.:Surprise:.

July 21, 2009

Well, we got quite the surprise this morning! Last week, we were on vacation in Oregon. I expected my cycle to start while we were there. But it never happened. I chalked it up to my body still getting back to normal since having Reece. I was also taking birth control pills, so I thought maybe those were messing with my body. We got back this past Sunday, and I kind of figured it would probably start soon. I decided to pick up some hpt's, just to rule out pregnancy.

Surprise! I took the test this morning and it was VERY positive, VERY quickly. I couldn't believe it! I was shaking and crying. I called Josh and told him. He was pretty quiet about it. I think it is just a shock to him - we weren't trying so he wasn't prepared for that news. I think he feels a lot of responsibility, being the provider and still being in school. While it was a shock to me, I can't help but feel so excited. Really, how can we be upset about it given all of the problems we had before we had Reece?

I'm having some cramping and backaches, which are normal, but of course, still freak me out. I'm trying really hard to just sit back and relax. What's going to happen is going to happen, regardless of what I do. It's hard when you've gone through problems before - it really takes away some of that innocence of just being truly excited. But it really is a blessing, and I'm praying that things will go well.

I called a new doctor's office this morning and got an appointment set up for September 1st. I'll be about 11 weeks along at that time. I'm waiting on a call back from the nurse. Since I had an ectopic in the past, and lost one of my tubes, I expect them to do some monitoring at the very beginning to make sure the pregnancy is progressing, and also an ultrasound to see if the baby is in the right spot. Hopefully they will call back soon!

Reece will be just shy of 18 months when the baby comes! I know it will probably be a little crazy for awhile, but I think it will be fun for them to be so close together.

My un-official due date is March 20th!

Now we just have to figure out how we're going to break the news to our families!

July 22, 2009

I got a call back from my doctor's office this morning. My hcg level was 542. Not high enough for an ultrasound yet, but I wasn't expecting it to be. My new doctor want to monitor my levels every 48 hours until they are high enough to have an ultrasound. So I'll go back in tomorrow for another blood draw! I still can't believe this is really happening!

July 23, 2009

I went in today for more blood work. My level came back at 1160, so it has more than doubled since the first blood draw! I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, and just have had sort of a bad feeling about what is going on so I was honestly expecting bad news. I was relieved to find out otherwise! We're definitely not out of the woods yet, but it's a step in the right direction!

The plan now is to repeat the blood work on Monday. It should be well over 2000, which is the level my doctor's office wants it to be at before we do an ultrasound. The higher the level, the more you can see! So assuming we get good news from that blood draw, we will schedule an ultrasound for next week sometime. It will be a great reassurance to see a little baby and beating heart in there. It will also make it seem a lot more real. This all seems so surreal!

July 27, 2009

I went in today for my blood work. It came back at 5810! That has been more than doubling the past four days. I am so excited! We set up an ultrasound for Wednesday afternoon, after Josh gets off of work. I can't wait!

I've definitely been feeling pregnant the past couple of days. I forget how exhausted you are all the time! Chasing a ten month old around probably doesn't help with that either! I've also felt pretty nauseous today. I have been tutoring a boy in our neighborhood, and the smell of the dry erase markers we were using about sent me running! And, poor Josh, I've also been extremely moody! Hopefully everything calms down a little bit! To top it all off, I have a summer cold, and it is miserable. But really, it's hard to complain too much! Most of it is all symptoms that things are going well! Can't wait for Wednesday!!!

July 29, 2009

No news today! We actually ended up pushing the ultrasound back until Friday. We were supposed to have someone come look at our AC today, and it was going to interfere with our ultrasound time. We thought the AC was a priority since it has been getting into the high 80's, and even up to 91 one evening WITH the AC on! Poor Reece is so hot and can't get to sleep. Of course, they didn't end up coming so we could have done it today anyway! But it is okay. I'll be further along on Friday, so we'll hopefully see more, and things have been going so well, that I don't feel way too heartbroken about it! News to come!

July 30, 2009

Yes, I definitely must be pregnant. I can't seem to finish a Diet Coke these days, and prefer water to it! That's not me! Guess this is a good time for me to break my habit....

August 1, 2009

Well, the ultrasound was yesterday. On one hand I was feeling kind of nervous, but on the other, I was actually fairly calm. It was more an attitude of whatever's going to happen will happen, regardless of how much I stress out about it. I think having Reece helps to distract me from freaking out about every little thing. I forget I'm pregnant half the time! So on to the ultrasound. It was...interesting. The tech was a student; I think he was about six years younger than me. He started out on my abdomen, which I figured he would. He couldn't see much besides the gestational sac, which I also figured would happen. He never actually said this, but I'm assuming it was in the right spot! Looked that way to me, and I imagine something would have been said if there was a problem. So then we moved on to an internal ultrasound. I don't know if the ultrasound machine was not the best (hard to imagine, it's a brand new hospital) or what, but the picture just wasn't the greatest. I felt like I was able to see so much more with Reece's early ultrasounds at 6 and 7 weeks. But maybe he just wasn't zooming in all that well. But we did see the yolk sac, and saw a little grain of rice resting on it with the heart pumping away! It was just a little flicker. After that, he moved the screen away from me so I didn't get to see any of the CRL measurements he took. When he was doing my abdomen, measuring the gestational sac, it was only measuring me at six weeks, instead of the seven weeks I should be tomorrow according to LMP. But that doesn't worry me at all. I have no clue when I ovulated - wasn't really paying attention since I didn't think I was going to - so it's very possible/likely that it was later than an average time. So basically, from what I could gather on my own, was that things were great! I'll get the official report from my doctor's office on Monday. I'm hoping then I can get an official due date and see how far along I am. The guy was really nice, but it was just very different from all of the other ultrasounds I've had. I know that techs aren't supposed to diagnose and stuff like that with the scans they take, but every other tech I've had sort of explained what they were doing, explained what they were seeing, made it a point to show the anxious pregnant lady the heartbeat and how fast it was. We didn't even get a picture! But, I shouldn't complain. It looks like things are going well, so I am grateful for that!

August 6, 2009

I spoke with my nurse this past Monday to get the results of my ultrasound. She did confirm that it was in the right place - not in my tube! Always a relief! As I suspected, I was measuring about a week behind where I thought I was based on LMP, so my new due date is March 28th, 2010. It doesn't really worry me or bother me. I kind of figured that was going to happen, and all that matters is that things are going well. I'm keeping my regularly scheduled appointment on September 1st. Hopefully we'll be able to hear the heartbeat at that point!

We are going to wait a bit to tell our families. I'm heading up to Oregon on the 24th of this month, so I'll probably tell my family then. We'll either tell Josh's family before or after I go. Then probably wait until after my first appointment to start telling friends.

I feel strangely calm about this pregnancy. I think before I was pregnant with Reece, it was so stressful because it was so uncertain if I was ever going to be a mother. So once I did get pregnant, I just stressed over every little thing. Now that we've been through it and have a beautiful little girl, it doesn't seem so uncertain. I know that anything can happen, but I feel like we'll be able to handle whatever comes our way. Having Reece really helps to keep me distracted as well! She's a busy little bee!

I'm still feeling really exhausted, and still feeling pretty nauseous a lot of the time. That is kind of new to me - I didn't have that a lot with Reece. Hopefully it doesn't last too long! I'm also forcing myself to get up and exercise still every morning. I didn't lose all of the weight from having Reece, so I definitely don't want to gain as much this time around. I'm also hoping that keeping in better shape throughout my pregnancy will make it easier to lose weight afterwards. We'll see what happens!

August 9, 2009

Top signs that I'm pregnant:

- Diet Coke has been replaced with Sprite Zero (I'm as shocked as you are!)
- Constant lump in my chest like I could run to the bathroom at any time
- Gagging while flossing
- Gagging while changing Reece's diapers
- Wanting to take naps with Reece (I am not a napper at all usually!)
- Feeling fatter already (I don't get this one - it's so early, I'm exercising, and eating less! No fair!)
- Being extremely moody (Sorry Josh!)

But I wouldn't change any of it! What wonderful reassurances that things are going well in there!

August 11, 2009

I had my first baby dream last nite! I dreamt that our new baby is a girl. I delivered her without having to do hardly anything, and she weighed 11 pounds 8 ounces. I'm good with the girl part. Not so good with the 11 pounds 8 ounces part! She looked like Reece, except that she had dark hair. Probably doesn't mean anything, though. I dreamt that Reece was a boy and thought that she was a boy! So much for mother's intuition!

August 16, 2009

Holy nausea! I can't believe how much more sick I am this time around. I hate to complain, because as a paranoid pregnant lady, any symptom that makes it seem like things are going well in there is welcome. Kudos to all the preggos out there that are sick for their whole pregnancies!

This week my skin decided to join the pregnancy party. Hello breakout!

Hoping to break the news to both of our families in about a week. I'm excited to be able to talk about it with them! I keep almost slipping up!

August 30, 2009

Reece and I just got back from a wonderful week in Oregon with my family. We surprised everyone the first day with Reece wearing her Big Sister t-shirt. Sharon noticed right away! No one could believe it. It is such an exciting time. I'm so glad that we are able to talk about it with everyone now! My dad wasn't there, so I sent him a text message with a picture of Reece in her shirt. We had already told Sam and Nikki before we left because I needed help making her shirt!

We also told Josh's family before we left for Oregon. We had gone out to Grantsville to go to the temple dedication with Ken and Kerri, and put Reece in her shirt when she got up from her nap. It didn't take them long to notice either! We also sent a text message with a picture in it to all of his family that wasn't there. I think everyone is about as surprised as we were!

I'm still not feeling great. Pretty nauseous a lot of the time. I had a few really good days, and thought that was the end of it, but I was so wrong! I threw up for the first time up in Oregon, which was not fun at all. I was pretty tired most of the time we were there, and pretty nauseous half of the time we were there, so sorry to Dani for being so lame!

My first appointment is this Tuesday. I'm hoping we'll hear the heartbeat then. I'm 10 weeks today, so there's a good chance we might. I think at that point we'll feel safe to start spreading the news!

September 1, 2009

I had my first doctor's appointment this morning! I didn't feel nervous for it at all, which was surprising for me! I have a new doctor this time around since our insurance changed, and I really like her a lot! She and her nurse are so friendly. We started off just talking through my medical history and going over some of the no-no foods for pregnancy, and the usual weight and blood pressure. (I've lost another pound - guess nausea is good for something!)

After all of that, I got to strip down into my lovely gown. I thought we were just going to do the doppler to hear the heartbeat, but she actually did an ultrasound for me! It was so awesome to see little baby in there moving around and waving. I was actually measuring a week ahead, so more close to my original due date, but she said they were going to leave my due date the same since it is within seven days of the measurement. She also let me hear the heartbeat, and gave me a picture to take home to Josh since he wasn't able to be there. I was also due for my yearly, so she took care of that while I was there. Then it was off to the lab where I had six vials of blood drawn. Yikes!

I've got my integrated scan scheduled in about two weeks, and then my next doctor's appointment is at the end of September. So exciting! It was just great to get good news, get to see the baby, and know that things are going perfectly right now! What a great day!

Here is Baby Andrus #2! It's kind of blurry - it's a picture of a picture. I don't know how to use our scanner...or know if it even works!