It’s a . . .

healthy baby!!  I think I took those two words for granted with my first two babies, but we learned this time around how so important they are.

On Friday, December 20th, we loaded up the van with our bags packed for Peoria but took a detour to our 18/19 week appointment first with both kids in tow.  The ultrasound felt a little long, but I chalked it up to trying to wrangle two kids while in that small room.  Owen was pretty into it!  And then came the shocker. . .It’s a BOY!I wasn’t sad in the least but, I guess I just had really thought it was a girl because of how sick I was.  Seeing how excited Owen was made it very real instantly!  I immediately started imagining opening all of Owen’s tubs of clothes and getting to use them again.  Ohh the cuteness!So then we headed upstairs to my midwife’s appointment and the nurse said Ellen would be right in.  But then we waited.  And waited.  And in my heart I just knew.  Something wasn’t quite right. 

Several days after I found out I was pregnant, William had a very vivid dream that we had a baby who had down syndrome.  He told me about it immediately but we hadn’t really talked about it since.  Maybe it was simply a way of preparing us for this appointment and all the emotions that came with it.  When Ellen finally came in, she informed us that our little man had choroid plexus cysts.  It is one of the “soft markers” they use for downs and trisomy 18.  She reassured us that the chances of there actually being something wrong were very very small.  And we actually left the appointment with a lot of peace.

We drove to Peoria for Christmas and had planned on having my mom open a big box of balloons the next day when we all opened gifts.  She didn’t know we had our ultrasound moved up.  But when Owen was playing cars with Grandpa, he made a comment about having a brother and with a few more probing questions, my dad had it out of him and us.  So much for the surprise. :)  Oh well. On January 7th, we went back to Carle and met with a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor.  She tech did a much longer ultrasound and then the doctor came in a basically did the same thing again.  Then we went to her office and chatted with her.  While she was nice, you could tell immediately she fell on the conservative side of medicine (a sentiment that has been verified by several people who have dealt with her and a midwife).  The detailed ultrasound showed no other markers or growth issues, so she felt we were pretty much in the clear.
She did offer us a newer blood test which is a 99% accurate screen for chromosomal issues.  William said he was fine without out.  But being someone who just likes information, and since it only involved me giving blood, I went ahead and did it on the way out.

The only super annoying thing that she was looking back through my charts and made me explain all the crazy that happened after Owen’s birth with my heart (see here).  After reading and listening, she said she was going to recommend me going back to the cardiologist.  Which I had already done after Owen and before Ellie’s birth.  She asked if she could schedule that and I said no but I’d be happy to chat with my midwives about it.  It just felt like she was looking for things.  Ugh.

But less than a week later, my blood results came back great!  While I know we could have handled what ever challenges this little man brought us, we are so so thankful that we are having a healthy baby!  Now to compromise on a name.

announcing. . .

Well faithful blog readers, the email just went out to the larger family and you’re the next to know.  This is why the blog has been a bit quiet lately.  I’ve been working on quite the craft project:

We’re having a blob!  Haha.  Well, that’s what the picture below looks like anyways.  But it’s a blog that has a cute little heartbeat and wicked sense of making their momma sick.  Baby Pool #3 is on the way!!

So here's a couple commonly asked questions that I've been asked when people have found out!

When did you find out?

It was our first round of trying this time.  We’ve never been so lucky to have it work the first time.  I think God just shook his head and agreed with my OCD this time.  You see, we have birthdays in Feb (William), March (me), April (Ellie), and June (Owen).  So a birthday in May would have all of our spring months covered.  I know, crazy right.  But it worked!  Haha

I had a few things that made me get my hopes up that I was pregnant and started testing around 7days past ovulation.  At 9DPO on Friday, September 6 I saw two lines on an internet cheapy and then took this:

For dinner that night, I picked up baby’s breath, baby back ribs, baby carrots, and sugar babies.  William was very excited!!Wednesday, September  11 - went and did first round of bloodwork.  I learned my progesterone and HCG was ok!

Monday, Sept 20 - I met with the nurse to fill out all the paperwork and drink the nasty orange drink for my second major round of bloodwork.

Friday, October 4 – had my first ultrasound and saw a beautiful heartbeat (156 bmp).  Also had my first midwife appointment with Carissa, the newest addition to the midwife team.

When are you due? 
There was a little debate as I have really LONG cycles and they had me due around May 8.  But I knew exactly when I ovulated (well, within a day or so) and the ultrasound confirmed my dating.  So May 21st it is.    That means that Ellie and her little brother or sister will be about 25 months apart.

So, how far along does that make you?
I'm in week 8!

How are you feeling?
Well, I've been trying really hard not to complain.  Because I am so so thankful that it took no time at all this round to get pregnant and that things are working so far.   So this will be my one time shot to say that I have been SO sick, maybe even worse than I had with Ellie.  (can you say girl again maybe?)  I’m on Zofran and an additional drug for the nights that makes me sleepy.  It’s helped marginally but I’m still puking, losing weight, and being a slug of a mom.  William has been a rock star and has stepped up with everything else that’s falling apart around here including food prep, cleaning, and keeping the kids alive.  Just praying me through until second trimester.  I’m looking forward to eating anything besides Saltine crackers!

Will you find out the sex (and tell us)?
Yes and yes.  We'll be finding out late December and will definitely share the news!  I love that all “pressure” is off for the this baby.  Boy or girl, we’d be thrilled.  I’d love for O to have a brother and E to have a sis.  I’d love to open Owen’s tubs of clothes again but all of Ellison’s hair bows could use another use.  So either way, it’ll be great!

Prayers Needed

We do need to ask for prayers for one more thing.  During the ultrasound, they found a small 1 cm subchorionic hemorrhage/hematoma.  It’s basically the pooling of blood between the chorion, a membrane surrounding the embryo, and the uterine wall.  She tried to make me not scared saying it doesn’t greatly increase our chances for miscarriage, but she would be surprised if I didn’t bleed.  So we have a plan for how much blood warrants a call/visit to the ER, etc.  Definitely makes me nervous,.  So just pray it heals up and doesn’t get any bigger!

Ok, I think that's it for now.  I’ve already started getting excited for the his/her birth story!  We are so thankful it took such a short time for it to work and we're in love with this little peanut already!