16 Weeks - Flutters and Heartbeats

Poor little Baby Four (not actually pictured here). This little one is not appearing to get much attention, mainly because he/she has been laying low...until now. You know the saying "the squeaky wheel gets the grease." Well that's certainly true in our home. We have a lot of squeaks around here - Lily's school, Schaeffer's 3-year old tantrums/attitude and potty-training (or stubborn lack of potty training), Griffin's weekly speech therapy with additional homework for me, and BJ's seminary classes which requires a lot of his time for study, reading and writing. Baby Four has not gotten a lot of attention. But then this weekend Baby Four made his/her existence more clearly known through some flutters and kicks. I'm now feeling frequent movement from the little bean. Up until now, besides pregnancy fatigue and indigestion, I haven't really noticed much about Baby Four. And then, I was keenly reminded this weekend that Baby Four is a little person who's growing, thriving, and moving. At my OB appointment on Monday, I heard the little heartbeat again. Again, it was quite rapid around 155 bpm. Meaning this little bean can get pretty active.

This pregnancy has definitely been tougher for the fact that rest doesn't come very often (and for the fact that I'm another year older). When rest does come I feel as though I could sleep 12-14 hours, but that rarely happens unless I go to bed at 7 a.m. And believe me, I've tried.

In the past I've not been good at receiving help during pregnancy. I'd be stubborn and say, "Oh, that's okay. I can handle it. I can lift those boxes/rearrange the furniture/carry a 35-pound toddler up the steps/etc." Not this time. You wanna come clean my house, fold laundry, take my kids for a few hours? I'll gladly accept. I learned my lesson during the last pregnancy when preterm labor hit at 28 weeks. The reality of a baby being born well before it was ready was enough to sideline me for the remainder of the pregnancy. I was forced to accept help with things that were so routine for me. I have not forgotten that lesson. This time I'm letting things go. The toys in the living room are rarely picked up (by me), the kids' laundry doesn't always make it into their hampers nor the washing machine, the dishes get piled around the sink, the bathrooms don't always get a thorough cleaning. But you know what? This is temporary and the health of Baby Four has become more important. Before too long I'll be back in business and my house will once again be restored to order and cleanliness. For now, I'm conserving energy for all the other priorities in our home.

Even though Baby Four doesn't appear to have room in our busy house right now, I can guarantee that Baby Four has a special place in my heart - and right now he/she definitely has the closest seat to my heart.

At 20 weeks, on Sept. 24, we learn if Baby Four is a boy or a girl...feeling pink is in our future again.