My three sons no more

I had been feeling tired for a few days, but I am a mom of three boys so this is to be expected. Plus, I had been washing benedryl down with my nightly beer, so that probably hadn't been helping. When I laid down on the bed at 3pm one afternoon and promptly fell asleep my husband began to ask what was going on with me. Being a good Catholic mom I have lots of pregnancy tests stored in my cabinets, but as it wasn't that time of the month, I was sure it would be negative. I had been toying with the idea of getting pregnant since around Christmas and so far we hadn't, so I was starting to put my energy elsewhere. I had just agreed to start learning and coming up with playlists and routines for the aerobics/zumba class I attend. I decided before I became too invested in this endeavor I may as well fish out one of those tests and see what it had to say. Before I could even lay it down on the counter there were clearly two lines.

My first response was, oh shit. While I had been thinking about getting pregnant and not actively stopping it from happening, I didn't really think it would happen. Yes, I know how babies are made, but I at least thought it would take a long time-a really long time. We aren't rolling in the dough, we are moving next year, and we already have three kids and a dog. I had to tell Pete and that worried me some because he wasn't completely on board with the 4th kid idea. He is a fabulous dad and completely in love with and devoted to his kids, and that is what had him worried. As a father to three he felt like he wasn't able to give all the attention, time, love, and focus to his kids that he wanted, so with one more it would be harder and almost impossible. Oh, and the money thing. It took him a day or two but once it has happened what are you gonna do? Plus, a man so great with his kids is exactly the kind of man that should have more kids, right?

I then remembered a conversation Pete and I had a few days prior. Tigran, our dog, had started sleeping upstairs a lot more often, almost every night. I would come up and so would he. Pete laughingly said, maybe you are pregnant and he is protecting you. I guess he was right. Tigran now sleeps with me every night. Also, Thomas, our youngest, had started loving on me a lot more, calling himself baby, and demanding that I hold him more often. It seems that not only dogs but also small children can sense pregnancy. Almost immediately after taking the test, and not telling anyone, Luke and Jack became extremely loving and lovey toward me. Jack started giving me random hugs once a day and telling me he loved me, Luke would crawl on my lap, give me a hug and kiss, and tell me he loved me. Pete says this is because they can tell and they don't want me to forget about them or love them less.

I hadn't felt as sick/nauseous as before so I was a bit worried, but then I realized if I didn't eat every two hours (ok every hour) I was overcome with a desire to cry. I felt like I just wanted to sob. I never did, but the feeling was very strong. The sickness came though and feeling sick with three kids in the house isn't the best combination. Plus, this time I actually threw up. I never throw up during my pregnancies, it didn't happen often only once or twice, but it was a new thing for me.  My lovely husband was here to help out as often as he could-that is one perk of being married to a student, their flexible schedules. If I have a craving at this point, it is water and peppermint tea. I am constantly drinking bottles of water, and I do mean bottles. I am continually refilling them and sticking them back in the fridge only to realize that in the last few hours I have gone through them all again. Yes, I am always using the bathroom too. 

I haven't been able to nap like I could before. This is the downside of being in your first trimester during summer break and while you have three kids. I can sometimes rest for 30 minutes but never sleep. It threw me into some insomnia at night that made me a bear, but it has worked itself out. Without the naps though I usually end up hiding away from the world around 3pm. I am typing this while the boys are watching Rio. So far no one is screaming and crying so I count that as a success.

I also happened to notice another side effect- my stomach got bigger fast.

The day I found out I was pregnant- 4 weeks

Two weeks later at 6 weeks.

Can you believe at this point nobody was asking me yet? Did they think I just quit caring? I guess they were being nice. I hadn't expected it to get so big so fast. It was almost like I took the test and the next day my body just gave in and said, 'ok we've been here before and  know what to do.' This was only reinforced by the Nurse Practitioner who saw me at 10 weeks. She felt the outside of my uterus and got quite a surprised look on her face then pulled out the measuring tape. She then wanted to confirm this by feeling it. Then she looked at me and asked if I was sure about my due date. Well, no not completely sure, I mean everything was off by a couple weeks. She said I needed an early ultrasound right away because my uterus was measuring 14 weeks, and with the whole cerclage thing I get done at 13 weeks they needed to make sure. So I was ushered into the ultrasound room where talk of twins began to be had while they pulled up my information. I had to stop them right there. I was fearful of this myself because I had been sicker and my clothes stopped fitting at 6 weeks but my husband would not stand for twins so this talk must stop.As it turns out no twins and my due date was correct. My poor NP was so confused, she looked at the ultrasound tech and said, ' but look here is her uterus,' and she pushed down on it to show her. So I left feeling like perhaps I would be huge this pregnancy and then promptly went to McDonalds where the drive thru girl told me I looked like Gwyneth Paltrow. So now I have mixed emotions about how I look. 

The boys are taking the news well. They have noticed that mommy is tired and grumpy most of the time. :(  They are excited because now they get to watch more tv and sneak food like chips and fruit snacks and extra glasses of lemonade because I am either resting or just too tired to mess with it. I know this is not a glowing report of me but the boys don't seem scarred by it in any way and just say the baby ate my brain.I think this may also have something to do with the fact that Pete is playing a lot of  Plants Vs.Zombies with the boys.

So here is to #4, may he/she be able to handle all the craziness that is the Weigel Family.