Yep. There's another hooligan in the works. Because I'm awesome. But there's more to this story.
See, when I was pregnant/newly postpartum with the boys, we got a lot of "oh boy, you've got your hands full! You're done, right?" To which I smiled and tried not to smack anybody with my extremely angry hormones for trying to make life decisions for me. But to be honest, I always knew we weren't. I mean, look how cute my babies are. Seriously.
But we weren't thinking just yet. You know, medical school and all that. But move forward to about a year ago (Christmas break 2013). We were finally settled enough (and the boys were old enough) for us to go to the Chicago Temple for the first time. We were really excited and just needed that quiet spiritual experience that we hadn't had for a while. Then, before the session, I heard someone say "Lucy," a name that had been on my baby list ever since Katie, and which had since moved to the top of the list. Needless to say, it kind of stuck. All through the session, everything seemed to be pointing at babies. I couldn't stop thinking about it.
After the session, when I got to talk to Mike, I said, "You're going to think I'm totally crazy." To which he responded, "Lucy's ready to come, isn't she?"
Turns out, we had both had the same thought. It was obvious to both of us that there was another little spirit waiting for us to get our act together and be their parents. We agreed that we weren't ready yet, but that having another baby shouldn't wait until Mike was a practicing doctor. We decided to wait a while, but to keep it on the table.
But there are hiccups.
For those of you who don't know, having babies doesn't come easy for me. Without medication, my reproductive system does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Katie and the boys were results of a whole lot of prescriptions, crying, and fertility appointments. I am lucky enough to have a fixable problem so I didn't have to go all the way to in vitro, but it still takes a LOT of time and MONEY. Holy catfish, the money. Pretty much zero insurances cover infertility. Needless to say, my other babies were born in much more financially secure times.
So in August, when I started constantly having the thought that we needed to start trying for a baby, it was kind of stressful. For one thing, Mike had just started his second year and was pretty stressed, so the whole baby thing wasn't at the top of his list. For another, our budget hasn't been super flexible. For another, I was afraid. Even though I knew it was possible, it does take a lot of medications and hormones and stress, and it takes a few rounds. I wasn't ready for the emotional trauma.
So we delayed. I kind of pushed the thought out of my mind whenever it came, even though it came often. Then, in December, after a lot of fasting and praying, Mike and I both knew that we couldn't delay any more. I got up my courage as much as possible and called an OB. I made an appointment for the end of January. I almost cancelled it a lot of times because I was afraid we couldn't afford it.
Then, in January, things started happening. I was shocked, worried, and trying not to get my hopes up. Then, the week my appointment was supposed to be, I found out I was pregnant.
This must be one important baby.
Now that you've stuck through my whole crazy emotional story about my miracle baby, I will tell you some of the fabulous things that my kids have done since we found out and told them. They're pretty funny.
Katie has been the most gung-ho, since she still remembers when I was TWIN pregnant. She insists that I need to take care of her "little sister". (I tend to believe her because of the whole Lucy incident. Mike says it'll be way funny if it's another boy.) She's gotten quite protective of me. For one thing, she gets all crazy about not letting anybody near my abdomen, because the boys like to jump on me.
For another, she and Josh have taken it upon themselves to feed me. Since I get SUPER SUPER sick when I'm pregnant, it's hard for me to stay fed/hydrated. So one thing I did was get some flavored sparkling water, so it would be easier on my stomach. Now every afternoon when the boys are asleep, and I'm usually sitting down to take a break, Katie comes over with a couple of flavors and says, "Mom, do you need some water? Which one do you want?"
Then, today, after we went to the zoo (which, admittedly, may have been too much for me by myself), I was feeling really sick and a little crampy, so I was lying down while the kids and Mike ate dinner. So Josh took it upon himself to steal people's spoons and then come over to me and put it next to my face and say, "eat!" He then tried to bring me a full glass of water, but thankfully Mike stopped him before disaster struck.
Basically, my kids are really sweet.
But my favorite thing is how they've reacted to the news. Katie was cool with it. But then she asked to see a picture of the baby. (This was before my ulrasound.) So I pulled up one of those pregnancy websites that has CGI images of babies week by week, and showed her the little wormy that the baby would be. Her response? "She's not very cute, is she?"
The boys still don't really get it, even though we've talked about it. We pray for the baby to be healthy all the time, but it's kind of over their heads. But one day I think I got close with Joshy. He, predictably, tried to jump on me, so we talked about how there's a baby in my tummy. I repeated it a few times, and he got this look on his face like, "um, kay . . ." Then he started trying to pull my shirt down and look down it, saying, "baby in there? Baby in there?"
I was like, sure kid. But at least he's starting to get it.
As for Peter, I kind of think he's in denial even if he's starting to get it. See, since he's the littler of the two, he's kind of adopted the youngest role. He likes to cuddle, he likes to be held, etc. I call all of my kids "baby," but I think he gets the "baby boy" way more than his brother, because Joshy just puts off a bigger-kid vibe. I think Peter just has more of a baby face still. But even when he insists that "I'm Petey!" he milks it for all it's worth. He's going to have a really hard time when there's an actual baby.
There've been a few other incidents that have made me think Joshy and Katie are ready. Katie talks to my belly all the time, even though it's not really a belly yet (at least, not a pregnant belly). And Josh, at one point, wanted to put diapers on all of his stuffed animals. But then, I've held for a while that Josh is my most helpful child currently. He's the only one who ever wants to help with chores, like putting away clean silverware from the dishwasher, or even helping me fold laundry (when I let him). He's a funny kid.
Mostly I just crave meat and pasta. And I'm trying to find fruits and veggies that don't make me puke. Basically Zofran is my best friend.
Anyhow, that's the whole story. I'll be posting an eviction notice on the crib effective October 11.
