Month 4

November 14, 2022

How Far Along: 18 weeks, 1 day

Size: Sweet potato or slingshot

Gender: It’s a BOY! Our Sneak Peek test was accurate, and has been confirmed by two different ultrasounds (by two different doctors 🤣)

Name: We finally get to use the BOY name we’ve had picked out for 10 years! My sister kind of wanted to use it when she had her son two years ago, but I had already claimed it 10 years ago — I told her she could use the name if she wanted, but I’d use it if I ever had a boy, too 🤣 She did not use it, so I’m glad that decision wasn’t in vain! 🤣

Movement: I started feeling some movement around 17 weeks. Just little bits here and there, kind of feels like a bubble popping.

Fun Fact: With all 3 of my pregnancies, I’ve had my first ultrasound (to confirm a baby) and first gender scan with Russ’s uncle who used to be an OB. They’re just quick and informal, but it’s so nice to have these extra ultrasounds. That’s why I’ve had two different docs confirm it. I never tell my real doc what Uncle Rick said gender was, just to make sureeeee it was right! 🤣

Sleep: Mostly I’m just tired lately. Doesn’t seem to matter how much sleep I get, I’m still tired. I haven’t been struggling as much with pregnancy insomnia in the middle of the night lately, which is great.

Weight Gain: 17.2. And my app just told me that Baby probably weighs about 8 ounces (HALF a pound) now, so I’m feeling reallllll good 🙈🤣

Symptoms: Mostly just tired. Some minor hip pain after sleeping sometimes. My hair is also holding on much tighter than usual (I lose hair LIKE CRAZY when I’m not pregnant), and my nails are SO strong right now! But that could also be because I haven’t done gel nails in 2.5 months.

Diabetes: Last A1c came down a tiny bit — 7.2. The goal is below 7, which is SO hard for me 🤣 My blood sugars are wayyyy better when I lay off all my favorite foods though. Good thing I have to go through Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, AND three family birthdays during this pregnancy 🤪

Cravings/Aversions: Major sweet tooth lately. I want a treat after every meal! 🙈🤣

Diet/Exercise: I did finally start walking on the elliptical again! And then I started sleeping in again. So haven’t built that habit back up. Sometimes I eat really delicious salads, power bowls, and eggs, and other times I eat cookies and Twisters (milkshakes) and candy. It’s a struggle 😅

Missing Most: Not huffing and puffing everywhere I go. Especially when it comes to chasing/taking care of the kids!

Nursery: Now that I know it’s a boy for sure, my plan is to move him into the nursery when he’s about 4 months old — when I sleep train him (Holly will then move into Ada’s room! 😱). I didn’t change the nursery much between Ada and Holly since they are both girls, but I’ll definitely need to switch things up since the nursery is currently pink and flowers galore! My only thoughts at the moment are to make it airplane/pilot themed, because Russ has always been interested in aviation. 

Daddy: Nothing really to share 🤷🏼‍♀️

Ada & Holly: They’ve been playing a LOT of “mommy and daughter” lately, and a little bit of “mommy and baby.” When Holly sees my big tummy (especially when it’s bare), she says, “There’s baby?” or “There’s baby!”

Highlights & Memories: 

  • We celebrated Halloween! And basically as soon as that was over, we started brainstorming ideas for what we’ll be next year with our little guy added to the mix! We’ve got 3 good ideas so far 🤣

  • Ada was saying a prayer before breakfast one morning, and she said, “Please bless Baby that he won’t die in mommy’s tummy and that he won’t get any germs in mommy’s tummy because I love him and we’re so excited to have him in our family in just a few short months.” That little cutie 😍 But also, she’s kind of a weirdo 🤣 Not sure why dying and germs were on her mind with regard to the baby!!

  • We got to make our gender-reveal animal! It was not as exciting as when we made Holly’s animal (our BABW store apparently just had all its managers quit, so all the employees are overworked at the moment), but it was still fun, and I was excited to finally share baby’s gender!

  • My bestie from high school got married this month, and for her bachelorette party we went pole dancing. I looked reallllll good as a pregnant pole dancer, let me tell ya! 🤣

  • I had what I would say was my first emotional breakdown due to pregnancy. Once/year in church, all the kids 3-12 years old do a singing program at the front of the church. This was yesterday. Ada was VERY emotional before church — feeling so nervous. She was crying before church, crying at church before the kids were called up, and even crying after she went up there! (I told her she could choose whether she wanted to go up or not, and she chose to go up.) While the kids were singing, Holly was difficult to manage — she was out of her seat, making lots of noise, trying to go up with the other kids, etc. During the program, Ada was sitting in a very uneven chair, so she was rocking back and forth, and another kid kept trying to tell her to stop, which I could see she did not appreciate.
    I was so excited to see Ada up there for this program, but it felt disastrous. I was frustrated, embarrassed, and sad, and it was just a lot of emotions. I was fine until someone asked me how I was — then I broke down in tears. I definitely blame the hormones for that one!

Can’t Wait For: I feel like all the big things have happened, so now the thing I’m most excited for it meeting our little guy! In the meantime, I’m excited for the holidays! 😊