Sooo, do I get a puppy now?" We informed him that there would be no puppy. He responded, "I don't want another brother. I already have one." Sorry, Liam. Talk to your dad about that.
Over the next few months we all got excited of the idea of another boy. I mean, would a girl really fit in this household? We've got all of the clothes, I know how to change boy's diapers and my husband was excited about the fact that it was "another wedding he didn't have to pay for!" Plus I could tell you all about Iron Man and Superman but I have no idea what's new in the world of Barbie.
We've always kept the names a secret. Which is good because we usually change it at the last minute. Liam was going to be Conor. At 38 weeks pregnant we changed it to William. Sean was going to be Brendan but the morning he was born, Liam announced "I like the name Sean." And he was a Sean. And with Brendan we were pretty set on Finn. But we believe you have to see the kid before naming him/her. Liam IS a Liam, Sean is a Sean and Brendan is a Brendan. We had picked up Beyond Shannon and Sean: An Enlightened Guide to Irish Baby Naming
in order to keep with our theme. We'd kicked around many other names (Cillian, Declan, Gabriel, Bolton, Cavan, Finn and of course, Brendan) but, as Dave puts it, "When they pulled him out, I thought he's not a Finn, he's a Brendan."As my due date approached I had a feeling it would happen before my scheduled c-section of the 21st, which was fine by me. We believe in letting them cook as long as THEY need to. If I went into labor on my own, great. However, I kept having dreams that I was going into labor on July 5th. The same day Dave and Liam were going to see "Star Wars in Concert." Sure enough, the morning of the 5th arrived and my tailbone was killing me. I could hardly sit down. And mom was right, back labor. We met some friends for lunch and I convinced Dave to go to the show. I'd text him "Baby 911" if I needed him home. Sean and I took a nap while the older boys watched their show and no baby arrived.
The next morning I woke up at 1:15. I was having some very strong contractions and had just had a dream that I was with my mom at the hospital and I had a baby in the waiting room. Baby had a head full of dark hair. I thought the dream was interesting but could not lay down anymore so I got up, starting timing the contractions and called my mom. Thankfully, she trusted my judgement and had taken the week off. She and my dad would be down in a few hours to watch the older boys so Dave and I could go to the hospital.
While waiting for my folks, I packed my bag and the boys bags, just in case. Mom and Dad arrived around 5 and we headed out the door. We got to the hospital, they admitted me and found I had already dialated to two. Even though there were 5 scheduled c-sections for that morning, they bumped me up and got me in.
At 8:06 AM Brendan Andrew was born. 7 pounds, 1 ounce and 18 1/4 inches long. Our journey with three boys has begun.
No comments:
Post a Comment