26 Weeks

It's been about 26 weeks since I've posted, which pretty much exactly coincides with how pregnant I am.  Haha.

I wish I had blogged more about our time in Madison.  It was so great.  We loved it.  We had a few friends, we loved our house, we loved our neighborhood, I loved our ward at church.  I loved all the variety of shopping (I'm not much of a shopper but it was nice when I needed something).  I loved the weather (when it warmed up).  I intend to go back and catch up on some blog posts because I really don't want to forget our time there.  I'm much better over on Instagram if you want to follow me there (@hwoodbury).

But, let's make this post about the pregnancy... I do want to document that.

I found out I was pregnant at the very beginning of February.  I was having some symptoms but it seemed really early to take a test.  Of course, I was anxious to find out so I took a test anyway.  Sure enough, there was a very faint line!  I was really excited but a little nervous, too.  We had been trying for a few months to get pregnant, but we specifically did NOT try that month because Garrett has to take his final radiology boards on October 6-7 in Chicago.  The baby is due October 14, so we will be cutting it pretty close (Olivia was born about 5 days early).  Whoops!

I had planned to wait and tell Garrett on Valentine's Day in some cute/fun way, but of course I didn't last that long.  Secrets/surprises are not my strong suit!  I ended up telling him in the most random and un-romantic way a few days later. Haha... he didn't believe me at first because it was so random, and because we had not been trying.  I had to show him the test before he believed me.

I was not really sick with Abbie and Ellie, and only kind of sick/tired with Olivia.  This pregnancy has been so much harder.  I was so sick, and so exhausted for almost the entire first trimester.  Thankfully it only lasted in the mornings, and I was able to continue working out in the afternoons, but it was still rough.  Poor Olivia spent lots of mornings hanging out with me on my bed after the girls left for school.  I would read her a couple books, and then suddenly around the middle of book 5 I would start mumbling and literally falling asleep in the middle of a sentence.  At that point, I would fall asleep and she would play with some toys or watch the iPad for an hour or two.  I would wake up and we would play a game while I laid next to her, read a few more books, and then eat lunch in bed too.  Usually by then I would feel okay enough to get up and get dressed, and we would run a few errands if necessary.  It was hard and I felt bad for her.  I wish I had friends who could have come to pick her up for a morning but it didn't really work out that way (plus I hate to ask people for things).

Once the first trimester was over, my mornings were functional again so that was nice.  But by the time 2pm rolled around I could not stay awake again, so that was our new naptime.  Sometimes I could get Olivia to take a nap also, but usually she just watched a movie on the couch next to me while I slept.  I don't even know how many times Abbie and Ellie came home from school to me sleeping on the couch.

I had no inkling whatsoever about the gender of this baby.  But, I was SO anxious to find out, I feel like I was even more anxious this time than I have been with any other pregnancy.  This is very likely our last baby, and I just wanted to know so badly!  I even entertained the idea of doing that expensive blood test around 8 weeks.  I didn't have a preference either way, I just wanted to KNOW.  Who would be completing our family?  Would we have 4 little girls, or will we have a boy?  Lots of people guessed it was a boy since my pregnancy was so much harder, which was legitimate reasoning I guess, but I also felt like it had a lot to do with the fact that I am 4 years older than I was for my last pregnancy.  I'm not young anymore! Ha.

Around 15 weeks (mid April), the girls and I went over to Garrett's work one evening after hours (on a day he was at Research Park, not the hospital), and he gave me an ultrasound.  I have to say, it was one of the coolest things we have ever done.  It was so awesome to have the 5 of us in a room together, with no one else around, and to see our baby for the first time.  I couldn't believe how clear the ultrasound was.  The night before, we had watched some 15-week ultrasounds on YouTube (to get an idea of how things would look) and I thought there was no way we would be able to tell the gender ourselves, especially this early.  Things on YouTube were so blurry and I could not see anything, let along small little parts to see a gender!  However, this ultrasound machine at Garrett's work was SO clear, it was amazing.  And, it was obvious that we were having a baby boy!  It was awesome.  And of course, I started telling all our friends and family right away and I'm sure Garrett was just cringing the entire time because "what if I'm wrong", ha.  I mean it was pretty obvious, but he continued to have that small doubt in the back of his mind right up until my official 20-week ultrasound (and subsequent blood test that was recommended by the genetic counselor at that appointment, and pretty much made for a miserable and heart-wrenching week of waiting for test results... but I think that will be a post for another day.  But, the blood test came back saying it's definitely a boy, also).  But anyway... that ultrasound Garrett did was probably one of the highlights of my life as a mother. It was one of the coolest things we have done. Being married to a radiologist doesn't have many "perks" in the sense that he can't really help us out on a day-to-day basis.  He's not a pediatrician. He doesn't write us prescriptions for anything, ever.  He can't give me Botox someday (HA!).  Sure, sometimes family members or friends call him for advice or with questions, and he is as helpful as he can be.  But mostly he just says "yeah sure, send me your ultrasound/xray/mri and I can give you a second opinion". Haha... not exactly what people want to hear sometimes (because they still have to go in and get all that stuff done before he can help!).  But hey, if I need an ultrasound... he's my guy!  It was nice to see him in his element (although, okay, OB ultrasound is NOT his "element"... this was his first one, but he did a great job!).

This post is already too long so I will end it.  To sum it up, it's been a pretty rough pregnancy.  I've had lots of aches and pains.  I feel old and tired.  Almost every day, the thought crosses my mind that this is my last time. Some days, I can hardly walk.  Just rolling over in bed is a huge chore and hurts a lot.  I'm gaining weight at record speeds which feels miserable.  There was even a trip to the ER at one point (another post for another day).  Of course, we won't completely close that door until we know we are supposed to be done.... but I'm pretty sure we will be.  I am SO excited to meet our little boy in a few short months.  Shockingly, we are about 75% sure we have a name picked out (we NEVER agreed on a boy's name with any other pregnancy), so that's exciting.  It's very classic, German, and in the top 30 names (like pretty much all our kids' names - popular).  I must admit that I'm a little sad not to get to use my girl name (Olivia was thisclose to being named Greta and I've been holding onto that name in case our next was a girl), but I'm really excited for this boy to get here.  He will be SO well cared for, with three doting big sisters around.  I can't wait for him to get here!  Just not until after Garrett's boards, please!