BC-4!

After watching the latest Star Wars movie, we affectionately started calling our newest little one BC-4 (for Baby Cook #4) in honor of the droid in the movie. The nickname stuck with our kids and they use it with a straight face. Dave and I don’t always achieve a straight face when saying it!

We found out we were having this little one on October 21, exactly two weeks after driving away from our home on the Cape. It was intimidating to so quickly be on the hunt for doctors and figuring out insurance, but wonderful to share in this good news as a family while we settled into our new home in KY. We made Lydia her own “Big Sister” shirt and started sharing the news by FaceTiming with the grandparents on Halloween.

Now the kids get to be "Big" twinkies :)

What we know so far:

* Due date is Tuesday, June 21. We didn’t have an early ultrasound to confirm, but we did get to see this little nugget at the 12 week visit on a handheld ultrasound machine to see her heartbeat. The kids were there and technology is awesome!

* BC-4 will (mostly likely) be born at Owensboro One Health Hospital. It is about 35 minutes from Hawesville, and the the OBGYN office I go to is in a connected building of medical offices. The whole campus is about two years old and still feels very fresh.

* The big kids are really excited. When I was pregnant with Lydia I was scared we wouldn’t celebrate her in utero the way Dave and I celebrated the first two. Boy, was I wrong! When we were experiencing pregnancy with a big girl Sarah (Josiah was still young) we talked about the baby way more often and celebrated each movement and milestone in an even more grand fashion. That has been true this time around as well. Sarah and Josiah are both very aware of our little one. They have been with us to hear the heartbeat and watch the ultrasound and I am excited for them to grow up knowing that the little nugget in a mother’s tummy very quickly turns into a baby like Lydia.

* We found out on January 29 that BC-4 is a girl! This means that all of our kids have fit into a very particular gender predicting model :)

The youngest among us were tired and hungry. 

They were great during the ultrasound, but not so great for pictures beforehand.

Girls in pink

Boys in blue

"Hello, world!"

* I took morning sickness meds this time around. I’ve never had a doctor offer before, so I’ve always just toughed it out. Sarah came with me to an early appointment and I mentioned some vomiting and the doctor asked how often. Sarah pipped up with “a lot.” Well, the doctor took pity on me and offered, and I took her up on it. I took a medication called Diclegis that is a simple combo of Unisom and vitamin B. The same combo under a different name was taken off the market in the 80s after a publicity scandal, but after 30 years of subsequent research it was reintroduced under the new name.

* At our latest ultrasound we also found out our little one is healthy! There was one angle on the heart that the technician couldn’t get, so I get to go back in a month for more pictures. I don’t mind that one bit! We saw her kicking her legs and chomping her mouth.

* I haven’t felt any definite movement yet (at 19 weeks, 4 days). The ultrasound tech checked placenta placement and it is toward my spine, so that isn’t why I’m not feeling things. (It was on the front with Sarah and I felt movement with her quite late.) It might be all the brownies/cookies I’ve been eating to comfort myself through the house buying process!

* The great name debate can officially begin. We gave up even brainstorming names before gender was known after Sarah, because that is a lot of work! And a rule of nature says that the gender of the name you easily agree on is surely not the gender you will find out you are having. (I would add that to my gender predicting model, but we only tested it for one pregnancy. Insufficient data!)

* We are taking pregnancy progress pictures :)

November 21
9 weeks, 4 days

* The big kids love to kiss my belly goodnight and Josiah is especially good at remembering to pray for BC-4.

* We have signed up for a couple of classes at the hospital. I am really excited for the kids to go to a sibling class in April. They are supposed to bring a baby sized doll and will get to tour the maternity floor. In March, Dave and I are attending a refresher class. Doing this with each new hospital (this is our third) brings me some comfort since they all have slightly different policies, procedures, and resources. Also, I’ve learned I forget a lot in two years and really do need to be refreshed!