Anyway, so far the 3rd trimester has been good to me. My all day throwing up of nearly everything I ate ended around 21/22 weeks finally and I pray that it doesn't come back. At that point, I finally started putting on some pounds, and the scale has risen very quickly. Watching the scale climb has been incredibly difficult for me! Of course, I know that it's best for baby and it's expected but when you work incredibly hard for over a year to see the weight come off and then you start packing it back on, it's very hard. I've been in close communication with my care providers about my weight throughout the entire pregnancy, and while I'm blown away at the scale, they are pleased with what I have put on and say there's still some room to grow this last trimester. I feel like a total whale though. Let's be real... pregnancy gives different emotions to different people, and for me, I'm a whale.
Because I'm a planner and a list maker, I've been a busy bee the last few months nesting and checking things off of my to-do list and I'm feeling quite confident going into this last trimester that things are mostly done and I can just enjoy some time with the boys and even visit the beach for a little family vacation before we have boy number 3. We finished the nursery of course, and even got the big boys moved into their shared room, and after that I managed to paint and decorate the upstairs bathroom. There are certainly a couple other things that could be done, like paint our room and fix up the homeschool room for our first year of homeschooling in the Fall, but those will come with time.
Also, with my list making personality, I sat down several months ago when we first found out that we were expecting and wrote out a list of "needs for baby." You would think that we would be set with baby things with this being our 3rd boy, but there's that whole little thing where I consigned nearly all of our baby stuff last year thinking that we were "done" having kids..... sooo, yea. Anyway, gradually the last few months as I've seen good deals, had friends who were cleaning out, went to consignment sales, or had a little wiggle room in the budget, I've picked up things here and there and crossed them off of our list. The good news is that with 12 weeks to go, we've already gotten nearly everything on the list!! Today the car seat was delivered and my mind is finally at ease. Because let's be real.... sure there are lots of "wants" and "things that would be nice" to have for a baby, but when it really comes down to essentials, all you need is diapers, a boob (or two), and a car seat.
Leeland is also thrilled that the car seat is here because once it gets installed, it means that he gets to move to the back row of the van. He is thrilled to be Mommy's big boy in the back and he knows that since baby will be rear facing for quite a while that he will be Mommy's big helper and keep an eye on the baby. He says, "I will make baby Joel laugh in his car seat."
We opted to skip the infant seat entirely this time around... because well, 3rd kid, you live and you learn. Heading straight into the convertible seat saves us some money from having to buy another seat a few months down the road, and at the end of the day, I've never been one to lug an infant seat around anyway. It's heavy, it's cumbersome, and when you're doing things like grocery shopping, it just takes up way too much space in the cart. (Babywearing for the win!) We chose the Britax Marathon Clicktight because I have grown to LOVE Britax seats with both of the big boys in their Britax Frontiers. And Hayden's Frontier is newer and has the new clicktight technology, and seriously, the ease of installation of the clicktight seats cannot be beat!
With tasks for the house and needs for baby being checked off of our list, it's time to start thinking about labor and delivery. I've been asked about my birth plan a lot this time around by friends, and honestly in the beginning, I didn't know what to say. I haven't really had a plan. With it being the 3rd kiddo, my plan was pretty much like this.... "go to hospital, push baby out, leave hospital 24 hours later." Ha! That pretty much covers it! However, a few weeks ago, I found a STEAL of a deal on a birthing pool in an auction fundraiser and decided to jump on it. After attempting to have a water birth with Hayden and it not working out (he came too fast), I hadn't really considered trying it again.... but now I've reconsidered. Of course as quick as labor was with Hayden, I keep joking with Daniel that we are going to have baby Joel in the van on the side of the road on the way to the hospital... BUT, we've got the pool now, so we'll try again and worse case scenario, it doesn't get used. Since I've already had one failed attempt at a water birth, I'm not entirely set on it and it won't be a heartbreaker or anything if it doesn't work out. We also have opted NOT to hire a doula or any birth help this go around. (Of course I will have my midwife or doctor that is on call at the hospital.) Maybe I'm naive or just over confident or something... but really, I mean it's the 3rd baby, and I have been blessed to have 2 complication free vaginal births so far, so I think Daniel and I can handle things ourselves. I still LOVE the work that doulas do, and I definitely suggest doulas to friends and family (especially if it's their first baby), but we're just choosing to keep things as simple as possible this time.
That pretty much sums up my current state. I really and seriously cannot believe that we only have 12 weeks to go before we get to meet baby Joel! The next couple months as time continues to fly will be spent going on 1 or 2 beach vacations with my guys, doing some freezer meal prep for post baby and just getting to relax a little because we've conquered so much. It feels really really good to be in this place and I'm super excited about our little boy on the way!
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