It's a BOY... AGAIN!

Well, there you have it... another boy! I'm not going to lie... I cried. 

I went in to my appointment on Friday and I had totally convinced myself we were having a girl. Everything has been different this time. The cravings, the sickness, the moodiness, the weight gain... everything. 

Just goes to show you that every pregnancy truly is different. 

I didn't have much time for it to sink in before they came in and told me that they saw "something." A calcification, on babies liver. They reassured me that it's probably nothing, however they'd like to do additional testing to make sure. 

So a trip to chat with the genetic counselor, a few more blood tests and a follow up ultrasound are ordered in order to rule everything out. 

The meeting with the genetic counselor was just another meeting reassuring us that based on our family histroy everything is "probably fine"?!? And I got a call the next day assuring me that everything from the blood test came back normal and with no signs that anything was wrong. My ultrasound is scheduled about 4 weeks from now to make sure the calcification has cleared up.

So after that little hiccup... we can now focus on enjoying that Landon is going to have a little BROTHER!

Time to pick names :)

Here We Go Again...

Literally...

We are so excited to announce that our little family of 3 is on it's way to 4! Landon is getting SO big! We just celebrated his 3rd birthday party this last weekend and announced to our family that come fall of this year (Halloween is actually my due date!) he will be a big brother! 

I'm REALLY nervous about posting this... I announced with Landon at something like 6 weeks?! If I knew then what I know now. Sheesh. But we're almost 10 weeks and I've seen that little heart beat plugging along at 150 beats per minute so I hope all continues to go well. My next ultrasound (our NT scan) is April 19th and I'll have my next appointment with our new midwife Dr. J the week after that.

I've (yet again) been a bad blogger but I got really into updating while I was pregnant with Landon so I hope I can get back into updating again. How many times have I said that? 

Anyway. Stay tuned for pregnancy updates, Landon updates, meal plans and hopefully updates on building our forever home! Here's a little sneak peek into that:

Stay tuned!!!

The Post I Never Wanted to Write...

Where to start. 

First of all, I never thought I'd want to write about this publicly. It's such a private thing. No one every talks about it... at least no one I've ever known in real life. But it happens every.single.day. - to women we know and all over the world; whether they talk about it openly or not. 

**Miscarriage is the most common type of pregnancy loss, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). Studies reveal that anywhere from 10-25% of all clinically recognized pregnancies will end in miscarriage.** - American Pregnancy Assoc.
Sept 17th:
SO excited and nervous to start this journey all over again! I remember my very first post on this blog. It's the whole reason I started blogging! Not for meal plans or crafty crap?! But life. So I could look back and remember what JOY it was to have a child. And to remember our life as young parents... even when I'm old and gray. 

So anyway, after a couple of days of just letting it sink in I decide I need to run myself right over to Carter's and get Landon a "big brother" shirt cause gosh dangit... here we go again!!! YAY!

By the night of my birthday I was almost exploding with excitement but I still didn't want to announce anything just yet. I had plans to go out and I just wanted to enjoy the night! Despite having to "pretend" pour a pocket shot of booze into my soda - I had an awesome night :) 

The next few days pass and I'm realizing that I need to finally figure out a doctor over here. I'm still really missing Dr. C. :( So, I figure what's a few more days or maybe a week to tell everyone until after I find a new doctor?! I find Dr. J - she's a midwife and delivers at the hospital I prefer so I decide to give her the first chance. If I don't like her... I can always switch. First appointment scheduled for Oct. 10th... what I thought should be 8 weeks. 

Sept 25th:
That very day, I started spotting. Joy. Let freak-out mode ensue. It's supposed to be normal though. I had done a light workout that day so I thought I just overdid it. By that evening it had seemed to have stopped. Thank god. 

The next day I had a very fun meetup with a group of friends and their little ones. I was feeling good. Look how cute our babies are!

We're not so bad lookin' either! :) 

Later that night it started again. I was hoping it was just cause I'd been up and about all day but by the next morning it was no better so I called the office that I was to see on the 10th and they got me in that morning. 

Sept 27th:
Remember this guy???? I like to call it the Vag Cam. 

Well, that thing that gave us such good news with Landon at 7 weeks and 3 days when we saw his heartbeat for the first time gave me the worst news ever... "there's no baby in there," says the nurse practitioner. 
She tells me either it's earlier in the pregnancy than I think, I'm having a miscarriage or there's a possibility that it's an ectopic pregnancy. 

::punchmeinthegut:: 

I'm to go up to the lab for 3 consecutive blood draws over the course of 4 days that will give us my actual HcG levels and give us a more clear picture of what's going on. 
I literally have to hold back tears on my way up to the lab, through that first draw and to my car... where I break down. How can they see... nothing?! When I feel so... pregnant?!

This sucks. 

I get a call around 4pm that day to tell me that there's no worry of an ectopic pregnancy and that my HcG level is 40.7. Low... but pregnant. I'm to go back in two days and that number needs to at least double for this pregnancy to be viable. 

Sept 28th:
Serious.back.pain. and cramping. Can I please have an epidural? Oh wait...?! 
Dr. Google is never good at this point - just sayin'.

Sept 29th:
The floodgates open (if you know what I mean) and I'm stuck in the fetal position. This.is.painful. I don't even want to go to the lab for the blood draw because I already know in my heart what's happening in there. 
I muster up the energy to go and of course since it's Saturday, there's no chance in getting the results until Monday when the doctor's office opens at 8am. Ugh. 

I had a pretty busy weekend so I actually made it through without thinking about it too much.

Oct 2nd:
I called the office right at 8am even though I already knew what was happening. I didn't want to wait to hear it but they had to call me back. What seemed like an eternity (2 hours) I finally get the call. 

Number has dropped.

I didn't even ask what the number was so I have no clue. We're to wait until I get my period to "try again." Yay. Oh, and I have to go back in another week to make sure the number is back to zero. Double yay.

So at this point it just sucks. Life sucks. It's unfair. I'm mad and it seems like everyone around me who is pregnant or was trying to get pregnant is having a baby or peeing some seriously potent HcG. Eff you "natural selection." Eff you "nature's way."

Oct 5th:
I go back for my final blood draw... A Friday of course so they can't call till Monday. But when I get the results they are less than 1, which I guess in the world of miscarriage is good cause that means it all happened naturally.

Anyway... I'm still sad.mad.bitter.jealous.resentful.hurt. I imagine some of those things will never go away but they are getting better day by day.

But... I'm ok. I'll be ok. We'll have another baby - I guess this just wasn't the right time for us.