Pregnancy #3

I wanted to write down a few thoughts on pregnancy while I am still pregnant:

First of all, I need to thank Brittany who spent the day with us taking maternity pictures for me. She did such an amazing job that I had a hard time picking which ones to post. I'll probably post more of them on another post. Check out some others on her photo blog here.

I love being pregnant.
Not everything about it. In fact, some things I forget how much I dislike until they start happening again, but I don't want to make a list of the hard parts of pregnancy. Overall, I love it more than I hate it, and this is why...

I found a quote once that talked about spending more time enjoying the miracle of being able to create life, rather than wishing away 9 months of pregnancy. I try to enjoy each pregnancy. I am so grateful that I get to experience pregnancy. Not everyone does. It is something that only gets to be experienced a limited number of times, and I want to remember and appreciate each time.

I love it when I first find out that I am pregnant.
My world is instantly filled with hope, love, gratitude, anticipation, excitement, and a little fear. It starts as a special secret that only Nate and I share. No one else knows, and no one can tell. I can't even tell for a while, but I love knowing that we created life. It is amazing to me, when I look at my boys, to remember that they started as a little egg in the first stages of pregnancy, and became the amazing little people that they are.

I love hearing the heartbeat for the first time.
On all 3 of my boys, I have had an ultrasound on the first visit. It is such a miracle so see my baby for the first time and listen to his heartbeat, even if it is long before I can feel him. It eases some of the fear to see and hear that he is growing and thriving.

I love feeling the first movement.
Even if it is small and not yet often, I love the reminder to stop and think about the baby that is coming. With each pregnancy, my life gets busier. Those little kicks are good reminders to stop and be grateful. Each pregnancy has gone faster than the last. With Saxon I felt like all I could think about was being pregnant and wanting to meet my new baby. With Bridger, I had Saxon to take care of and worry about, so I felt like it was over before I knew it. This time has also gone fast. I'm down to about 2 weeks and I can't believe it. I love laying down to sleep at night and feeling him move all around. It is my mommy-baby time.

I love the 20 week ultrasound.
I love seeing my baby again watching him move. I love finding out the gender. It finally becomes concrete. The "it" becomes a "he" and I can start planning my life and envisioning what it will be like with 3 boys. I can think of names, decorate the bedroom, and really start planning. I also love being in the second half of the 9 months. The second half is a lot more fun. It is fun when I finally start looking pregnant and not just fat. It is exciting to have less time in front of me than behind me. This is when time starts speeding up...

I love that the baby is all mine.
That may sound selfish, but I love it. I get to experience him and connect with him in a way that no one else can. I can take him everywhere, always feel him, protect him, love him... My experience with him started 9 months ago, while everyone else has their first experience with him only after he is born.

I love being in labor.
I think it's my favorite part. I love staying up all night before in anticipation. I love getting ready that morning knowing that I'm about to be the mother of (now 3). I love that the waiting is finally over and the big day is here. I can't wait to see what he will look like and what he will be like. Will he have crazy, dark hair like my other 2? Will he look like Saxon or Bridger, or have his own little look? I love holding my baby for the first time and marveling at the miracle of the whole thing. I love spending a few days in the hospital full of time with just my baby. Once I'm home, real life starts again. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, chasing the other kids (all while trying to recover), etc. I love the initial one-on-one time with the new baby. After it's over, all I can think is that it was such an amazing experience that I can't wait to do it again. All of the hardships seem to fade a little as you hold your new baby.

Here's a quote I found online about pregnant women:

"Pregnant women! They had that weird frisson, an aura of magic that combined awkwardly with an earthy sense of duty. Mundane, because they were nothing unique on the suburban streets; ethereal because their attention was ever somewhere else. Whatever you said was trivial. And they had that preciousness which they imposed wherever they went, compelling attention, constantly reminding you that they carried the future inside, its contours already drawn, but veiled, private, an inner secret". -- Ruth Morgan

Here a a couple of quotes I found from Ensign articles on having children:

"Into this happy home and pleasant atmosphere will eventually come the children for which the marriage was consummated, and who will add immeasurably to the joy and fulfillment which God the Father intended when he instructed Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth. When parents understand the purpose of their existence, that they are literally the spiritual offspring of their Father in Heaven and that they have a responsibility to provide mortal bodies for others, then they rejoice in the miracle of birth as they realize they are copartners with God in the creation of each child who comes into that home.

In keeping with the revelations on this subject, one of our early leaders, the late Melvin J. Ballard, said this: “There is a passage in our Scriptures which the Latter-day Saints accept as divine: ‘This is the glory of God—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’ [see Moses 1:39]. Likewise we could say that this is the glory of men and women—to bring to pass the mortality of the sons and daughters of God, to give earth-life to the waiting children of our Father. … The greatest mission of woman is to give life, earth-life, through honorable marriage, to the waiting spirits, our Father’s spirit children who anxiously desire to come to dwell here in this mortal state. All the honor and glory that can come to men or women by the development of their talents, the homage and the praise they may receive from an applauding world, worshiping at their shrine of genius, is but a dim thing whose luster shall fade in comparison to the high honor, the eternal glory, the ever-enduring happiness that shall come to the woman who fulfills the first great duty and mission that devolves upon her to become the mother of the sons and daughters of God” (Sermons and Missionary Services, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1949, pp. 203–4, italics added)."
-President N. Eldon Tanner, May 1980, Celestial Marriages and Eternal Families.

"...you have been born at this time for a sacred and glorious purpose. It is not by chance that you have been reserved to come to earth in this last dispensation of the fullness of times. Your birth at this particular time was foreordained in the eternities. You are to be the royal army of the Lord in the last days. You are “youth of the noble birthright.” (Hymns, 1985, no. 255.) -President Ezra Taft Benson, May 1986, To the 'Youth of the Noble Birthright'.

I love being a mother.
I'm so grateful that I'm able to. I'm lucky to have a great husband by my side also.

I love my children.
They are so wonderful. They have such amazing little personalities and I'm sure that they will accomplish amazing things. I can't wait to meet Baby #3 (Humpty Dumpty) in just a couple weeks.