HALF-WAY THERE!

Well, for a normal pregnancy that is! We know we at least won't go past week 39--a day or so after Landon's birthday. Today, Saturday, I am officially 20 weeks & 3 days. So that leaves about 18 weeks & 4 days?

Everything on Baby Girl #2 measured  right on track! She hid her face and heart for a long time, and she had to keep going back to try to see it. Finally, after laying on my left side, she peeked out and was in a position to check the heart. She showed us that she was a girl almost as soon as the thing ( what is that called?) touched my belly. Luke and I both saw the 3 lines, but she said she was going to measure everything else and then come back to the gender. At one point when she was measuring a leg, we both thought we saw a boy part, so then we were confused. ( We discussed this all in the Dr office waiting room after). Then when it came time to look for the gender , she kept shaking my belly and saying she was trying to get good open legs. But we both knew we had already seen the 3 lines a few times, so she really confused us! Finally she said Ok, I'm pretty sure we see it, and I told her Yeah, I think there are definitely 3 lines before she said Baby Girl. After she finally got a good view of the face and heart, we headed across the hall to see the doctor. Everything is great with me. I'm rocking a blood pressure of like 117/62, gaining weight on track ( I think?) 7 pounds, and have no protein in the urine. We didn't really have to discuss much with the doctor since we just had the ultrasound and everything looks good. He joked on us for calling her Baby girl #2, and likes to tell stories of friends or family friends, but no 'sick talk' or 'worries' to discuss. I've said before that Pre-e is really unpredictable, besides knowing that it most likely will happen at some point. We probably still have quite a while to go before it hits( if it does!), but we will be happy when we get about 5 more weeks in. My next visit is in about a month, and then we will see how often I will go back in, and how often they will check on baby girl#2 --from previous Oligo with Landon & the few other things Lucy had going on.

We don't have a name yet. We had a boy name, I really wanted my Beckett. Maybe a dog one day. . . or not. Throw suggestions at us on here or facebook!

We have plenty of other things to work on and accomplish BEFORE we think about buying baby stuff for the room. That's because she doesn't have a room! We still don't know where we will move in about 6-8 weeks. We went and looked at one possibly to rent this week, and I think are going to look at another this weekend. After that, we will also know if we have 3 or 4 bedrooms, and will be able to think more about this baby's room.

Sugar and spice

And everything nice,

That's what little girls are made of.

20 weeks!

We have made it half-way!

Today was another ultrasound, and since they just measured almost everything at 18 weeks, it was a lot quicker. I drank a TON of orange juice, a little coffee, and ate a small breakfast on the way to the Dr, hoping it would make her more active and visible than last time! The heart was in perfect view, and they were able to see the 4th chamber that they couldn't see at 18 weeks. Her face was in semi-perfect view, BUT she had her legs wrapped up on her head, so still didn't get a good face shot =) I'm not going to put the ultrasound pictures up because she didn't cooperate all the way, and she looks like an animal! She was moving around quite a bit all morning, and we did see that on the ultrasound as well.

We had several questions today that we wanted to ask the Dr.--from the baby's health, to delivery, to post pardum issues.He did assure us that everything is checking out healthy with Lucy. They did see blood in my placenta still, so it is still most likely the reason for the ecogenic ( I think that's the word!) bowel, and the reason for the triple screen marker coming back high. There is still  the tiny chance of other abnormalities, they did mention cystic fibrosis today as well, but none of those we will find out until she is born. Everything else points towards healthy! So we are worry free, and are still feeling blessed for being chosen to be parents to baby Lucy! The 24 & 28 week visit will be normal, but I will have another ultrasound at week 32 to re-check the baby. He also wants to check the fluid level this time around. The chances of that being low again are not likely, but they are probable. He feels much safer just keeping an eye on all of these things--for his and our sanity, rather than because he expects anything to go wrong.He also let us know that the 2 vessel thing isn't as big of a worry as it use to be because they are able to see everything now with ultrasounds. And also that it causes no life-long issues, that the vessels clot up after the baby is born, and go away anyway, so it only having 2 won't affect it.

We had decided that I wanted to try for a VBAC, and he had agreed that if all went well, no complications, and I was ready to go by or before my due date, I'd have no issues. I had been thinking this week about it a little bit with some of the possible complications with the 2 cord, bowel stuff, and her being small. So Luke asked today about the delivery, and he said we probably can count on a repeat c-section. But we don't have to schedule it until later on, unless I decide I want to sooner. There are just a few 'ifs' still floating around, so I want whatever is safest for the baby and me. But if I'm ready to have the baby, it's descending, and everything is good, I can still go ahead. So =) we still will play it by ear, but we know that most likely she will be a Valentine's baby, and be delivered around 39 weeks!

I've gained right around 6-7 pounds at this point, and I think it picks up to about a pound a week now. I did ask if I was going to start gaining more.And he said to not go out and pig out to gain, but just keep doing exactly what I am doing. He also said keep working out, and doing as much as I can still because it will keep me feeling better, besides keeping me healthy. I did ask about my headaches because they have been SO HORRIBLE the past 2 weeks. I wanted to make sure I wasn't taking too much Tylenol.Thankfully, Luke has been home when they have been the worst, so I am able to crawl into bed--which he also said is another great thing to do.

We know the next 18-20 weeks will be great!
 People have been giving us clothes to sort through, Elyssa gave us her 3 in 1 crib & changing table, and Luke & my mom bought some accessories {valance, wall hangings, wall stickers, diaper stacker, and a blanket} to match the bedding we will buy.
As soon as we get the bedroom carpet installed, we will slowly start to move things in and set them up in her room. We'll keep adding pictures as we go =)

Music Playlist at MixPod.com



Life is SO exciting!

We had the routine triple screen blood test during my 3rd baby Dr. visit, and the spina bifida marker came back high. Most often the tests DO come back positive for downs or SB, and are not correct. My Dr. had assured me already  that I might get a call with the results, and not to worry AT ALL because there is usually another reason. I had heard many stories of downs coming back, but didn't know anyone who had SB come back. I knew it all would be OK if something was wrong, but we needed an ultra sound to determine, and get surgeries set up if needed after the birth.

The head & belly both measured perfect--they are indicators of SB--and the spine looked great as well as the feet! They did notice bright white coloring in the bowel--which indicates blood. This means that most likely the results came back from bleeding I had early in pregnancy ( which was the reason for ultrasound at week 10). The baby's stomach is not mature enough to digest it, but it will later on.

The rest of the body measured great as well. They had a hard time seeing the heart because the baby was laying face DOWN curled up the entire time. This also meant we never got a good face shot. AND not only was the baby face down, but the legs were crossed too =) This made it difficult to see the gender as well. Since we were in there looking around, why not find out if it's a girl or a boy? We were able to see the 3 white lines a few quick times, along with her flexing her bicep, sucking her thumb ( Elyssa LOVED that), and her cute little modest legs crossed at the ankles. The radiologist did come in to check the heart, and it all looked fine once they got a good view. There was a detection of a '2 vessel chord' which has to do with the umbilical chord  having less vessels or arteries. The radiologist said the baby still gets the blood flow they need, but it gives you a small percentage of down syndrome. Since my blood came back OK, that most likely won't be the case. It also gives you a small percentage of the baby having birth defects, but since everything measured well, he thinks that will all be OK too. I didn't go see my Dr after the visit, and he hasn't called back with any other news, so it seems that everything is good. We do go back on October 5th ( 20 week visit) for the full ultrasound and then a Dr. visit. They will measure everything again, and hopefully we will get a good face shot, and some good 3d pictures. My Dr. has said that we will check at one point for low fluid again, so we will most likely have another US towards the end, but I'm not sure if the 2 chord warrants more monitoring or not. I'm beginning to think there is no such thing as a 'normal' pregnancy! But we will go through whatever it takes to get a baby here, and safely!

With it being in the 90's still last week towards the end of September, we were beginning to wonder what the temperatures will be in Gatlinburg when we go on the 8th. 2 years ago, when I was pregnant with Landon, it was in the high 80's, and last year it was chilly! It looks to be getting cooler FINALLY! Now, if only I had clothes that fit =( My maternity clothes look 'massive'--as Luke assured me last night. And my regular clothes fit ok, until I sit down and have to unbutton my pants, and all my shirts fit weird. Maybe I will grow some in the next 2 weeks, and get to try out some cute Autumn maternity clothes!

Oh, the baby's name is Lucy!

I love how when I texted people to say it was a girl, they told me congrats on Lucy. I guess I've said it enough in the past few years for people to catch on =) So, it seems that I will NOT be making a quilt for the baby bedding, since we fell in love with the bedding in the last blog. YAY, it's all so exciting!