Announcement - Who didn't know this was coming?

If you wouldn't mind, please leave me a comment or send a personal email if this is news to you!

After one of my very good friends who shall remain nameless outed me in her blog (no, I'm really not mad!), I figured that I had better out myself on my own.  It's not a big surprise to anyone we have seen in the last few months, as this time Alex and I have not been keeping it a secret.

Yes, we're expecting our third baby.  Due November 27, #3 actually took US by surprise!  Not to provide TMI, but let's just say that we had absolutely no return to normalcy after I finished nursing Magdalena (nursed her through 16.5 months in China) and getting pregnant with #3.  We were not expecting things to get in gear so quickly, and did not pay attention to our plan for Natural Family Planning... so I guess God slipped one in on us, and now we are joyfully anticipating growing our family a little sooner than we anticipated.  Ah well! What can you do?

After getting over the initial shock, absorbing that I won't be able to run any marathons or even half marathons this year, won't be able to work for at least a fully year as I hoped, and have to adjust to buying not only one but TWO larger than 5-passenger seated cars this year (I did see someone at the bank drive through with three carseats in the back of a five-passenger car, but ours are too big for that), I am now finally getting excited.

I just passed the 14 week mark, and have been "showing" for longer than I care to admit (like since week 6!). I have been full-on into maternity clothes for the past few weeks, and have even started telling people that I may work with, since I cannot in good faith commit to a contract position that will extend past about 5 months right now. The morning sickness (worse than I remember before) is pretty much over, though I still don't always feel satisfied after a full meal, and sweets barely even taste good to me this time around. I am again having cravings for citrus, dairy, and protein - just like before. My face has broken out more than it ever has before, which is really annoying. And I felt so exhausted the first trimester, I often would like down and nap in the afternoons when the girls napped too, though I'm sure that being home with two kids three and under did not help in the fatigue department.

Unlike before, we ARE going to find out the gender of this baby! I am excited to see if it has any bearing on how I feel about the pregnancy. We're hoping to schedule the ultrasound for Week 18, so we will know by the end of June. With Lucia, Alex and I were both excited to not know. With Magdalena, I was on the fence, but Alex really didn't want to know. Now I really want to know and Alex is on the fence, but it's my turn to decide! Of course, we will be happy either way, but I do feel compelled to find out if we need to come up with another girl name, and if we should plan to bring out the girl clothes or start scavenging from friends for boy clothes.

It is very exciting to find out that a good friend of mine here in Portland and I are on the same timeline, and also just found out that another good friend who recently moved away is also expecting. Plus, one friend just had a baby, and our neighbor is expecting a son any day now. So there will be lots of babies this time around to keep our little one company.

Lucia is absolutely THRILLED about the new baby - she has told more people than I have, I think! She told my parents, all our friends at Family Friday, and my friend Amber before I had the chance to. She tells me that the baby is going to be a boy named Terrianna. This is how she has pronounced "Terracotta" ever since we went to see the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'An, and for some reason she has it in her head that it is a boy's name. She also thinks that Jesus is a girl's name, and told the other Portland preggo friend that her baby would be a girl named Baby Jesus. I still laugh out loud just thinking of it!

Alex is also very excited - he was into it from the get-go, while I admit to taking some time to warm up to the idea. He figures that if we really are going for four (our disclaimer: we're taking them one at a time!) - we may as well crank them out one every other year. I remind him that it is not HIS body that has to get as big as a house every time this happens, then nurse for another year plus, not to be returned to its rightful owner until all that is done... this time for a whopping 3 weeks only! But now that #3 is on his or her way in the every other year timeline, I may just go for #4 on that same schedule, just to keep them close in age. We'll have to see. It will depend on how easy or hard this one is, how challenging it is to have more kids than hands, and whether I find an awesome job that I really enjoy or not after a few months of maternity leave with this baby (this assuming that I get any work at all before Baby #3 is born!).

Magdalena does not seem to know what is going on at all, which is of course not surprising. She'll figure it out soon enough, and maybe we will even get some belly shots with her in the background one of these weeks!

Here is my very first collage - the three pregnancies at 13 weeks side by side. Now you women on your first or even second baby, don't even TALK to me about how you're showing in the first trimester!!!! :-)


(please note that it is SHADOW behind my rear end in the 2nd two pictures, bad idea to wear black pants, I guess!)

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