Baby Number Three

We're pretty excited. Feeling lots of kicks and past the nausea.

It would seem that I had thus far failed to inform the Internet that I'm pregnant, so here it is for the record. Our third (and final) baby is due in July. That puts me at 21.5 weeks now. The official due date is July 22 but both Naomi and Adam arrived 6 days early. Do with that what you will.

I had an ultra-sound a couple of weeks ago and it's pretty clear that it's a boy. We'll have an oldest, a youngest, and a girl. Everyone gets a niche. On one hand, I'm a little sad for Naomi that she won't have a sister - supposedly, it has been shown that people with at least one sister are quantifiably happier than those without. Brothers apparently have no effect on lifelong happiness. On the other hand, I'm happy that we don't have to come up with a girl name because we've used up all our good ideas (for ourselves.) Boy names aren't a problem. The hard part may be leaving some good ones unused. I was also a little sad to see some of the girl hand-me-downs from Naomi leave for good this morning but... ahhhh... some STUFF is finally gone, never to come back. I'll still get to see some of the cute stuff on Julia and others.

Naomi is into babies but clueless about pregnancy, despite my trying to point out babies inside obviously pregnant women. Adam has a pretty good grasp of what's going on and asks good questions, though he hasn't asked yet about how the baby came to be. He has a good sense of how long a month is and knows the order of the months and seasons, so he kinda understands the "when" part of the new baby's arrival. Before we knew the baby's sex, Adam had suggested the name Megan, which he spelled Megfn, for a girl or (I kid you not) Angelina Ballerina for a boy. Hm. I wonder if he knows of a Meghan and got confused with the GH = F thing.

As for how I'm feeling in this pregnancy, well, I've gotten past a highly unpleasant first trimester, that had me feeling terribly ill even a few weeks into my second trimester. I was able to manage with some over-the-counter remedies in my first two pregnancies but needed a prescription for about 8 or 9 weeks this time. My appetite wasn't great but at least I didn't lose any weight, like I did with Naomi. However, I still trying to recover from weeks of getting nothing done because the Diclectin made me so very, very sleepy. In a nutshell, I'm feeling much better.

Other FAQs (to spare curious people the need to decide whether to ask intrusive questions. You'd be amazed at what people will ask/tell a pregnant woman.)

1. You do know how this happens, right?
Yes.

2. Was this an accident?
No, we've always wanted three.

3. a) Will you have a fourth (or more)?
No.
b) How can you be so sure?
The Mirena IUS is VERY effective. I'll be signing up for another one of those.

4. So you're buying a new house?
No, not any time soon. We're going to stick it out in our 1200 sf condo for a few more years. And 1200 sf really isn't so shabby. We know lots of people with comparably small or even smaller houses.

5. So you're buying a new car?
Yes, that seems quite unavoidable. I do not think that there are on the market one booster and two carseats that will fit across the back of an Echo. Though please do inform me if I'm mistaken.

6. Midwife or OB? hospital or home?
I've had two excellent hospital births with my OB, who is also my friend, so we're not planning any changes. I'm guessing that the funny part is that the best candidates for home birth are probably also women who have had good experiences in hospital and will thus likely stick with that, like I am doing.

7. Names?
Still undecided. If you want to know more, you'll have to ask me in person when you've got some time on your hands. I'm not publishing too much to the Internet because we might, or might not, use some family names, which can be a sensitive topic. I will give you this info to work with:
Back-up names for Adam: Simon, Gabriel
Expected name for Naomi: Jonah
Back-up names for Jonah: James, Benjamin
My current favourite: none of the above
Feel free to weigh in with other suggestions or lobby for your favourite. But, again, if you want feedback from me, you'll have to bring it up in person.

8. a) Are you going to miss any curling?
I don't plan on it, seeing as I curled at 35 or 36 weeks with Adam and I'll only be 28 weeks at the end of this season.
b) Are you playing ultimate this summer?
Out of the question. I know I played (gently) at 5 weeks postpartum with Adam. That sounds crazy to me now. 5 weeks puts us well into August. So fuggetaboudit.

9. When will your maternity leave start/end?
When the baby is born and then I'm back to work September 2012. I'm very well timed again.

10. Can you afford a third?
Yes. I'll be taking a (continued) income hit but we live cheaply. We don't expect to feel any sense of material sacrifice. Our financial advisor gives his stamp of approval.

Any other FAQ I missed?