I feel like I'm so behind on blogging. I haven't written anything about summer, and Isaac's big birthday is coming up next week so that will be another post. I haven't written anything about Mia lately either and I feel like her birthday post in a few months is going to be a novel.
But I will start here with this fast changing pregnancy. After we found out B was a girl, I told Gordon I would be up for one more baby (he wants another boy), but I couldn't see myself going beyond that. I also knew I wanted a spring baby, and I wanted 3 of the kids to be on their way to school. So we I planned for spring 2021 (this was when I was still pregnant with B). And I am a person who likes to follow through with my plans, pandemic aside.
Then Gordon ended up getting temporarily laid off, and with my history of morning sickness anywhere from 4-12 weeks, I knew that I wouldn't be able to work the extra shifts needed if I was pregnant. So we brought it to the Lord, and I basically said if it's time for us to have another baby, we are willing to, but Gordon needs to have a job for us to support everyone. And within a couple weeks of that prayer he started a new position. A month and a half later we found out we were expecting.
I didn't book any shifts in August because I knew that would be the "worst" month, and it was. Thankfully I had half of the summer feeling well, so the kids and I did lots of park dates, splash park visits, and backyard water parties. I still forced myself to take them to the park a few times a week, but it was hard. The nausea came on slowly, every day getting just a little worse. Then the puking started around week 7 and became an almost daily, and several times daily ( I think the record was 6), routine. The kids started getting so used to it after a while, they would know by the way I walked to the bathroom what was about to happen and yell "mom has to puke again!". I didn't throw up very much with the girls. Isaac was the leader in that regard. I also didn't have to go on diclectin this time, like I did with the last two, and I had already planned on avoiding it. It made me so zombie-like, just unbelievably tired. I'm not sure if I managed without it this time because the nausea was slightly less, or if I didn't have the pressure of going to work so it didn't matter if I was puking my guts up.
I had planned 4 weeks worth of meals out so I didn't have to think about what I was going to cook, before I started feeling sick. I cook dinner for Gordon's best friend, who lives with us part of the week while he works here, but his home and family are out of town, so I couldn't just give up entirely. Often just the sight of the meat thawing on the counter, would send me running to the bathroom. Or Gordon would come home and I would ask him to chop something for me that I couldn't bare the smell of. I made way more dinners than I was actually able to stomach. On the weekend when no extra cooking was required, I told Gordon he would need to put on the chef hat. My mum was also here for a week to help and did all the cooking which was amazing, especially since we all ended up being way more sick than anticipated, but that's a story for the summer post.
For about a week after the sickness started Mia kept asking me if there was a baby in my tummy. I usually dodged this answering this question outright, by answering it with a "Do you want there to be a baby?" or "Does it look like I'm having a baby?" Isaac was concerned I had COVID, and after multiple promises that I did not and that I knew why I sick, he demanded to know why. I told him I had "elevated hcg" and then forbade him from googling it. When we told the kids at about 10 weeks, Mia kept on saying "I knew it! I knew you had a baby in your tummy!" She is the most excited, and talks to my belly all the time.
Speaking of belly, I have been asked a few times if I'm having twins....( although 8 week ultrasound only showed one baby!) Within the first 4 weeks, I had gained 6lbs. Probably because I had to eat, what felt like, all day long, and I could only exercise sporadically. But over the last 8 I've only gained 5-6lbs, so we've slowed down a little (thank goodness!). When I went to my 16 week appt last week, the dr measured me, then measured me again, then measured me again, then examined her tape measure. I actually measured about 3 weeks ahead of where I am, which is a first for me. I am wearing pants that I was wearing close to the end of my pregnancy with Isaac and Mia, and I don't want to buy anymore maternity stuff since it's the last baby. So I'm a little scared of where this is going to end up with about 23 weeks to go... I feel like I need a sign that says "wide load". I already have to pee pretty much every hour, and can't do any high impact exercise. But I've been doing lots of low impact cardio, walking-especially with work, and weights.
Sadly, running is over for me for now. I had one last hoorah of a run at 13 weeks. I had signed up for a 10k race in the spring, then with COVID it was rescheduled to late September. It was to be completely virtually and we were given a 10 day window in which to complete the distance. You were allowed to split the distance over several runs as long as you finished before the last day. I wasn't about to give up a challenge and thought I could reasonably do 3-4k over 2-3 days. I revamped my playlist and told Gordon I would be gone for probably 30-40 minutes. I didn't want to run too far from home, in case I needed to pee or rest. But I felt so good after 4k, I told myself to keep going. Then 5 and 6 went by, and I realized my phone had 10% battery. I didn't want to chance my work being lost if my phone died, so rather than go home to charge it, I decided I would just have to run faster and complete the 10k before my battery died. Once I hit 8.5k I ran to the house to lap the block a few times, and Isaac joined me. My right foot was starting to hurt but I only had 4% battery left so I couldn't pay attention to that. My competitive nature, especially against myself is really strong, and I was going to push myself to the end. I finished in 1h16 mins (which is still in the top 50% of times), with 2% battery left on my phone. Everything was sore after not having run, or barely done any high impact exercise in the last 7 weeks. My obliques, quads, and feet were so grumpy with me the next day. But then I noticed my right foot pain wasn't going away, and after working a few shifts at work with it, I could barely walk on it. I ended up with tendonitis, which I've had once before, so then I had to stay off it as much as possible for about a week, including no work. It seems to be much better now though, so hopefully we are out of the woods!
Most of my symptoms have subsided now-just over 17 weeks in. By 13 weeks the nausea was mostly abated, and my fatigue improved once I could start taking my prenatals with iron again. Before I could only take folic acid and B6. Thanks to genetics, I have wicked varicose veins that could rival any grandma and finally bought a pair of compression socks to wear when I have to work. They didn't start causing me grief until Scarlett, but now my right leg is often sore if I've been on my feet lots, even at home. Other than that, I don't have too much to complain about at this point.
In just under two weeks, we will find out if a boy or girl is going to complete our family. Everyone except Scarlett is rooting for team boy. I actually think she would prefer a boy as she would have less siblings to share her barbies and other girly toys with. Gordon is not convinced we are finished if we have another girl. I've heard it said that you'll know when you're done, but I am perfectly satisfied and feel like this is the end of growing our family. Hopefully I don't jinx it!
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