Baby #3 Update

Word has officially spanned the globe that we are expecting our third child. It's becoming more and more real to me each day and I become more and more terrified with each passing moment. I'm trying to strategize things I'll be able to manage next summer/winter with three kids. Rosemary will be up to 3 days a week in Preschool which will be great for her and keep her much more entertained than I'll be able to do at home. The summer should go smoothly as baby will be confined to a carseat and with Rosemary almost 4 and Gloria a full 2 years old, I shouldn't have too hard of a time getting out and about. The harder time comes when baby gets on a nap schedule and we are stranded in the house a good chunk of the day with two energetic kids and one sleepy baby. I'm starting to understand the 'youngest child' syndrome and that in fact, baby #3 will never have the pleasure of a nap schedule;-) I had my 12 week appointment today and the whole family came along. Rosemary was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to be going to the doctor to "get our new baby!" It was tough breaking the news to her that all we would be doing was hearing baby's heartbeat, but she was equally as excited when I told her a sucker might be involved. The doctor used the doplar to find baby's heartbeat (160bpm). Once he had checked baby's heartrate, he asked Rosemary if she wanted to talk to the baby through the doplar (or 'two way radio' as he called it). She obliged and said, "Merry Christmas" to the baby. So cute. Gloria was more standoff-ish and chose not to say anything. Why am I not surprised? Ha! Aside from that, the visit was routine. Jeff and I have opted to not find out the gender of the baby during our previous two pregnancies. However, we decided it would be fun to do it differently this time and that we would find out during our 20 week u/s. The only problem is that Jeff's parents, now snowbirds, will be heading South when I'm 18 weeks. So I asked the doc if I could have my u/s a little early so they'd be here for us to share the news. He said that shouldn't be a problem. He wouldn't do it ANY earlier than that just because you run the risk of measurements not being as accurate...but thought 18 weeks would be just fine. YEEKS! So only 6 more weeks to go. I'm feeling a TON better. Still have the occassional bad day where the nausea seems to creep back, but all in all, my energy is slowly coming back and I'm having more good days than bad. Hurrah! Thanks for checking in!