The Story of the Third

I'm seventeen weeks along with Baby Galloway number three and it is about time I found the words to tell the beginning of his/her story.

For all of you curious people, no, this was not a surprise baby. At least not to me. 

Now for Ian, that's a bit different. You see, we had tried for over a year to get pregnant with Grace. And I talked about the trying every day to Ian, so he was very aware. With Sophia, we were trying as well and were prepared for a long struggle, but she came quickly and surprisingly easily. So when Ian and I decided it was time to start for baby number three, I was not in a huge rush and was not talking about it every day. 

We decide to start and then that was about the end of discussion. I wasn't talking about cycles and timing but I was thinking about it. I just didn't want it to be a stressful thing while it was early days. 

Plus, around the time we came back overseas my cycle became irregular for the first time in my life. I was exercising heavily and had lost 20 plus pounds and was under a lot of stress from the move. I wasn't too worried but I knew it could make the trying part more difficult. 

So, with just a couple of months under our belt I knew something was up in June. I had been on an 18 day cycle (I know, annoyingly short!) so when day 19 or 20 came I knew it was not things returning to normal. I just knew. No other real symptom except for fatigue. 

On June 19th, the girls and I were meeting Ian at a mall after work and we had gotten there early. I ducked into a pharmacy and bought a test.  I was taking the girls to the Toys R Us to play in the indoor playroom while we waited but stopped into the nursing mothers' room to change Sophia's diaper first. 

I settled Grace onto the rocking chair and Sophia was momentarily distracted by the rocker's stool. I figured, why not now? Why not here? 

So yes, I took the test in what is technically considered a public restroom.

I was super nervous even though I was sure I was pregnant. I've taken enough tests and seen enough negatives to know the heartache that it can bring. And really, it just takes just one negative test to start to feel that pain, doesn't it?

 True story.

I changed Sophia's diaper and turned to check on it when I saw the positive. 

And then snapped a picture of my girls and I. 

I put the test away and took the girls to play until Ian got there. We went to Macaroni Grill and I suddenly knew how I would tell him. 

I kept asking him to draw a picture of our family on the table (he is much better at drawing than I am,) for Grace. But Grace was all over him and was acting insane. Finally, in a huff, I drew a picture of us, including the new baby. 

"Why are you holding a cowboy hat?" Ian asked. 

"It's not a cowboy hat!" I said by followed by blank stares. 

"It's a baby!" I said, exasperated. 

 Shocked only began to describe his reaction. The best I can figure is that he thought we had decided to try and when I wasn't talking incessantly about it he simply didn't think about it. 

Not that he wasn't ready or wanting this baby, I just hadn't been reminding him every waking moment. 

Anyways, a week later we left on vacation to Greece knowing I was in early stages (probably only 3.5 weeks at testing,) so we kept it to ourselves. Eating was rough on our trip as Greek salad was out (no Feta!) and everything made my stomach churn. 

We returned two weeks later and full morning sickness set in. It was rough this time around. With the girls I would have momentary waves of nausea but with this baby it was all day, every day. I could barely lift my head up off the couch. 

We were set to tell our families but things kept getting in the way. I hate telling people over skype. Bleh. My sister guessed it randomly and then we really had to make sure our parents knew. Everyone was excited, of course. 

We will be finding out the gender at our next appointment and I am excited to know if it is a girl or a boy. Of course I want to mother a son one day but I would love to have another little girl in our bunch. Either way, this baby is a blessing!

That's this baby's story so far. An Unexpected (Yet Very Expected,) Surprise and gift for our family.

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The Story of the Third