Big News: Another Monkey Being Added to the Zoo!

So I was finally able to convince Steph that we needed to have another baby… Indeed, it was a mammoth effort to get her on board with the idea… OK, so those of you who know us well realize just how big a load of crap that really is. I was long reluctant to add another girl to the family (and we all know that Stephanie and Joe only make girls – something about those ‘Merryman women genes’). The idea of starting over with diapers and midnight feedings, not to mention another college education and wedding expense (hopefully in that order) had me spooked. Alas, after a number of conversations and the realization that our 2 girls are the sweetest things in the universe, we decided to try for a third!

Note: here is the potential TMI (Too Much Information) part of the post… move to the next paragraph to avoid!

So Steph and I historically are very good at making babies… what I mean by “very good” is that there is not much “practicing” or “trying” involved. On the contrary, I tease Steph that she is the most fertile woman on the planet, and she counters that I am too virile… I still think if I looked at her just right, that would be enough to conceive! When we got pregnant with Olivia a good friend gave Stephanie a congratulations card, and gave me a sympathy card for us being so efficient at getting pregnant!

So just as with Olivia and Genevieve, conception was instantaneous! Three kids and I never got the extended period of ‘trying to get pregnant’… I tease, as I know friends who have struggles with conceiving, so I know we are really blessed to be expecting our third! But… really, God? You couldn’t work with me on just this one thing? :)

Family has been duly notified, and I updated my Facebook page with ultrasound pictures. We are working on a message to friends – some of which will hear via Facebook first as opposed to from us directly – you can blame me for that… I was just too excited to wait! I guess for some of you who discussed #3 with me when I was in the ‘no way’ phase that is hard to imagine.

So Steph has had a rough go of the first trimester to this point… She does OK in the morning, but about mid-afternoon starts to get really tired and nauseous. No fun for anyone, but mostly her. I am sure she’ll be posting to her blog to keep everyone posted on the action!

I have prepared a little ‘Reactive QnA’ about Baby Welsh based on the most anticipated questions:

Q: Are you going to have the baby in China?
A: Yes… everything else on the planet is ‘Made in China’, why not Baby Welsh? Also, there are 1.3B people in China, they seem to have the baby making and delivery process down pretty well!

Q: Do you want a boy?
A: As cliché as it sounds: 10 fingers and 10 toes, healthy baby, and we will be perfectly happy. Part of me would love a boy, what man doesn’t want a son? But that being said, my two girls are awesome, just complete joys (most of the time). And we know how to do girls, we’ve gotten pretty good at it.

Q: Will you find out the sex?
A: Not unless we get another ultrasound technician that graduated at the bottom of their class. With Olivia we didn’t know, and with Gigi we didn’t want to, and 7 minutes after telling the tech that, she said ‘wow, you usually can’t tell the sex this early, but if you look right there, this is obviously a girl’. UGH. We would prefer to be surprised.

Q: Really? Having the baby in China?
A: Yes, we happen to live there.

Q: Any names picked out?
A: Gomer for a boy and Esmeralda for girl… OK, not really, but friends of ours were doing some financial planning before they had kids, but knew they wanted to have 2, so they created placeholders and called them Gomer and Esmeralda and the names stuck until Nicolas and Carter arrived… We thought it was hilarious. We have some ideas, but won’t be sharing until Baby Welsh arrives.

Q: What if you have twins?
A: I kicked the imaginary person who asked this imaginary question in the shin. What would make a person think it was a good idea to put that out in the universe?

Q: But what if?
A: I immediately go to confession and seek forgiveness for whatever it is that caused God so much pain and anguish that brought this on me… Then I go to B&Q (Chinese Home Depot) and apply for a second job at night stocking shelves. My aunt Patrice had 2 kids and then had twins on the last ‘go round’… She tells me 4 is the perfect number of kids and we should welcome twins, or just have a fourth… I can only think that the experience of four kids has made her a little nuts.

Q: With as much as you travel, are you sure it’s yours?
A: Stephanie kicked the imaginary person who asked this question (his name is Dan Roth) in the shin… He keeps it up and she starts kicking higher. Joe asked ‘if it’s not mine will someone else pay for the college education and wedding (hopefully in that order)?' Steph then kicked Joe in the shin.

Q: Really? China?
A: I thought we covered this... Did you graduate just below the ultra sound technician?

More later…

Cheers,
Joe