I seriously cannot believe I’m typing this but… SURPRISE! Baby #3 is on the way! The literal shock of the century. Also, one of the biggest blessings we could be entrusted with. This sweet little guy/gal is already so loved, and now that the news is public – he/she is being covered in constant prayer. And for that we are SO beyond thankful. After Sunday evening’s announcement, the love + support poured in in ways we couldn’t have imagined. So thank you for that! It also evoked a bunch of questions – many of which were the same. Because of that I thought it may be easiest to have a permanent place to direct everyone 🙂 Hopefully that’s easier on y’all & it’s definitely easier on this mama of soon-to-be 3-under 20 months. Ahhh! Seriously still processing that fact.

How did you find out / how long have you known?

We found out at 6 weeks. So we’ve known since March 11 – literally took a test the day before the boys’ 1st birthday. I missed my period, obviously, but since I had only had 4-5 periods postpartum I just chalked up the late-ness to my body still not being back to ‘normal.’ Legit never occurred to me that I could be late because I may be pregnant. Not that I don’t know how getting pregnant happens, but more so because I’ve only been pregnant once on my own (in September 2017/2018). After YEARS of infertility struggles & 3 rounds of IVF to have the boys, a spontaneous pregnancy couldn’t have been further down on the list of things in my mind.

It was actually my sister Cassidy who told me to go get a test on a Tuesday (4 days before I actually did go out & get one) because I mentioned being on my way to ship a package and grabbing a coffee sounded blah. But I chalked that up to the fact Abram had gotten the stomach flu a few days prior, Oliver had just come down with it and I felt nauseous from changing a bunch of disgusting diapers. So maybe it was some of that, but it also likely was because I was pregnant. Clearly I didn’t think I was pregnant or I would’ve gone and gotten a test that day. Instead I waited until the weekend and only bought one because I still hadn’t gotten my period and it was a good 14 days late at that point.

Was this a natural pregnancy or via IVF?

This sweet babe is the result of 0% science and 100% God’s grace.

Were you trying?

LOL. No. Not at all. Absolutely not. In no way, shape or form were we attempting to try and get pregnant. For many reasons. Like the fact we have 3 remaining embryos that are frozen or the fact the boys hadn’t even turned 1 year old. Again, Kyle and I are adults and are quite aware of how a woman gets pregnant. I also wasn’t tracking anything like I had been for the 6.5 years we struggled. Because I just wanted a break from the flow apps & tracking sex. Plus it didn’t even cross my mind that I was capable of getting pregnant on my own. So I couldn’t even give the doctor’s office an exact conception or a ‘1st day of my last period’ date because I wasn’t exactly sure. More proof our time < God's plans.

What about your 3 remaining embryos?

They’re still safely frozen and being stored at an off-site facility. We just paid their yearly storage fee last week actually. We will absolutely be transferring them and they will not be donated, discarded or destroyed. When we started the IVF process, we were very clear that our intention and commitment was to use ALL viable embryos. That has not changed. The only thing that has shifted is our timeline on when we ‘planned’ to start the transfer process with one of them.

Why did you find out the gender this time?

Because the sheer surprise of this pregnancy was enough! That’s only partly why, though. With the boys, we had zero hesitation about waiting to find out gender because we had known EVERY. SINGLE. STEP. leading up to their birth. There were zero surprises. So waiting to find out their genders was the ultimate surprise and one of the coolest experiences ever. With this little one, I want to prepare more. Not that we didn’t prepare with the boys, but having no kiddos running around, I was able to go with the flow. With two 14 month olds that are nonstop, I don’t have that same luxury. And we honestly need all the time we can can to decide on a name.

How do you feel about having another boy?

This question just bothers me. Maybe it’s because growing up in a family of 4 girls, we constantly heard how ‘sad’ it must be for my dad that he didn’t have a son. Like oh, so having daughters is less good or something? IDK just annoyed us sisters then, and now I feel like it’s going to be something I will hear a lot of in the future myself. But for boys. Here’s the thing…we couldn’t give a flying F what the gender is. The fact I’m pregnant and so far things are looking healthy + positive is literally the ONLY thing that matters to us. I know how to change boy diapers, we have boy things already…why wouldn’t we be thrilled? The only, and I mean ONLY, downside is we legit have no boy names picked out.

Have you been feeling ok?

No. Weeks 6-13ish were pretty rough. Actually weeks 6-11 were brutal. I was SO tired, especially at the beginning. I’d find myself laying on my side at times to play with the boys because I was just utterly exhausted. I also had quite a few pretty intense headaches. I’m a no-meds kind of gal during pregnancy and TTC times so I basically slept with ice packs on my head to relieve the pain. Oh and just about all day, every day nausea. Lets just say it wasn’t a winning combination while being a SAHM of two guys that need me constantly. The one blessing in all of that? Things have felt like they’ve gone by much quicker! So that’s a positive for sure. My energy returned about a month ago, though. THANK GOD!

Any aversions/cravings?

Complete and utter aversion to coffee up until about 3ish weeks ago. I tried to stomach it in various forms, but it was an absolutely not for me. Water has also been incredibly hard to drink, which is very unlike me considering I’m usually averaging 120+ ounces / day. The only way I’ve been able to even get half my normal intake of water has been to add lime. Eating small portions every 2.5-3 hours helped me survive the early weeks. Now I’m really just getting evening nausea (same thing I experienced with the boys) and I find myself hungry but then after about 1/2 whatever I’m eating, I’m like ok cool I’m full. So that’s been fun to navigate.

Have you been faking your workouts?

The amount of times I’ve been asked this in DMs over the last 48 hours has cracked me up. Like people really think I have the time to ‘fake’ my workout posts? I barely have time to brush my teeth before 10am some days, so no, I have not faked anything on social media. Every video or photo I’ve shared has been legit and done in real-time. That being said, I’ve absolutely used angles that wouldn’t give anything away. I worked out 6 days/week up until 30 weeks with the boys, so I have no intention of not continuing that same effort with this babe.

So there y’all have it… SURPISE! Baby #3 Is On The Way! We’re still full of all the emotions. Can we handle 3 under 20 months? Will we ever sleep again? Is this actually real? But then we also can’t stop thinking about how fun it’ll be to have the boys so close in age. How awesome it’ll be to see Oliver & Abram as ‘big’ brothers. To see what this little dude is going to look like. We’ll gladly accept prayers moving forward that a) baby boy remains healthy & growing as he should, b) that I continue to remain healthy and c) that the third trimester, delivery and post-delivery are ‘normal’ this time around. Thank you all for your love + support so far!

xox,

Kristin