This is a long one!

Christmas cards went out this week making the big announcement to all of our family that another baby was cooking.  Hopefully this one gets to finish this time.  I am just over 14 wks and and due June 18th (2 days after our 5 year anniversary). So, let me catch you all up on the last two months.

The miscarriage was devastating and I wanted so badly to have the joy of being pregnant back.  I thought I would feel so much better if I could just get pregnant again. Monday, September 10 was the day my monthly friend was supposed to arrive.  She wasn't there in the morning so I took a pregnancy test (I guess I'm not very patient! I don't let anytime pass at all!) and it was positive.  Unlike last time, the line was so faint I could barely see it.  I had to tilt it a certain way and squint a little and then I could see it.  The joy I thought I would have was replaced by extreme fear and a "here we go again" attitude. I called the Dr's office right away because i knew Kim (my midwife) wanted to do testing as soon as I found out.  I was at the hospital in a class most of the day so it would have been convenient for me to get the labs drawn while I was there but of course the office didn't call me back until I was on my way home. She wanted an hcg and progesterone level drawn. I made a quick u-turn back to the hospital hoping there was enough time in the day to get the labs resulted and back to Kim to see if I needed to start on progesterone supplements.  I had one of the nurses on my floor draw my lab (the only one that knew about the previous pregnancy before I miscarried) and we sent them down right away.  The results came back and both levels were low so I started a progesterone supplement that night and was to repeat the labs in 48 hours.  The nurse at Kim's office warned me that the pills would make all the symptoms of pregnancy intensified and would possibly make me sleepy but they had to be taken the same time every day. Not a good thing for a girl that does not have the same sleep schedule every day.  I decided I sleep more often at night than I do during the day so I would take them at night.  The labs 48 hours later were ok but not great. Kim told me to keep taking the progesterone supplements until I was at least 12wks pregnant and repeat the labs every week for the next 3 weeks.  I worked three days in a row that week which normally makes me exhausted by the third night. The pill was terrible to take at work! I was so exhausted I felt like I was going to pass out, I couldn't keep my eyes open literally, it was awful. It would last about an hour or two and then I was fine. I decided that was not going to work at all.  I started taking the pills in the morning. I would take them as soon as I got home from work or Chris would give them to me when he got up in the morning.  He did great and didn't complain one bit. The best part was I didn't have to get out of bed!  Oh, I forgot to tell you how I told Chris.  It wasn't very exciting.  I had been pretty cranky the whole week before so I said, "I know why I've been so cranky...".  He said, "Are you pregnant?" That was it.  Again, the fear of it all was taking over. There was no excitement whatsoever. I was pretty much an emotional wreck that week, Chris will tell you! :) 

See how faint it is!

Wow, this is going to be a long post!  There is so much to tell! Ok, moving on. At 6wks and 4 days Kim wanted a sono (ultrasound) done to make sure everything looked good.

6w4d sono

That little spot that says baby with an arrow pointed to it was flickering away at about 115 BPM.  I felt I could breathe a little easier but knew we were not out of the woods yet. I was a little worried about the heart rate being so slow but the sono tech said it probably just started beating and wasn't concerned about it at all. I continued to have labs drawn and they were not increasing as much as Kim wanted so she did another sono a week and a half later at 8wks.



It's crazy to me how big of a difference there is in just 1 1/2 wks!



Another breath of relief when I saw the heart beating again. This time it was about 150BPM. The baby was measuring a little behind my original due date but right on track from the last sono.  We decided we better tell our parents sometime soon. That week we went to dinner with Chris's parents and brother and told them. Again, not very exciting or creative this time. Chris texted them all a picture of the sono picture.  They were pretty excited. We stopped by my parent's house that same evening and told my parents.  They were also pretty excited. We decided not to tell JanMarie until Jessica came in town for Thanksgiving.

I felt like I was already showing at Thanksgiving and wasn't sure how I was going to hide it. Only a couple of pair of pants fit and the others I had to use a belly band so that I could keep them unbuttoned and slightly unzipped.  Thankfully no one noticed. That night my mom, Jessica, JanMarie and I were all sitting around trying to plan our plan of attack for shopping that night and I said "Can we stop by Babies R'us?  I might need to stock up on a few things." It took a few seconds for them to get it but they finally figured it out.  Of course JanMarie was screaming!

That weekend we had a Christmas bazaar at the church that I was supposed to decorate for on Friday. As I was getting ready to head to the church, I went to the bathroom and noticed the smallest amount of blood but still more than with the last pregnancy.  I freaked out and called the Dr's office. Of course they were closed because of Thanksgiving so I called the hospital to get the number of the midwife on call. Thankfully the nurse that drew my lab answered the phone and was very helpful. The midwife on call called me back and explained that this is probably just normal spotting and not to worry about it.  She could tell I was very worried about it and said to go in for a sono to put my mind at ease. I was terrified that they wouldn't see the heartbeat again but they did! It was about 150-160 BPM and the little thing was squirming all around!

It actually looks like a baby. I think it's a boy.

The following Monday I had an appointment with Kim. I was 11wks and could hear the heart beat on the doppler. It was a great sound!  So far, everything is looking great!