Third Trimester!

Welcome to the third (and last) trimester!

28 weeks!

We definitely had a big hurdle to jump over in the last part of the second trimester, but are getting ready and excited for the arrival of Baby Garate #2.

He will be our last, completing our wonderful little family.

Prior to our appendicitis adventure last week we had been pursuing a VBAC (natural delivery post cesarian section). We had contacted a Doula, found doctors willing to work with us, and were ready to make an appointment to get things going.

However, with 6 weeks to full recovery from this recent abdominal surgery, and a birth coming another short 6 weeks after that, we have decided that a VBAC attempt is not the right path for us at this point in time. I'm sure there are many of you that would say it is still fully possible and will not understand our choice, and you may be right, but this decision is the right one for me, my body, our family, and this baby.

I am disappointed that I will never experience a natural birth. But I am truly at peace with our decision.

We are heading back to the OBGYN in a couple of weeks and hope to get a better sense of our actual due date (we have only had one ultrasound when we first found out we were pregnant at 15 weeks) and begin to discuss a scheduled c-section versus a c-section when we naturally go in to labor. My personal goal is to make it to week 39 (as research shows this is best for the baby), but we'll see if he has other plans in mind (as his sister did).

Thankfully I took advantage of my visit to Seattle in December and purchased the majority of the baby clothes we will need for the first 9 months. My parents gifted us an Ergo carrier so we don't have to worry about a double stroller for a while (the sidewalks here are not very conducive to the more economical double stroller models), and we have the crib ordered and are just waiting for it to be finished!

Now if only we could come up with a name for this kid! (see my last post for details on this subject)

I can't believe we're in the home stretch. It seems like just yesterday we found out that we were pregnant. Here's to 3 more months as a family of 3 and a new life as a family of 4!

Arturo, Kesh, and me (and baby in the belly at around 20 weeks)