I just wanted to say a big thank you for all your sweet words and encouragement! Here are a few more details in case you’re interested. ;)
This was not a surprise- well, I guess the surprise is that we do want 3! No one is more surprised than we are about that. But God has greatly blessed us, and we are pretty stoked about #3!- I am just over 7 weeks. This is pretty early to announce, but since I have been so sick, it was easier to just say it instead of evading.
- I am due in November and will deliver in Scotland.
- That means that I will be under NHS care which includes visits with a mid-wife rather than a doctor. There will be no internal exams, and just 2 scans {aka sonograms} of the baby, neither of which will tell me the gender of the baby. If we want to find out what we’re having, we’ll pay £75 to a private clinic at 22 weeks. I’ll let you know what we decide.
- They won’t induce until you are 2 weeks late, so it may not be until the end of November. Hmmm. Rebekah was 3 days early, and Luke would still be inside if we hadn’t induced him. So, not sure what that means for this little one.
- Another fun one is they’re not real generous with epidurals…I guess that’s part of having a baby for free. I am intentionally not thinking about this right now.
- Back to fun stuff, the kids are pretty excited about having a baby brother or sister! I totally cried when I told them, but fortunately they didn’t notice. Rebekah said she couldn’t believe it! Then she yanked my shirt up and said I was too small. {Bless her.} We explained that the baby was very small, which prompted about a million questions. Seriously.
- Rebekah would LOVE a sister, though Luke claims he wants a baby brother…until Rebekah bullies him into saying a sister.
- I am feeling better! Long story short, I think that in addition to normal pregnancy issues, I was also actually sick last week. Once my fever broke, and the GP {General Practitioner} prescribed some good meds, I started to feel better…not all the way, but getting there. Yea!
I also wanted to say thank you to Rachel, Christy, and Joy for making my family meals this past week so no one starved. We all appreciate it!
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So good to talk to you today and see the kids sweet smiles when talking about “my mom is going to have a baby”!!! Thankful you are feeling a tad better. Hope the illness was the cause of most of your feeling dreadful. I think you will find it exciting not knowing the gender of baby. There are no surprises anymore and I think not knowing until birth will be added pleasure. We went to a baby shower today, boy, but dad’s sister, Abby (Nance) and Danny who are due in July won’t find out gender.
Have a great rest of the weekend.
Thanks for the update.
Two things:
1. We didn’t find out with Hannah what gender we were having and I really loved not knowing.
2. I am a HUGE natural child birth proponent. Both my girls were birthed naturally and I have a ton of wonderful resources if you ever want me to send you my information. I know people think it’s crazy to birth without an epidural, but it is an amazing experience. Seriously.
The kids reactions are so precious! They are going to love Malone Baby #3.
WE DO WANT TO KNOW ALL THE DETAILS!
I think the questions from the kids have to be so fun!!! And know I know not bring up the you know what. 
And we will pray that baby number 3 does not stay in your tummy while all your friends who were due after you have their babies before you, like big brother Luke! I know you always feel so yucky. Praying for you!
P.S. Phillip’s first words when I told him were, “do not get any ideas!” Seriously happy for you all!
They WILL give epidurals, Emily, you just have to be really firm with them. If you do that and really push for it, they’ll do it. They did for me! It was easier getting one with Ethan than with Benjamin though for some reason, but I think we were a lot more insistent the first time around (don’t know why!). It depends on who you get as your midwife too, but if you tell them up front that that’s what you want, they can be pretty responsive. The hardest part is getting them to “examine” you to determine whether you’re in established labor or not (because they won’t give you an epidural until you are!). For me that was HUGE since my “early” labor drags on and on and ON and they will only examine you every 4 hours (at least that’s what they told me!). But we begged and pleaded and the examined me after 3 hours (from the time I arrived & my first examination with them) with Benjamin.
Anyway, let me know if you have any questions along the way about giving birth in Aberdeen! I’ve done it twice!
They were both VERY different experiences, but the end result was the same. I ended up with a beautiful new baby. No worries, mate!
BEAUTIFUL! All smiles here for you! To prep me for a non-medicated birth I read Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth and Birthing from Within by Pam England. LOVED THEM!
Congratulations!!!
Oh Em I’m so behind on reading…so happy for you!! Wow what exciting news
:):)
Birthed Carter naturally and loved it! Email me when u are thinking about it more and I can give u my tricks to use if you wish! I am not huge advocate just like to help people if they choose natural! I will definitely be doing it with # 2 and I didn’t read much, no birthing classes and no mid-wife or doula. I just winged it and it worked! I preferred not knowing too much!