THINK PINK!!!!

That's right, folks. . .it's a GIRL!!! GG got her wish and is having a baby sister. We are all very excited. Everything was good on the ultrasound. She had her little ankles crossed and her knees pressed together when we started, so I was afraid she wouldn't show her stuff. Fortunately, we had an awesome tech who "irritated" her with the probe until she squirmed around and gave us a good shot. She's measuring just over 11 oz. right now. YAY for baby girls!!!

18 weeks, 6 days. . .

And all is well. I feel huge already and I don't remember feeling this way when pregnant with GG. It already feels like my lungs are compressed and all my organs are sitting in my chest. I'm a little concerned because I know that can only get worse from here!

Our "big" ultrasound is scheduled for Friday at 1:30 and I'm so impatient! Two days seems like forever, but then I've already waited weeks. Crazy, huh? So, if Baby #2 cooperates and doesn't have a sudden attack of modesty, we should know if there's a boy or girl in there sometime Friday afternoon!! After I call all the folks on the list, I will definitely post here. For poor GG's sake (see previous post), I kinda hope it's a girl, but we'll be thrilled either way!

17 Weeks, Nothing to Report!

I've been neglecting my blogs lately, so sorry for those of you who read regularly! I'm solidly working through the second trimester now, 17 weeks, 2 days today. The nausea and vomiting is finally over, but it lasted through week 16! Our big ultrasound is scheduled for May 29th and we are all excited to see a healthy baby and to find out if it's a boy or girl. I'm still not sure if I've felt movement yet, thinking I have but wondering if it's gas. Hopefully it will become more pronounced soon. I love feeling my baby move. It's the best feeling ever.

GG continues in her excitement. She has set her heart on a baby sister, and we have been trying to prepare her for the possibility that she may not get what she wants. She refuses to hear of it. I explained the ultrasound process to her, telling her the things they'll measure and how they will tell if it's a boy or girl. She informed me at breakfast this morning that if "it's a vagina, I'll be happy." I almost spit out my breakfast cereal from laughing. I hope she's not disappointed, but I'm sure she'll adjust if she is. I reminded her yesterday that she loves her baby friends Caleb and Luke. She replied, "I like them Mom, I wouldn't say I love them." Again, sometimes she is a funny little girl.

I'll try to do better on my updates. Thanks for reading!

Doppler

Well, I ignored my good friend, Sara's advice (see comment on my prior post-sorry, Sara!) and bought a home doppler. I got it from Smartmomma.com and paid for expedited shipping (I'm SO impatient) so I got it today. I then spent the better part of 20 minutes searching for the baby's heartbeat, which I found several times, but never for more than 5 seconds or so. The thing didn't come with a battery so I "borrowed" one from our smoke detector, which probably isn't at full power, so I couldn't get the display screen to accurately count the beats. It kept saying crazy stuff like 70 and 82, but I could clearly hear that it was a rapid baby heartbeat. So I checked with the clock (counted for 10 seconds, then multiplied by 6) and it was actually 156 bpm-which is normal.

I mashed around so long and so hard (and was covered in the stupid gel stuff when I was done) that I actually made my skin sore, so I spent the next hour or so being worried that I may have harmed the baby somehow. I'm over it now, as I'm sure he or she is fine inside the little sac of fluid, but I'll probably only check for the HB once every few days just to be safe. 15 weeks today, YAY!

Checking In-14 weeks, 4 days

I realized today that my worry level must have decreased a bit because I haven't felt the need to blog about it in a while. I think I'm feeling a tiny bit of movement, but really can't be sure because it's so early. How excited I will be when I start feeling regular kicks! I can hardly wait.

GG is too excited for words (well, not really, anyone who knows her know she's never without words). She asks questions about the baby every day-how big, where in my tummy, can the baby taste that? etc. She suffers from a little worry also, which I'm sure is normal after a loss. The other day, she was hanging on me or something and I told her to stop because it made my tummy hurt. She backed up immediately with worried eyes and said, "You mean it might make the baby die?" I assured her that nothing she could do would make the baby die, and she looked relieved. I felt bad for saying anything that might lead her down that thought path.

I'm still getting sick, which is actually just making me mad now. I thought I remembered all sickness abating at 14 weeks with GG, but then again, it may have been at the end of the 14th week. I'm holding out hope. I didn't throw up for two whole days and thought maybe it was over, then it came back with a vengeance Saturday morning and all day long on Sunday. Today it was just the morning, which is much easier to handle. I really hope I'm not sick the whole 9 months. I am not a good sick person.

Overall, all is well. I'm contemplating renting a home doppler unit so we can listen to the baby's heartbeat whenever we want. When I'm feeling a bit anxious, I could just quickly make sure it's still beating, and I like instant gratification. I'll blog about it if I decide to order one. I would pester my doctor a lot less!

We Made It!!!

Well, the baby officially made it through the first trimester. Ultrasound today at 12 weeks, 6 days showed that all is well. Heart rate is 161 bpm, CRL is 13 weeks, 3 days. God is good!

We took GG out to dinner tonight to tell her the news. It was so much fun. We ordered our drinks and after they came she was anxious to get her food (Chinese buffet). We had told her in the car that we had a surprise for her. I told her to sit still a minute and wait, that I had something to show her. I handed her the ultrasound picture and she said rather loudly, "You have a BABY!!" I told her yes. She reiterated, "There's a BABY in your tummy???" When we again told her there was she started squealing and giggling madly. It was the most adorable thing.

We came home and she called her friend, Lily to tell her the news. They giggled about it on the phone. Then I showed her the DVD of the ultrasound from today. She restarted it about 10 times, talking about how cute the baby is and how much she already loves it. She asked if the doctor was measuring the heartbeat to make sure it is healthy and doesn't die like our "other" baby. I said that's why the doctor watches and measures. I told her we hope that doesn't happen this time. She is absolutely ecstatic. I have one special girl on my hands.

Today Is The Day

. . .and I'm a nervous wreck. Part of me is excited in anticipation of telling GG the good news tonight. Another part of me is terrified that I'm going to get bad news at my appointment. I've made it till lunch, which when I got up this morning seemed impossible. Now just three and a half more hours till I have the ultrasound (or until I go to the appointment, which could end up with an hour wait before I get the ultrasound).

I will say, I talked with two really good friends and my sister-in-law yesterday briefly. They all told me they would be praying for me last night and today. For the last few nights, I've had visions of horrible news dancing in my head and dreams. Last night, as I lay there in bed on the cusp of sleep, I found myself daydreaming about the actual birth experience with this little one, nursing him or her for the first time. . .and then I jolted. Where did those thoughts come from? I suddenly had this unexplainable certainty that someone was praying for me. And it didn't stop there! I dreamt last night that the ultrasound went beautifully and the baby looked great.

This may not seem like a big deal, but considering that I've had horrible, tormenting nightmares about different miscarriage scenarios for the last three or four nights, I think it is a miracle. So. . thanks to all my prayer warriors out there. And thanks to all my awesome friends. Just as I was on the verge of freak out this morning, I got an e-mail from a friend reminding me of the scripture I posted on here a few days ago from Psalm 139:16. It was a timely reminder that I'm not the one in control. I've had it open on my desktop reading it every 15 minutes or so ever since.

I'll post again later tonight-hopefully with great news!