How This Pregnancy Compares To My Others

How Pregnancy #4 compares to 1, 2, and 3

Pregnancies one, two, three, and four.

All different in ways, all the same in others! This is one thing people have asked me about a lot lately, so I figured it would be fun and interesting to relive all of them just a little! šŸ™‚

PREGNANCY ONEĀ ended in a miscarriage that I still think about daily. We found out at 13 weeks that we had lost our baby at 11 weeks. God told me this baby was a girl (sounds crazy, I know), so we named her Anna. Anna’s due date is on our perpetual calendar so we never miss the chance to praise God for pregnancy and heaven and His way of knowing exactly when to give and when to take away. Oh, the things we learned from Anna! You can read that entire story HERE. My pregnancy with her was relatively easy. I was thrilled to be pregnant for the first time, so my happiness level was through the roof! That overshadowed the little bit of nausea I had, which was actually my only symptom that go round.

How Pregnancy #4 compares to 1, 2, and 3

PREGNANCY TWO. My pregnancy with Wilson! I will admit– because of our miscarriage the year prior, it was hard to really settle into the fact that I was pregnant and would stay pregnant. The ideaĀ of another miscarriage haunted me Ā for probably 20 or so weeks. I was finally able to breathe easy and enjoy that pregnancy after I reached the halfway mark. I remember asking God every single morning that I would just enjoy *that day* with my baby. Even if it was the last day I would have with him, I wanted to find joy in that day. God provided joy for me, but that doesn’t mean the scary thoughts of miscarriage wouldn’t still creep in. They did. But overall, God’s comfort won out and I was really able to enjoy that pregnancy.

I felt extra beautiful during this time of my life. I had that glow! One of my favorite side effects of all my pregnancies is that my skin tone gets a little deeper and I look more tan! I do know pregnant women are slightly more sensitive to the sun, so that could be part of it, but I love the extra color in my skin that comes along with pregnancies šŸ™‚ (I’ll take this moment to remind everyone,Ā especially pregnant mommies, to wear a good sunscreen daily! I love this one.Ā Works great under my makeup!)

I was all about the nursery. I investedĀ in some great wallpaper and a great swivel rocker, both from SummerHouse. I was all about every detail of that nursery! I even had a custom neon sign made with the gaelic word “coisrig,” which means “set apart” since our verse for Wilson was Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart.” I was ALL IN on prepping for this baby and it was a blast!

My main cravings with this pregnancy were watermelon and fried chicken. We had a name picked out pretty early on, and we knew gender but didn’t tell. My only physical side effects were weight gain. We did eventually do a very small gender reveal for our immediate family just because we could tell it was eating two of our parents in particular that they didn’t know! šŸ˜‰ (Then of course they accidentally let the cat out of the bag so we decided we would not go that route with any subsequent pregnancies… Live and learn!) šŸ˜‰ We never did tell the name til Wilson was born just because we didn’t really want any other opinions on the name. We liked it so honestly we didn’t want to know if other people didn’t! Is that weird?

On the day of my 40 week appointment, my blood pressure was really high for the first time that entire pregnancy, so my doctor sent me straight to the hospital to be induced. Wilson was born the next morning and was absolutely beautiful šŸ™‚

PREGNANCY THREE.Ā Lily Ryan was on the way! We found out we were having another little one when Wilson was a mere FIVE MONTHS! I think he was a couple of days from being six months. When I see mamas with five to six month old babies, I think about how crazy it is that I was already pregnant with Lil at that same point. She was definitely a surprise, but a wonderful one!

With this pregnancy, I was much more worn out. I attribute a lot of that to Wilson being such an active child. The thought of miscarriage wasn’t quite as prominent during this pregnancy, and once we cleared that first trimester, I was able to breathe easy without much thought at all of miscarriage.

They say girls steal the mama’s beauty, and I definitely found that to be true! I was not near as “glowy,” my skin was a total wreck, and I developed varicose veins in the backs of both of my legs around week 20. Thankfully they didn’t hurt too badly, but I was prescribed prescription compression hose to keep them in check. Those were such a pain! Also thankfully, they developed as it was getting colder outside, so it was easy to wear lots of pants and long dresses. These went away like the day after Lily Ry was born, so that was a huge blessing!

I also developed another little side effect with this pregnancy that I’m afraid would mortify a few people if I put it in writing, so if you really want to know, I’ll tell you privately! šŸ˜‰

Rather than specific cravings with Lily Ryan, I just had a major aversion to avocado. And I love avocado!! But I simply could not stand it for about 30 weeks. So strange! For her, we had her name picked out pretty quickly as well. Again, we didn’t tell because we didn’t want opinions. We did do a big gender reveal party letting people know we were having a girl, so that was one less thing we kept secret this go round! Her nursery was not quiiiite as well thought out as Wilson’s was, but I still had fun with it. I was just so tired this pregnancy, I frankly didn’t have as much energy!

My water broke with her around 39 weeks, so we called family to come spend the night with Wilson, and Price and I headed straight on up to the hospital and had Lily Ryan that next morning via c-section. She just was not coming out due to her wild position, so c-section it was. She, too, was beautiful! A little beat up from the regular delivery attempt, but still just a beautiful little blessing baby! šŸ™‚

How Pregnancy #4 compares to 1, 2, and 3

How Pregnancy #4 compares to 1, 2, and 3

How Pregnancy #4 compares to 1, 2, and 3

PREGNANCY FOUR.Ā This current pregnancy! This pregnancy has been very similar to my others is many ways. I have dealt with a little nausea and heartburn (like the others) but with this round, I’m trying to keep up with a two year old and a three year old! Joyful, yet completely exhausting. My varicose veins reappeared in my right leg only (go figure?) at like eleven weeks– in the heat of the summer! Disguising them has been a bit tricker than
with pregnancy three. There have been days when I completely ignored them and just pretended they weren’t there. Then other days where I’m so self conscious about them and have this crazy fear of grossing other people outĀ to the point of making them physically ill. I know this is irrational, but hey, I’m pregnant! šŸ˜‰ I’m allowed to be irrational, right?

With this pregnancy, my dreams have been SO VIVID that I have actually had a little difficulty telling real life from dream world. Isn’t that crazy?! For example, I was telling Price about a text I got from our neighbor about another neighbor’s birthday party and he was like, “I feel like you’re leaving out an important detail somewhere because you aren’t making sense. Can I see the text?” so I was like, “Sure, just look at my text history with Shannon.” Price scrolled all through my text history with Shannon and was like, “She never said any of that. Are you insane?” then I realized… WHOA. We had that text conversation in my dreams! I feel VERY crazy! Whoops. So heads up: If I tell you something that sounds super crazy, be sure to ask me if I’m sure that wasn’t from a pregnancy dream. There is a good chance it was… ha!

My “glow” factor has been super on and off this round. I’ll have weeks where I feel extra radiant, then weeks where I’m broken out like all over my body. Yuck. But I know it’s completely hormonal! Currently we are in a good skin phase, so I plan to enjoy it as long as it will last! šŸ˜‰

Cravings with this pregnancy have been mostly healthy, thank goodness! I think that is God’s way of getting this baby prime nutrition, because he actually is missing a vein in his umbilical cord, which is keeping him from getting full nutrition. So my cravings for nutrient rich foods have kept this baby between 50th and 90th percentile on growth, for which we are SO thankful!! I’ve also had quite the intense craving for citrus drinks. Give me all the grapefruit juice and limeade! With a sprinkle of salt. Makes it so much better!

As far as gender and name with this baby… We did a family only gender reveal, then did end up telling everyone rather than trying to keep a secret. And we are still waffling on a name. We have a short list but nothing is 100%. “So quit askin!” to quote Nick Saban from last weekend… Did y’all see that interview?!Ā Three words: Chill pill, mister!

The most different thing about this baby is that we have 100% decided to do a c-section rather than try for a VBAC. So we already have a date set for this little stinker to join us! Unless, of course, I go into labor before the set date. That is so weird to me to know that if we make it to this certain day, we will most certainly have a baby join the family that day!

Another super different thing about this pregnancy is the fact that we do not have a nursery! We are officially out of bedrooms in the main part of the house, so we are about to build out part of our attic to add two more. But until that happens and we are able to move Wilson upstairs, new little dude will be residing in Price’s office, which is currently getting a little face lift! By this point in my last two pregnancies, we were 95% done with nurseries. Currently, we are about 5% done. The 5% is that we will use the same SummerHouse swivel chair that we’ve used in every nursery thus far! It’s been the BEST investment. We all adore that chair!

This sweet baby is gonna be chill, I think/hope! Although he is ULTRA active in-utero. My most active one yet. So I really have no idea! We shall see šŸ™‚

How Pregnancy #4 compares to 1, 2, and 3

// the mostĀ comfortable maternity jeans // white chenille sweater // both c/o Long Tall Sally

One thing that has remained consistent with every pregnancy is that you just can’t make everyone happy with how you handle it. Ā Tell the gender, don’t tell the gender. Someone is going to find a reason to think your reasoning is bad. Tell the name, don’t tell the name. Someone is going to make you feel bad about either not being able to monogram something for you, or someone is going to start telling you somethingĀ like, “you know if you add an A here, your baby’s initials spell FART.” (That was totally just an example I pulled out of my butt. But I have heard people saying stuff like that!) Get an epidural, don’t get an epidural. Get induced, let the baby come on his own at 42 weeks. Breast feed, formula feed. You’re not gaining enough weight, or you’re gaining too much. There is something “wrong” with every choice you make, so rest in this truth: None of us were ever created to make everyone happy! It’s completely impossible! What we have learned through multiple pregnancies is to prayerfully make decisions with your spouse and your spouse alone,Ā (or seek limited Godly counsel if need be) then just give people lots and lots of grace when they react poorly to the info you choose to share or not share. We all need more grace than we deserve, so be sure to give it, too! I know it can be hard. I’m not the perfect picture of this. But it’s what we all need! Can I get an amen?

Is there anything particular that you have learned with your own pregnancy journey or the pregnancy of someone close to you? I would love to hear! Please share in the comments below!

And THANK YOU for stopping by today to read. It means the world. I hope you have an incredible day!

2 Comments

  1. Mary September 10, 2018 / 9:21 am

    LOVE THIS, SWEET BARZYā£ļøā£ļøā£ļø It is VERY interesting (plus one cannot help but…) comparing pregnancies. Ewe & Price definitely have your hands full. What a super opportunity to teach Wilson & Lily Ryan to be great little helpers. ??????

    • thelovelybee September 13, 2018 / 11:00 am

      Thank you for reading, Mama! šŸ™‚ And YES, great little helpers they must turn into! haha thanks for all your help! šŸ™‚

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *