Pregnancy Update: 32 Weeks

Wow, what a week the last week has been! Overall, until last week this pregnancy has gone extremely well. I had a slight problem with high blood pressure, but that was able to be controlled with medication. Then, last Monday I woke up with a headache and just didn't feel well. It was tolerable, so I went to work and thought that it would eventually go away. Well, it didn't, and at around 9:00 a.m. my headache started to get much worse and I was suddenly overcome with a dizzy, lightheaded feeling. I was testing a student at the time and decided that I needed to get someone to come cover for me so that I could get some fresh air and possibly go home. Before I could reach someone on the phone though I passed out. I have never passed out before, and waking up is very unsettling. I did not know what had happened, how I had ended up on the floor, or how long I had been out. Luckily, the student that I was testing was quick to react and once I woke up he went for help.

That incident led to an ambulance ride, an overnight stay in the hospital, and many tests. Finally, the doctor concluded that I have preeclampsia. It appears that we caught the disease in its early stages and it has not developed into a severe case yet. As a result, the doctor has placed many restrictions limiting my activity to try to keep the disease from progressing into a more serious case. So, I am on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy (I can go from the couch to the bed to the chair to the shower), I cannot drive, and my outings consist of going to the doctor twice a week. At this point, the doctor's goal is for us to get to 36 weeks without further complications (I am hoping for at least 37 weeks, but we will see).

Luckily, I have an outstanding support system of family and friends. I am very dependant upon their help right now with rides to the doctor, meals, housework, taking care of William, and shuttling Matthew and Peter to and from their activities. My family and friends are so amazing and helpful and continuously call to check on me. I don't know what I would do without them!

Hopefully, the next four to five weeks will be extremely boring and uneventful, so our sweet baby can have as much time as possible to develop. I will keep you posted.

McBride Baby #4 is a . . .

. . . Boy or Girl? Read on to find out!

Earlier this week, Peter stopped one of his favorite past teachers in the hall and said "Guess what? This week we get to find out that we are getting another baby brother!" She replied, "What if it is a girl?" "Well," Peter said, "we will just have to trade her in for a boy!"

Today we had an ultrasound, and it turns out that Peter's prediction was . . .

We surprised Matthew, Peter, and William with this box this evening.

The boys were pointing to their predictions.

The unwrapping begins!

At this point, Peter peeked inside the box and had discovered the answer.

BOY!

. . . CORRECT!

McBride Baby #4 is a BOY! Although this news is very exciting, the best part of the ultrasound was discovering that the baby is healthy and that everything looks perfect!

When Toby told one of our friends this evening about the news, his reply was "Did you really expect anything else?"

To tell you the truth, we didn't! Toby and I have predicted that McBride Baby #4 was a boy from the beginning, and we can't wait to add another boy to our family!

Arriving in June 2012 . . .

. . . McBride baby #4!!!

We are all very excited to announce that we will be adding a new member to our family in June. We hope to discover next month whether we will be blessed with four handsome boys or if we will get to start buying pink clothes for a beautiful baby girl! After having three boys, I am not sure if I know where to find baby girl clothes!

Last week, Toby revealed the exciting news to Matthew and Peter while I was staying in the hospital with William (more on that in a later post). Below are their responses:

Matthew: "How did that happen?!"
Toby: "The same way it happened three times before."

Peter: "I will get the baby name book!"

Later in the evening Matthew and Peter informed Toby that they were sure the baby is going to be another boy because that is all we have. So, they decided that they would be wasting their time looking for girl names. Instead, they came up with the names "John Wayne McBride" and "Jesse James McBride." We will have to discuss baby names further. I am not sure that Mommy agrees with those choices!

Since a blog post must have pictures, below are some recent pictures of the boys with their horses:

Matthew and Friendly ~ 9

Peter and Angel ~ 7

William and Chigger ~ 1

Poor Pacco ~ We have an extra horse and need a rider!

Two Hunters and a Duck

This year Matthew and Peter decided that they wanted to be hunters for Halloween. Although not very original, this made costume shopping very easy, as we simply ordered their outfits from the Cabela's catalog. Another perk to the costumes is that Matthew and Peter also used the clothes to go hunting on multiple occassions! William's costume was a more traditional costume from Costco. I was very impressed with the quality and selection of the Halloween costumes for infants and toddlers at our local Costco. I purchased the duck costume for William and sewed a large green "O" on the center of the chest, so he became an Oregon Duck. It actually turned out very cute!

Prior to Halloween, Peter informed us that he instead of greeting people with the traditional "Trick or Treat" when they opened the door, he was going to say "Give us the candy or the duck dies!" We thought it was quite creative, but thankfully he did not use that greeting. 

Trick or Treat

Such a good big brother!

William stole Matthew's candy and bucket!

Try to catch me!

Our sweet Oregon Duck.

Wild Man Willy!

What else can I say? The title explains it all. Our little angel, Prince William has turned into Wild Man Willy! As you can see from the video, after simply refusing to walk for what seemed like months, William is finally walking everywhere and is into everything! Over the past month, William would stand up, take a step or two, and start laughing so hard that he would finally just fall down. At first, we laughed at him and with him, but this reaction hindered his progress significantly. You see, instead of wanting to walk, William wanted to make us laugh so he would purposefully fall down!

In addition to becoming very mobile, William's vocabulary has dramatically improved over the last week. He can say, Dada, Mama, up, dadoo (interpretation - thank you), hot, hi (he loves talking on the phone), and of course NO! In addition, he has started to repeat animal noises he hears outside such as moo and baa. I am truly amazed at how quickly his vocabulary is developing.

William loves being outside and will grab your hand and lead you to the door in hopes that you will take him outside. He continues to adore his brothers and his dogs, as he will stand at the door, nose-to-nose on the screen with Tex and share various plans about their future explorations. William also loves music more than any baby I have ever known. He will dance to any kind of music, play the piano, and loves watching music videos with Daddy in the mornings.

At 13 1/2 months, our Wild Man Willy provides us with much entertainment and countless laughs! It is hard to believe that he is growing up so quickly.