I’m Rae, 36 years old and married to Peter. I am a mum to two sons, Henry aged 4 and Zachary aged 18 months, and step-mum to two girls aged 15 and 12.
I’m also pregnant with my third child.
14th March 2012
Today I found out we are expected our third child. This is great news and gives me a due date of around mid-late November. I’m very lucky as I’ve never had too much trouble conceiving, and (so far!) have had trouble free pregnancies and births – I hope this continues to be the case.
At the moment, only Peter and I know – I’m cautious of telling people too early, and certainly won’t make it public until after we’ve had our 12 week scan. I find the first trimester quite an anxious time. I’m well aware that sadly, one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage, usually in the first 12 weeks.
5th April 2012
Booking in appointment with the midwife today. In Whitley Bay, there are ‘case load’ midwives, which means you see the same midwife for every appointment – I like this as it means you get to build up a relationship with your midwife. Julie has been my midwife for my previous two pregnancies, so she knows me and my wishes well. This being my third pregnancy we raced through the masse of paperwork and then spent the last 20 minutes of the appointment putting the world to rights. I’ve had two previous home water births – one with a hospital transfer and one very straightforward – so am planning a third.
We’ve started telling a few people – family and close friends – and it’s lovely to have people to share our news with. I’m very lucky in that I find pregnancy straightforward. I don’t really get any sickness or dizziness although I have been very tired. But then I do have two small children and work full time!
8th May 2012
Dating scan today! Peter takes time off work to come with me. I’m anxious to know that all is well and am very relieved to see a good, strong heartbeat and to be told that all is developing as it should be at this stage. We are given an estimated date of delivery of 17th November – in as much as babies listen to such things! As well as dating, we are having nuchal translucency testing: the sonographer measures the thickness of the neck, and this measurement, along with the results of a blood test gives a risk factor for Down’s Syndrome. If it comes back high risk, we would be offered the opportunity to go for a diagnostic test that gives a definite yes/no answer. We would almost certainly decline this test as it carries a small risk of miscarriage.
We now start telling people our news. Generally people are very happy for us, but one or two do ask if the pregnancy was accidently or if we are ‘trying for a girl’. Really, we just want a healthy baby thanks! Someone even asks how we will manage the inevitable left out’ child….
Now we’ve seen a healthy baby I relax a little (although, unfortunately the worry never goes away – ever. It continues once they are born and forever onwards in one way or another!). Unfortunately, I’m a bit of a worrier, so I just find other things to occupy my mind. I worry about how we will cope practically and financially…realistically, I know we’ll manage and that actually, when I get to 40, or 50 or 60, I will happily accept my 3rd child over and above a bigger and tidier!) house, a better car and foreign holidays.
