Baby #3

We are so thankful and excited to be announcing Baby #3 here at An American Girl in Canada.  If you have read this blog for some time you know that having babies doesn't always come easily to us...and truth be told this is not baby #3, it is baby #7...possibly #8.  We are going to be busy parents in heaven.  The Lord has seen fit to allow me to carry a child one last time...we sort of always saw ourselves as the parents to three children...we just didn't know if that was what the Lord had in mind.

For some reason I have kept this one a bit closer to my heart this time around.  Perhaps our experiences from the past, as well as praying with friends as they have gone through difficult roads regarding fertility, miscarriage, and loss of infant children has led to that...I'm not really sure.  What I do know without a doubt is that God is in control and has plans for us, yet that does not mean that those plans are always easy.  

With that in mind, I wanted to savour this-what I see as my last pregnancy-and keep it close to my heart for awhile.  As we reached milestones, my heart grew more hopeful.  We got that first set of two blood tests that showed my HCG numbers actually rising rather than falling.  We had the 7 week ultrasound which showed a developing baby.  We had the 10 week ultrasound which showed a beating heart-a sound and sight at which I promptly burst into tears.  We made it through a little scare when I had some spotting, which resulted in a visit to the doctor where they could not find a heartbeat and therefore sent me for an emergency ultrasound.  Seeing that little sweetheart flipping and flopping on the screen, waving at us at that ultrasound...well my own heart skipped a beat and I doubt that there have been moments when I have cried greater tears of relief.  

Then, just a week and a half ago we got to have our 20 week ultrasound with the incredible neonatal specialist that is following this pregnancy.  We knew we wanted to find out what the baby was...many people do not and we completely understand that desire, but we did.  For starters, due to past history I have sometimes had a hard time bonding with my babies until I know what they are and can think of them as my daughter or my son.  My husband also greatly desired to be a father to a little girl, and although we truly were just hopeful for a healthy baby...there was a little part of him that wanted to know.  If it happened to be another boy we would rejoice and be so thankful, but he would also need time to process that and let go of that dream of having a daughter.  He would not be angry, or even really disappointed...it was just the idea of saying goodbye to the dream of a daughter.  So...we were waiting anxiously.  As the doctor had the tech go over various parts and explained them to his student doc he said, "You wanted to find out, right?"  We nodded...and held our breath.  "Well," he said, "it looks like you've got a pink one!"  He then went on to show various things that proved this-including the uterus!  Did you know you could see evidence of that??? Anyway, as he explained this Kev and I kept looking at one another in shock and disbelief.  A daughter!  We were so thrilled and excited, and I simply kept breathing, "Thank you Lord!"  I was so thankful for my husband to have the chance to see this deep-seeded desire of his come to be.  

We know that we still have a long way to go.  We are just at 21 weeks...there are many weeks left to go.  Yet all we can do is simply thank the Lord for being with us this far, for allowing us this amazing opportunity to parent another child, and for giving us the chance to parent a daughter as well as two incredible sons.  We are often overwhelmed with thankfulness...I feel myself get all teary-eyed when I think of these three precious children and those that He has waiting for us in heaven.

How do the boys feel?  They are over the moon.  They talk about the baby often, and both of them were extremely confident that it was a sister from the start.  Rusty would always say, "What is SHE doing?" or "Where will SHE sleep?"  When we had the ultrasound we took Rusty with us, but Rocky stayed with Nana and Papa.  When we picked him up we said, "Rocky, guess what?  We found out that the baby is a girl!"  He shouted out, "Yay!  A sister!" and pumped his little fist in the air.  Then he looked at us and grinned and said, "I knew that!"  Funny little man.  

Since I have kept this one closer to my heart I have not revealed the weekly photos here on the blog as soon as I did with the boys, but we have been taking them!  I'd like to share them now as we begin to chronicle the journey of our daughter...perhaps her blog name will be Rose.  :)

Gender Reveal...done by the super talented Maren Olivia!

17 Weeks

19 weeks on Mother's Day 2014

Little Bean...just 7 weeks old...it was a GORGEOUS sight to my eyes!

Little Bean at 10 weeks...when we got to hear that heart beating away.  Precious!

21 Weeks...just over halfway!

Our little daughter at her 20 week ultrasound!

She gave us this thumbs up shortly after we learned she was a girl...she had all of us laughing, even our doc and the ultrasound tech!

Thanks for sharing in our joy...and please know that we covet all prayers for this precious little one!  Send them our way...along with any name suggestions!  :)