Nolan's Pregnancy

Steve and I have always said we wanted 4 kids. He wanted two boys for sure and I wanted at least one girl, if not two. We really liked the spacing of Logan and Madelyn (they are 2 years 8 months apart) and thought that spacing or more would be good with the next baby. It was really nice to have Logan potty trained by the time his sister was born. One thing I knew is that I didn't want to be pregnant during a HOT Texas summer. We thought, "well we can plan to get pregnant this year and Maddy and baby will be 2 years apart or we can get pregnant next year and they will be 3 years apart." I didn't really want to wait another year or take the chance of being pregnant during the summer, so we started trying for baby #3.

With Maddy and Logan's pregnancies, Steve always found out at the same time I did since I can't keep many things a secret from him. We had been trying to get pregnant and I miraculously got pregnant right away again (as did I for Logan and Maddy's pregnancies) and it was such a surprise. With this pregnancy, I was somehow able to keep it a secret from him for about a week. He had planned a date night to go and see Rascal Flatts and Dan + Shay in concert. I thought that would be the perfect time to tell him while we were out to dinner. I wrote him a little note that said, "Just wanted to let you know you're going to be a daddy again! Baby Boyd #3 expected April 26, 2019." I attached the pregnancy test at the bottom. I handed it to him in the car after dinner and he was totally blown away. He had no idea I was pregnant and it took him a little bit to really let it sink it. I was around 5 weeks at the time I told him. We didn't tell the kids for a while later because Logan is at the age where he understands what you tell him and will tell other people.

I scheduled my first appointment around 6 weeks and they confirmed pregnancy. I came back when I was 8 1/2 weeks pregnant and had my first ultrasound. The baby was measuring on track with the dates I had provided and the estimated due date was April 26, 2019.

The nausea started to kick in around 7 weeks. It was pretty bad. Most days I didn't have an appetite and just had no energy to do anything around the house. I'm glad Logan was in school and Maddy was still taking naps so I could sleep when I needed to. I asked my OB if I any medication could help to ease the symptoms. I didn't get anything until around 12 weeks because there were insurance miscommunications. My nausea didn't fully go away until I was around 14 weeks. 

At my 11 week appointment I was able to do some blood tests for genetic testing. The nurse said as part of the blood test they could tell us the gender. I was really surprised because we have never been able to find out the gender this early before. I got a call about a week later with the results. I was 99% sure I was having a girl. My pregnancy from the start was almost identical to Madelyn's except for the increased nausea. My ring test I did even said I would be having a girl next. The nurse said I was having a boy. I was floored and asked her if I had heard her correctly. She said it was a boy again and I could not believe it.


We announced to family when I was close to 13 weeks and announced on social media shortly after.

 

So funny story. We took these announcement photos below at the pumpkin patch before I had gotten the gender results back. I was so sure that we were having a girl that I had only written out the words with baby sister and not baby brother. Much to our surprise we weren't having a girl and I had to edit it to say baby boy :)  I bet you didn't notice the edits til now ;) 

Since Maddy was born small, I was monitored pretty closely during Nolan's pregnancy. I had ultrasounds at 8.5 weeks, 20.5 weeks, 28.5 weeks, and 35 weeks. Baby boy measured on track at every ultrasound but they really wanted to keep a good eye on his sizing since Maddy's IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) came on as such a surprise at the end.

20.5 week ultrasound. IT'S A BOY. It wasn't until this ultrasound that I really believed I was having a boy. There was no denying it though after they got these images.

This was my first pregnancy having an anterior placenta. Because of that, I didn't start feeling his kicks on the outside until around 23 weeks.

28.5 week ultrasound - baby boy had his face in a bad position the whole ultrasound so this is the best photo they could get

 35 week ultrasound

At my 36 week appointment they did my first cervical check. To my surprise, I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I was having contractions on and off the days following my appointment, but nothing was consistent and I had no other symptoms of labor.

37 week appointment: 4 cm dilated, 70% effaced. At this appointment my OB told me baby boy was head down, but in the posterior position (sunny side up). She gave me a list of positions/exercises I could do to try and get baby boy to turn. I washed the floors on my hands and knees, did lunges, squats, read books to the kids on all fours, etc.

Baby boy decided to come early at 37 weeks, 6 days. Read Birth Story!  

I gained roughly 22 lbs this pregnancy and only had 2 new stretch marks on my stomach. I craved mostly sweets. Besides the nausea in the beginning of the pregnancy, I was blessed with a pretty easy pregnancy again. 


Bump pictures from my pregnancy:

12 weeks

15 weeks 

24 weeks

29 weeks 

31 weeks

33 weeks

36 weeks 

37 weeks