Third time lucky!!

I'm writing this post, knowing that I won't be publishing it for 6 more weeks. But I wanted to write down my feelings anyway, since that's what this blog is all about.

We went to the doctor yesterday to confirm our suspicions, and indeed we were right! I am pregnant again, with our third child! We bought a supermarket test on Sunday and tried it out that evening, but I didn't read the instructions properly (meant to soak it for 10 seconds, but I only did it for about 3 seconds), and it wasn't really working until I dropped some water onto it. Then it came up with those two lines that scream "POSITIVE!". Our jaws just dropped and we stared at each other. Could this be right? We weren't really sure (hence the confirmation at the doctor!). Wow - this happened quickly. We weren't really trying to conceive - Atticus is still only 17 months old. We did want to have a third child, but were thinking of waiting until the end of next year. (Mostly for work reasons - I'd be eligible for the extended maternity leave that my work provides... an extra 22 weeks' pay to be taken over a year (that is in addition to the standard 14 weeks). But you only get it if you have two or more years of continuous service. Since I'll only have been back for 15 months when the time comes, I probably won't be eligible. What a bummer. But I'll definitely look into it.)

I was, of course, happy. I have always been adamant that we have a third child (more would be great, but Dan's not too keen). On the other hand, I have to admit that I had a bit of a cry when I thought about poor little Atti. He's still so young, and he'll suddenly have to grow up. I'm not ready for that yet! He's still my gorgeous little baby, so cute and funny. Now he's going to be a middle child, and won't get as much time being the youngest kid! It's silly of me to feel this way - it was going to happen eventually - but I just couldn't help it. Plus, I really want to have a girl, and this is my last chance. I was hoping that when the time came, we would follow all those "recipes" that are around to increase our chances of having a female child... but we didn't get to do it! The doctor said that these things don't make a difference, but I say "There's no harm trying". Well, too late! There's nothing we can do now. I'll be on tenterhooks until we find out this baby's sex.