Oct 7, 2011

Baby number 4

The Man and I had gone back and forth for a long time about whether or not to have another baby. 
We were just so content with three and we knew we were going to have a LOT of changes coming to where we would be so stressed out: 
dental school and The Man not being around much, me still in school, a whole new place to live etc. 
It just didn't make sense to bring one more crazy thing into our lives. 

Our three kids we have now are just about 2.5 years apart, and the longer we deliberated on the fourth one, the bigger the gap was getting between baby girl and a potential new baby. I didn't want to feel like we had two separate families or that the last baby would be so far behind the others that he/she would have no relationship with them. I also didn't want to have another baby just because we felt outside pressure to have more. I also loved that baby girl was so independent and sort of dreaded having to take care of an infant. 
Its hard work!

Of course, some of these thoughts and feeling were selfish on my part. I knew we wanted a large family. I also wanted to have an even number of children, three just felt so.....odd. :)

And, every now and then I would get small whispers and strong feelings that we were missing someone. Often we would be gathered together as a family and for a split second I would unconsciously look around for where our other child was. 
I knew we were meant to bring one more sweet spirit in to this world. 

I was wondering how The Man would take it when I brought up the subject once more. We had kind of decided a month or so earlier that we would be done and felt relief at the thought, but I couldn't shake this feeling. 
When I explained to him how I felt I was really surprised to hear him agree with me. 
I wondered where the change of heart had come from, but quickly realized that we both knew how important family is to us and the plan our Heavenly Father has as well
We both felt that there was one more baby meant for us.

So, exactly one moth later I was pregnant. ha ha!
I thought for sure it would take longer, but it was a one shot deal. 
We were obviously supposed to have come to this decision. ha ha ha.

Fast forward to 32 weeks and I am so ready for this baby to be done! I feel huge and tired all the time. I can't even bend down to pick anything up..which is a good excuse to not have to do housework. :)

We will be blessed with a baby boy on Nov. 21st and we are both so excited. I remember the Man Telling me sooooo many times between Baby Girl and this little guy that if he could have our next baby be guaranteed to be a boy, then he would have no problem having another one! 
I guess it was just all meant to be.

Here are a few shots I so vainly took of myself at 31 weeks. I didn't want to go a whole pregnancy without having any pictures of  my baby belly! That would have been sad.  :)




Now, if anyone has some really good four letter boy names, we would love to hear them!

9 comments:

  1. Yeah for promptings by the spirit. They make decisions like this easier. Otherwise Jimmy would not be here. He is a tender mercy to me! Congratulations, I'm excited for you!

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  2. I LOVE these photos of you Ash!! They're beautiful!! Isn't it amazing how the Lord lets us know what we need in our life. Pregnancy number four was a killer for me but I'm so glad that Heavenly Father sent Julianne to us. She is the BEST baby and I've talked to a lot of people who say that their baby #4 turned out mellow and so good as well. Hopefully it will be the same for you. Congratulations!! We miss you!! Bunco is next week and it won't be the same without you!!

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  3. I love the way you express yourself with the written word.
    There will be a day, not long from now, when you will say "what would my life have been with out my sweet little boy (insert four letter name here)" It's hard word, but certainly worth the joy he is sure to bring. I so-0 wish I could be close enough to enjoy him, and my other grand-babies...sniff sniff.
    I love my Ashleigh,
    Mommy

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  4. So great!! 4 is busy bit so fun...and BTW...my hubs saw these pics and commented on how cute your belly is! He doesn't say that too often so it must be true! You do look beautiful! Good luck...and I will suggest the name....Kyle....Luke...Jack...Cade...Jeff...Nick...Mike...Todd...Ryan (personal fav)...Jake...I do not envy you on the name game always the hardest part for us.

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  5. Awe, congrats to you!!! You look beautiful! Can't wait to see him :)

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  6. Yeah, just yesterday I finally admitted to myself that there's one more for us to have. I even had a dream about "her." We'll see what happens!

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  7. I love this post because it can be applies to so many things in our lives! (especially having more kids! :)
    Love, LOVE the pictures of you...beautiful!
    Boy names..hmm. I will say that even though it can be hard to come up with baby names, you are pretty stinkin' lucky to have such an easy last name!
    Anyway, here are a few: Mack :), Jack, Ryan, Case, Kash, LUKE :) (love this even though it's dear to me:)...Sorry, not much help! Good luck!

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  8. Yay! for a boy. I haven't made it to the post office yet. But the package is in the car waiting to be mailed. Good luck on the names! I am the worst and finding names.

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  9. I haven't met you yet but I sit next to your husband in class and he keeps me informed of your beautiful family! I am SO impressed that you took these pictures yourself!! Congrats on the boy!! I like the name Jack :)

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