If you follow me or know me on a personal level, you know I have struggled for many years with infertility. Having baby number 2 was a tremendous struggle but after several years of negative pregnancy tests I finally got that second pink line on Christmas Day 2021. As you can imagine that was a wonderful and dream come true kind of gift!
I write this post to remind myself that it has been a long journey but with only 10 more weeks to go I don’t want to forget these precious last weeks. I know in my heart this will be my last pregnancy due to age so I want to document as much as possible! Forgive me in advance for my excitement and gratefulness to be able to experience pregnancy one last time.
Cautious From the Beginning…
Since becoming pregnant, I have been very cautious to jump for joy because of all the struggles I had encountered before conceiving. This week marks my 30 weeks of being pregnant and I am so over the moon about it! To feel life growing inside of me one more time is truly the ultimate blessing! My belly is full of sweet kicks, punches and acrobatic moves and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 25 weeks ago when I found out I was pregnant I was so nervous if my baby would survive the first trimester. I kept it a secret for several weeks until I had confirmation that baby had a strong heartbeat and was as healthy as can be. After about 14 weeks I decided it was time to announce our little miracle!
Being Pregnant After 35 Can Have Its Perks!
It’s crazy how after a certain age of becoming pregnant (35 years or higher) many women are considered high risk and asked to take additional tests, screenings, blood work and extra appointments. At first I found it a bit annoying but now I appreciate it because I can see my baby more often than usual. An example of this was the genetic testing. I was asked after 12 weeks if I wanted to have genetic testing done to find out if my baby had any abnormalities and to find out the sex of my baby. At first I declined because I didn’t care to know anything about the genetic side but I was very curious about finding out the sex! After about 1 week of having declined the offer, I went back to the office to get the bloodwork done so I could find out if we’d be celebrating another precious little girl or a baby boy!
You are able to have genetic testing after 9 weeks. These type of tests can cost anywhere between $200 and $300 but because of my age my insurance covered it 100%. Yay!
Boy or Girl?
After another 5 business days of waiting for the results I received a phone call that they had the results! We went through the genetic side and then before telling me the sex of the baby I was asked if I wanted to know over the phone or to go in to the office and grab the results from an envelope? I asked the nurse if she could email me the results because I really wanted my daughter to read us the results! Without hesitation she said YES and said she would make it short so our 7 year old could read it easily.
Babymoon?
After several appointments and check-ups I asked my OBGYN if we could take a small trip to celebrate our last “hoorah” as a family of 3? Besides my age he said we were both perfectly healthy to travel and was comfortable with it as long as I stayed within the US. I agreed and after much thought I decided why not travel to paradise and visit HAWAII! This trip will be laid back and full of much needed R&R but if you know me, you know I’ll add a few fun activities especially for my daughter! Stay tuned…
Third Trimester During the Summer Heat
I’m not going to lie it is a very HOT summer and living in Texas with daily triple digits (record breaking) is no fun but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The one comment I keep receiving is this, “you should’ve planned your pregnancy during the cooler months” insert eye roll here. After struggling to conceive for 4 to 5 years I could honestly care less of when it happened as long as it happened! Summer, Fall, Winter or Spring baby I am forever grateful to just experience this one more time! Healthy baby and mommy is all we pray for. But back to the heat…YES it is sinfully hot out there and I am still working full-time and in heels might I add!! I’ll keep at it until my body tells me no more, LOL! Hydrating, snacking and eating has helped very much especially the extra water! I will be prego the rest of the summer and thats okay as long as my baby boy is as healthy as can be. I will continue to lounge by the pool and enjoy the A/C until our bundle of enjoy makes his arrival!
