The Countdown is On!

Today I am 35 weeks pregnant with Little Miss Laidlaw.

Wow.

This pregnancy has gone fast, incredibly, oddly fast. I said that about my 2nd pregnancy, but this one is even more speedy. This pregnancy has been particularly interesting also, because, well...

It was more than a third over before I even knew.

Let me just say, Baby #3 has always been "planned"....Ryan and I have always known we wanted at least 4 kids. Maybe 5. (Maybe.) So I will not say this pregnancy was not "planned." It was just....unscheduled. =)

"So....." Someone might ask, "Were your other pregnancies....scheduled?"

Ummmmm....yes. =)

Very much so. We lucked out in the timing department.

But, I didn't expect that to happen with every pregnancy, so I was perfectly happy when in July I suspected and then confirmed that I was indeed pregnant.

The thing was, I had no idea how far along I was. Like...none. I had only stopped nursing Jacob in May, after he turned one, and Mother Nature had not yet, ahem, returned me to my regular course of nature, if yaknowwhatimean. So I had nothing to go off of!

I called my doctor to make the appointment...Dr. Young, my same doc from my first two...and I told them I guessed I was maybe 10 weeks along. But really I had no clue.

I went to my first appointment. My Doc always does an ultrasound at the first appointment.

Well guess what?

According to measurements (or something), he estimated I was already 15 1/2 weeks along!

I felt very surprised and to be honest, a little embarrassed! I had obviously not been in very good touch with my body, or my intuition! I had been having mild nausea, the same I had with my 2 boys, but it did not seem to me that it had been going on that long. And normally my nausea finally peters out at around 16 weeks. So I was almost done!

Of course, being so far along, I couldn't help but wonder....

Could they already tell me the gender?

I asked the doc. He asked if I really wanted to know. Um, YES!!! He teased me, asking if I was sure I didn't want a surprise this time? Um, NO!!! And then he typed "I'm a girl" on the screen.

I was very excited, and, probably a little noisy...you know me. =) But I couldn't help feeling a tad doubtful...I wasn't as far along as one usually is when they have the gender ultrasound. Plus, those were words I had often wondered if I'd ever see...I've often said that I've always had this feeling that I'd end up with all boys. I told my husband that if we never had a daughter biologically we would have to adopt one. Because I cannot go through life without a daughter!!!

Well, I have now had two more ultrasounds, and the tech assured me both times it is indeed a girl. Its a good thing, because I have already been stocking up on girly stuff!

I still can't believe sometimes that I'm having a daughter...it seems surreal to me, almost like its a first-time pregnancy in a way. It will be so different...I've never been mother to a daughter! I'm almost a little scared, because aside from the normal mothering tasks that I've already been doing for 4 and half years, I'll have a new job...I'll be the prominent example to my child, of what she can and will become. My boys watch their daddy, copy their daddy, they want to do all the things Daddy does. I've never had the same responsibility Ryan does in showing and teaching his sons how to be a man. But now, I will be the one to show and teach my daughter how to be a woman! It makes me think a lot about how much better I want to be, and how much better I want her to be than me. Its a very weighty, important responsibility to me and I just hope that I can do it justice!

So here's to 5 more weeks...I'm hoping a tad less. =)

P.S. If I remember, I wanna have Ryan take a baby belly photo of me today, or soon...I haven't taken a single one this pregnancy!