Pregnancy with baby number 3

It’s it incredible to watch the human body grow and transform to create a new life!? What a miracle!

I am 5 months in, with 4 months to go. I feel like this third pregnancy is flying by! (I will be 23 weeks tomorrow).

All three of my pregnancies have been so similar. In the first trimester, (three for three) I feel like I am going to throw up if I don’t eat just as soon as I start to feel hungry. With Ellie I threw up once, and with Brecken and this baby, I never did throw up—just felt that I might.

With Ellie I craved Valentinos pizza (a Nebraska favorite. If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend!). With Brecken I craved steak. And with this baby I have craved juice, cheese and crackers, and carrots and ranch.

When I was pregnant with Brecken, I would have bet money that Brecken was a girl because my pregnancy with him was so similar to my pregnancy with Ellie. It didn’t help that we had an ultrasound at 14 weeks where the ultrasound tech told us that she was 60% sure baby was a girl. It completely got my mind thinking and preparing for a girl. Then when we went back for our 20 week ultrasound it was VERY evident that baby was a boy. It took me about a week to adjust to the idea of having a boy after being so sure (in my mind) that baby was a girl.

I have since learned that my body does pregnancy in a very similar way, regardless of the gender of the baby.

With Brecken, I developed a pretty large and painful varicose vein in my second trimester. I started forming another one with baby number three around 16 weeks. It is very painful, especially in the morning when I wake up, bearing weight on it for the first time of the day.

I also had a pretty painful umbilical hernia after Brecken was born. That is back this time around as well. Since I know this baby will be a c-section, we may have her put a stitch in to repair it during delivery.

I get pretty swollen in my ankles toward the end of my pregnancy, but all-in-all, I LOVE being pregnant. I love growing a new life. I love feeling the baby move around in my tummy and dreaming of who he or she will be. The minor aches and pains are all worth it for the miracle of this new life.

My first two pregnancies I was working full-time as a physical education and health teacher. When I was pregnant with Ellie, I was also coaching a high school dance team after school. I would leave the house at 7 am and get home around 6 pm on practice days. It was A LOT on my body (especially toward the end). Teaching PE is very physical—lots of standing, getting up and down, and movement (makes sense, right). When I was pregnant with Brecken, I was still teaching health and PE, and then coming how and chasing around a 2 year old for the reminder of the day. When you teach PE, there isn’t a lot of “down time” or slowing down. By the end of the pregnancy, I just wanted the baby to come so that I could be done working and get off my feet. I was hurting and ready for a break. I feel like I wasn’t fully able to embrace my pregnancies the way I wanted to because I was running around, tired, and wishing for baby to come so that I could finally sit down and rest.

This is my first pregnancy as a stay at home mom. Ellie and Brecken keep me plenty busy, but I also feel like this is a redemptive pregnancy. The first pregnancy that I have truly been able to soak in. To slow down and appreciate all the little things. To embrace my changing body. To marvel at every little kick. To soak in my last few months with Brecken as my baby before another little one joins the Robinson family.

It is most definitely strange and different not knowing the gender. It is on my mind constantly! We went to a friend’s house for dinner last week and one of them said, “it’s kind like you are hiding your Christmas present under your shirt for 9 months. You could peek and see what it is, but you don’t let yourself. You keep it there and wait until Christmas morning.” This couldn’t be more spot on! We are waiting for Christmas morning.

Ellie is really hoping for a girl. She calls baby a girl and nearly has me convinced it is a girl, just because she is so sure…but who knows! Any predictions out there?

If you know me, you know that I am a planner. I love to know what is coming. I called my mom from school crying one day in high school because I forgot my planner at home. I can’t believe that I am doing okay not knowing the gender of this baby. In a way, it is helping me to even more appreciate the miracle. To be given a surprise from God on baby’s birthday. What a gift! That doesn’t mean I’m not guessing and wondering, but I’m also more okay than I expected to be not knowing.

Here’s to 4 more months of growing our third baby, at home with my babies.