Pregnancy Post: Nursery and Maternity Pictures!

Wow, 35 weeks. It’s crazy to think that in 5 weeks (or less?), he’ll be here! Seems like just yesterday I was staring at that positive pregnancy test in Haiti and freaking out with excitement.

This pregnancy has been so different and in all honesty, a little more complicated than the last. But it’s been so fun to be pregnant again and watch Edison start to understand that he’s getting a baby brother soon!

Milestones and favorite moments:

1. I feel like this journey started 2 weeks before Haiti, when I got a false positive pregnancy test at home. I was so thrilled and started planning out the perfect way to tell Eric and I thought, I’ll just take one more, because I’m nuts. And it was negative. I thought surely there was a mistake, but nope, turns out the Walgreen’s brand had been throwing false positives and approximately 15 tests later, I resigned to the fact that we weren’t actually pregnant, and I told Eric. It was crazy, thinking I was pregnant for 24 hours and trying to come to grips with the fact that I wasn’t.
2. Getting pregnant in Haiti, finding out while we were there (not really believing it) and getting to tell Eric on top of the Lookout. It was so hard to hide it from him for those few hours that day, but my girl Genevieve was there with me to help me!
3. Flying home early and having to conceal the fact that I was in fact, in America instead of Haiti with Eric and Edison, so people didn’t get suspicious. Did you even know? 😀
4. Flying home in secret, coordinating with my brother Matt and his wife Diana to surprise my mom at brunch in Little Rock. I still feel a little guilty for that, she was so scared for about 5 seconds as to why I was home, until I told her the good news. If you know my mom, she does not conceal her joy well in moments like that, which is THE best thing. It was so great to see her reaction.
5. Telling the rest of our friends and family, especially since a few of them knew of the false positive pregnancy test we had before we left. It was so awesome to finally tell people!
6. Telling our staff at our spring meetings. Eric was sooo sneaky and snuck our announcement into the middle of prayer before lunch one day. Everyone started hooping and hollering in the middle of prayer and Eric said “Hey guys – I need to finish praying, so rude!” It was the best and I loved that in that moment, I know God was getting a kick out of it.
7. Shopping for nursery items with my mom, cheap deals are the best deals in our minds and it was so much fun to have her help!
8. My hemorrhage while Eric was in Haiti was the scariest moment of this pregnancy for sure. Praise the Lord that everything is fine now and we are in the final stretch.
9. Being told of the risk of pre-term labor, restricted activity and realizing that this stops all our mission work for the summer. Such a bummer. But God brought us through and taught us a few things along the way about slowing down, resting in His grace and focusing on Him for strength.
10. Having my first ultrasound and thinking we were having a baby girl! That was a crazy ride, we had a name picked out and I was surprisingly, getting excited for a girl. Then at our official doctor ultrasound, learning that it was indeed a boy. It was bizarre to convince myself it was actually a boy and not a girl! But if you know me, a boy was what I was secretly hoping for 😉
11. Learning I had SPD or pelvic dysfunction and started going to the chiropractor everyday to get it corrected before labor. I am so glad I went!
12. Starting keeping an eye out for preeclampsia and monitoring my blood pressure levels.
13. Wrapping up the summer, making it to week 30 and feeling thankful that we reached that milestone with no labor or signs of preeclampsia!
14. My “Sprinkle” and my MC shower for Atticus. Those were such precious memories!
15. And here we are, sitting at week 35 and I’m still struggling with a pesky blend of BH and more “real” contractions almost everyday, but feeling so incredibly blessed and overjoyed with the new life that is going to be added to our family SO soon!

Since I found out there was a risk of pre-term labor (and because I’m a planner) I started on the nursery right away, around week 20.

Funny side note, I actually began this nursery when we thought we were having a baby girl!

I wanted this nursery to be a place of relaxation and calm. If you’ve been to our home, you know I love color… but I walked into my friend Nicole’s nursery one day and it was just so CALM and the neutral color scheme was so relaxing… so I copied her!  So I wanted this nursery to be different from the rest of the house and from Edison’s, full of neutrals. It’s also a pretty tiny room, so the neutrals helped open it up more and we crammed in as much goodness as we could!

The dressers are my mothers from when she was a girl and our cloth diaper holder is actually an old Sunkist Oranges crate of hers too. Eric’s dad built the floating bookshelves, which turned out SO beautiful and he used some old walnut from his shop to make. (that means free AND handmade! the best.)

There is a story to every piece on the walls, but I won’t get into that here or it might take a while. And sometimes, I just go and sit in the floor and sing songs to Atticus while Edison runs around like a crazy man, because it’s so calming and relaxing.

I’ve loved getting to split the difference of using Edison’s old things from his nursery and getting to update his room into a big boy room as well. And just like before, I wanted Atticus to be surrounded by items, phrases and decor that inspire and evoke a feeling of perspective, world change and equality. As if I somehow could reinforce the fruits of the Spirit by the decor on the walls. 🙂 I wanted him to be able to grow into this space, but also, that Edison would find things he loved about it as well, so we as a family could play in the floor together at night.

All prints are from Eden Darling Lettering, you should check her incredible new prints out and order some for your home!

I could make the same disclaimer that I did with Edison’s nursery post and explain that sure, I know he won’t know these decorations are there and that he won’t even use the nursery for some time…. that preparing the room is all for me and my sanity and not 100% about function…

But I think you know that.

I’m just wired this way and Atticus, it’s my (first) labor of love to you.

I hope you know how excited we are to meet you. Eric says to take your time, but momma’s ready whenever you are! haha.

Questions:

What are you having? Another boy!

What is the name? Atticus Wilde Richardson

What will you call him? Like his brother, probably a mixture of his first two names, depending upon how much trouble he’s in at the moment.. 😉 and in Haiti, we’ve landed on Ti Cus, a play on the sound of his name, but also short for Ti Couzin meaning “little cousin.”

When is your due date? Well, we’re in the same predicament as when we had Edison. We are currently 35 weeks, but measuring about 2 weeks ahead. So while we are keeping the due date of December 8th for officially, I’m preparing myself for more of a Thanksgiving timeframe.

How big is he measuring? Currently 6 lbs +

Will you both be travelling? Eric and I are so blessed to be given incredible maternity and paternity leave. Eric will be travelling some potentially in January for work, but we won’t be returning for any long trips to Haiti until Summer of 2017. I will go back to work around the beginning of March.

What will you do about the baby? Our current plan is to bring Edison and Atticus with us to Haiti, just like we have in the past. We are keeping the mentality of “you can’t knock it till you try it” and we’re gonna give it a go! So if you’re coming in 2017, maybe you’ll meet him! And if you know of any nannies looking to travel for missions, let us know! We’ll be hiring one for the summer to travel with us.

How are you feeling? Um, large. And oh so tired, but ready to meet this little guy.

Prayer Requests? For healthy delivery and for a smooth transition into a family of 4!

Thank you everyone for your love and support.

-Bethany