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: 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!

Baby #6: Weeks 35-37

We're starting to get to crunch time, and it's crazy to think that at 37 weeks I was having the twins. I'm hoping this baby hangs in there a few more weeks so I can finish out this school year!

At 35 weeks I had another ultrasound to check in on baby, and it's doing great in there. Baby measured 5 pounds 10 ounces and had a heart rate of 160 beats per minute. 

And can we just admire these precious ultrasound pictures (and look more and more into how much this baby resembles Brady!). 

Week 36 I had a non-stress test, and I thought for sure I was failing that thing. Baby moved in the car like the whole way to my appointment. But for what seemed like the first ten minutes of being hooked up to the machine, nothing. It must have decided it was nap time. They brought me some ice water and that helped wake baby up and get it moving. Dr. Haller checked my cervix, and I was dilated to a one at that appointment. I know a lot can change quickly, but I'm guessing that means I still have a few more weeks before this baby's arrival. 

Yesterday I was 37 weeks and had another ultrasound. They didn't measure how big baby was, but it had a heartbeat of 122. It must have been relaxing in there.  

I still have some crazy acne on my chin, around my nose, and in between my eyebrows (like seriously, why are there pimples there?!) thanks to baby giving me some crazy oily skin here recently. And I just want to give a huge shoutout to Sam who literally saved my butt when she adjusted me two weeks ago and then today for my sciatic nerve pain. My body thanks you! I'm also getting up about 3 times a night at this point to use the restroom and find another comfortable position. I even ended up in the hospital yesterday to get checked for a blood clot in my leg since my left leg is a lot more swollen than my right. Thankfully there's not a clot in there. I even gained 5 pounds since last week, which I'm guessing is water weight. I know this will all be worth it soon enough!

Baby #6: 31-34 Weeks

Another month bites the dust, and we are about a month away from meeting baby #6! I've had two ultrasounds the past four weeks, plus lots of fun!

I had an ultrasound at 31 weeks, and while they were waiting for baby to practice its breathing, I got some adorable 3D pictures of our little one! I'm so looking forward to snuggling this little face in a month. Baby was measuring 3 pounds and 11 ounces and had a heartbeat of 158. 

I was curious how this baby's ultrasound looked to our others around this point, so I'm including some comparison pictures. 

This first one is of baby and Madison.

This is of baby and Brayden.

This is of baby and Ashley (and her picture still cracks me up because she was so squished in there that her poor little face just looks so uncomfortable ha!). 

We definitely agree that baby looks the most like Brayden, but we are not sold that that means that baby is a boy. There have been waaaaaaay to many boys born lately for us to feel confident that our baby is also a boy. A girl has to come in there somewhere, right?

Just after turning 31 weeks, Mom and I went to see NCHS's production of Beauty and the Beast. It was so fun to see this take on it and compare it to when we did it when I was a freshman in high school. The next day Nichole and I went to the Fox to watch Hairspray- and we were laughing the whole time. It was a great show! We had Schackmann Easter the next day and the kids got to participate in their only true Easter celebration of the year. 

At 32 weeks, Eric and I were in Florida! It was pretty nice catching some sun and some waves. You can check out that blog post here if you missed it. The kids should have went to a few more Easter celebrations this weekend with our parents, but they ended up sick the entire weekend we were gone. 

33 weeks was another ultrasound for me, and while baby didn't cooperate near as nicely for photos this time around, it is growing right on track! Baby had a heartbeat of 161 and was measuring in at 4 pounds and 4 ounces. Enjoy a little side profile action with its mouth open.

Yesterday we hit 34 weeks and I'm still feeling good! The last few weeks I've started breaking out with some pimples around my nose and chin, and my sciatic nerve has really been bothering me by the end of the day, but other than that I can't complain.

The weeks are winding down and it won't be long now. Baby #6, we can't wait to meet you!

Baby #6: 24-30 Weeks

Weeks 24-30 have been pretty uneventful, which is probably why it's been on the back of my mind to post anything pregnancy related lately. I think back to my previous pregnancies before I had the twins where I posted every week on everything- oh to have the time (and energy) to do that again! Sorry baby #6, you get what you get. Luckily that's a mom who loves you so very much. Unluckily it's also one who rarely has time to do anything else than keep your siblings alive and fed ha!

Since my last update, we had our final appointment with my high risk OB, Dr. Paul. He said that everything was looking right on track. I had gained just the right amount of weight (which at that time was like 12 pounds), baby was measuring right on track, and baby's heartbeat was a steady 148 beats per minute. 

Baby was less than cooperative in getting us a cute picture of it's fac
e. Instead, enjoy this ultrasound shot of its hands in an X over that face I'm going to go crazy over in less than 10 weeks. 

At 28 weeks I entered my third trimester, woot woot!

And at 29 weeks I took and passed my glucose test- another woot woot!

Thanks to recommendations from my high risk OB, I now go to my regular OB every week until delivery for weekly monitoring. That means I get another ultrasound on Friday, let's hope I get a better picture of this rolly poly that day! 

And when I say rolly poly, I really mean it. I've now had (almost) 3 pregnancies go to term, and this baby is the most active out of any of my pregnancies. It must know its got to be in shape to keep up with its big brother and sister!