11 week’s ago today…

a new member of our family was conceived! There were the posts about detoxing (I never forgo my Merlot unless there’s a very good reason), the mutterings of decaf coffee and how I’d stand in the coffee shop inhaling the scent of caffeine for a pick me up, the lack of blog posts due to the incredible amount of growing going on in my body during this first, important, and tiring first trimester. So, dear friends and family, many of you already know that we are expecting a new arrival around 18 February 2010, but it’s time to officially announce our joyous news!

We are so looking forward to hearing the heartbeat for the first time and will have a scan at 20 weeks. I have the midwife I was hoping for and all has been going really well. I am so fortunate to not suffer morning sickness, but have been overwhelmingly tired in the evenings – literally passing out asleep at 8pm (yawn, how boring). Anyway, the second trimester is fast approaching and so I’m looking forward to higher energy levels. I love being pregnant and can’t wait for my tummy to properly pop out. It already has popped out a lot quicker than my earlier pregnancies (which has caused lots of exclamations in the school playground and mutterings of twins). I am at that stage of not looking pregnant, but as though I’ve eaten too many pies and have a severe bloat problem – how very attractive.

There have been all the usual questions with a third baby of ‘Was it planned?’, ‘Are you crazy?’, ‘Are you hoping for a boy?’. The answers – ‘Yes’, ‘Yes’, ‘Don’t mind’. So, we will not be finding out the sex. We honestly don’t mind what we are blessed with, just hoping for a happy, healthy baby who might sleep occasionally (ha! we haven’t really had one of those before – perhaps this will be third time lucky!). However, if on arrival day we should have a boy I shall be quickly rushing out to buy every self help book a mother needs on raising a son! And I shall be a little nervous about nappy changes and being peed on!

Long before we started on the parenting journey we discussed how many children we’d like to have and always said, ‘Maybe three’. I have even said four (but Dan is more likely to run for the snip before that happens!). Over the past year or so the girls have been increasingly easy for me and I’ve often thought how nice it would be to throw a little more chaos into the mix (yes, I am crazy!). With Dan setting up the business the timing wasn’t quite right… until 11 week’s ago. It was the week that Dan’s beloved football team, Burnley (that he’s supported since he was in nappies), made it back into the English Premier League. It was also the week that we celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Dan came home one night and in his lovely, dulcet, Lancashire tone said, ‘I’m ready luv’.

We’d put the question out there for so long that it was only a matter of time before the Universe answered it. We were first time lucky and I went out on our Wedding Anniversary with a certain knowing that a little spirit had found its way into our hearts and our lives. I just had two drinks that night, knowing that as of the next day I would be going cold turkey (that first week off the drink and coffee wasn’t pretty!). Two week’s on from conception we stared at the little stick with two pink lines and felt over the moon (I still did another two tests to be sure!).

The girls are so excited, particularly Charli. She loves playing with the babies at school (there’s a few Mum’s with little ones at school). Sophie will find her world turned upside down initially, but having a younger sibling will be so good for her too. She will be four when the baby arrives and about to start morning Kindi. By the time bubs is close to one Sophie and Charli will be at the same school, which will be really easy. The first year will of course be tiring, but it is always so filled with the most incredibly magic moments too. We are so looking forward to those magic first cuddles, smile, coos and milestones (less so the sleep deprivation, extra washing and cleaning – ah well, that will pass all too quickly).

A couple of other local friends are expecting their third a month or so before me, which will be fabulous – and nice for Charli to share that journey with school friends. One lady lives a couple of doors along from us and her two girls regularly play with our girls. She even has the same midwife as me, which is magic!

So, there it is, we are officially crazy! All the parents I know with three children have responded almost identically, ‘Three is so much fun – crazy, mad, busy – but very fun!’. We are really looking forward to the new dynamics and having another little personality thrown into the mix.

This will be a real summer pregnancy, so I doubt I’ll be posting up lots of photos of my busy work in the garden planting veggies (but one can hope!) – there will probably be a lot more of me with my feet soaking in the paddling pool (with a bit of luck!).