To start... We couldn't be more excited for this little one to join our family! This is baby at 9 weeks and 3 days.
I'm going to start at the beginning. December 2010- We met with the Perinatologist to see what they thought about us having another baby. Dr. Feltovich is the specialist we chose to follow us through our pregnancy. We love her and cannot say enough good things about her! We spent an hour talking with her about Dylan's pregnancy, my health, medications, tests to run, and a plan for the next time. It was interesting hearing some things about last time that I didn't know. Like the fact that they did a study of my placenta after I had Dylan and it had too many strokes to count. WHAT. How have I never heard this? She said that basically my blood pressure was so high that my placenta was seizing and stroking constantly. She then proceeds to tell us that I would have been dead in a few days and that she can't figure out how Dylan wasn't still born. I mean I knew I was sick and I felt like I was dying, but to have someone tell you that was a bit strange. As I noticed Jeff going pale sitting next to me I wanted to say Gee thanks...now I'm never going to talk him into having another one. But...we made a plan, decided on all the doctors that would be involved, scheduled tests on my kidneys, changed my blood pressure medications, and then she told us that she would do her best to keep me pregnant as long as possible, but wouldn't almost let me die again. Good plan doc! So the next few months I went through the tests, met with all the doctors to be involved, and was sicker than a dog trying to get used to my new meds. It turns out that my kidneys are working great and they can't find a reason why my blood pressure never went back to normal after having Dylan. Which is great news, but probably means that I will always have Hypertension problems. Now the goal was to try to talk Jeff into having another one. It was not happening folks. March rolled around and Dylan started having some medical problems and was really hard pretty much until June. I'm talking HARD. We were changing some medications with him and running a lot of tests. It was an extremely stressful couple of months. I finally gave up even bringing up another baby to Jeff because he wouldn't talk about it. The end of June we decided that it would be best to put the baby idea off until next year.
Well... baby 2 decided otherwise.
July 19th I realized that I was 2 days late. I rummaged through the closet in the bathroom and found one digital pregnancy test. Not possible...but I'll just take it since I have one I thought. So I do my thing and go to set it on the counter for the 3 minutes that it is supposed to take. It flashes PREGNANT before I can even set it down. WHAT?! Where is the NOT? So I sat down on the tub in shock and stared at it for who knows how long. I started laughing and told myself it must be a false positive. So I packed Dylan up and we went to the store. I bought 3 boxes of pregnancy tests, all different brands. Some with lines, some with the plus sign, and some digital. Just in case we bought 2 onesies- a girl one and a boy one. We came home and I peed in a cup and put all of the tests in the cup. I lined them up on the counter and sat down for a few minutes. This was the moment of truth..If all 5 come up positive then it must be true. I looked- It was for real all positives!!!! So I started the prep. I wrapped the onesies, Dylan's big brother shirt, and one of the many pregnancy tests. Then I called Jeff and told him that we bought him a present when we were out and about today and even wrapped it. He said oh what is the occasion. I responded with...no reason just because we love our daddy! Then we waited for Dad to get home. I wish that I would have videoed his face when it dawned on him. LOL. He pulled out the first onesie and had a strange look, but the time he pulled out the second he slowly said..."Are you serious?" SURPRISE! We are super excited and nervous for this little one.
This pregnancy has been different than the last. I haven't been as sick as I was with Dylan. I am still nauseated, but not all of the time. I am SO tired though. Just flat out exhausted all of the time. My sciatic is killing me already. It started at 8 weeks and some days I can hardly walk. And...I am showing, like visibly pregnant and I'm 14 weeks. It is crazy. I didn't really show with Dylan until 20 weeks. I guess it it different the 2nd time around.
My cravings have been cucumbers, popsicles, and passion paradise roxberry juice. I have literally probably eaten over 100 cucumbers! Luckily my parents had a ton in their garden.
I have had several appointments with the OB, one with the Perinatologist, and 2 ultrasounds. Things are looking good so far. The specialist did an extensive ultrasound at 9 weeks. Baby looked perfect! The ultrasound at the Maternal Fetal Medicine office is AMAZING. You can see everything. The baby was moving a lot, it waved at us and crossed it's little legs. It was so fun to see it! I am taking aspirin along with my other meds to thin my blood. If things get worse we may start heparin shots to try to protect the placenta. We are just taking everything as it comes this time. No surprises. I am being watched like a hawk and monitoring my blood pressure at home. The plan/hope is to get me to 32 weeks and then be happy for each week we get after that. I am hoping for at least 34. They say most likely they will induce me at 37 weeks if I make it that far. But...March 25th is the official due date which is also our anniversary. We really really hope to make it to at least February. Since we have found out about this baby Dylan has made so much progress and has been so much easier. We hope it continues! Dylan loves to give my belly kisses and when you ask him if it is a baby sister or a baby brother he says "its a baby mister". We think he means sister since he has no problem saying brother. We will know very soon. Our next ultrasound with the specialist is on OCT. 7th! I will be 2 days shy of 16 weeks and she said that we will be able to tell the gender. We can't wait. We just hope the peanut still looks perfect!
