Thursday was my due date, and surprise surprise, it has come and gone without a sign of baby arriving. I knew this would happen, and to be completely honest, Thursday wasn't a difficult day at all. In the past, my due date has always been hard, but not this time around! Yesterday wasn't hard either... sure I am a little cranky by mid afternoon most days, but wouldn't you be cranky if you could hardly move and it was 110 degrees and humid? Today is proving to be the most difficult day so far... mainly because I really, really wanted a 4th of July baby and there is not even one small sign of this baby coming any time soon. I think once I get through today, I'll be ok because if the baby doesn't come today, I'd really prefer s/he stays inside until KJ arrives on the 12th.

Yesterday, two of my awesome friends took me out for a day of pampering in lieu of a baby shower. It was the perfect way to celebrate this baby, and to spend my first official day of being "overdue". We started the morning with Starbucks, then got pedicures followed by lunch and some shopping. It was such a fun day and now I have cute toes, all ready for when I go into labour.

Weight Gain: Weight gain is staying steady, right around the 35 pound mark. Really, there is just no room left inside of me. I eat one real meal a day and then just snack for the most part. I can't fit in anymore food!

Cravings: Still ice cream! I blame the heat. And the deliciousness that is Ben & Jerry's The Tonight Dough.

Third Trimester Symptoms: Heartburn is still plaguing me from time to time. Luckily, it's not constant, but when it comes it's pretty bad. Other than that, just a complete and utter lack of motivation to do anything. And I'm feeling kind of anti social. Not looking forward to church tomorrow, but luckily, being in Nursery means I don't really see anyone. It's a true blessing at this point in my pregnancy.

Medical Stuff: Nada. Nothing to report. Even the cramping and Braxton Hicks I'd experienced up until the 40 week mark have ceased completely. If this is like my other pregnancies, it'll be crickets until delivery day arrives.

Something I'm Excited About: How about a few things I'm excited about? Gotta really focus on the positives right now! KJ arrives a week from tomorrow!! I cannot wait for her to get here. Once she is here, it's full bore "get baby out" mode.

Also, I've finished up a lot of little projects lately so I finally feel like I am actually ready for this baby to arrive. I made personalized baby hats a few nights ago, and finished stitching custom baby gowns. I still have some fabric to whip up some blankets, but if that doesn't happen, it's not the worst thing in the world. It feels good to be getting stuff done... but I am running out of things to do. I'm starting to feel like all I have left to do is sit and wait and that's not a good combination. I know I need to stay busy in order to not go crazy, but that is easier said than done.

And! The baby seems to have dropped. Not enough to cause any pressure or contractions. Not enough to get rid of my occasional heartburn. But dropping is progress and at this point, I'll take anything I can get. Anything at all.

39 weeks 5 days (Tuesday) verses 40 weeks 1 day (Friday) 

Something I'm Not Excited About: Not having a 4th of July baby. :( I love 4th of July, and hello! Best birthday ever. Fireworks every year! I knew when I took the pregnancy test that I was likely to have a July 14/15th baby. But it didn't stop a small part of me from really hoping that I could have a baby born on my dream birthday.

Bump-Date | Week 40

Bruce and I with his brother and brother's wife. Yesterday, my brother in law was sworn in as a
detention officer. Welcome to the law enforcement life C&B! 

6 days from my due date and officially in my 40th week of pregnancy. Can someone please tell me how I got to this point so quickly!?! It feels like just yesterday, I was sitting at a restaurant table following my second half marathon when someone at the table next to us squeezed a lemon into their drink. The smell was so strong and intoxicating that I thought to myself "hmmm... I wonder if I'm pregnant!?". The next morning I took a test and sure enough, baby #4 was on its way. How have 36 weeks passed since that time!?

I think I am finally starting to feel a little bit ready for this baby to arrive. I've made significant progress on my mile-long to do list. While my mum was in town last week, we tackled some of the huge projects on my list, like going through the tubs and boxes and bags of baby and children's clothes that were being stored in my garage. We condensed everything significantly and donated 8 jam packed garbage bags full of clothes to DI. We also painted my bathroom and put a base coat of paint in Man Cub's room. Bruce then did the stripes on Man Cub's wall on his days off this past week. We also hung curtains and ran some errands and cleaned house. I am so so grateful that my mum was able to come and help me get some things done. I've also got some of my baby related sewing done, finished editing client photos and I'm almost finished with my final peg order before taking a long break from painting. Now if I can just get my hospital bag packed, I will be ready to have this baby!

Weight Gain: I am happy to report that unless I am swelling, I'm hovering right around the 35 pound mark for weight gain. This makes me so happy. No gain in two weeks! There are days here and there when the heat takes it's toll on me and I swell up (see above photo for proof). On those days I'm a little heavier, but luckily, for the most part, I am able to take it easy and drink plenty of water which seems to help keep the swelling at a minimum.

Cravings: Still just craving all those things I shouldn't be eating. If it is salty, sugary, or a way of drinking my allotted calories, I want it. And self control? What's that!?! Luckily, my appetite isn't very big right now (I think I'm running out of room!), so I'm not eating a ton of stuff I shouldn't. But it is definitely what I'm wanting. I hope my love of healthy foods returns once this baby is out!

Third Trimester Symptoms: Heartburn has been pretty minimal lately... I'm thinking the baby has dropped a bit. I'm absolutely exhausted all the time though. This could have something to do with our hot hot heat these days. 115/116 degree temps really suck the life out of me anyway, and being pregnant makes it that much worse. I'm also experiencing a lot of cramping. And the cramping comes and goes very regularly, almost to the point of being able to time it. But it hasn't turned into contractions yet, thank goodness. KJ doesn't arrive for another 2 weeks. I can't have this baby before she gets here!!

Medical Stuff: Nothing new to report here... saw the DO at my practice this past week. He was ok, but I definitely prefer the midwives in the office. He let me know he's not a fan of having patients go to 42 weeks. Luckily, the midwives are completely supportive of my need to be left alone through that point. Eventually, all my babies have come out. And when left to their own devices, they come out very fast.

Something I'm excited about: Finding out what this baby is!!! I've been pretty convinced from the beginning that this is a baby boy, but the closer we get to delivery day, the more I start to waver. I think I'll still be a little surprised if it is a girl, but only because this pregnancy has mirrored Man Cub's so much. I am definitely getting anxious to meet this little one, but still not ready to rush away the last few weeks of this pregnancy.

Something I'm not excited about: As with all my pregnancies, my anti-socialness has set in. This is typical for me around the 38/39 week mark. I get tired of people asking when I'm due and giving me their 2 cents about how ridiculous it is that my doctors "let" me go so far "overdue". My doctors don't let me do anything. I tell them what I want, and unless the baby is in danger, I expect them to grant my wishes. 42 weeks is a perfectly natural length for a pregnancy. I would say normal, except it seems that no one is willing to wait it out anymore. I'm at that point where I find it easier to just be at home, nesting and getting things ready for the baby, than going to church or social events. Even running errands is more effort and socializing than I am up for these days!

Bump-Date | Welcoming in Week 38

36 weeks

 Before I dive into posting about our awesome trip to Hawaii back in March (which is going to take numerous posts to cover!), I thought I'd give a little pregnancy update since I'm getting dangerously close to the end here.

As of today, I am 21 days from my due date and 32-35 away from actually delivering. I haven't got even a shred of hope of delivering early. In fact, since KJ doesn't arrive until July 12th, 9 days after my due date, I really have no desire to deliver early. I really want her here for the arrival of this babe.

I cannot, cannot, CANNOT believe how close I am to the end. I am so not ready. This pregnancy has flown by at a crazy rate, which is not ok with me! I still have a to do list a mile long, not to mention the fact that I really just want to enjoy these last few weeks of my last pregnancy. I'm hurrying to tackle the must do projects on my to do list- like a few organization projects around the house and finishing up my final orders for Hello PegLegs, in hopes that I can then just relax and enjoy the last little bit of having this baby safe in my tummy. This is the first time I ever remember feeling this way about pregnancy... in the past I've always been anxious for the end to arrive. This time, I'm wishing things would slow down just a touch. And that sentiment may change when I'm 41 weeks pregnant and it's 110 degrees outside... but for now, I wish it would slow down a little.

37 weeks-headed to the pool for Man Cub's swim lesson

Weight Gain: My weight gain this pregnancy has not been pretty. I've already reached the recommended amount of weight... a whooping 35 pounds, and I still have plenty of time to gain more. I haven't been nearly as good about exercising this time around... there just never seem to be enough hours in the day! I've got plans to meet up with a friend at the gym several times in the coming week, so hopefully that will just help keep me stable and not gaining mass quantities in between appointments. The bright side- my midwives are WONDERFUL and have never given me a hard time about how much I am gaining. Even when there were two different months that my weight jumped 10 pounds between appointments.

Cravings: Sugar. Junk food. Soda. Starbucks raspberry lemonades, blended. Donuts. The Tonight Dough ice cream, in mass quantities. Basically all the things I really should not be eating at all. It has been bad. And my self control, which I normally have gobs of when it comes to avoiding bad for me foods has disappeared along with my waistline. I also crave eating out... but that is mainly because standing in my kitchen being blasted by the heat of the stove is super unappealing to me. May and June have been really mild weather-wise, but being that I'm a human incubator, I'm a hot sweaty mess all the time and the last thing I want to do most days is cook.

Third Trimester Symptoms: Me so sleepy. All the time. I think part of this is due to the fact that it is starting to warm up, plus it's been humid. I've had no energy during the day lately. Then at night, once it cools off, I find myself working like crazy to get stuff done and not going to bed as early as I should. It's a vicious cycle. But I'm taking the energy when it comes and trying to make the most of it. Even if it is at 10 o'clock at night. The good news when it comes to pregnancy symptoms- my heartburn is almost non-existent these days. I think the baby has dropped just enough to alleviate that symptom for the most part, and for that I am very grateful.

Medical Stuff: I now see my midwife every single week. My appointments are on Mondays so Bruce can either come with me or stay at home with the kiddos, depending on our mood. I had my Group B Strep test this past Monday and I have my fingers crossed that the test will come back negative. There is no way in heaven or hell that I will have time to get the required amount of antibiotics in me before delivering, which means that if the test comes back positive, the baby and I will have to stay an extra night in the hospital. I don't love that option. I like to be released as soon as absolutely possible. At my appointment Monday, the baby was measuring about a week behind schedule, which is not unusual for me. In fact, usually at this point, I am measuring at least 2-3 weeks behind schedule and getting all kinds of fun ultrasounds to check the baby's growth. Heart rate is still falling in the 140s, as it has pretty much the entire pregnancy.

Something I'm excited about: My mum is coming to visit next week!! Sunshine has been up in Utah with my parents for the past week and a half and this weekend, my mum is driving her home and staying for several days. I am so excited to have her here. She is going to help me paint Man Cub and the baby's room as well as get some sewing projects crossed off my to do list. I am excited to be able to spend some time with just her and I really appreciate her willingness to help me get some things done so I really can relax and enjoy the last little bit of this pregnancy.

Something I'm not excited about: Mainly just the weather. March and April were warm, but May and the first half of June have been absolutely divine. We've only had a few days over 100, there has been a lot more rain than we normally get this time of year and it has just been really mild. Granted, I'm always hot and sweaty, but I'm smart enough to realize it could be SOOOOOO much worse. And it's about to get that way. Next week's forecast is predicting a good solid 110 most days. Not my favourite thing to hear, but I am so, so grateful that we made it to mid-June before these temps hit full time. A little tender mercy, for sure.

Meeting The New Babe | My 20 Week Ultrasound

February 9th 2015 was a very exciting day... we were all able to "meet" the new baby via ultrasound. It was amazing! No matter how many times I do this, the 20 week ultrasound always blows me away. I love the images of the tiny little spine, the fuzzy profile and even the slightly creepy skull view. The ultrasound went great and the tech said everything looked perfect. At that point, the baby was even measuring on the big side... but of course, that can always change.

The timing of the ultrasound worked out perfectly... I was pretty sure I wanted to announce our new baby in the kiddos annual Valentine's Day photo. When I took their pictures, I did a few including the ultrasound photo and a few without. Ultimately, we decided to go ahead and make things public, which was a huge relief to me as I was 21 weeks and a little tired of wearing sweaters and scarves to hide my growing bump. Ü

Little tootsies

Tiny fist bump

Odds & Ends | January Wrap Up

Since most of January revolved around Beebs turning 5, her birthday trip to Utah and Bruce working non-stop, there isn't much more to say about January, but here are a few miscellaneous photos from the month that didn't fit into one of those three posts Ü

Our lemon tree started to produce this year! There are not words for my excitement. We drank plenty of fresh squeeze lemonade and I made as many lemony meals and treats as I could muster up the energy to make, including delicious lemon bars. I always forget how much I love lemon bars. They were such a yummy treat.

 

 Man Cub discovered Potato Heads... and Potato Head accessories...

... the fun of wearing a "pack pack"...

... his cheesy grin when in front of the camera...

 ... and a love of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He is my first child to really, really love a good old fashion PB&J. The girls will eat one, but they don't request them. Man Cub requests one almost every day at lunch, and insists on opening it up to eat it.

 We did a little browsing at the hardware store... I can't remember why exactly but I'm guessing it was for one of the many home improvement projects that have occupied the past few months. Those posts are coming!

I finally felt good enough to take the kiddos to the library and get some books. It made my heart so happy when we arrived home and the girls immediately assumed this position. I love how much they both enjoy reading. 

Towards the end of the month, I finally started to have a good relationship with food and my first craving was pizza. We headed to a favourite pizza restaurant and they brought out some pizza dough for the kiddos to play with while we ate. Sunshine used her dough to fashion math problems for herself. She has such a love for learning and is always practicing math, reading and writing. Her new favourite thing to do- teach Beebs! They have a little "summer school" program all set and ready to go. Beebs can't wait for Sunshine to teach her once school is out for the summer. 

And last, but not least, I hit the 18 week mark towards the end of January. I happened to have a bump photo from 18 weeks with each pregnancy, so I snapped a new one and added it to my collage to compare. I think I am carrying most like I did with Man Cub, but we'll see if that means anything! 7 weeks till my due date, so 9 weeks till baby! I have a feeling it is going to go so, so fast! 

Bump-Date: Hello Trimester Three

Welcome to week 30!

Today begins my 30th week of this pregnancy. Week 30 and the only mention of it on our trusty family blog is when I posted our Valentine's Day card/baby announcement. I think it is time to fix this problem!

A big part of the reason that Baby #4 hasn't been the star of any blog posts is because we kept this pregnancy very quiet for a long time. Typically, we've shared the news close to the 12 week mark, but with the exception of family and a few close friends, we kept this baby a secret until our Valentine's Day announcement at 21 weeks. Bruce really wanted to wait until 30 weeks (so now!) to start telling people, but I started to get too big to hide it. Plus, we told the wee ones when I was only 5 weeks along and they did such a great job of keeping it quiet, I was ready to let them shout it to the world. And they did. After getting the green light to spread the word, they told everyone they came in contact with, within minutes of a conversation starting. "Our mom is having another baby!!" I love how excited they are about this new little one.


As is typical of my pregnancies, the first 20ish weeks were really rough. I threw up a LOT and lived in a constant state of nausea. I wouldn't say I was any more or less sick than I've been with my other three pregnancies, but this one has definitely been the hardest due to having three little ones who constantly need me. Sunshine had to be up and out the door by 7 each morning to make it to school and getting up that early while feeling so incredibly sick was very hard for me. Then I had preschool to teach 3 days a week and church responsibilities each Sunday and at various times throughout the week. Having so many obligations that could not be put off until later made this pregnancy much more difficult than my past three. But we made it work and we survived! And now I feel great. Tired, but great.

My "due date" (hahaha) is Juy 2nd. I would LOOOOOVE a July 4th baby, but I am planning on a July 14/15/16th baby. I have officially entered the third trimester and double digit countdown. (88 days until I think baby will arrive!) Once again, we did not find out the gender. It feels more like my pregnancy with Man Cub than either of my girl pregnancies, but you just never know! It will definitely be a big surprise on delivery day.

Weight Gain: Never fear. I am gaining weight. Rapidly. At this point with Man Cub I was barely approaching the 20 pound mark. This time around, I've hit 20 and kept right on moving. I like to say it's because I started out the pregnancy at my lowest weight since getting married, so there was just lots of weight to make up for, but in reality it is because I have had no self control when it comes to eating. I allowed myself to indulge for "special occasions" and there have been many... my 30th birthday, our spring break trip to Hawaii, Sunshine's baptism party, my little sister's wedding... Pretty much, since I started feeling well enough to eat real food, I've been eating real food of the worst variety. I am back on track now. I've given up sugar and I'm exercising regularly and my weight gain seems to have slowed significantly. Hopefully I can keep this up. With my first two pregnancies I didn't stress much over weight gain, but I know that keeping my weight gain in check helps reduce the pressure on my c section scar which is important since I desperately want to deliver via VBAC again. Plus, I was so good about exercising while pregnant with Man Cub and his delivery and the recovery afterward were a BREEZE. I want that again!

Cravings: No real cravings... I'm enjoying fresh fruits and veggies. But I wouldn't say that I crave them in that crazy pregnancy way. I just like them and am eating plenty of them. If anything, I'd say I crave sugar, but I've been avoiding it so that desire to constantly eat sugary snacks has pretty much worked it's way out of my system.

Third Trimester Symptoms: Heartburn. Oh the heartburn. I'm also pretty tired, no matter how much sleep I get. But is that truly pregnancy related? Or is that "busy mom of three children" related?

Medical Stuff: I had an appointment with my midwife on Tuesday. It was glucose test day and she was awesome and let me do the jelly bean version of the test instead of the nasty syrupy drink version. I haven't gotten my results yet but fingers crossed that all is well. Everything looks great with the baby. I'm measuring on track still, which is fantastic. We are getting close to the point where I stop measuring on track and end up with all sorts of growth scans and such. Baby's heartrate is always in the 135-145 range... right between Man Cub's norm and the girls norm. At the end of my visit I set up all the rest of my appointments, through 42 weeks. I am now going in every two weeks and wondering how I got to this point already!? I swear, keeping it a secret until 21 weeks has helped this pregnancy just fly by. I can't believe I'm already in the home stretch!

Something I'm excited about: My best friend Kim gets to come for the birth!!! I am so, so excited! Living thousands of miles away from her is really hard. It feels like we miss out on a lot of the exciting events that best friends should get to be a part of. But not this one! She is flying out a few days before we expect the baby to arrive and she'll stay for about 10 days. Here's to hoping this little one doesn't decide to pull a fast one on us and actually come before the 42 week mark.

Something I'm not excited about: Summer. It wouldn't be so bad if this year weren't already trying to break heat records! The entire last two weeks of March we were hitting temps of 95 on a daily basis, a good 14 degrees higher than the average temperature at this time of year. I've had lots of people tease me about "poor planning" with having a July baby, but I thought it would be perfect! Usually we turn on the AC mid to late April, May and June are warm but still cool off in the evenings, then July is when it really heats up and stays hot. I figured I could handle a week or two of that. But instead, summer arrived in March and we are already running the AC full time and while it is still cooling off in the evenings, it's not nearly as pleasant as it should be this time of year. Thank goodness for friends with pools. They will be my saving grace!