26 weeks

After eating something that didn't sit right I haven't really felt like eating for the past day. I lay in bed for the last part of yesterday afternoon and all night feeling my stomach clench and unclench. I thought I was better but then it started again today.
Hopefully it's nothing serious and will pass on its own.
Just resting and looking forward to swimming in Jinja tomorrow until Wednesday.
My stomach looks weird because of the capris waistband pressing into my belly. Awesome.

under pressure

I met with Michele today for another appointment at the hospital. This time we brought the boys as well. It's always fun when people get to meet my kids. She said they were like two peas in a pod. In her British accent, of course. :)
The appointment went well apart from one thing. I have slightly high blood pressure. I've never had high blood pressure. In fact, I think my blood pressure may have once been on the minorly low side with one of my other pregnancies. I always heard my midwives say, "Oh lovely." or "Perfect." when they took my blood pressure before. But even from my first appointment with Michele, it was never even close to being "low". I started around 132/83 and stayed around that number, went down for my last appointment to something over 79 but today's was 134/93. Not good.
I admit I googled "high blood pressure in pregnancy" a few weeks ago - probably after my last appointment with Michele.
The good thing is that there is no trace of protein in my urine (a significant warning sign of pre-eclampsia) and I have no swelling thus far. I did have a bit of swelling in my hands with Jude and significant swelling in my feet with Noah so I'm just hoping for no swelling at all.
I'm not freaking out, but I am mildly concerned and trying to stay calm and just chill out. Part of me also wonders if I have mild white-coat syndrome or if being out on the roads here is just generally stressful for my body as I don't feel quite relaxed or myself when I'm at the hospital. It could also be that the boys were there too, although they weren't acting out our misbehaving or anything.
Either way, I would appreciate your prayers that my blood pressure comes down a bit and that nothing serious would arise from this.

**oh and I've now gained 9lbs! whew, growth spurt indeed!**

25 weeks

So I got a big surprise last night. A surprise baby shower! We had been planning for a girls spa night in for all the students on project here. It was a success - and just as it was all wrapping up, I was pulled into another room by Kelley to talk to me about something only to walk back out to the living room and all the girls were standing there with that gorgeous sign you see in the picture above with a bunch of gifts for me and le bebe. So sweet! I feel so blessed by these awesome girls.

So I'm 25 weeks and according to the fruit picture on the side bar I'm 6 months pregnant now and I'm carrying an eggplant baby! So cute.

I have another midwife appointment on Tuesday so I'll probably do a mid-week update this week as well!

24 weeks

This morning it was wet and rainy and cold and I wore jeans and a 3/4 sleeve shirt {is that what they're called?}. Then the sun came out and the shorts went on and the hair went up. 

Not much baby action to report on here. I feel him moving lots and lots and I'm just trying to get enough sleep and drink enough water and I've just come to accept that this baby will likely be another big baby. I just make 'em big. 

I bought a pair of black tights today to go underneath dresses & skirts that are a bit on the short side. They'll mostly be worn on cooler rainy days. 

And yesterday I pulled out all of the clothes my friend Irene gave {back} to me. It was cute going through all the tiny clothes that Noah and Jude both wore. 

I might acquire a baby swing depending on the swing and the price through a friend of a friend in the next few days. We'll see.

Other than that...not much else to report. Still growing. Still feeling pretty good. Can't wait to meet this little guy. 

23 weeks

So I missed last week. Sorry about that. It's been zany with all the Canadian staff & students arriving last week. But so good. I love having a full house! {As well as the ability to shut off our side of the house and go to bed when I feel tired while still allowing people to chill and have fun in our house.}

And apparently it's growth-spurt city around here! Holy moley I feel so big and my belly feels tight and a bit uncomfortable.

The whole team {Jamie, the staff and the students} left the house today before 8am so this picture had to be on a timer and then the lighting didn't turn out so hence the fancy edit. {I love PicMonkey!}

Anyway, clearly I am stalling the inevitable - working out.
The boys have their drinks, they're watching Toy Story, my workout mat and weights are out and ready to go...and I'm sitting here blogging a bump update.

I also just weighed myself although I was feeling a bit hesitant because of the growth spurt and all, but it seems I've only gained just under 4lbs. I have no idea how that's possible, but I'm not complaining.

I've been drinking a cup of coffee every day which is mostly unusual for me {I like coffee, but I'm not at the "have-to-have-my-cup-of-joe-before-you-talk-to-me" point yet}, but these days it's needed. This morning I didn't want to brew a whole pot {as it's only me, sometimes Jamie and Hannah - one of our staff - who drink it} so I made up a cup of Starbucks Via from my lovely friend Bekki who sent some over in a care package with the students. So delicious. Thanks, Bekki!

So that's that.
The wee babe is moving LOTS these days. Usually it was just in the afternoon/evening/nighttime, but lately it's been all throughout the day. Love it!

heart beat

We {Jamie came this time!} met with our midwife today and got to hear our sweet boy's heartbeat. It's always so sweet to hear the heartbeat.
I had a bunch of questions written down this time like, *gasp* circumcision {how much, procedure, who does it?} and how much it will cost to deliver here {around 2 million....shillings. ha. this is just under $1000 CAD} and when will I meet Dr. Busingye {the doctor who will likely be delivering this baby since our midwife will be going back to the UK when I'm due} and what if I had to deliver the baby at home {we got a good set of instructions for if I felt I couldn't make it in time - Jamie thinks this would be cool. I kinda do, too.} and a bunch of other things.
Phew. Having a baby in a hospital seems to add a whole other set of additional details to consider that I've never had to think about before {my biggest concern at this point is someone to watch our boys & getting to the hospital in time}!
I am sad that I won't be able to attempt a third home birth, but I'm not freaking out about it {anymore} and I'm really just feeling a peace surrounding this entire pregnancy and birth regarding all the details. God's in control and this baby, while his arrival is unknown to us, is entirely known and planned by God. I love that.

21 weeks

21 weeks on the 21st!
I feel about twice as big as this picture makes me look.

I've been having some really wild {and unpleasant} dreams lately. Mostly just vivid, but last night I had two dreams about my boys either being mistreated or trying to get to them. And I went absolutely nuts on someone when I found out they had hurt Jude. Like, physically violent. I woke up and cried. It was intense.

I've been trying to exercise regularly, it usually ends up being 3-4 times a week although I try for 5. Usually just a good 30 minutes on the bike {although my belly is getting in the way of my knees moving back and forth now} or 30 minutes of my prenatal pilates. Today I managed 10 minutes on the bike before giving up.
Sigh.

But on the upside I've only gained about 2 lbs so far. This is a good thing as I started this pregnancy about 10lbs heavier than I started with at least Noah's pregnancy, possibly Jude's as well {I can't remember}.

20 weeks

halfway to meeting our sweet little boy!

I can't believe i forgot to post it here. Yes we found out on Wednesday that we are adding a third boy to our family! I'm so excited and happy and it's just funny how it's actually happening. "It" being the family I always pictured myself having for some reason. I could just see me and a bunch of little boys. And it's not that I'm a tomboy or anything. No, I love nail polish and dressing up {hence the picture, you better believe I'm now wearing shorts and a t-shirt now} and make-up, but for some reason...I just pictured a whole troop of boys!

My friend Kelly commented to me the other day {after I said that I actually know quite a few families with three boys in them} that she believes that God is raising up a generation of Godly men. The same thought had occured to me and I thought, what an absolute honour and privilege of being chosen to be a Mom to these little boys - one day to be men who I pray love and follow Jesus and lead others to do the same thing.
So cool.

So anyway, this dress is a second-hand one I picked up a couple weeks ago and it is a little short to wear here without leggings {anyone have maternity leggings you want to send me?} but I love and it and it makes me feel pretty. It's not a maternity dress, so I'll be able to wear it post-preggo too.

We still haven't decided on a name yet. I have one I really like. Jamie's warming up to it. But it's hard, ya know. After picking two other boys' names that you love and now having to think of a third. Once we do decide, though, we'll call the baby by his name. {I love being able to write "he" and "his"!}

the journey to three

Throughout this pregnancy and even before, I've had this distinct impression that this pregnancy is different. Not different like "pregnant with a boy" vs. "pregnant with a girl", but something that's far deeper and significant than gender.
I've wanted to put it into words for quite some time and so I find myself unable to sleep and why not write it down?

When Jamie first proposed to me the idea of moving to Uganda and I knew in my heart it was something we should do, a lot of dreams died within me.
Namely, the dream of trying for a baby several months before we would be leaving. I knew I did not want to move to a different country while pregnant. Moving to a different house (with both pregnancies) was crazy enough, much less to a different continent.
And so I surrendered that dream to God's timing. I knew I wanted more kids and entertained the "crazy" idea of having a baby while in Uganda, but didn't put any stock in it as I knew I needed to allow myself time to adjust to moving our family overseas and didn't want to commit my heart or my head to any set "schedule" of when we'd start trying for a third.

Within a couple months of arriving in Uganda, I felt the desire to start trying for a third. Jamie and I talked about it briefly and then a couple of weeks later in more depth and prayed about it and agreed to start trying.
(If you are a guy, you might want to skip this next part...)

Now I'm usually a 28 day cycle kinda girl. My periods are regular and dependable. But until November, my cycle was all over the map - and only getting shorter and shorter so that at one point it was only 21 days long. Which makes trying to conceive very difficult, if not near impossible. So after trying for a few months and many more cycles than that (5 or 6?) I was feeling discouraged after every cycle.
I started to feel (after about 3 cycles?) that something wasn't right and maybe it just wasn't God's timing for us. So I prayed. And I started feeling more peace about it. I stopped trying to read my body's "signs" (I don't really get any pregnancy symptoms so it was ridiculous each month trying to tell if I felt sick in the mornings or my breasts felt tender, etc.) and just left it with God. Then in November I had a 28 day cycle and the next month (December) I got pregnant.
I felt the most peace during December before I even knew we had conceived.
When I didn't get my period on Boxing Day I knew. I didn't even have to take a test. In fact, I didn't take a test for another couple weeks!

I know my story is nothing compared to the women who have waited and tried and researched and cried and begged and have been desperate to have one child, let alone be trying for number three! But it is my story. And with Noah and Jude I got pregnant pretty much right away so this was a different sort of journey to expand our family.

I know that "children are a gift from God" but I think this journey to three has been unlike the other two - perhaps because I feel it's my last time being pregnant, perhaps it's because God's been doing something in my heart so painful and real that it's unlike entering motherhood for the first time (which was a scary and painful thing on its own) or for the second time (where the challenges came a little later for me) but  that this baby and this pregnancy are unique and for that I am so thankful. Each child different. Each journey different.

I still struggle to claim this peace. I still worry. I've worried in each of my pregnancies. It's a continual "handing over" I find myself doing of worries and things out of my control. It begins in pregnancy and I don't think it ever ends. But there is a peace to be claimed - regardless of the outcome.

19 weeks

It's cold. Last night there was a HUGE rainstorm. I was up with the boys for a bit. Jude was so funny. I lay down with him for a bit and we talked about the "fundas" {thunder}.
Some things Jude said,
Mom! The fundas is getting away! Pank {spank} them! 
I think the birds can handle the fundas. They have knives. They can CUT the fundas into pieces.
Jesus is with us. 
I think Lightning McQueen can handle the funda.


There were a few other things which I can't remember now that I'm more awake.

I didn't feel the baby moving yesterday so I drank some OJ before Jamie and I sat down to watch an episode of Community after putting the boys to bed and waited. Sure enough, small little movements.
But then later that night I didn't feel like sleeping so I stayed up and read and surfed the interwebs for a bit. Then finally felt tired around midnight. And then the baby started kicking up a storm. I could picture it in a teeny, tiny karate uniform doing chops and kicks to my uterus.

Also? These are my only pair of skinny jeans. I've resigned myself to using the elastic band through the button hole. I can still button them, it's just too much pressure right now, though.

This is the week we find out - boy or girl! Exciting!!!

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