the gong show

oh Uganda.

so I woke up this morning, armed with my plan to call the clinic that has done my ultrasounds before. unfortunately, Alice (the technician) wasn't in until 5pm today so I couldn't go into the clinic in time to get to my 11:30am appointment.
we decided to go to the hospital and pulled in at around 10am. I had called shortly before we left and was assured that I just needed to bring in my requisition and could get an ultrasound shortly thereafter.
when we got there, there was another (very) pregnant woman talking to a nurse and I could hear her saying something about something not being available.
I talked to the receptionist and she motioned that I also talk to this nurse. the nurse then told me that they had taken the ultrasound machine up to the NICU for an emergency and it was unavailable. but she assured me that I would be able to make my 11:30am appointment in time.
so we sat. about 5 minutes later we did see the ultrasound machine being wheeled back into the room.
I was pregnant lady #3 waiting.
eventually it was my turn and the technician was very nice and friendly and we joked about the size and lateness of this baby. he told me the baby's estimated weight was 8.5lbs but I think we all know he'll be bigger. but baby B looked good, the fluid levels looked good and he's head down and ready.
hooray!
this was great news and lovely to see my little man (all squished up in there!).
then we went over to the other part of the hospital to sign in to see the doctor (right at 11:30!) and after I had already paid and gone through triage (with HIGH blood pressure. sigh. the nurse didn't mention anything to me, though.) a nurse then decided to tell me that the doctor had been called into an emergency and was in "theater" (aka, surgery) and that he wouldn't be out until maybe around 1pm.
again, I was third on the list to see him. so Jamie and I decided to go out for lunch and come back around 1. it was a nice lunch out together and we got back to the hospital around 1:15pm.
at this point we're informed that the doctor has been called into another surgery and won't be out for maybe another 1.5 to 2 hours.
I opt to reschedule for tomorrow morning.
goodness.
so we know baby B is doing well.
which made all the driving around and everything else completely worth it.

and then...? well, Jamie and I decided to give it another shot (you know what I mean) so we put on a movie for the kids and gave them snacks and since about 5ish I've been having some mild contractions.
which is good.
but I'm not assuming anything is going to happen. but it's (again) encouraging to me to know that my body is doing something to get this kid out!

so that's the update. my appointment with the doctor is 7:30am tomorrow morning - or sooner if things actually start happening!

41 weeks

one gorgeous week overdue.
I admit. I went through many phases this week. acceptance. grouchiness. anger. frustration. desperation.
I've walked up and down our gigantic hill in our compound a bunch of times. I ate bowls of pineapple. I've paced and swayed and had lovely hot showers and crawled around on my hands and knees. I've done the "needful" with jamie.

if you don't like words like "mucus" and "blood" stop reading now. you've been warned.

I was getting a bit discouraged because unlike my other two pregnancies, I hadn't lost my mucus plug yet or lost much mucus at all. with noah I lost my mucus plug 4 days before he was born. with jude I think it was 2 days. to me, it's been somewhat of a "sign" that things are happening. so to not see it is discouraging.
this morning I've lost a bit of mucus which is a good thing. hopefully things will pick up.

right now there's a student meeting/retreat going on in our living room today; I can hear the clapping and singing and laughter and it makes me smile. baby B may not show up today, but if he does, he'll have a warm reception, that's for sure.

my latest plan that will likely not come to fruition;
if I am still pregnant on Monday, I will go to the hospital a couple hours early, get my ultrasound scan done and then meet with my doctor for my appointment with him at 11:30. as long as all is well with me and baby B I am going to push for the doctor to give me a stretch and sweep, since I've completed my full dosage of antibiotics {as he was concerned that I was GBS+ and didn't want to possibly push any bacteria further up and infect baby B}. I'm also going to push that I am not induced by any drugs until at least 42 weeks, as long as baby is okay. and depending on which dates he is going by, this could be either next Saturday (the 15th) or as late as the following Wednesday (the 19th!) depending on which dates my doctor is going by.

But let's all hope and pray that I announce the arrival of baby B before Monday at 11:30!

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"!}

organizing

I've been doing a bit of organizing lately. I organized my closet, Jude's closet and Noah's closet. I pulled out the suitcase sitting in the closet in our bathroom {we have a lot of closets} and took out all the baby clothes I brought over here with the intention of either using them {should we have a baby here} or donating them. It looks like I will probably be doing both {use them first, then donate}.
I ooohed and aaaahed over how adorable and tiny they all are and it turns out I've got a good set of sleepers from 0-6 months and a few onesies.

look how cute they are!

our house helper has been going on and on and on about how much she hopes it's a girl and how it will be like having her own daughter {um...not so much, but okay.} and gushes and gushes and part of me hopes it's a boy. Actually I would be thrilled to have another boy. I would be happy for a girl too, but I almost feel like I have to explain that in all honesty, I would LOVE to have a third boy. I just picture it for us. But a girl would be lovely and sweet so I feel excited to find out either way. I booked the ultrasound for April 11th at 9:30am and that's when we'll hopefully be able to find out if this little baby is a boy or a girl! Make sure to vote {on the side bar} for what you think/hope the baby will be.

I've also been doing decently on exercising several times a week. I aim for every week day, but usually it's more like 3-4 times a week. Today I did a prenatal pilates video and afterward felt good, but so so so tired and almost felt faint about an hour later when I was chopping up fruit and quickly ate it in the hopes that it would help. It did. Lesson learned. Eat something after working out.

introducing baby Mater!

today was ultrasound day {or as they say, "scan"}.
our good friend james drove me as I wasn't familiar with the roads and it turns out it was right downtown so I'm glad I didn't drive.
I arrived on time and went in to see Alice, the ultrasound technician. she was nice but quiet and got right down to work.
it took me a few minutes but eventually I realized that there was a television screen showing me everything she could see. I saw my baby! a tear rolled out of my eye as I saw my baby for the first time. so sweet with arms and legs and just swimming around.
you wanna see? {of course you do.}

that's right! 3D ultrasound! we never got it done with Noah or Jude because it's just too expensive and we didn't want to have to get it done with our subsequent children. it just so happened that the technology she was using could do both 2D and 3D. lucky me!
mostly the baby {I keep wanting to say "he" although I'm sure it's more out of habit than anything else} just wanted to sleep so at one point Alice tried to prod the baby a bit and he/she ended up twisting and turning a couple times and then went back to sleep. we laughed at that.
also? the boys have nicknamed this baby "baby Mater" so until we find out the gender {if we do, I guess...the jury's still out} I think that name is sticking.

my midwife appointment went well. M is lovely and quite nice but the bad news? she's not going to be in Uganda when I give birth {which by the way, my due date is officially September 1st}. so I'm pretty bummed about that, but God knows and so I'm just trusting Him to take care all the details.
I got a tour of the hospital and it seems nice and decent enough.
so we'll see.

mostly though I'm just completely thrilled that I got to see baby Mater and that he/she is growing and healthy and...I have a baby inside me! amazing. best Valentine's gift ever. :)