Pregnancy Update

Baby Seymour and I are doing great.  We had a rough start with the subchorionic hemorrhage and placenta issues but since my sixteen week appointment I have had a routine, entirely normal pregnancy.  My doctor has stated several times that he is really pleased with how everything is progressing.  Praise God!

15.5 weeks-Definitely showing but that is not a surprise considering what carrying A&W did to my abdominal wall.

On April 8th I went for my anatomy scan at the maternal fetal health specialist's office. I was 18 weeks based on my due date and the baby was measuring at 18 weeks 3 days which is more in line with how far along I believe I am in the pregnancy.  The baby was really active and it was hard for the technician to get some of the measurements because Seymour just wanted to roll all around in there.  Everything checked out wonderfully and it looks like we have a healthy baby BOY on the way.  Yep, we are having boy #3. We are right on our way to our own basketball team!

17 weeks-Easter Sunday

Many, many people thought I was having a girl because of the bad morning sickness I had but this baby is definitely all boy.  The technician and MFM doc both said it was quite clear that this baby is another man child.  The old wives' tales are not always right and as the pregnancy progressed it felt a lot like being pregnant with the boys.  I was completely prepared to hear "boy" and sure enough that is what happened.  A couple weeks before the appointment Abraham had told me that the baby's name was Joseph so that also made me wonder if the kid knew something I did not.  I have been asked if I feel disappointed or let down about not having a girl.  The answer is no.  There is a part of me that wonders if a little girl is in our future at all or if I am just meant to raise a brood of boys.  Never say never but I feel that this is our last pregnancy. If we do add to our family I would like it to be through the gift of adoption.  I think it is okay to wonder about the future but I am not grieving because I am not having a girl.  God knows what our family is supposed to look like and I am trusting Him with that.  On the practical side of things we have nearly everything we need so this should be pretty easy. 

21 weeks-More than half way through!

One thing I am trying to think about is that Abraham and Winston are always referred to as "the boys."  Come September it will probably be the "the boys" and "the baby" and eventually the "the big boys" and our "little boy."  Winston is really into the idea of having a baby brother.  He lifts my shirt, rubs my belly, talks to baby brother and then tells him "see you later!" and pulls my shirt back down.  In God's wisdom, I think giving us another boy really helps them understand more what is happening.  They know babies and they know what having a brother means so baby brother seems to make sense to them.

As for me, I feel really good lately.  I am definitely in the happy part of pregnancy.  I am slowly building up my activity after so much time being on modified bed rest and needing to take it easy. I have been taking walks with the boys and was just gifted a bike so I am enjoying getting more physical activity in.  I am sure that the summer is going to fly by with two toddlers to chase after so our baby will be in our arms in no time at all. 

No Slowing Down

Well, the month of March has not slowed down and I am trying to keep the events on the blog in chronological order.  The week of the boys' birthday ended up being quite an eventful one.  As you know, the first couple of months of 2013 the boys had their fair share of sickness and we spent plenty of time at the pediatrician.  The boys however had never ended up in the ER with a medical emergency...that is until the week of their birthday.  With their sniffles and coughs continuing, Eric had a diffuser with eucalyptus oil in their room.  I was home alone with the boys one night as Eric was helping a friend with a car.  We got to bed time and I was just about to put the boys in their cribs when I realized I had forgotten their sippy cups of water.  I told the boys I was going to get their cups and Abraham followed me down the hallway chatting the entire time.  I filled their cups with water and was heading back to their room when Winston came screaming down the hall.  As soon as he got closer I realized what had happened.  He had been able to to reach the eucalyptus oil and tried to drink it.  Thankfully it is very potent and strong stuff so he had spit it out on his pajamas and was crying because the taste was so bad.  I stayed calm and got a hold of poison control right away.  Apparently eucalyptus oil is very toxic and a very small quantity (tablespoons) can cause seizures.  Poison control advised me to take Winston to the ER and called ahead to our local hospital.  I got a hold of Eric and he met us there.  The doctor and nurses were all prepped with the protocol of administering activated charcoal and monitoring his vital signs.  The ER doc asked us about the amount he ingested and I explained that I did not believe he really drank any.  The doc agreed based on how Winston was alert and interactive so he lowered the amount of activated charcoal to 20 cc's.  Winston was observed for a little more than two hours after getting the charcoal and everything looked great.  They also did a chest x-ray as a precaution.  Everyone at the hospital commented on how sweet our boys were and well behaved while we were there.  It made a lousy situation a little bit better. We got to go home and Winston slept great that night. He woke up the next morning and was happy as a clam as if nothing had ever happened.

Winston hit his limit with taking the charcoal so Eric took over the nurse's job and finished the dose up.

The learning lesson is that when it comes to kids it only takes seconds for something to happen.  Winston was very intentional and deliberate.  He knew it was something he was not supposed to touch and waited for the opportunity to get to it.  I was distracted for less than a minute and in that time he pulled on a doily/runner on his dresser so that he could reach the bottle of eucalyptus oil.  God was gracious to us and our little guy was perfectly okay but it made me realize that we can never be too vigilant or cautious. 

The next day Eric and I had an appointment at the office of a maternal fetal health specialist.  This was the same doctor's office that took care of all of our growth scans for our boys.  We opted to have a first trimester screening for the baby.  I also had it done with the boys and it had provided me peace of mind.  If we were to have a child with special needs, we wanted to be prepared. Our nearest hospitals do not have NICUs so we would want the baby to be delivered at a hospital farther away with a NICU and pediatric specialists.  Our baby which we have affectionately nicknamed Seymour (because we want to see more of him or her) looked absolutely perfect according to the ultrasound tech. The baby was measuring at 13 weeks and 1 day and we got some beautiful profile pics of our little one.  I have a had a great deal of anxiety with this pregnancy because of the difficulties we have had so having such good news really lifted a burden.  That night I felt great and I was sitting and talking to Eric when all of the sudden I felt a gush.  It felt like I had peed in my pants (sorry for the TMI) but I knew that was not the case.  I was bleeding very heavily and it was bright red blood.  The next several hours were pretty emotional and nerve wracking as we got a hold of my OB and I was told to go back to strict bed rest.  Eric and I prayed that night and were prepared to lose the baby.  It was like a bad dream; we had just seen the baby a matter of hours earlier and everything seemed to be falling apart.  I spent the next 36 hours laying flat in bed and then we went to see my OB.  The baby had a heartbeat and while we were so relieved it has continued the emotional roller coaster.  The boys' birthday party was just days later and I was stuck in bed.  Thankfully there was no more bleeding and our little Seymour hung in there.  This baby is definitely showing its stubborn genes it inherited from mama and papa.  We did find out that there is a slight separation in my placenta which may have been the source of the bleeding and the initial results of the genetic screening were all negative.  God continues to bless us but we would continue to covet your prayers as this pregnancy progresses. 

Next up:  The boys' birthday party. The next post will be a happy one...I promise.