My final pregnancy...

As I type "My final pregnancy" it makes me feel sadness. Why? I always thought I would have more than 3 kids. Now that I'm pregnant with the 3rd and dealing with 2 young ones, I think I just liked the idea of having a lot of children at this age. I'll be shy of 34 when my last baby boy is due. This pregnancy happened right before my youngest turned 1 and we didn't expect that so in a way I feel like, maybe I can have another one before I get too old but nothing in the world would convince my husband to have a 4th.


My journey to motherhood wasn't what I expected at all. Let's start with my mom. I call her fertile myrtle. I have 3 brothers and 3 sisters. She gave birth to 9 kids (2 older boys passed away as babies due to lack of medical treatment in Laos) and she got pregnant again after my youngest sister was born (she was pushing 50)! Being from a different country where they don't know what birth control was, it was hard to control how many kids they had (I guess).


So I wrote about how I found out I had PCOS and wasn't able to conceive with my first try. It took 2 years (but felt like 5-6). I became obsessed. I felt like if I didn't do anything about it, I was never going to have children. I couldn't let "fate" decide when it was time. I got a lot of comments such as "it will happen when it's time" or "when it happens, it was meant to be". I know everyone was trying to be supportive but my approach was if I wanted this to happen, I have to do something about it.


My youngest son, Connor was born January 30, 2013 with a very different labor than my first labor. I nursed both my boys. In December that same year, while still nursing Connor, I started to feel strange things in my lady parts. At this point, I still have not had a period yet while nursing.


My first thought was "oh, no! i'm getting my first period" I was so bummed. I hate periods! I know no women that says "I LOVE HAVING PERIODS AND CRAMPS AND BLEEDING FOR A WEEK!" I was at work and kept checking and waiting for a period. Then I remembered that there were a few times when I charted that I felt this way during ovulation!


I quickly tested using an ovulation stick when I got home (leftovers from trying for Connor). It was POSITIVE!!! What?!?! REALLY!?!?! Could it be!?!?! So I tested a few more times.... all positive!


I told my husband about it and we were now faced with making a very important decision. My thought was it doesn't hurt to try because all those years we've tried so hard with medications, constant ultrasound monitoring and even when all the stars lined up, we still didn't get pregnant...


This was late Christmas Eve... and I was hoping for a Christmas Miracle.

I tried to refrain from testing too early. 10DPO (days past ovulation) I started to test. It was negative. Okay, not to worry... I'll test again the next day. At 11DPO, I tested again. Is that a faint positive?!?!?! Are my eyes playing tricks on me!??! I was using a cheap test from the Dollar Tree. So I Tested another, faint positive again. My heart was racing! Could this really be true!?! I have to test again! I couldn't believe my eyes.

I was thinking of clever ways to tell my husband. In the end, I just blurted it out. He was shocked and worried and probably overwhelmed since we both didn't really expect it to happen. I told him I wanted to buy a "name brand" HPT to make sure.

Sure enough, there was a clear pink positive line on the First Response HPT.

I was still in shock. I tested everyday after that and got positives on every test getting darker each day.

Eventually, my husband came around and we are both so very excited to have this addition to our family. I had hoped for a girl but according to the Shetttles Method (which is what I believe in), I knew I was having a boy. At 15 weeks, I saw a private ultrasound tech to determine the sex of the baby and sure enough it was a boy! I was bummed because I wanted at least one of each but I know I will be just as happy with all my little boys.

This pregnancy has been rough, having thyroid issues and having Bell's Palsy with constant nausea and pain everywhere... all the time... yet, I would still do it all over again.

I'm 26 weeks and I still think about how lucky we were to conceive this baby. After everything that we have been through, we are so lucky to be given this chance. It truly was a Christmas miracle for us...