18 weeks

At 18 weeks, our baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. You should be able to tell boy or girl now too!

Total Weight Gain: 4 lbs (17 week doctor appointment said I had LOST a pound. I have no idea how but I promise I’m eating!)

Gender: We will find out January 14th. 13 days away, but who is counting?!?!

Movement: All the time!

What I miss: My regular clothes. Just packed most of them up and am in almost all maternity now!

Sleep: Sleeping just fine and could sleep often!

Symptoms: Nausea is continuing to hold on even though it’s the 2nd trimester.

Notes: Doctor told me to go home and enjoy the holidays because I needed to gain more weight. Well alrighty then!

Cravings: I literally just told JR, “I’m craving some BBQ chips.”

What we are looking forward to: Cramping to subside. I had been dehydrated previously and I’ve been told it causes the cramps. My stomach started getting tight yesterday so I’m eager to see what's causing it.

16 weeks

At 16 weeks, our baby is about to hit a growth spurt and will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

Total Weight Gain: 5 lbs

Gender: We will find out in January. Have to wait until 20 weeks this time.

Movement: Oh yes! While the kicks aren't powerful right now, I do feel the baby moving often! Any time I sit still I can usually put my hand on my belly and feeling it moving.

What I miss: I’ve been having sciatic nerve pain already and so anytime I sit in a position for awhile it hurts all down my right side. I miss not walking with a limp sometimes ha!

Sleep: Sleeping good but cant seem to catch up. In 2nd trimester and still feeling very tired!

Symptoms: Nausea is continuing to hold on even though it’s the 2nd trimester.

Notes: We are eager for our gender ultrasound!

Cravings: Back to pickles and sour things, although its not as intense as the past yet.

What we are looking forward to: Seeing the boys with their new baby! This week they got to meet my friends’ baby, Anna Ruth, and needless to say it will be a rude awakening for them to have a baby enter our home. However I’m ready to see them all together!

14 weeks

At 14 weeks the baby has doubled in size the last 2 weeks and is now 4 inches long and the size of a lemon! Baby can also now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and suck its thumb!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 4 lbs

Gender: We will find out in January. Have to wait until 20 weeks this time.

Movement: Oh yes! While the kicks aren't powerful right now, I do feel the baby moving often! Any time I sit still I can usually put my hand on my belly and feeling it moving.

What I miss: Not really missing anything right now… just enjoying the moment!

Sleep: Sleeping good but cant seem to catch up. In 2nd trimester and still feeling very tired!

Symptoms: Nausea is continuing to hold on even though it’s the 2nd trimester.

Notes: We love our new doctor, Dr. Myers! He has a great personality, very thorough and we didn’t have to wait two hours in the waiting room!

Cravings: Nothing specific now but I have to eat something every 3 hours or the nausea kicks in.

What we are looking forward to: Calling our baby by name. This week we have wracked our brain and tried each night to narrow down our list for a boy. It really bothers me having to call the baby “it” or “baby.” I want to be able to pray for them by name and always feel like once we give the baby a name it becomes more real!

My list: Hudson, Knox, Noah, Grayson, Hunter, Paxton. JR likes: Knox, Tucker, Judah and Barnabas. Haha okay I think the last one was a way to get me fired up! He didn’t really like it but we just couldn’t agree on one!

After an 1.5 hour drive alone today we finally agreed!!!!! I jumped out of the car and ran around with excitement! Our convo went something like this.

L- “Well I REALLY love Hudson.” J- “I really love Judah.” L- I can do Judah as a middle name if Hudson can be the first name.” J- “Ok.Hudson Judah Isham. I like it.” He was so calm and I couldn’t believe it after he had so adamantly said no to Hudson. Our same name for a girl has carried on through all 3 pregnancies because we love it so much too. I am ecstatic!!!

So without further babble, our official names for baby #3 are:

Hudson Judah Isham

or

Lexi Grace Isham

***Update from 12.5 appointment: Keeping due date at June 1st, Mommy is dehydrated a bit but baby is great! Heart rate was 153.

12 weeks

At 12 weeks the baby is 2 inches long and the size of a lime!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 4 lbs

Gender: We will find out in December…hopefully!

Movement:Laying on the couch tonight after a long day on my feet and what did I feel but a flutter! Very quick and then again a few more times!!

What I miss: Being able to to not frequent the bathroom as swear if I had a dollar for every time I went, all of our children would have a college fun!

Sleep: Still sleeping pretty good, now waking up twice in the night to go to the bathroom.

Symptoms: nausea. I skipped my zofran by accident one day and by 1:00 I felt like I was ahout to fall over from yuckiness. Gotta remember to take those meds!

Notes: Funny thing to note about the big brothers. They are both pretending to have babies in their bellies now too!

Cravings: Nothing specific now but I have to eat something every 3 hours or the nausea kicks in.

What we are looking forward to: Seeing our baby again and scheduling the gender ultrasound.

10 weeks

We are officially starting the weekly questionnaire for baby #3! SO in love with this baby already and happy to see it growing! I’ve definitely “blossomed” very quickly this time. Word on the street is that after 2 pregnancies, your uterus just knows what to do and stretches out quickly. Its not terribly because it makes me feel pregnant but I’m ready to be over the “I ate too much” look and get to where people know I’m actually pregnant.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I’ve gained 3 pounds thus far. Feels like a lot but I’ve been pregnant over 6 weeks already! Seems like the never ending pregnancy :)

Gender: We will find out in December!

Movement: None yet but I remember feeling Griffin pretty early at 13 weeks so it shouldn’t be long!

What I miss: Not feeling constantly tired and nauseous.

Sleep: Still sleeping great, only waking up once in the night to go to the bathroom.

Symptoms: nausea, tiredness, irritability, and seriously hormonal! JR can amen the last part!

Notes: According to my last period I am a week ahead of what the baby measured last ultrasound. We are switching doctors though so we will see if they say the same.

Cravings: First few weeks I couldn’t eat meats so I craved peanut butter for protein. Now I’ve honestly had a normal appetite, I just cant eat a whole lot at a time. And I have to eat something every 3 hours or the nausea kicks in.

What we are looking forward to: Meeting our new doctor! We are choosing to change because the wait time was over 2 hours each time we went and it isn't feasible with 2 small kids. Hopefully this new place will not overbook and it will be better!

First Doctor’s Appointment

We had our first appointment today to confirm the pregnancy of our newest baby. I was thrilled to hear its heartbeat (130s) and see its tiny self inside of me. I definitely never take for granted a positive ultrasound because I know every life is so precious.

The boys were all there and Griffin asked if it was a "baby ball." Ha! They didn't quite get what was going on but saw a woman in the waiting room with a very large belly and asked when our baby would be that big.

I go back in 2 weeks for another ultrasound. I have a tilted uterus which made it difficult to measure the baby so we will get a due date then!

Counting our blessings and thanking God for His precious gift to us!!

Blessed with another baby!

 

I was preparing for a consignment sale and started feeling somewhat queasy so I decided to take a pregnancy test. We had just decided the month prior that we were ready to add to our family but I wasn’t sure how long it would take. I took the first test and it came out the very faintest positive I have ever seen, which of course kept me wondering all day. What in the world did that mean?

I went on about my day and met my mom to run errands and drop off my consignment stuff. Our last stop was Walmart and I picked up another box of tests. When I put the boys down for their nap I took another test and sure enough… a slow positive. Still not fully convinced I took the third and finally decided it must be true! I called to tell a friend and vowed to keep it in as a surprise for JR for our anniversary that was in 6 days.

My secret lasted all of 36 hours and I broke down to tell JR Tuesday night. Poor hubby was so tired after waking up at 4am and must have thought I was insane because “I just had to give him his present early and get it on video.”

(Watch the video here.)

Two days later we shared the news with our boys. Carter of course has no clue and poor Griffin is going to be disappointed if he has a baby sister. “I want a baby brother, I don’t want a baby sister!”

We were going to drop the boys off for our anniversary staycation so we were able to tell the grandparents then. Everyone was a bit surprised that we really were doing it all over again… but excited

Expecting baby #3!

I was preparing for a consignment sale and started feeling somewhat queasy so I decided to take a pregnancy test. We had just decided the month prior that we were ready to add to our family but I wasn’t sure how long it would take. I took the first test and it came out the very faintest positive I have ever seen, which of course kept me wondering all day. What in the world did that mean?

I went on about my day and met my mom to run errands and drop off my consignment stuff. Our last stop was Walmart and I picked up another box of tests. When I put the boys down for their nap I took another test and sure enough… a slow positive. Still not fully convinced I took the third and finally decided it must be true! I called to tell a friend and vowed to keep it in as a surprise for JR for our anniversary that was in 6 days.

My secret lasted all of 36 hours and I broke down to tell JR Tuesday night. Poor hubby was so tired after waking up at 4am and must have thought I was insane because “I just had to give him his present early and get it on video.”

Two days later we shared the news with our boys. Carter of course has no clue and poor Griffin is going to be disappointed if he has a baby sister. “I want a baby brother, I don’t want a baby sister!”

We were going to drop the boys off for our anniversary staycation so we were able to tell the grandparents then. Everyone was a bit surprised that we really were doing it all over again… but excited