Pregnancy for Baby Boy #2, Part 1

I absolutely cannot believe that I am days away from being over half way finished (hopefully) with this pregnancy.

Drew's pregnancy crawled by; it was painfully slow.

Hannah's went significantly faster.

This one has almost been nonexistent!

I haven't blogged much about this pregnancy, but I want to have records for my bouncing baby boy when he gets older and so I can read back over these when I'm 60 and recall what it felt like being pregnant again. (What can I say? I'm a sentimental sap.)

Friday, October 5-- After some crazy cycles and trying for months after our miscarriage, we saw those two pink lines! I told Andrew in our driveway while the kids walked down the street with Grammy. We told the kids (and Grammy) when they came back. Drew's response: "Wow. There is going to be a LOT of crying in our house!" We were thrilled, but my heart wanted desperately to guard itself and not get my hopes up.

Sunday, October 7--We told family in person and friends on facebook. (Because it's not official 'til it's FB official. Our announcement:

"Since we lost our baby in February, God has been so faithful to us. He has grown our trust in Him, secured our peace in Him, and put a new song in our hearts. I could sing of his faithfulness for days.

He continues to pour his blessings on us and has given us the gift of another baby!!! Yes, we are pregnant again! We are still early in the pregnancy, and we obviously pray that this child is healthy and full-term, but we know that God will use whatever situations arise to strengthen our faith in Him. God is good--all the time! Praise Him!"

Started showing in just a couple of weeks. Approx 6 weeks here?

Not too long after, the dreaded spotting began. On top of that, I didn't feel pregnant. Nothing felt normal--or as normal as any of my previous pregnancies had been. There was no nausea, no tiredness, no indigestion--all hallmarkers of pregnancy previously. However, upon receiving an ultrasound we were relieved to find out I had a small subchorionic hemorrhage that was of very little concern. (I also had one with Hannah.) It resolved in just a couple of weeks. We were so thankful!

About 8 weeks

9 weeks pregnant

On October 30 we saw/heard that beautiful heartbeat!-- My FB read, "Saw the flutter and heard the beat of a beautiful little baby's heart today! The feeling of those rare kinds of moments leave an awesome impression on a mama's heart for a long time. We praise YOU, God!" And boy, did we praise Him. 

Around this time I started feeling pretty blah. I wasn't T-totally exhausted like I was with Drew (ie falling asleep head first on the table), but definitely tired. My appetite was about the same--blah. Nothing sounded good except soups. Newks, McAlisters, and Sweet Peppers got a lot of our money. The poor family had a good bit of take out and leftovers. Going to the grocery store was a waste of time; everything I looked at sounded disgusting, and I couldn't bring myself to buy any of it. 

December 12 was an ultrasound. Heartrate in the 170s. I suspected a girl!

 

Around week 15-16 I started feeling better (finally!). My appetite is back and I can pretty much eat whatever everyone else is eating. My energy levels are pretty much back to normal, so I'm back to being a nightowl and late sleeper. :) 

Around 17-18 weeks, I knew for SURE I was feeling baby move. I'm positive now I felt them before this time, but wrote them off as gas bubbles. It was baby!

 On January 10, just days before turning 18 weeks, we had our big ultrasound and found out we had a healthy baby BOY! I was pretty surprised as I'd pegged him for a girl with how relatively easy this pregnancy had been! But we were ecstatic, and Andrew was glad he only had to learn how to handle one little girl's mannerisms instead of two! Haha!

Can't get this to turn around! Argh!

Just shy of 19 weeks, Andrew felt the baby move! At 19 weeks, Drew has felt him move twice. He always wants to know what "that baby" is doing in there, if he's trying to get out, etc. The other day he said, "Mama, when this baby gets here, are you gonna put it in daycare?" I have no idea where that came from since I'm a SAHM, but I assured him this baby would be home with us 24/7!

19 1/2 weeks and feeling HUGE.

 I feel SO MUCH BIGGER than with my other two babies at this point. I feel third trimester huge, but here I sit at only half way baked! The size small maternity clothes are slowly but surely going to the wayside already, and the mediums are feeling MUCH better. As far as weight gain....let's just say it's positive. I'm at 12 pounds already, but I declare I don't eat all day long or eat huge meals! Anyway...I'm trying to be accountable to the scale, but not enough to make me go crazy. I can't wait to start breastfeeding this baby boy so this weight will come on off (I hope....).

Similarities with this pregnancy: not many. Like my pregnancy with Hannah, I now really like to brush my tongue with my toothbrush. I have no idea why, but it's wonderful. It doesn't matter if I gag 10 times. It's great. My heart palpitations and SVT have already reared their ugly heads (near the beginning of the pregnancy, actually), but are once again easily managed by just lying down and taking it easy for a while and avoiding much caffeine.

Differences: Uh, everything? MANY less aversions. Love, love, love the smell of Dawn Foaming dish soap. If I didn't know better, I might lick it off the scrub brush. Much less nausea. Much less cravings. Hardly any indigestion (hallmark of my other two pregnancies). Bigger belly faster. LOTS of weird rashes on my legs at random times. Pregnancy--brings out the weirdest skin issues.

We are starting to make plans for big brother and sister and our living arrangements. We have a 3 bedroom/2 bath house and are doing our best to get the upstairs bonus room/bath finished in the next couple of months. During that time, Andrew is going to start making Hannah a bed just like Drew's. I hope to get her transitioned into a twin bed in her room before moving the two of them upstairs together. We will leave the baby gate at the top of the stairs and put the monitor in their room as well. I'm not positive how this is going to work out, but we're giving it a shot! If that fails, we'll leave Hannah downstairs in her room, move Drew upstairs, and leave baby in Drew's current room downstairs. Andrew's mom stays with us a good bit and helps out a ton, so we'd love to at least give her a bed to sleep in while she's here. (Bless her heart, she's been on the couch for over 2 years now!)

We're reusing Drew's old baby bedding (frugality/frivilousness is always my policy) and baby bed for baby boy #2. Also, Drew and this baby will be born in the same season, so we can reuse clothes! Woohoo!!! So we're really only going to need a new mattress for the baby bed (this one is shot after 4 1/2 years of constant use), a new diaper bag (my Kalencom broke), and a new monitor for this little guy. What a weight lifted off our shoulders!

As far as a name goes, we don't know. We're tossing around lots of options, but none have jumped out as "the" name yet. We're going to have to decide soon though, because I'm getting really tired of calling him "Baby Boy." Drew insists we name this baby "Baby Drew" after him. He also suggested Diego and Dora. We're open to any other suggestions besides those 3! ;)

A very excited brother and sister (she just doesn't know it yet!)

So LOTS going on here in the Laney household! I am a little nervous about having 3, but am confident after a while, things will settle into their new normal routine. I can't wait to hold this boy and smell his hair and nurse him and rub his little hands and feet and KISS HIS FACE OFF! And it will be here before I can turn around!