A Brief Introduction to Baby Waite #3

Baby #3 is nearly here now and I realize I haven't written about her at all...  I have however been keeping track of important dates and things to share before her arrival.  So to begin, this baby took the longest of all 3 kids.  We had hoped to get pregnant soon after my Whitney hike back in July of 2009 but things didn't exactly happen according to schedule.  After so many months of disappointment I finally just decided that it would happen when it happened and even stopped "keeping track".  I started to help out some with the business and it was during a wedding I was shooting alongside Kim that I suspected I was pregnant.  Kim and her husband were recently married at the time and she was telling me that they had just past their 5 week mark.  I started to do the math in my head and finally came to the conclusion that I was definitely late.  I couldn't stop thinking about it all day and finally as we were packing up to leave I couldn't resist telling Kim my suspicion.  That night I told Andrew and the very next morning he bought me a test.  I was obviously worried and tried not to get my hopes up but the result was positive.  I was pregnant!

A few weeks later I started to have terrible pains in my lower abdomen.  The pain was so UNBEARABLE that it started to feel like full blown contractions so I knew something was wrong.  Andrew and I spent the night of November 4th, 2010 at Mercy Southwest while they ran tests to determine what was wrong.  They did an ultrasound first thing in the morning and discovered two things.  First, the baby was almost 7 weeks and perfectly healthy and second that I had several GIANT ovarian cysts.  The cysts were what was causing me so much pain as a result of them slowly getting too big and bursting.  Sadly they recommended Tylenol to control the pain and explained that it would take another couple WEEKS for the cysts to fully go away which it did.  Luckily by then the worst of it was over.   

I remember the first time I felt the baby was December 24th, the day before Christmas.  The kids and I were in the middle of baking cookies for Santa.  It made me so happy to feel her and know that she was really there.  Along with the cookies I had the kids write letters to Santa and Evelyn included an entire separate page for things the baby would want.  

 Proof she's a girl.

The day after Valentines Day on Feb.15th, 2011 as my Valentines/Anniversary gift Andy made an appointment for us at Baby Sightings, the local 3D/4D ultrasound studio.  We brought the kids with us to get a sneak peak at their new baby brother or sister.  Evelyn of course was rooting for a girl and Preston for a boy. And we could only assume that one of them was going to be right.  Having already had a boy and a girl it was pretty safe to say that I was going to be happy with either one. If anything, I was somewhat leaning towards a boy only because of Preston and Evelyn's personalities and the age difference but deep down I think I always knew she was a girl.  During the ultrasound my suspicions were confirmed as the tech announced we would be having our second baby GIRL!  We got to see some incredible footage of her and they even recorded the entire session for us. About half way through we got to witness our baby girl yawning!  It made everything feel so real watching her do something so human. As expected, Preston was in denial and kept insisting the baby was a boy.

Excited big brother and sister at Dewar's.  They insisted on making silly faces. 

Afterwards Andy had to get back to work so I took the kids out to Dewar's for a little celebratory ice cream.  I also figured Preston could use a little pick me up so between the ice cream and a little pep talk about how he was going to get to be a BIG brother he finally gladly accepted his fate and the kids were both super excited about their little sister.

Baby Sighting's 4D image~  I'm in love with this face already!

On March 9th I had my scheduled ultrasound appointment with Dr. Shakespeare. Andy was out of town that day but luckily my parents just happened to be in a position where they were able to accompany me during my appointment. It was nice to have them there.  During the ultrasound the doctor mentioned that she was in a good position with her head resting comfortably (very near my bladder) on the lower right side of my stomach with her bottom on the left side and her feet nestled under my right rib cage.

Baby's foot

 As for her name we had listed off several names but none of them really stuck.  I was really fond of the name Olivia until I found out it was the #3 name right now.  And after that I started hearing that name everywhere!  Andy and I both agreed we wanted a unique name, something that would set her apart, something perhaps you might hear in an old folks home (as strange as that sounds).  So the next name that came to mind was PENELOPE.  It's ranked #200 so there's little chance there's going to be a plethora of girls her age with that name.  We considered the name for quite some time and finally made it official during a date on April 24th to Que Pasa.  I had been the one going back and forth on the name and it wasn't until Andy called her his "Lucky Penny" that my heart melted and I knew that was her name.  The middle name was a little easier.  We've always gone with a family name for our kids' middle names so this one was no exception.  When we started thinking names my Grandma Nelson's name, Edith, stuck out to me.  My grandmas have always been wonderful influences to me and I love them so much!  So we decided on EDITH.  I called my Grandmother just a day or so after we decided and told her the good news.  I'll never forget her reaction as she said she was "tickled pink!" that her great- granddaughter would be named after her.  So baby #3 is Penelope Edith!

Things are moving right along now with only 3 weeks to go until my due date!  I'm registered at San Joaquin Community Hospital and thanks to my recent nesting phase I've got everything ready for her.  Now it's just a matter of waiting patiently and staying at home alone attempting to entertain two kids and NOT going crazy.  I cannot wait to see her beautiful face and hold her little body in my arms!  That's when I'll know that all the pain and heartache of pregnancy will all be worth the Waite.