Expecting Our 3rd

So we are expecting another little babe! I am sure you are all interested in the details.
I am 14 weeks now, I'll be 15 on Friday. 14 weeks is the 2nd trimester mark where most pregnant women tend to feel more energetic. We discovered through some blood tests, that I have been slightly anemic during this pregnancy, therefore always tired. If I don't take a nap in the afternoon, I get a headache, and then everything else goes down hill too. Luckily Caius and Leland both take an afternoon nap at the same time, so I try to take advantage of that time. I feel guilty because I should probably clean or something during their nap, but by 12:00, I'm beat.
I have had some morning sickness but it has recently been less severe. I have some nausea at some point every morning, but like I said before, I have found ways to combat it, so it doesn't last more than half an hour. Even though I am still tired most of the time, feeling normal in the morning makes me feel more capable.
We are planning a home-water-hypnobirth. I know not everyone feels comfortable with this option for themselves, but we have done a lot of research and we feel really confident that this is the best option for us. We don't make a habit of talking about the "what ifs" and all the things that could go wrong. But it doesn't mean we are unprepared for any complications that may arise. I DO know about the plethora of things that could go wrong, but for me, it is completely counterproductive to think about it all the time, and worry about it happening to me. We think positively and try to nurture confidence in my body and it's ability to perform normally. A lot of people have asked me if I will be devastated if I end up at the hospital in an emergency. My answer is, I will be bummed of course, but no I won't be devastated. I try to remember the Serenity Prayer:

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."

Worst case scenario is, I end up at the hospital, having a c-section. I think I will be satisfied that I had the courage to try a normal, natural birth, and I will try to accept the things that I can't control, like my body not working. Also, we are working with-and there will be present at the birth-a professional midwife, as well as 1-2 of her assistants. I have met them all and they all have experience with natural birth, as well as complications, and they are trained to deal with them. Of all the births my midwife has attended, she has only had to transfer 5 women to a hospital, and in most cases, the women have opted to go for an epidural. A lot of people have also asked me about not having a pediatrician there to care for the baby. My midwife is also trained to care for newborns. I have confidence in her, and I trust her to keep me informed and let me know if it would be best for us to transfer to a hospital for me, or for the baby. I just wanted to say all of this, because I get the same questions every time I talk about this, and more than anything, we need love and support from our loved ones.

We are so excited to be having a baby again. Caius and Leland are 18 months apart, and Leland will be about 15 months old when this baby is born. We never expected to have our children so close in age, but now that it's happening, I am all for it! As our children grow up together, they will be able to be good friends and be able to relate to each other all along the way. We hope that they will be close and that they will love each other. We don't really have a master plan for our family. We don't know how many kids we will have, but we are leaving it open. Plan A is, listen to the Spirit and do whatever we are inspired to do.

I was looking at this picture today and it scared me for a minute. We are going to have 3 kids under 3!? But then I remembered, Neal and I were laughing when we took this picture. I feel mostly optimistic about our situation. I think we just have to remember to laugh through the hard times and give it our best shot.

I also saw this picture, and it made me a little teary-eyed, thinking of how far we've come. I married a man, hoping to have a family with him, but I never knew the massive amounts of joy I would feel as we actually began the task. I am often overwhelmed by my love for my family. Catching little moments like this, where Neal is holding our little ones safe in his arms, or seeing Caius run to him with unbridled excitement just because he's home, is more precious to me than anything else. Being pregnant for 9 months and being physically miserable for at least 5 of those months, is a small price to pay for another memory pictured like this one.

Our family has a lot of changes coming up. In about 6 months we are having a baby, and moving shortly after the baby is born. (We don't know where yet.) We are getting a bigger car, probably a bigger apartment or house, and we will be taking out some BIG loans for law school. Maybe we should be terrified of all this happening so quickly, but to be honest, I'm kind of looking forward to it. I can't help my optimism!