Full-term with her third son, our cover māmā Ariel is no stranger to birth, a baby bump – and boys. But how does this pregnancy differ from her previous two?

Mother of two Ariel Vijay (29) lives in West Auckland with her husband Jason and their two sons, Nathan (3) and Micah (1). Their tribe is a beautiful representation of cultures – Ariel being pākehā and Māori, and Jason of Indian heritage. With a life philosophy of “count your own blessings, not someone else’s”, this māmā has navigated her third pregnancy with gratitude top of mind.

SPREADING THE NEWS

“I found out I was pregnant on the day I was due to get my second postpartum period. I’ve always surprised my husband in some way, but this time I thought it would be special to take a test together. He’s never experienced the anxiousness of waiting for a pregnancy test result, so it was fun to be able to go through that together. The next day we took a photo of our youngest son, Micah – who was eight months old at the time – holding the test and sent it to our immediate family to surprise them with the news. I am super-impatient when it comes to surprises and love to plan ahead, so, like our previous two pregnancies, we chose to find out the gender this time, too.”

TESTS AND TRACKING

“With my previous pregnancy, we found out in the later stages that the placenta wasn’t working the way it was meant to, which would put the baby in a dangerously low percentile when it came to his weight. Throughout this pregnancy I was monitored closely to avoid this happening again, and we had monthly growth scans to ensure he was on track. Finding time for the all-important tests and scans during this pregnancy has been extremely difficult; especially with my boys being at such a curious and busy age of wanting to run and explore. Mum guilt due to fatigue and exhaustion is a very real part of this pregnancy. Knowing some days I can’t give my boys all my time and energy that they require and deserve is really hard. Thankfully, I have ... Buy Pregnancy BUMP&baby issue 12 for the full story.