Baby #7: 37-38 Weeks

We are in the ultimate crunch time now, and baby, we are SO ready for you!

These past two weeks have gone faster than ever, and we've been working hard to get everything done before baby makes his or her arrival. We are definitely 100% more prepared for this baby than we were for Katie. 

I've had two non-stress tests, and baby passed both with flying colors. This was the test that Katie failed and ended us up in the hospital with an earlier than expected delivery, so I made sure to bring a packed bag with me both times, just in case. Luckily they weren't needed.

And while Eric and I are preparing around the house for baby's arrival, the kids are also realizing that change is coming and have been doing little things that make me so excited to see them with their new sibling. Katie is constantly laying her head on my belly, pulling up my shirt, and giving baby a kiss. It is the absolute sweetest thing.

Brayden loves to blow raspberries on my stomach and always asks if it is tickling the baby. And usually, baby does move around after he does that, so I guess that it is tickling the baby. He has been giving my belly hugs and telling baby how much he loves it. He has the sweetest heart.

And Ashley has also been giving baby a little extra love here and there, making sure to snuggle up to my stomach when we are cuddling, and giving it little love pats while she is watching TV. Sometimes I'm not even sure she knows that she's doing it. She's going to be the best helper and the best big sister.

Baby, we are all SO excited to meet you oh so soon. While I'm going to miss the rolls and kicks and punches, I'm definitely looking forward to having a little more mobility again, not having to get up 5 times during the night to pee, and finally getting to snuggle up on the little face I've been dreaming about since last fall. 

Baby #7: 35-36 Weeks

It's baby month!! We are so close to baby, and every day we get a little more done to prepare for his or her arrival. But don't be fooled that we are actually ready- we have quite a bit to do still ha!

 

These past two weeks have been full of fun, which has helped them go quickly. Eric and I took a day date to St. Louis with some friends to see Nate Bargatze, and then stopped for dinner in Vandalia at the Blind Society. 

We took the kids to the fair where strawberry shakeups were once again a winner, and the twins even got to help wash off a pig (thank you Finleys!). 

Eric and I's newest nephew and the kids' newest cousin was born, and the kids finally had the chance to meet him after I took some newborn photos of him. 

My dad went with me to take the kids to Aikman Wildlife Center, where the wagon ride through the animals was the clear favorite of the day.

And the twins had their final t-ball game of the year. We came a long way from the tears and uncertainty during that first practice, and Eric and I had to remind ourselves many times that this is the first time they've ever been on a team and participated in something like this. It wasn't long until they were doing flips in the outfield (Ashley), laying on the bases after they ran to each one (Brayden), throwing dirt around, and me yelling at them to pay attention and watch the ball more times than I can count. But each game they did pay just a little bit more attention, actually running towards the ball and fielding it a few times. I don't think we are ever going to be the star players on a baseball/softball team, but I at least have hope that we might enjoy team sports and will put forth an effort to do well. 

As for myself, my sciatic nerve pain had definitely amped it up a notch, and I'm thankful Sam was able to fit me in for an adjustment as I have felt so much better since then. I'm now up maybe 4-6 times throughout the night trying to get comfortable and using the restroom, and still just have that one pimple on my chin. Baby has continued to like to stretch up and move in my ribs, and even in my right hip, which hurts something fierce if I'm sitting in the wrong position. The twins are loving to try to feel baby move, and will ask me if it's moving all the time. Katie seems to be understanding that there really is a baby in my belly and is loving giving it kisses, though she is a firm "no" when we asked if baby could sleep in her room once it is sleeping through the night. 

Baby's heartrate my last two appointments has been in the mid 120's- 130's. 

We have just a few weeks left with so much to do- bottle and pump parts need cleaned, windows in the nursery need covered until the blinds we finally ordered come in, the car seat needs cleaned and installed, hospital bags need packed, and names need hammered down. What we do have ready are hearts and arms full of love ready to shower on this little miracle we will be meeting in just a few weeks!

Baby #7: 33-34 Weeks

It's getting so close to baby month! These past two weeks have been good ones. We've had an ultrasound, t-ball games, and a vacation- and time doesn't look to be slowing down before baby gets here.

A few days after I turned 32 weeks, we had our final ultrasound before baby gets here. Baby was measuring about 4 pounds 11 ounces and had a heart rate of 126. I'm so in love with the 3D images we got of baby and it makes me so excited to see what he or she will look like in a few weeks. 

These past few weeks I can definitely tell I'm getting closer to the end. I'm up to use the restroom two, sometimes three times a night. I've got one single spot of acne on my chin (as of now- we will have to see if that gets worse). And my sciatic nerve has started really bugging me on the right side. I can tell that baby is running out of room in there- it is in my ribs a lot more than it has been before! 

We are in the downhill stretch with so much left to do to get everything ready for baby, but I definitely don't want to rush anything. It's hitting me that this is the last time for all the things, so I'm soaking it in as much as I can. 

Baby #7: 27-32 Weeks

 Time for another baby update!

It's been another great 5 weeks with baby #7. I've made it to the point of doctor appointments every two weeks, which means we are getting into crunch time!

These past few weeks baby continues to move like crazy in my belly, though I haven't ever been able to catch it on film. It will move move move, and I pull out my camera to record it and it totally stops. What a little stinker this one is. I will say that the moves are mostly rolls and some pushing/stretching feelings as opposed to kicks. Brady definitely felt baby move this past week. When baby kicked him his eyes lit up and he looked at me with a big smile. I tried to get baby to move for Ashley, but it didn't happen. We will keep trying!

It continues to get harder and harder for me to get up and down and bend over for extended periods of time, which I realized even more when I took on a newborn photo session this past week. I've been to the chiropractor once, and should probably get another appointment scheduled again soon to keep my lower back in check. 

Baby's heartrate has been in the upper 130s-mid 140s the past few times I've been in to the doctor. We have our 32 week scan on Friday so I'm really looking forward to seeing baby again on the ultrasound screen and hopefully getting some good face shots (though I'm trying not to be too optimistic about that one lol). 

We've been camping, I passed my glucose test, and have run the kids around to all the things. I know these last few weeks will involve even more running and even more crazy (and probably even more lower back pain ha). But I am all here for it- bring it on and bring on July!

Baby #7: 21-26 Weeks

Oh baby #7. While you may be loved and wanted and cherished and thought of every day in the real world, I've been majorly slacking updating the blog on you. I wish I could say it will get better once baby's here, but I know that would be a major lie ha! 

The last six weeks have been filled with fun and even more anticipation of meeting baby. Eric finally felt baby kick a little after 20 weeks. I've also had Brayden and Ashley feel baby kick, and they said they felt it, but I'm not convinced they actually did. 

We had our anatomy scan, and our anatomy scan 2.0 since baby decided to not show a clear picture of his or her heart. We finally got some almost decent photos of baby, so I was excited about that. Baby likes to hide its face out in my placenta or the lining of my uterus, so the adorable face pictures are lacking this pregnancy.

The kids are all still seeming excited about the baby. They were all kissing my stomach the other night, and they talk about baby a lot. Katie will still point to her belly if you ask her where the baby is, but if you ask her where mommy's baby is she will point to my stomach (or my chest, it's a 50/50 shot of her getting it right still haha). 

I'm still pretty exhausted by the end of the day, and I'm realizing that my ability to bend over and give the kids a bath or even give them kisses goodnight if I'm standing will be coming to an end soon. But that all just means we keep getting closer and closer to meeting this last piece to our family, and for that I'm so, so grateful. 

Baby #7: 12-20 Weeks

Since I'm officially over halfway, I should probably start doing some pregnancy updates, right? Baby #7, while I may be behind on the sharing side, we are definitely so in love with you and absolutely can't wait until July to meet you!

But let's back waaaaaaay up to last July, when we had our first transfer in trying for baby #7. We were met with a negative pregnancy test, so we regrouped and tried again. But our transfer in September was met once again with a negative pregnancy test. Eric and I knew that another baby was in our family plan, so we didn't give up hope. We had our third transfer on November 13, and just before Thanksgiving we got what we'd been waiting for- a positive test! 

I can't thank all the staff at STL Fertility enough, especially our wonderwoman of a doctor, Dr. Dayal. Her perseverance with our treatment and willingness to do whatever it took helped us get the family we have wanted for over 10 years. 

We had our first ultrasound on December 6th and I was positive that I'd lost the baby. I woke up that morning to bright red blood and feeling extra discouraged. Thankfully when we got into the doctor's office we were able to see that beautiful little heartbeat. Turns out it was just a subchronic hemorrhage, which I have had with both the twins' and Katie's pregnancies, so I should have known it would happen again. But it's still a scary thing to have happen!

Our second ultrasound was on December 20th, and we were once again blessed to see a growing baby with a beautiful heartbeat. We sadly said goodbye to everyone at STL Fertility, but were so excited to be continuing our journey back home. By this point, my stomach had definitely popped out, and it was getting harder and harder to hide. I wore lots of baggy shirts and sweatshirts for a while!

On January 19th we had a 12 week scan with Dr. Haller where she gave us the much awaited news that baby had a perfect little head. So many praises for this! That night we told the kids that I was going to have a baby. It wasn't the picture perfect moment that I was hoping for, but that's ok. It was real and adorable nonetheless, and that's the important part. 

Shortly after that we told our parents. I had plans to tell the social media world much before we actually did, but we were so busy with basketball and varying sicknesses that we just weren't ever able to get together and looking presentable all at the same time. So here we are, just a few weeks later than anticipated.

 

 

Overall, I've been feeling very good this pregnancy! I had some nausea at the beginning of my pregnancy, but if I ate something it went away pretty quickly. I started feeling baby around 13-14 weeks. Mostly flutters inside when it would roll around, but I was definitely feeling it. The past few weeks I've felt more kicks and punches than rolls. I thought I should have been feeling more of those than I had been, but my suspicions were confirmed at my anatomy scan when they said I had an anterior placenta. 

Aside from that, I've just been much more tired this pregnancy than I remember being at this point in my others. I'm sure that's because I'm growing a human while also taking care of 3 other little humans and I'm just exhausted from that. But boy am I missing that energy boost I used to get in the second trimester!

I can't wait to spend these last 20ish weeks with baby, soaking every little thing in. I'm sure this is our last baby, so everything has just been bittersweet this time around. Here's to a memory filled next couple of months!