Ramblings of a pregnant woman...

I recently realized that I haven't written hardly anything about this pregnancy. Now that it's almost coming to an end, I think maybe one day I'll want to remember some of the details... so here I go.

After the twins were born, we were told to hold off getting pregnant again for at least a full year. "Ha ha," we thought! It took us a good 2 1/2 years of trying before we finally had a successful pregnancy (the twins) and so naturally we assumed it would probably take about that long again. Well, we were very wrong (and thankfully so)! We let go of our birth control methods when the girls were about 8 months old and hoped that we would be able to have another one sometime before the twins' 4th birthday. Obviously it didn't take as long this time and much to our surprise, I was pregnant again 4 months later! We were as happy as can be to find out about this little one. We got a positive pregnancy test sometime around the end of June and we told our families about the good news during the 4th of July weekend. My mom cried. Duh, she always does. :) She quickly bumped her grandkids count up to 12 and proudly told anyone who asked! Whitney kindly expressed her concerns about the number of grandchildren in our family getting out of hand (Erin and Chelsea were both pregnant too). I told her to just wait until "Sev" (Kenzie) is married and starts having kids... 12 will be nothing compared to what we have then! Everyone was excited for us and we were thrilled as can be!

I was in Crazy For You that summer and loving every minute of it! I was playing my dream roll as "Tess" and it quickly became one of my favorite PVP shows so far! I got a serious high off of every single dance number, every night. I'll never forget how much I loved playing that part. Slowly my costumes got a little more snug and the baby bump started to show. By the end of the PVP run, I was about 16 weeks along and quite obviously showing. It's probably a good thing the show ended when it did!

The week after PVP closed, my mom took me down to Fetal Fotos for my birthday to find out what we were having. I knew both Erin and Chelsea were expecting boys, so of course having a boy sounded fun to me. I wanted this little one to have cousins to bond with. But on the other hand, having a girl sounded much easier. I knew how to do girls, I had two already, and plus if this was another girl she would be completely spoiled in the cute clothes department (double what any child would ever need). As soon as the ultrasound picture settled on her little bottom, I knew I was expecting another little princess. How exciting!! Three girls! I sent the rest of the family (including Andy) on a treasure hunt with words to a poem that told them the news. Andy was beaming! As much as he talks about eventually wanting a son to play ball with, this daddy has quite a little thing for his little girls. There's something special about a father/daughter relationship and I knew he couldn't wait for another one.

Well, time passed and here we are. I am 38 weeks pregnant today. Her room is all put together and ready for her with clothes in the drawers and tiny diapers in the basket, my hospital bag is packed, our moms are on alert and ready for the phone call, and I'm getting anxious. We've chosen to try a VBAC instead of another C-section, so my doctor is hoping I'll go into labor on my own in the next week or two. The risks of a VBAC go up if you get induced, so we're going to try to avoid that at all costs. Sometimes I think it would just be easier to schedule another C-section and not worry about when it's going to happen or worry about laboring for forever, but we want a big family and multiple C-sections can sometimes mess that up. So... here I wait and wonder, "When will you be coming out to meet us, little one?"

Oh, and by the way, we've chosen a name... Tess Andrea King. Tess, partly because of my character in the show last summer and partly because we just love the name. Andrea, because my mom is amazing and I honestly can't think of anyone better to name my little girl after.

Tess,
Even though I'm anxious for you to get here and for this pregnancy to be over, I've really loved bonding with you these past nine months like only a mother can bond with her child. Yes, you move constantly and keep me up at night, you've been known to cause me to loose my lunch a time or two, you give Brooklyn stress because mommy's lap isn't as big as it used to be, not to mention my little fainting incident in the middle of my Relief Society lesson that I'm pretty sure you caused... but honestly, you are worth every second of discomfort, pain, and/or embarrassment. I love you so much already! I can't wait to see you and hold you in my arms. Your daddy and your big sisters can't wait either! We talk about you daily and your sisters never forget to give you kisses every night. They know where "Baby Tess" is, where you'll be sleeping, and they're so excited to help mommy out with a new baby. Welcome to our family, Tess! I hope to see you soon... REAL SOON! :)
Love, MOM