Feelings on a Third Child
Bug = 3 years 6 months
Bub = 1 year 8 months Linus at this age
Bud = 9 days – Ada at this age – Ada at this age
STANDARD DISCLAIMER: Of course whether it’s a boy or a girl, my baby is my baby and I’ll be delighted with him/her either way. I love all my kids differently, but tremendously and equally.
Boy or Girl?
During this pregnancy, my preference was very slightly on Bud being a boy for a couple of reasons:
- It would mean that Bud – while closer in age to Ada – would have something in common with Linus; and
- It felt like Linus would be “special” as my oldest, Bud as my “baby”, and Ada as my “girl”. If Bud were a girl, Ada would lose that “specialness” and perhaps get a bit lost as middle child.
However as time progressed, it eventuated that Bob and I had come up with a name that we both loved and were 100% happy with for a girl, but we were struggling to feel nearly as comfortable with any of names we’d come up with for a boy. So this evened out my preference a little.
In the end I decided that, for variety’s sake, I’d like either a blue-eyed boy or a brown-eyed girl (i.e. a different model from Linus and Ada). Now I just have to wait a few more months to find out what colour Bud’s eyes turn out!
Freak
As soon as I was expecting a third child, I suddenly felt abnormal. Bob and I are both from two child families, as are three of our four parents. My three main mummy friends have all had two children, and seem to have finished their baby-making.
Since many of my mummy friends and acquaintances have an oldest child the same age as or younger than Linus, I’m sure a few of them will end up having three, but this seems relatively uncommon these days. I have a list in my head of the few mums of 3+ I know so I can pick their brains about how to handle more kids than you have hands.
Three?!
I haven’t been too nervous about how I’ll handle three kids. Just like the move from one to two, there are lots of practical challenges, but these are far less traumatic than the psychological effects of the initial transition from none to one were for me.
I get a lot of pleasure from my gorgeous kids, and am mostly looking forward to having another one to enjoy 
Although to be honest, when Linus and Ada came into the delivery suite and I saw my three children together for the first time, I’m sure I remember looking wide-eyed at Bob and saying with not a little trepidation “There’s THREE of them!!”.
