Baby #3- Weeks 19-36

Wow, I remember the days of updating the pregnancy blogs monthly, maybe even weekly.  Unfortunately, that doesn't happen now but hopefully this baby won't hold it against me!  She is loved just as much.

I would have to say this has been the toughest pregnancy yet overall.  With Ruthie I was sick until week 16, and I had mono with Lainie, but this has been the hardest and sickest.  Right now I'm taking that as my cue that three is our number!

Gender: All girls in this house! I like to tell people Joel is the luckiest guy I know because he has 4 girls who are absolutely crazy about him.  On a side note, when someone is pregnant and has girls and you want to tell them how awful its going to be, just stop.  Its not awful, its awesome.  We're blessed. I am one of three girls and love every bit of it.  I think I may need to write a blog on all the ridiculous things people have said to me this pregnancy, I've lost enough of my filter to write it pretty honestly :-).

Movement:  LOTS!  She has been up in my ribs which has been a first for me and it definitely makes it harder to breathe.  The other girls weren't pushing as hard on my right side ribcage.  I get all the punches and kicks on my left side. She loves to have dance parties.

Maternity Clothes: This has been different this time.  I usually love maternity pants/shorts, but I really can't stand anything tight on at all now.  It drives me crazy to have something squeezing me.  The best thing now are the huge tanklike dresses, although they're not the best for chasing my girls, plus I've found I really only like to wear things that have pockets now since I always seem to have a paci or snack in my pocket.

Stretch marks: She's given me some threats but they keep going back in so I'm not sure what that is? Its little small lines for about 12 hours around my ribs, then they're gone. I really don't want them now, not that anyone ever does. 

Weight Gain: Fitting this is just after stretch marks, isn't it?  I think I'm a weird one pregnant.  The whole time I'm throwing up and eating horribly, I gain weight like a champ.  From weeks 1-19 I gained about 20 pounds, and from weeks 19-36 I've gained about 4-5 pounds.  Each week I stay about the same but my belly gets bigger and bigger. I'm really thankful this is the way it goes, because otherwise I'd be on track to gain about 100 pounds.  I'm the opposite of what they tell you to do gaining weight wise.

Best Moment yet:  Lainie acknowledged her! She patted my stomach and said Baby Ehhie. It was really cute and took until 36 weeks for her to say anything.

Food Cravings: Watermelon, milk, scotcharoos. Not really many cravings, I've run out of room and now I can't eat very much.  Until, I'm starving then I down everything in site and have wicked heartburn.

Belly Button: I guess it was bound to happen.  I can't stand it and I've tried to put a Band-Aid on it but that hurts to pull it off.  It won't last and I'm glad it waited to stick out until the end of my third pregnancy.

Wedding Rings: I have my wedding band on now.

Name: Ellie.  Middle name is still up in the air.  We've got two top contenders, we'll see when we meet her. Ellie really was decided by Ruthie.  At first we thought it would be Josie, but then I brought up Ellie and Ruthie was sold.  She loves it.  LOVES it! its so cute and sweet.  She refuses to talk about her having a middle name and gets pretty mad if you do.  So to Ruthie she is just Ellie.  Its better that way :-)

What I'm looking forward to:  Feeling good, being active, being an active member of our family, not being so big and hot.

Other:
This summer pregnancy stuff is no joke. This is my first hot weather pregnancy and wow, it is tough.  I get so winded doing anything and walking to the beach I might as well bring a pillow to take a nap to get some energy up for the walk back.    By the time its naptime in the afternoon, I'm so wiped we all sleep.  That is one really nice thing about having kids so young, we all nap still!

-I failed the 1 hour gestational diabetes test and passed the 3 hour.  Wahoo!

-The heartburn is out of control.  One of my friends told me coconut oil made her's completely go away so I've been putting a tablespoon of coconut oil in my tea everyday (ginger peppermint, also supposed to help with heartburn).  It does seem to help and if I skip a day it is awful, but when I eat sweet stuff (not ice cream though) it gets much worse.

-We thought we were going to the hospital last night (36 weeks exactly).  This is exactly the day this happened with Lainie also (except that time we went to the hospital). We went to bed about 10 and as soon as I laid down the contractions started. I don't have labors like most people that start out with contractions 10 minutes apart and get closer over a period of several hours.  Both older girls started intensely, and pretty much had no break and the baby comes quick.  They lasted just over an hour and the worst part was I really couldn't move at all.  It was the same electrocution feeling that happened with Lainie.  I just thought I'd be having the baby in our bed and that was not ideal.  Joel was convinced we were on our way (he told me later). I was finally able to move and was able to get in the shower, which really helped.  I prayed a lot that she would wait, and eventually they stopped.  Typing that out, knowing the history, I probably should've called the hospital, but it all worked out.  Today, I spent laying on my left side chugging water while super Dad took over and I had some awesome snuggle bunnies.  Tomorrow I have my next doctors appointment so I'm anxious to find out if anything is going on.

-I'm praying she hasn't flipped to breech.  For the past few days I've felt her hiccups in my ribcage where they're usually against my hip bone.  Tonight they were lower again so I think I'm borrowing trouble. Again, anxious to get to our appointment tomorrow.

-I think I may have 4 pictures of me this pregnancy and they are so not being published.  Its shocking to me how big I am, which just hopefully means I have a big (but not too big) healthy baby.

Just a few weeks left and she'll be here! Gigi saved the day (again) and came down to help me get ready.  We got her room ready, the girls toys organized and most of the house organized.  Thank you Gigi! I don't know what I'd do without you and I sure wish you'd move in (and so does everyone else here).