Pregnancy Journal: month #6

• Sixth Month 03/09/10 to 04/09/10: emotions, big sister Lila, baby's movements, baby's name...

Sixth month is here! I feel this pregnancy is flying by. I was shocked to read on the 9th that I entered my 3rd trimester. THIRD! I'm having such a mixture of emotions...probably because we "think" this may be my last pregnancy and so I'm constantly thinking about how much I'm going to miss being pregnant. JR really doesn't seem like he'll want to have another child, mostly because he’s concerned about giving nothing but the best to the two we have...school tuition alone is outrageous, then you add healthcare and the other necessities and you think “what was I thinking when I decided to have 2 kids?”. LOL I secretly want another one...(not so much of a secret now, is it?!) Ideally, I’d have 4: 2 girls and 2 boys but only if I could get one grandmother per child! LOL

Big sister Lila turned 2 last week. She’s amazing... I daydream about how she’ll act around her little sister. I have a feeling our struggles will be more about fighting over who will change the baby’s diaper, who will hold her, who will feed her and so on. Lila is so into “mothering” her dolls. We can’t go out for a drive without her putting her “Nenem” in my bag, along with a toy bottle. Because of this, we got her a bunch of doll stuff for her birthday and now, when we’re in the house, she’ll put the doll to sleep in the crib, then put her in the carseat, then the stroller, then the baby carrier. She’ll rock the doll in her rocking chair, sing her a lullaby and even “shush” her. Lila also has a medical kit and she’ll give the doll her shot and say “aw, it’s okay” while caressing her...she does a full check-up which included taking the doll’s temperature, checking her ears and nose and mouth. She’ll even brush the doll’s teeth! She seems to understand a little more about what’s going on, but not to the point of actually “understanding” that she’ll have a sister, mommy’s having a baby, etc. I ask her “what’s inside here?” while pointing to m belly and she’ll say “baby”. Then she’ll caress/hug/kiss my belly...so sweet! Her little sister is lucky to have such a caring and loving big sister! ~:-)

This baby girl is SO ACTIVE. I’m so glad because I know this means she’s very healthy! We had an ultrasound again a couple of weeks ago. She’s head down now (and please, baby girl, don’t change your mind in the last minute and flip over, okay?!) and she’s a bit of a prude...we wanted to make sure that she is, in fact, a SHE and we almost got out of there with another “it’s probably a girl but we can’t be sure”. Her legs were crossed shut! The technician asked the most experienced person there to redo the ultrasound just to confirm the gender and after much shaking and pushing around, we got our “it’s a girl” image on the ultrasound screen. Once again, she was nonstop but managed to cooperate a little more this time while they checked her weight and size. She seems to be right on target! Praise God!

Last night I got a little preview of what’s to come in a few weeks. I was about to fall asleep when Lila woke up calling for me. So I went in her room, hugged and cuddled with her for a couple of minutes and put her down...went back to bed and then it was the baby’s turn to want some mommy-and-me time. So for about an hour, she would not stop kicking me and stretching...and dad was just snoring away beside me. Can I just say, I have the best husband in the world! He helps me out so much...more than most husbands out there. He will clean the whole house just so I won’t have to do it and he’ll do it while singing! :-) Anyone that knows him knows this is true. He loves helping me. The only thing he asks NOT to do is the laundry and I’m so okay with that! I think it has been very tough for him lately because hormones have been taking the best of my mood some days. I lash out at him for no good reason... and almost as soon as I do it, I say “I’m sorry honey...it’s almost over”...LOL At least we can laugh about it a few minutes after.

THE NAME... everyone is asking us about this is I have to say, I’m 90% sure it’ll be Mia Faith but I can’t bring myself to actually call the baby by name. I know a lot of women like to call their baby by the name while pregnant but I’m not that type. I don’t call the baby “it”...I say “she” or sometimes I’ll call her “baby girl”. Even with Lila, I always felt weird referring to her as “Lila Grace” or “Lila” because I wanted to see her face before calling her by name. What if she didn’t look like a “Lila”? I also love the name Chloe the missing 10% is for “Chloe”. JR doesn’t seem to be a big fan of Chloe. He likes Mia. So does my mom. My sister, on the other hand, prefers Chloe. I ask Lila which one she prefers and she doesn’t seem to understand how important her answer is. ~:-)

An update on the little girl, Layla Grace, who I mentioned on last month's post.  She passed away on March 9th.  We were all very sad but we can rejoice in knowing she's at peace and is in God's arms, cancer-free.  Now she knows no pain, no struggle... in her parents' words, "she's playing with the angels".  Layla and her wonderful family will always be an inspiration of strength, faith and perseverance to me, and I pray God will continue to pour peace over them every day.

I want to finish this month’s post by saying how grateful I am to God for giving me such a wonderful family. I may not remember to thank Him as much as I should, but when I look around, I see how blessed I am. He has blessed us with health, with joy, and with much more than we need in order to be happy. Sure we have tough days, but He’s always there and we’re so thankful. We celebrated Easter this month... to know He sent His son Jesus, who died for us and rose on the third day, and lives forever, and promised us eternal life, there is no greater thing. We’re so fortunate and so blessed! God be praised for His abundant grace and mercy poured over us each day.

Be blessed!
xoxo