And Baby Makes Four

For the past six months, David and I have been meticulously planning, debating, and weighing the pros and cons of adding a second child to our family. Because Tatum was a surprise (a wonderful one at that), we wanted to make sure that this time we were fully prepared. Well, as fully prepared as we could be! I have been wanting to have another baby since Tatum was about 2 1/2, but we felt that it was best for us to wait a little while. We weren’t quite ready to become a family of four, and there was a lot of change happening in our lives — I picked up more work, David was promoted at his job, and Tatum would be starting school.

At the end of August we decided that we were ready to expand our family and add a second child to the mix, and by mid October, we were happy to discover that we were expecting our second child! Yes, the Arnold Family is growing! I have been bursting to tell the world, but felt it was best to wait until the 12 week mark. My closest friends and family have known all along, but it feels great to be able to freely tell everyone.

The estimated due date of baby #2 is July 5th, and I will be trying as hard as I possibly can to have a successful VBAC. I had a cesarean with Tatum, and feel that it was something that could have been avoided, so I am hoping to have the birth that I dream of with this little one. Over the next few months I’ll be blogging about pregnancy the second time around (no morning sickness this time! Bonus! More ligament stretching though — not fun!), my journey to accomplishing my much sought-after VBAC, and eventually the addition of a second child to the family and the impact it makes on everyone. I can’t wait to see how everything unfolds, and hope to hear some great advice from all of you mothers of two children!

I am so grateful for David, who has always been supportive of my decisions and involved in my pregnancies from the get-go, and I was so thrilled to see how excited Tatum was when we told her. She’s still trying to figure out how exactly it works though — when we told her there was a baby growing in mommy’s tummy, she said “Can I see in your mouth!?” She was fairly certain if she looked down my throat, she could see baby in there. I thought that was pretty logical for a 4 1/2 year old

I can’t wait to share this journey with all of you and hope that I can connect and learn from other mothers who have gone down this road. Here’s to a happy and healthy pregnancy for me, and for all of the other expectant mamas out there!

{Franki}

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