Maggie or Moon? (aka Baby #3)

Baby Wilkins #3 is due to arrive in June of 2011!!!! What a crazy 1st trimester this has been. Like all of my other pregnancies I go into survival mode. Nausea, throwing up, heartburn, exhaustion, and mild depression seem to overtake me...but I'm feeling better and getting more excited for our new addition.

So the decision to expand our family was not an easy one. I've had several people ask me if "this was a surprise"...I don't recall getting that question for Hannah or Luke. I guess having more than 2 children is somewhat unexpected, especially when you have one of each? Still find it strange for people to ask. So to my small base of blog readers (in case you are wondering)....my official answer is, "this was not a surprise but not planned". For almost a year we pondered and prayed about having another baby. Throughout our relationship we always said we wanted 2 or 3 children. Michael and I both have one sibling of the same sex so we thought 3 would give us that big family feel and lots of fun. I was finally able to release the decision to God after not realizing clarity on my own. Once I did that I kept getting signs from Him both ways (yes or no). I'd be praying in the car and hear a commercial on breast feeding or I'd be in chapel at work and a devotional would speak to me. We felt that God was telling us it would be okay either way and that no decision was a wrong one. When we returned home from our vacation to Maui we just took the attitude of what happens will happen...and sure enough it happened. :) In mid October I got an early positive pregnancy test much to our surprise. At 7 1/2 weeks along we had our first sonogram. Baby #3 had a heartbeat of 177 bpm. We just laughed...another active Wilkins kiddo.


I do get overwhelmed at the thought of having to care for three....it's going to be CHAOS! Michael's travel schedule for work can be unpredictable but thankfully he is usually only absent a few nights in a row. And Luke will be more self sufficient by next summer. I also take comfort in knowing I have support of true friends and family and while it will be difficult the first few years...we will have a family full of love and what is better than that?


Hannah is beyond excited!!!! We were going to wait to tell the kids the Sunday before Thanksgiving but when I was at the mall the Thursday before, I had an idea to bring home a cookie cake as the way to surprise them. We couldn't let a cookie cake sit for 3 more days! We asked Hannah to read the writing on the cookie. It said, "Big Sister and Big Brother" but unfortunately she couldn't make out the cursive writing. So as we read it to her, she had a confused look and said, "Big brother? I'm going to have a big brother?" We told her the news and her face filled with joy and she hugged and hugged my belly. She hugs and kisses her baby everyday - it's the sweetest!

Hannah has said nothing negative so far, nor has she had many questions. I'm expecting that to come later. :) The next day she came home from school with this school project. I will NEVER forget this one!

Luke really didn't have a clue what we were trying to tell him. But as people are finding out (and Hannah tells anyone and everyone she comes across), it may be starting to sink in a little. Last week I asked him, "You know that mommy is going to have a baby. There is a baby in my tummy." He says, "No! Luke has a baby in tummy." I replied, "No, just mommy." He rebutted, "No! Luke has baby and mommy has baby. Two babies." Ha ha! Just goes to show that he really is in this "I am always right" stage. :)

Oh...forgot to mention Hannah has named the baby already. If it's a girl: MAGGIE JEWEL. If it's a boy: MOON KNIGHT. Sorry, Hannah...we'll probably go a different route.

My level 2 sonogram for the sequential screen testing is Friday and I'll be 1 day shy of 13 weeks. I'm a little nervous about the results, praying for a healthy baby. With Hannah and Luke I was monitored by a specialist for different anomalies so I know I need to be prepared and informed if anything does show up. Also hoping that our doctor will tell us the gender, but not counting on it. He wouldn't tell us with Luke although he informed us he had a good idea. He said he took pride in not being wrong. Boo! I'm going to let him know it really doesn't matter to us and we would appreciate any prediction so we can have a head start preparing. We have to switch Hannah's bedroom, etc. I will need all the time I can as my productivity these days isn't so high. :)

Thanks for your well wishes, positive thoughts and prayers. Growing a baby while working and taking care of 2 other children is pretty challenging. When not feeling well and/or my hormones are out of control, I take comfort in knowing that this too will pass and with God all things are possible!