And so it begins! Second time around, these baby bump updates will come about every month, I am thinking.
So, we've been through this once before already, so what's different?
We'll start with how we found out. We had been trying to get pregnant for a few months, so I was tracking everything very closely, looking for any clue that I thought I was pregnant. Near the end of February, I just had a feeling this was the month! The previous months I had gotten a migraine about 4 days before my period, and then was incredibly moody/prone to crying 3 days before. Never have I had such bad PMS previously....This month, there was no migraine or moodiness! So I tried to wait to take the pregnancy test, but simply couldn't wait! I took it one morning after Jed had gone to work, and lo and behold, there were two faint lines! Luckily, the test instructions had various pictures of what a positive test may look like, including one that looked like mine, with lines you could hardly see, or else I would not have thought I was actually pregnant.
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| You can hardly even tell there is a second line... but there is! |
I wanted to tell Jed in some special way, and so I decided to make some Asian cuisine for dinner and make some fortune cookies with a special message inside, telling him we were pregnant. I definitely chose the wrong recipe for those fortune cookies, because they did not cooperate. I got some good ones, though, so my plan was working! I typed up a ton of different messages, some silly and some obvious. "I foresee a lot more diapers in your future." "Joy will come to your family on October 29th" "A new addition will be coming to your family in about 9 months." One for Chris: "You will soon be a big brother!" So the time came when dinner was over, and Jed started to get up without eating his fortune cookie! I tried to stop him without seeming suspicious.... which is hard for me. I'm no good at keeping my face straight when it comes to surprises. So when he read his, Jed just looked at me with a face that said "Is this what I think it is?," obviously not wanting to read too much into it but at the same time, wanting to. So I handed Chris' cookie to him and then mine (mine said "We're pregnant") and while he had to take a second to get over the shock, then he came and gave me a big hug. He was very excited and happy, just as I hoped he would be.
The three fortune cookies say:
"Soon life will become more interesting. Perhaps it will be a girl this time?" (Jed's)
"You will soon be a big brother!" (Obviously this one was Chris's)
"We're pregnant!" (Mine)
Telling the rest of the family wasn't quite as creative. I feel silly doing it in creative ways, so we ended up just telling most everyone without any pomp or creativity. A few weeks after we found out, though, we were going to Disney World with my family, so I ordered a t-shirt for Chris that said he would be a big brother, and on the first day there he wore that to announce it to my parents.
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| "Someday I'll drive a big tractor, but for now I'm going to be a big brother!" |
Well, that's quite the long story! So what's different this time around?
Sickness: Last time I was threw up every time I brushed my teeth, as well as if I didn't snack enough. This time, I had about a month period where I was sick all day long. No throwing up, just nausea and gross feelings all the time. And nothing really seemed to help more than once. I tried various things: ginger ale or sprite, mints, ginger essential oil, peppermint oil, eating, constant snacking, laying down, moving, etc. Sometimes those things would help, sometimes they wouldn't. So the doctor prescribed Zofran, which surprisingly did absolutely nothing. Then they prescribed Reglan, which they said might make me sleepy. So I took it with dinner a couple nights in a row, and while it did help, for the next five or so hours after taking it, I had an insatiable appetite. I would literally have three full size meals every evening. So that wasn't going to fly, so I stopped that. Crazy thing is, my nausea stopped too. Now, as long as I don't go too long withtout food, I rarely feel sick. I gag when I brush my teeth, but I have only thrown up once, one afternoon when I took a nap and didn't eat lunch. So, I'm feeing pretty great now.
Headaches: If you remember, last time I had headaches and migraines often. This time, it is no different. However, nothing will take my headaches away (believe me, I've tried it all) except tylonol and caffenated soda. I've been drinking a lot of Vanilla Coke these days. Even that, though, has not always helped, so I have a prescription for migraines. It helps, but the first time it just seemed to lessen the migraine to a slight headache, not quite getting rid of it. The headaches are caused by high blood pressure, I believe, so unless that can get under control, I can look forward to many more headaches and migraines over the next five months.
Cravings: Fruit (mostly chocolate covered fruit), and cinnamon/sugar anything. I crave cinnamon rolls a lot, but have yet to make those. I really should. I made an apple crisp with caramel and it was super good for my cravings. I'm actually kind of shying away from chocolate these days, unless it is accompanied by fruit, and then I will eat a lot! So, sweet things are what I'm craving.
Other fun things:
- I started showing much eariler this time around. The maternity clothes had to be unpacked around 12 weeks. I'm loving the cute shirts, and I have a few maxi dresses so I can survive the summer. I'm loving the maxi dresses!
- Does Chris know anything is going on? Doubtful. This week he finally pointed to my belly and said, "baby," as I've been trying to get him to do for a while. However, I don't think he realizes my growing belly is actually a baby.
- I have been feeling the baby for a while. Like around the end of the first trimester, I swore I could feel the baby. It happened at the same time every evening, this little whirring in my belly. Based on the ultrasounds we have had, this baby is a mover. So, I'm surprised I could feel it so early, but I'm definitely feeling this baby.
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| I believe this is an ultrasound from 12 weeks. |
As you may have noticed referenced earlier, I indeed have high blood pressure. It is higher sooner than it was when I was pregnant with Chris. So, for now, the doctor is calling it pregnancy induced hypertension, and I won't go on medication for it yet, but that is probably coming my way soon. I was pretty bummed about the strong possibility of having pre-eclampsia again, but I decided to let it happen as it may. If I have to go on bed rest, so be it. We are in a great ward where I already feel I have a lot of people to turn to for help to watch Chris if that happens. If I have to deliver early, so be it. Perhaps my body will be more ready for labor this time around. And if we have a c-section again, so be it. As long as the baby and I can come out of this pregnancy healthy, the method of getting us there is not as important.
I will end with the most dramatic moment of the pregnancy. April 12th was a great day where we had a night out celebrating Jed's birthday. We came home, went to bed, but weren't asleep yet (our nightly iPad time lol) when I had to get up for a snack (about midnight). I stood up and there was blood everywhere. I ran to the bathroom and took note of the situation. Blood and tissue (or blood clots-I don't know how to tell the difference) was pouring out of me. I was sure I was miscarrying. At this point I was 11 weeks along. Jed and I were both pretty much in shock. I was shaking and Jed was silently cleaning/thinking. I called the on call dr, who sent us to the ER. Before leaving, Jed gave me a blessing. Not much was said, but the main idea from the blessing was that I would have the Spirit with me as I went through this difficult time. In our minds, that just confirmed that the miscarriage was happening. We dropped Chris of at Jed's parent's house, and went to the ER. We waited in the waiting room for over an hour, maybe an hour and a half, and then waited on a bed in the hallway of the ER for another half hour or so. While waiting, I had to give a urine sample, and when doing that I noticed that, while I was still passing tissue, the blood flow had slowed down a ton. That, combined with the fact that I was not cramping, gave me the teensiest bit of hope. So, after much waiting, we were wheeled to the ultrasound room. We were sitting there in silence when the technician says, "Well the baby's heartbeat looks nice and strong." Jed and I both were shocked into silence for a few seconds before I asked, "There's still a baby in there?" And indeed there was, and it was moving around a ton, like a healthy little baby. Shocking. Amazing. We spent another few hours in the ER while the dr waited for my blood test results and for who knows what reasons, but we were incredibly grateful. And incredibly tired--physically and emotionally. I was put on bedrest until the bleeding stopped (which it did Sunday night). We were actually supposed to give talks in church that day, but with no sleep and me on bedrest, we had to call them last minute and cancel. Thank goodness the missionaries were kind enough to step in. I was on bed rest until I saw my doctor a few days later for my already scheduled 12 week appointment, and then I was just to take it easy until I had my genetic testing ultrasound the next Monday, where they confirmed all was well. The doctor has no idea why there was blood, let alone sooo much blood. We feel incredibly blessed we got to keep this baby. I don't pretend to understand what it is like to go through a miscarriage, seeing as I only experienced the first shocking moments of one. I don't know why we got to keep our baby and others don't. But, my overwhelming feeling through this entire experience, trying to get pregnant and almost losing the baby is just that it is all part of God's plan and God's timing. We may not like everything that happens, but one day we will understand why these trials were given to us and why we were spared other trials.
So that my friends, is how the first trimester has gone. It has been completely different than that last pregnancy, and I can only imagine it will continue to be that way. I'leave you with a picture of my growing belly, taken at 16 weeks and I believe 4 days. You can see that my belly is much longer and not so much a round ball, like it was last time. Although it kind of makes me cringe to compare, here I am last pregnancy at 16 weeks.
