Baby #4 ~ a BOY!!

August 29, 2017

Today I took a pregnancy test and it was positive!! I am soooooo excited and can't even believe it! 

We originally had decided to wait and try for a baby in January 2018 to try and have a baby in the fall of 2018. That way, we would have made it through intern year of residency, which we had been told was just awful. Everyone we talked to said, if you can plan it so you have a baby after intern year, then do! So that's what we had always kind of planned in the back of our minds.

One day at the end of July we were talking one night about how Kimbri would be starting school. It got us talking about our kids being in school and I realized that if we stuck to the original plan, Brenna and the 4th baby would be 4 years apart in school, even thought they would be just barely over 3 years apart in age. Maybe I was thinking too much about it and maybe that's a silly reason to start thinking about changing our decision. Or maybe, it started making us think about it sooner, if it was meant to be! I know God guides our lives and helps us be prompted in ways we may not realize, so maybe this was one of them...

So we decided to see what happened. Now, a month later, we've found out that we are expecting another baby to join our family in May 2018! We are overjoyed and so happy!

I took the test after Rick had already left for the hospital (he leaves around 5:45-6 each day). So when we went grocery shopping that day, I picked up a couple onesies and a Hershey's bar to surprise Rick with. I put the onesies and Hershey's in a box and wrote: 

Will it be a... 

and then used the candy bar to write:

He or She? Coming May 2018

I wrote Rick Stone and our address on the box and stuck it in the mailbox. Rick usually goes and gets the mail when he gets home so I thought it would be clever. Well, apparently Rick was expecting a package fro somewhere else so he came in and set the package down next to his backpack and stethoscope without even looking at it!!!! He went outside and took the trash and recycle bins back around to the back of the house and when he came back in I had to finally just ask what his package was for.

He went and got it and was confused because it was handwritten and didn't have a label, like his other package would've had. So he started to open it.. and I started videoing it, and it was hilarious!! Totally NOT what he was expecting!! We were both pretty surprised that I was already pregnant. We feel so blessed and can't wait till May 2018! I think my due date will be around May 9 but I'm sure they'll give me a more official date when I go in for my first OB appointment.

Super faint but it's positive!!

I originally had the onesies swapped with the boy one on the
left and the girl on the right to match "he" and "she" but
forgot to take a picture. Then after Rick opened it and the kids
pulled everything out I remembered I wanted a picture and then
put them in the wrong way... oops!

September 15, 2017

Well, the morning sickness hit a couple days ago and I've had some major tummy aches and nauseous feelings. But I will take that as a great sign that things are progressing and developing as they should :) It has been hard to eat much because of strong smells and food aversions but other than that, things are going well, I guess!

The baby is the size of a grain of rice this week!

November 15, 2017

Well I'm officially 15 weeks today on Nov. 15. Yay! The baby is the size of a pear this week.

We also were able to schedule the anatomy ultrasound where we get to find out the gender for December 7. I seriously cannot wait to find out! 

The kids still don't know I'm pregnant but I think we are going tell them next week on Thanksgiving. They are going to be so excited! At least I hope so :)  One of my good friends, Kelsey, has a little baby girl who is a few months old. Any time we spend a lot of time around her Garrett asks "When are you going to born another baby? I want you to born a baby brother for me." Haha, I think he's going to want it to be a boy, of course, and Kimbri and Brenna will probably want a little sister. I guess time will tell! 

Also, the morning sickness is definitely easing up and I've been able to eat more regular foods, which has been nice. I'm still very exhausted and seem to hit a wall everyday around 4pm. I often fall asleep on the couch or on the floor while we are reading books. Just the other day Garrett and I were playing super heros and I just couldn't keep my eyes open and fell asleep on the floor! Being tired is tough but I'm grateful that this little baby is growing and developing great!

November 19, 2017

Over the last couple weeks I feel like there have been a few times that I've felt a small flutter. It's hard to know for sure if it was the baby that I was feeling but I really think it was. It's getting so exciting and I can't wait to find out the gender of this baby!

December 7, 2017

(18 weeks)

Rick and I got to go to the anatomy ultrasound today at the OB office. My good friend, Kelsey, watched Brenna for us. Garrett was at preschool, and Kimbri was at school. So it was just the 2 of us! 

We found out that we're having a BOY!!!!!!!!!! 

We are over the moon excited!

I went to the store and bought cupcakes with blue and green frosting along with a pack of little boy onesies. I wrapped them up and let them open the present to find out if it would be a boy or a girl.  Garrett is soooo happy that he gets to have a brother :) Kimbri was upset that it wasn't a girl and kept saying things like, "Why does Garrett get what he wants and not me?! He wanted a brother and he got one! But I wanted another sister and didn't get one!" Hahaha... it was a pretty silly tantrum, but I know she'll be really excited when this baby gets here and she gets to snuggle and hold him.

Later that evening we did FaceTime with our families to tell them that we are pregnant! We kept the news a secret all the way until now, at 18 weeks 1 day. It was a hard secret to keep and I almost blew it a few times but I think everyone was pretty shocked! I guess you can keep secrets like that when you live across the country, so nobody even suspected. Haha ;)

One thing that was slightly stressful about the anatomy exam was that as the ultrasound was being done, the lady doing it suddenly zoomed in on his brain. She had been chatting with us before but stopped and was really taking her time. She kept playing with different settings with the brightness and color contrast. I started to get worried. Then, what seemed like hours later, she turned to us and said that our baby has 2 cysts on his brain, one on each side. My heart sank because I didn't know what that meant. She went on to tell us that she sees brain cysts all the time and to not stress over it. Apparently they are water-filled cysts that eventually disappear, usually by 32 weeks. We will have another ultrasound at that point to make sure everything is looking ok. Because of that, I had extra blood work/screening done so they could rule out things like Trisomy 18 and some other genetic disorders. It was definitely a little scary but the sweet lady doing the ultrasound kept telling me that this is super common and that everything would most likely be resolved on its own by a later point in pregnancy.

*UPDATE* 

My blood work test came back completely normal! Which mostly likely confirms what the ultrasound lady was telling us. Everything looks normal and we are so, SO excited for this baby to join our family!

December 22, 2017

(20 weeks & 2 days)

Tonight I was sitting in bed browning the internet for minivans. We are going to need a little more space once this baby makes his arrival! Suddenly baby boy kicked super hard and I had Rick race over to feel. Usually when this type of thing happens and I tell Rick to hurry and come feel, then the baby is done kicking or he can't feel the kick (at least that's how it's gone with other pregnancies, haha). He raced over and put his hand on the upper right side of my belly and totally felt our baby kick a couple of different times!! I'm only 20 weeks and a couple days so It was surprising that he felt him move so soon! Compared to other pregnancies this is early for him being able to feel the baby move from the outside. It was a fun milestone to hit :)

January 9, 2018 

(22 weeks & 6 days)

I had an OB appointment today! It was actually a rescheduled appt due to the SNOW that we had last week. I was supposed to go in last Thursday (Jan 4) while the kids were in school but the whole town shut down. School was canceled for both kids and the OB office called and said they wouldn't be open. It's crazy that here in North Carolina 1 inch of snow can cause so much to shut down and cancel. Unfortunately, Rick still had to go in because hospitals can't shut down because of weather, haha.

Anyway, Brenna and I got to hear this little boy's heartbeat. It was beating 150 times per minute! 

They also scheduled me to come back on January 30 for a glucose test and to do an ultrasound to check on the cysts they found on his brain. Hopefully they will have disappeared. If not, they will do another ultrasound at 32 weeks.

January 31, 2018

(26 weeks)

I had another OB appointment yesterday. Cosette was so kind to offer and babysit Brenna so I could go to the appointment alone. Kimbri and Garrett were both at school. It was a longer appoint too because I had to take the glucose test where you have to drink a terribly sugary drink within 2 minutes. Then they prick your finger an hour later and check to make sure you don't have gestational diabetes. So it was nice to not have to bring along kids. My results came back at 104 and as long as you are under 130 you are good. So yay! I don't have to worry about anything.

While I was waiting for the hour long test, they had me in for an ultrasound to check our baby's brain. They could 2 cysts on his brain at the 18 week ultrasound and wanted to check on them. The cysts are GONE!! I'm so grateful and I'm so glad that he is growing and developing great :) My blood tests after that first 18 week ultrasound ended up coming back normal so we figured the cysts would probably disappear but it was a nice reassurance to see the ultrasound and have no cysts there anymore. 

April 25, 2018

(38 weeks)

It's been a while since I've updated about this pregnancy but I just had my 38 week appointment today!

I'll backtrack, first, to last week. On Tuesday I was going about my day as usual. I had just showered and was getting ready to take Garrett to preschool when I suddenly felt very hot and sweaty. I started to feel nauseous and extremely light-headed. I sat down on the end of my bed, directly under the fan to try and cool off. I felt just ok after a few minutes and needed to get up and keep moving so we weren't late taking Garrett to preschool. I walked into the bathroom and felt like I was going to throw up. And then I felt so lightheaded that I knew I needed to get on the floor in case I passed out, so it would be less of a hard fall. I crawled into the closet where it was carpeted and lay down. That's when I called to Garrett and asked if he'd run get my water bottle out of the fridge. He was an angel to go do that for me. I tried to take a drink but felt so dizzy and it was starting to scare me. It scared me enough that I told Garrett that if I were to fall on the floor and not wake up then he needed to call 911. I rested on the floor and tried to take some deep, steady breaths. It took quite a while for me to feel better but I eventually snapped out of it. I wanted to make sure I was completely fine before driving Garrett to preschool. He was late but obviously safety was more important than being on time! 

Anyway, the next day was my 37 week appointment and I told them how I had been feeling. They checked my iron thinking it might be low which could cause me to feel lightheaded. My iron was totally within normal range! So weird. They gave me iron supplements anyway and said they might help. 

Also at my 37 week appt they checked to see if I was dilated at all because I told them I'd been having a little back pain and feeling some pressure. Dr. Booth checked me and she said I was dilated to a 2, almost a 3, 60% effaced, and at a -3 station. 

I was feeling pretty excited that I had made a little progress, although I knew in the back of my mind it probably didn't really mean anything since I walked around at a 3 and 80% effaced with Garrett and Brenna and nothing ever happened till I got induced. But I was still glad my body was doing at least something. 

Soooo... today at my appointment I was totally expecting them to say that I was at least dilated to a solid 3. Well, the nurse that checked me said I was at a 1, maybe a 2. I was like, "What? Last week they said I was almost a 3" and she said she stood by what she said. I walked out of the office feeling so bummed! I knew not to get my hopes up but really?! So who knows... part of me doesn't want to go by what the nurse said because she isn't a doctor. Last week when they said I was almost a 3, the person checking was an actual OB. The nurse didn't even tell me if I was effaced at all or what station the baby was at, so I wonder if she even fully knew what she was talking about... oh well. Whatever. But I'm not gonna lie, it did put a little damper on my day. I'm a little bummed out and feeling like I'm going to be pregnant forever!! Also, this office won't induce you until you are 41 weeks, so that adds a whole other layer to things, feeling like it could be 3 weeks till I meet this little boy instead of only 2. I feel like I'm complaining but I guess I'm just feeling extra emotional-- darn those pregnancy hormones! 

I guess we'll see what they say next week! I have another appointment scheduled for Thursday, May 3. Let's just cross our fingers that things have progressed at least a little by then!

Edited to add random pictures from throughout the preganacy.

18 week ultrasound.

We wrapped some green and blue cupcakes up
to announce to the kids that we were having
a BOY!

How we announced to our families
we were expecting. We had kept it a secret
until we found out the gender at 18 weeks!

We went in for another ultrasound around 26 weeks, I think,
so they could check on the cysts that were on his brain.
Thankfully, they had disappeared!

I was terrible at taking "progress pictures" of
this pregnancy. Here is one at
6.5 months pregnant.

A little less than a month till my due date!