the big reveal

We've known whether we're having a boy or girl for seven days now.  For those who are family or on facebook, you already know, but for my loyal readers, I dearly apologize for taking so long to post the gender reveal.  Ty got sick and it took him down hard (and I'm pretty sure its taking me with it now).  Enough suspense...

Although she remains nameless, baby girl is doing just perfect.  We had our ultrasound last week with Texas Children's and once again it was a phenomenal experience.  We got to watch her wiggling all over for a good 45+ minutes.  Besides enjoying the show, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to lay still in the middle of the day with no one asking me for anything.  They have a nice linen covered bed with a pillow to lay on, in a dimly lit room...they're lucky I didn't fall asleep!  Being that this was the anatomy ultrasound we  got to see the works.  Within minutes of starting the tech asked us if we wanted to know what we were having.  Um, yes please!  She said she would let us know as soon as she could see anything, but first she was going to start on the heart.  Next thing out of her mouth was, "oh the legs just crossed...wait a minute...its a girl!"  She even stopped what she was measuring to go show us her goods.  Definitely a girl!  Everything measured well, exactly where it should be.  Ty always measured ahead of his due date, especially in his head circumference, but baby girl looks to be right on time.  All body parts measured anywhere from 20w3d to 21w4d, and I was exactly 21 weeks at the time.  Her head, just like big brothers, is perfectly round.  Heart looked perfect, showing all 4 chambers and beating away.  They did a couple of averages because the baby was busy that morning.  On average, her heart rate was 155bpm.  Way higher than Ty's at this point.  Her spine is forming perfectly.  We got to see her bladder, stomach and kidneys.  We also got great images of her arms, legs, hands and feet.  Beautiful little blessing!  Busy is an under statement though.  I have mentioned before that she seems to be moving much more and much earlier than Ty at this time.  Now I know why!  At one point we could see five fingers spread out over hear cheek, then the next time she got a shot of her head, her knee was next to her face and foot way over her head!  It made me laugh out loud.  Overall it was a wonderful experience and we were left with such good feelings in our hearts about this baby's future.

sweet girl's profile

a little freaky, but here's her face...she's waving lol

little piggies

Not sure if I posted this already, but around 19 weeks, Cooter was able to feel her move on the outside for the first time.  I'll be 22 weeks tomorrow and in just 3 short weeks, baby girl has become so much more active.  As I was laying down to go to sleep last night, Cooter reached for my hand, which was on my belly.  He could feel her moving over and over again.  You can see movement on the outside already too.  I keep trying to get Ty to feel her, but he isn't really still enough to wait for it.  Sister is a night owl too.  Although I feel her throughout the day, the evenings and middle of the night are her exercise time.

here's me the morning of our ultrasound...21 weeks

We are beyond thrilled that we're having a girl.  Of course, the planner in me already had bedding picked out for both a boy and girl prior to our ultrasound.  The girl bedding was on sale though, so as soon as we got home from the ultrasound, I was online making a purchase!  Should be delivered today (although I have nothing I can do with it right now, it just excites me to see something PINK in the house )!  I also hit up a great consignment sale last Friday.  I scored huge on clothes that were barely worn and some still had tags on them!  I had my stroller piled with newborn and 3 month clothes, but had to get going because Ty had a dr appointment.  I ended up with 20+ outfits for $40.  I had a huge itch to go back, but Ty was not doing well following his appointment.  Cooter happened to get home early that day, so I shot back off to the sale to shop some more!  I ended up getting 31 onesies/tops, 11 pairs of pants (many are outfits with the onesies/tops), 4 pairs of jammies, 3 sleep sacks, and 2 burp cloths for $97.  I was so proud of my finds!  They are nicely sorted into size and folded in the guest room awaiting the move of the nursery furniture.  So much fun!

As I mentioned before, this sweet baby remains nameless.  We had Ty's name picked out before I got pregnant.  I had been compiling a list of names for the past month or so, but between Cooter and myself, we vetoed several and narrowed it down to 3 or 4.  We have looked at countless lists of baby names.  Friends and family keep sending us name suggestions.  We must decide soon.  Last night we narrowed it down to 2.  Cooter keeps telling me I can choose from here because he feels like he named Ty.  I'm freaking out because its such a huge decision!  I secretly have a favorite in my head, just not ready to announce it just yet.  I will give you the final two (middle names are not set in stone just yet)...

Elliot Leigh (we will call her Ellie)
Annie Marie

Thoughts, opinions?!?

transition

We bit the bullet and converted Ty's crib into a toddler bed.  A very sad mommy moment when your baby is (sort of) out of their crib.  We did it now because I'm just getting too pregnant to lean over the railing to lay him down once he's asleep.  Its not only uncomfortable for me, but it almost always wakes him up.  We'd also like to avoid buying a new crib for the baby.  In case you're wondering, no our child still cannot go to sleep on his own.  Our fault, yes, but up until now, I hadn't ever regretted my choice to hold and/or rock him to sleep.  Now I feel like I'm running out of time to teach him to sleep on his own before the baby gets here.  I don't have enough arms to rock them both!  Maybe if we evolved and mothers grew pouches like kangaroos, I could just keep a kid in there.  Weird, but I guarantee most moms would find great use out having a pouch!

Anyway, I have waited as long as I possibly could to make the move because Ty sleeps through the night so well in his crib.  I also know based on the condition of his blankets and such that he moves all over the place while he sleeps.  So I really wasn't in a hurry to take the crib away.  However, it got to the point where I either woke him up laying him down (and he completely panics at the thought of being alone when trying to put him to sleep), or I waited for Cooter to lay him down for me.  Cooter has been traveling a lot for work, so that has meant a lot of sleepovers for Ty in my bed while Daddy is gone.  I love snuggling with my baby boy, but we do NOT sleep well together.  He moves so much and inevitably has to be touching me at all times, whether that means sleeping RIGHT next to me or just laying on me however he should get comfy.  I dealt with it for a while, but the bigger I've gotten, the harder it is for me to move, much less sharing a bed with a toddler.  After another sleepless night, I went to Baby's R Us the next day and bought a bed rail.

Ty has a convertible crib, meaning we can use it as a toddler bed, day bed, and eventually a full-size bed.  We haven't ever bought the extra parts for the toddler bed or full-size version.  I actually saw the cheap bed rail working better than the $80 toddler rail conversion kit they sale for his crib.  So we converted his crib to the daybed option and placed the rail alongside the opening.  Its only been 2 nights, but so far, so good.

As soon as we broke the bed down, Ty jumped into his crib, giggling at the fact that he just climbed into his own bed all by himself.  I was feeling very hopeful.  After we installed the bed rail and put him in, he started to freak out as usual.  Its funny, he can wake up in the night and put himself back to sleep without any fussing, but trying to get him to sleep from the start is impossible!

Never fear, I had a master plan...kind of.  We were done doing the bedtime routine in momma's room.  Stories would be read and we would be putting him to sleep in his room.  I refuse the move the rocking chair into his room because I'm still faced with the same problem...I can't lay him down.  The first night got off to a bad start.  My mom had called and while I was on the phone with her, Ty fell asleep in Cooter's lap in the living room.  Cooter attempted to lay him down twice and both times he woke up and freaked out.  So I took him into his room and sat on the floor with him in my arms while I tried to figure out how to get him in his crib.  There was no way I would get up off the floor once he was asleep without waking him.  So I laid the rail down, laid him in his bed, he started crying, but I laid my head on his bed too and eventually he laid down with me.  Cooter spent close to an hour putting him to sleep and unsuccessfully laying him down, and I spent about 45 minutes getting him to sleep...altogether, bedtime took us 2 hours that night.  Within 10 minutes of me leaving the room he woke up.  Luckily he hasn't tried to get out of bed yet.  We let him fuss a minute and he went back to sleep.  He woke up 3 more times that night, crying hard.  So sad.  It never gets easier listening to your kid cry.  We held our ground because if this was like any other sleeping issue we've ever had, Ty has to do it on his own.  Last night was night #2.  We read our stories in his room, then I laid him in his bed.  He cried and tried to get up, but I got a big pillow and leaned on his bed and started reading one of my personal books with just his closet light on.  He laid beside me while I was reading, but since this book has no pictures and didn't interest him, he fell asleep pretty quickly.  He was comforted having me near and hearing my voice.  After he was out, I snuck out of the room and was shocked to learn it was only 8:18pm.  I felt like freaking supermom!  He didn't make a peep all night long.  He slept until 6:30am.  I'll take it!

Another reason for the ol bed switcheroo was because Ty quit napping in his room ages ago.  Fine and dandy for now, but again I feel like a ticking time bomb with  this baby coming in just over 4 months.  Not only, is there is no way he's going to stay asleep for a nap in the living room floor while I have a baby crying or playing, or just taking care of baby things, but I won't be able to carry or lift him for at least a month after my c-section.  I highly doubt they will be on the same sleep schedule for quite a while!  Yesterday was the first day I attempted naptime in his bed.  I will admit, I rocked him to sleep first and carried him to his room.  I successfully laid him down and he stayed asleep an hour and a half by himself.  I ended up holding and rocking him the last 30 minutes of his nap.  Major progress though!  Half the time he wakes up after that amount of time when he's on the floor too.  Today I did the same thing and knock on wood...he's been asleep in his bed for almost an hour and a half now.  I know I've eventually got to get him to fall asleep in his room for naps too, but we'll continue taking baby steps.

You know you're a mom when you just blogged 6 solid paragraphs about your son sleeping.  LOL.

anatomy scan scheduled!

Well, Texas Children's called with my referral to schedule our anatomy scan.  I was oh so hoping for an appointment next week, but the soonest they could get me in was March 7.  So, 14 days and counting...  Yeah, yeah, its only one week later, but I am becoming ridiculously anxious to know what this sweet little thing is.  I'm tired of saying "it" and referring to "the baby."  Not that we have any names picked out yet, but him or her sure would sound nice.  By the way, we seriously have no names picked out yet.  We really don't discuss much baby stuff the first trimester due to our past history, and the one time we started to talk about it, Cooter pretty much vetoed every name I threw out there.  Since then we agreed to disagree and wait until we knew if it was a boy or girl and narrow down from there.  I've been making a list on my phone ever since...

This baby is on the move every day and getting stronger!  I don't have to be sitting still to feel it move anymore.  I love that feeling.  In the evenings I get kicks hard enough that I reach down to see if I can feel it on the outside yet.  Although sometimes I'm in denial that its just my own pulse in my fingertips, I'm pretty sure I felt a kick last night.  Cooter was already sleeping, so hopefully I can coax the little one into a few tricks tonight.

Hope I'm not jinxing myself, but I haven't been sick or at all nauseous in a good solid week.  Feeling much better overall, just still a little tired all day long, but nothing that will keep me down.  I'm so glad this pregnancy is becoming enjoyable!

18 week baby updates and more

I am exactly 18 weeks today and I'm pretty sure I look closer to 24.  Although I did go back and look at my pregnancy pics I took with Ty and I'm really not all that bigger this time around...it just happened much quicker!  I've been terrible about taking pictures this pregnancy.  The first 4 months I felt so terrible, I barely got dressed each day, much less kept up with weekly belly shots.  I don't know what stops me now.  All I know is I think there's a total of 4 pictures on my iphone taken over the past 18 weeks.  Pitiful.

I had a prenatal appointment today.  My appointments are on a funky schedule thanks to finding out I was pregnant at a weird time and the sonographer quitting at my doctor's office.  Now my monthly appointments are off of the normal schedule, which for some reason bugs me.  Nevertheless, I went in nervous today, not for anything baby related, but scared that I would get in trouble over my weight gain.  Depending on the day and time I've weighed myself at home, it appeared that I had gained anywhere from 3-7lbs in the last 4wks.  Last time around my doctor was a bit strict when it came to weight gain and I spent most of my second trimester being reminded that slow and steady was the way to go.  Finally being able to eat again, not that anything particularly sounds good these days, I've easily started putting on weight, but much to my surprise, I had gained 4lbs (roughly a pound a week) since my last appointment.  Not a negative word was said...I'll take it!  With about 10 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in the pantry, that just means I need to make sure I'm getting out and walking as much as possible!

My blood pressure was back down to normal.  Since the day I found out I was pregnant its been in the 130's, which is kind of high for me.  Today we were back to 115/78.  Another worry off the list.

I'm pretty sure I was attacked by vampires at the doctor's office today.  They did a blood draw for spina bifida, checking my thyroid and lord know what else.  All I know is they took 11 viles of blood.

Baby's heartbeat measured in the 140's today.  That has my head spinning even more about the sex of the baby.  I have seriously lost all intuition as to what we're having.  Based on the first trimester, without a doubt, I was sure we were having a girl.  Then I started craving spicy food.  Old wives tales mostly point that this baby is a girl, but they say with a girl you crave sweets (I ate sweets and fruit daily with Ty...it does nothing for me now) and boys you crave the salty/spicy/sour food.  I want jalapeno chips and hot cheese dip...and I'm usually a weenie when it comes to spicy food.  What's even more strange is it doesn't give me any indigestion at all.  What does cause the most indigestion...ice cream.  SO weird.  Ice cream was a staple in my diet when I was pregnant with Ty.  So due to my food cravings, I started to believe that this could possibly be a boy, but still feeling pretty confident with my girl prediction.  Now baby's heartbeat was lower today, closer to Ty's (although 140 was the high end for him).  I didn't feel any movement at all this morning though, so there's a part of me that believes the baby was sleeping then.  I have never been more curious!  We are being referred to Texas Children's Fetal and Maternal Medicine for our ultrasound again like we did at 12 weeks.  To my knowledge, the office has a new sonographer, but my doctor offered to let us see the specialist again if we wanted because their equipment is much more high tech.  We loved our visit with Texas Children's and I'm actually thrilled to be going there for our anatomy scan and hopeful gender reveal.  Not sure on a date yet.  The referral process just started, so hopefully next week they will call and schedule an appointment in the next couple of weeks.  So exciting!

I always get really nervous when the doctor comes in to check me during my appointment.  She's very dry and to the point, some describe her as having poor bedside manner, but she is very good at what she does.  During my first miscarriage, my former OB was almost too friendly, withholding information as if protecting me from what was happening.  I didn't like the run around and chose this OB based on the fact that she was very much to the point.  Today she wasn't as scary to me, lol.  She came to measure my belly, which I think is huge already, dropped the tape measure and said, "oh, you're not that big yet."  What, what?!?!  I actually laughed out loud.  She checked the height of my uterus by hand and showed me how its up around my belly button now and even commented that its right where it needs to be!  Wahoo!  I asked about a repeat c-section and she said she would prefer that.  I'm actually okay with it.  I realize that makes for a more difficult recovery, but there are perks too.  If I can make it to my scheduled c-section, it will be much easier to prepare for Ty and whoever will be taking care of him.  Almost halfway there!  I go back there in 4 weeks.

So I'd say for the last week or so, I've felt the baby moving daily!  I've been feeling flutters randomly since about 12 weeks, at least I think I have, but the past couple of weeks is unmistakable.  This week they are not just flutters, but periodically I feel a little jab too!  Baby really responds to food and moments of rest.  I am so busy with little man Ty, and even when I'm sitting still, we're driving cars, playing puzzles, reading books.  So at night or when I'm rocking him to sleep for a nap, the baby likes to take the time to make itself known.  I love it.

I have to brag on Ty for a bit.  In the last week, he has found the patience to complete puzzles!  I asked for puzzles for his birthday and he received 4 of them, but to be honest, he's never been able to sit still long enough to do anything but destroy them.  For a while all he did was chunk the pieces in every direction about the living room, so they went into hiding for a while the last month or so until he seemed ready to play.  In the meantime, Ty has been working his shape sorting toys.  He's been able to sort the shapes with help (showing him where to place it, and he would manipulate the piece into the right hole), and then he started doing them all by himself...no help, no frustration.  Last week he found his puzzles in hiding and brought one out to me in the living room.  We sat down and started to work.  He immediately could match the pieces to their places...they didn't fit correctly, but he laid them on top. I thought that was a really good start!  From there I would turn his hands until he got the piece in the right place and cheer like a mad woman.  He worked and worked and eventually was doing them on his own with a little help for frustrating pieces.  Monday he got a puzzle while I cooked breakfast, sat down and worked the whole thing by himself.  Such a proud momma moment.  Watching him learn is my favorite.

I know I mentioned this in a previous post, but Ty is officially starting Mother's Day Out in the fall!  We found out that he had a spot in a Wednesday/Friday class, but Monday I got all of the forms back from his pediatrician, turned in our registration forms, and paid the fee.  Officially enrolled.  Meet the Teacher Night is August 28.  He even walked in and out of the church all by himself...thought he was so cool.  Can't wait to buy him a backpack and a lunchbox!  He even says the word school on command.

That's all for now.  Hopefully in the near future I'll be able to announce whether we're having another boy or a girl!  

photo dump

Sadly the last time I uploaded pictures was August...yes, 6 months ago.  I get so excited to get a post written that I don't take the time to wait for pics to upload before posting it.  Seriously, completely written posts will sit in my drafts for a month before I come back to them.  So here we have a major photo dump.  I went back as far as mid-October. It amazed me to see how much Ty has grown since then, most notably, his hair finally grew in!  Now we're in the process of debating a haircut as he keeps getting called a girl in public.  The general consensus says to leave the curls alone, but we're still considering a trim.  At Carter's the other day, Cooter looked up and saw a poster of a little girl in a frilly dress...hair identical to Ty's.  Suddenly we saw what strangers are seeing a first notice.  Lol.  Its also funny to see how much the weather changed over the past several months as Ty goes from shorts to pants and jackets back and forth (pics are in chronological order).  

Enjoying a snack on the patio back when the grass was still green!

wearing Poppie's hat and gloves

playing in his wagon

Ty's first trip to the zoo...we went during Zoo Boo

 having fun at the zoo

I did a quick photo shoot of Ty in his Pop's overalls.  These were my dad's as a baby.  I wore them, now Ty is wearing them.  

Halloween

If we have a little girl, I hope she looks just like this!

weekend at the deer lease

These two just love each other.

Ty's first bloody lip.  Yes, I took the time to take a picture before cleaning him  up. 

Christmas 2012

 Santa didn't go too well this year!

We go to the park as often as possible.  Ty loves to swing.

 He also learned to climb and slide all by himself!

busted his face on the front step

 playing in the mule at Bobbie & Poppie's

 momma's glasses

 spent the weekend at our property in LaGrange

 sharing his snacks with Laila

 more fun on the swings

 he LOVES to build with his blocks

playing with my camera...I love how these two shots came out

I can't make any promises to keep the pictures coming on a regular basis, but I will try my best (at least for the next 5 months until I am a mommy of two and perhaps have no time to take pictures, much less post them!).

finally...time to write!

Not a whole lot of new stuff going on in the Maxwell house lately, just a bunch of little things.  The biggest news...if I can keep up with the schedule I have going around the house and my dear sweet child continues to take 2 hour naps in the afternoons, I might have possibly found time to write once again.  I said might...

A little baby update to start us off...  Praise the Lord, my morning sickness seems to have gotten itself under control!  I wouldn't say its gone completely, but I can totally function now.  As long as I get up and eat first thing in the morning (luckily I have a kid that wakes up hungry), and snack throughout the day with Ty (no problem, the kid loves food), my day time sickness seems to have subsided.  I really have to watch how much I eat in the evenings.  I get unbelievably full, which then makes me feel sick.  We tend to go to bed around the same time as Ty during the week, so it helps to go to bed.  Most nights I still wake up feeling sick when I get up to go to the bathroom.  Thankfully, Cooter got me a new pregnancy pillow for my birthday, so going right back to sleep is easy enough for now.  Another big change is my energy level.  Its nowhere near pre-pregnancy, but after feeling narcoleptic for almost 4 months, having any energy at all is definitely welcome!  I am able to keep up with the house once again, more importantly, keep up with Ty once again, and we've started taking walks every afternoon.  Its amazing how much better my morning sickness has been as well as my sciatic pain now that I'm able to exercise again.  And its a good thing that we're out walking again because, not only is my appetite back, but baby is really growing (or maybe its just my belly)...either way, I've started to see the numbers on the scale rise, which I'm totally aware is a good thing, as long as I do so in moderation!  I go back to the doctor next week on Valentine's Day.  I will be 18 weeks and I was SOOOOO hoping for an ultrasound to do the anatomy scan (and also find out the sex of the baby), but I called the doctor last week and asked if that would be a possibility so Cooter could take off work, but no...they told me 18 weeks is too early for the anatomy scan and I'd have to wait until at least 20 weeks.  So, for all who have been wondering, it will be February 28 or possibly a couple weeks later until we find out what this little baby is going to be!  Boo!  I'm oh so very curious this time!  By the way, I've also started feeling some little flutters every now and then!  It makes me even more anxious to feel those kicks!

On to Ty...  We have officially graduated to one nap a day.  I thought I was dreading that, losing a nap time, but turns out that one productive nap is much better than two short choppy ones with a cranky baby all day.  It took a couple of weeks of morning cat naps before the transition was made, but after a busy weekend where he only had the opportunity to get one nap, it was over and done!  Around 11ish he starts fussing a bit, but if I can keep him busy, he doesn't miss a beat.  Luckily since the weather has been nice lately, we go out for a walk after lunch to stretch that fussy time right before he sleeps.  If we go to the playground it wears him out, or even a long walk with often put him to sleep.  If he's not asleep in the stroller when we get home, just a couple minutes in the rocking chair will do it.  I have to admit, its pretty nice!  He still naps in the middle of the living room on a sleeping bag, with everything going on around him.  I have failed repeatedly to get him to sleep in his room during the day.  He is so afraid he will miss something.  I am totally fine with the living room floor for now.

Yesterday I registered Ty for Mother's Day Out.  A week ago, it made me cry...the thought of him going to school, being away from me for 10 hours a week.  But just the week before that, I was sad for the new baby because he/she wouldn't get the alone time with me that Ty had.  After some thought, a good night's sleep, and letting my hormones settle, I was actually excited to register him yesterday.  We signed up online and then waited to find out if he got a spot.  Not having older siblings in the school or being members of this church, we were last on the totem pole for registration.  This MDO program comes highly recommended by my mommy friends in the area.  Someone called me yesterday afternoon to inform me that he was in!  He will go 2 days a week from 9am-2pm.  We didn't get the first two choices of days I wanted, but for now he's in the Wednesday/Friday class (which I'm fine with), but on the waiting list for a spot to open either Tuesday/Thursday or Monday/Wednesday.  I was avoiding Friday classes in case we wanted to go out of town early one weekend, but to be honest, he gets out at 2pm, and usually Cooter works until lunch or later on Fridays, so that wouldn't be a big deal to wait for Ty to be out of school.  Also, the thought of packing to go somewhere with only one kid sounds so much easier!  He starts in the fall!

That's about it for now!  Off to organize some paperwork to get our taxes ready for the CPA...oh the fun.

Holiday Surprise

We received quite the holiday surprise last month...Baby Maxwell #2 is on its way, due July 18, 2013!

9weeks, 5days

 13 weeks

We are absolutely thrilled, but I think we are still in shock!  Long story short...  We believed I was pregnant right before we left on the Disney cruise.  I had a positive pregnancy test, but thought it was very early, probably only about 5 weeks along.  While we were on the cruise, I began cramping and bleeding, and thought I was having a miscarriage.  We were devastated, but being on vacation was actually a bit of a blessing that kept us distracted and in good spirits.  I went to the doctor as soon as I got home (1 week after suspected miscarriage).  They did the usual blood work.  A week later, the nurse called me with my blood results and said surprisingly my hormone levels were already at a non-pregnant state.  It typically takes a few weeks to a few months for the body to completely return to normal.  That was the case for me in my past miscarriages.  They believe I had a chemical pregnancy, which means sperm met egg just long enough for me to think I was pregnant, and then nature took its course and basically took care of the pregnancy on its own.  Its fairly common and most women don't even know they are pregnant when this happens.  So as it turns out, the bleeding on the cruise was my next period.  That's exactly when I expected to start, I just thought I was pregnant at the time.  So, by the time we found out that my body was back in working order, we had spent a good 3 weeks not being careful.  Honestly I didn't think anything of it though.  We planned to go back to the fertility doctor and get the ball rolling with some precautionary testing so we would hopefully not have to go through this again.  Both of us decided between deer season, Cooter traveling for work, and the holidays, we would wait until January.

Fast forward a few weeks...  Around mid-November I started feeling bad again.  Sometimes nauseous, sometimes tired, but overall just blah.  I kept telling Cooter I just felt like I was in a funk.  This was all the week before Thanksgiving.  I'd been at my parents eating tamales, then Nicole and I had a girls day full of candy and cokes at the movies.  From there I took off to the deer lease, which is always a feeding frenzy, and then we had Thanksgiving.  I honestly wrote it all off to eating terribly and not exercising...hence, being in a funk.  Well the following week I started truly feeling nauseous on a daily basis, worsening each day.  Although I didn't think it was possible, pregnancy was creeping into the back of my head.  For one, if I was pregnant, I certainly didn't want to find out so early like last time, just to lose it.  So, I waited.  I had no idea of my dates, no idea when this could've happened, so I planned to test around December 9, which would be about 2 months past whatever happened on the cruise.  About a week before that I happened to be at Target and seriously had an overwhelming suspicion that this was it, so I bought 4 tests.  Most tests recommend using them first thing in the morning so your urine is the strongest.  I couldn't stand it.  About 3pm that day, after lots and lots of water, I took a test.  I bought the fancy digital ones, preparing to wait my 3 minutes for results.  Less than 60 seconds later, with watery pee, I had a positively pregnant sign!  Absolute, complete shock.  

I tested over the next 4 days, all the with same outcome.  I called my doctor and left a long and probably confusing message trying to explain the situation.  I was kind of embarrassed, but they acted like it was no big deal and scheduled me for an appointment.  They sent me for blood work the day before my appointment so we would have some numbers to match up with the pending ultrasound so they could date the pregnancy.  At my appointment we were sent to ultrasound first and Cooter and were extremely nervous.  If you remember, 2 of our miscarriages before Ty were discovered via ultrasound.  Part of me wanted to keep my eyes closed the whole time.  The tech said she would try abdominally and if that didn't work, we'd do a vaginal ultrasound.  With Ty, I didn't have an abdominal ultrasound until I was 12wks.  So I prepared myself to not expect much at first.  But oh my!  Right away, there it was...a nice round sac with a little baby blob inside...and most importantly, that amazing little flicker right in the middle!!!  I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped wide open.  Even better...she let us HEAR it!  Here I am, in denial that I'm either not pregnant at all or that this baby won't survive, and we're listening to that little miracle's heart beating away!  The baby measured 7 weeks 1 day (again, completely shocked that I was that far along!), and had a heart rate of 153bpm.  We met with a smiling nurse immediately afterwords, who was happy to report that my blood hormone levels were exactly where they were supposed to be and better!  My hcg (pregnancy hormone) levels were that of an 8wk fetus and my progesterone was topped out (I took medication for 12wks with Ty to sustain my progesterone levels)!  

We left the doctor, heads spinning a bit and were told to return in two weeks for a follow-up dating ultrasound and my first prenatal appointment.  I continued to get more and more sick in the following weeks.  Enough so that it was almost debilitating.  I couldn't get anything done because I felt so horrible all day long.  At our next appointment, we were sent to ultrasound and once again Cooter and became complete wrecks.  Despite feeling sick constantly, and having every pregnancy symptom under the sun, we were still in doubt that everything was okay.  Another abdominal ultrasound...another immediate picture of our baby.  This time it actually looked like a baby, complete with arms and legs moving all around.  Oh my goodness.  This is really happening!  An unbelievably healthy heart rate of 189bpm this time!  Ty's was never that high.  Even better, baby measured 9 weeks, 5 days this time.  Again, blood work to match, everything right where it should be!  The nurse prescribed me zofran for my nausea and for the fact that I lost 2lbs since my first appointment.  Come back in a few weeks for my NT screen.  

We had to do our NT screen through Texas Children's because the sonographer at my OB's office is no longer there.  It was a wonderful experience though.  Since we had to go to a specialist, we didn't feel rushed at all.  In fact, we ended up with a 30 minute long ultrasound due to the fact that the baby wasn't quite cooperating for the measurements they needed to take.  It was so neat watching it move and stretch.  This baby did not stop moving the entire time we were there! Heart beat of 171bpm!  They just called yesterday with the results from the NT screen and all of the blood work to test for genetic abnormalities (downs syndrome and Trisomy 13 & 18) was negative, which is perfect!  They did say that my hcg (pregnancy hormone) levels are very high, in the 95th percentile, which would explain why I have been so sick this time around.  Funny, to get pregnant with Ty, I had to take hcg shots to stimulate egg production.  This time every pregnancy hormone is sky rocketing all on its own.  See what I mean?!?  Its truly a miracle! I followed up with an appointment with my OB today and all was well.  It took longer to drive there and back than the appointment did.  They listened to the baby's heartbeat, which was immediately found in the 160's.  The doctor came in, felt my belly and said see me in 4 weeks.  The only cause for concern so far has been my blood pressure.  Its been in the 130's which is very unusual for me.  Usually mine is easily in the 120's, if not around 115.  Its still early, so no biggie, just hoping that it will go down on its own.  That's one pregnancy issue I'd rather not deal with!  I'll be 18 weeks at my next visit, and although they didn't say anything, that's early enough to find out the sex of the baby.  I'm thinking they will make me wait until 20wks, but I'll probably still get my hopes up.  Next appointment is Valentine's Day!  

This is a huge reason as to why I can't seem to keep up with anything these days!  I haven't hardly uploaded any new pics of Ty in months and my blog posts are few and far between.  I am finally feeling better enough to keep up with a little more than just Ty and the laundry.  Between the nausea and extreme exhaustion (seriously, some days I feel narcoleptic!) I have struggled to get anything done.  At almost 14 weeks my nausea is mostly contained to mornings and evenings.  Unfortunately that means I wake up all night long feeling very sick.  I'm having to eat every few hours to combat it all.  What's been worse this time around too is my headaches.  We've had so many cold, dreary days lately, maybe its just a vitamin deficiency.  I'm SO looking forward to being able to get out and exercise again.  I know Ty and Laila miss it too!  

Here's hoping the rest of this pregnancy is as blessed as it has been!