This pregnancy has been a completely different experience from the first one. Being pregnant with Ava was a breeze, I was only sick for a week or so and than I was right back on my feet and ready to go. This time around has been like being pregnant for the first time all over again, so many unexpected and new things happening.
Peter and I had been talking about getting pregnant off and on for awhile. We we're so comfortable with just the three of us, that throwing in another one to the mix was a bit intimidating. However we decided to go off birth control. They said that it could take a up to a year to get pregnant, but being the impatient person that I am I wanted to get pregnant sooner than later. It took six months for us to finally get a positive response.
Finding out..
My period was late, and ever since going off birth control I went right back into a regular cycle. I had taken a few pregnancy test previous months but with a negative outcome. Anyways.. this time around, I was late and more and more days were passing by. I told Peter that I just wanted to grab a pregnancy test to see, not really expecting anything. I'm sure you all know how pregnancy tests work so I'll spare you the details. I didn't have to wait very long, because the positive was right away. I was freaking out with excitement! I wanted to try and surprise Peter and do something cute, but lets be real, I couldn't keep this to myself. I ran in the room and showed him the test. He was ecstatic!
Telling Ava..
We waited a few days before breaking the news to Ava. We wanted to wait because we knew that she would blurt it out to my parents {she has a big mouth.} We told her on NYE 2014, just a few hours before we went to dinner with my family and shared the news. I'm not sure if she could fully comprehend what was really going on but we just told her that she would be having a baby brother or sister soon. She was super excited about it. She had been asking to have a sibling and kept saying she wanted me to have twins -_-
First Trimester..
...was complete and utter HELL! I'm so grateful I didn't experience morning sickness with Ava the way I did this time around, because I probably would have never thought about getting pregnant again. I have never felt so helpless in my life, I couldn't do anything, I could barely go to the bathroom. I threw up for the first time, and I can't even remember the last time I had to vomit. My face was in the toilet and I would cry so bad after. It was a pathetic sight. On top of that I got the flu, then I passed it on to poor Ava. Peter was such a trooper during the whole thing, I have the best man nurse around!
{smiling, even though we feel like death}
Back to normal..
12 pounds down, lots patience and time passing, I'm finally feeling like myself again. Well, my midsection is growing significantly so I guess as normal as you can while being pregnant. I've had a lot of things distract me {moving, starting work at a new office, and my little lady} to keep me from feeling too sick. I can finally keep foods down. I'm back to liking sweets and salads, I was only liking salty things there for awhile. I crave Asian food like nobody's business and I still can't eat sandwich meat/subway. {blah}
A boy..
I made my first appointment with my new OB-GYN, Dr. Barton, and was hoping to find out what the gender was. I was lucky, I didn't even have to ask for an ultra-sound, they were already planning on it. It was awesome to finally get to see my baby. Dr. Barton asked me if I wanted to find out the gender and I said "OF COURSE." I'm not one to wait and be surprised. Maybe the next one. He looked around for a second and said.. "It's a BOY!" I was so excited, I started to tear up a little bit. I asked him how sure he was and he's 99% sure. It was Peter's birthday a few days after my appointment and I thought about giving the news to him as a gift, but again, I couldn't keep this from him. I called him right after and told him the news, his reaction was so sweet. I don't think he could be any happier, he has his princess and now he'll have his son.
{17 weeks}
Scares..
We've had a few scares already with our baby boy. I had my 20 week ultrasound where they look at the baby's anatomy and make sure everything is developing as it should. The ultrasound tech was nice the whole time, but towards the end she got quiet and didn't say much. I was the one who had to ask if everything looked ok and normal, and she said yes, but it wasn't very reassuring.
A few days later I received a call from Dr. Barton, and after looking at baby's ultrasound pictures they saw, and I quote, "a hole in the heart." I tried to stay calm as much as possible because I was at work, but my heart dropped. I think I spent 15 minutes in the bathroom crying. I really can't remember if I told Peter via text or I called him, because my thoughts were everywhere. Thankfully for him and my mom, I calmed down. I had to schedule another ultrasound to take a deeper look at it and of course they couldn't get me in until a week later. They really know how to play with peoples emotions at the hospital.
After a long week of waiting I finally got in for another ultrasound. It was a long process, what I thought would be a quick one hour appointment, turned into 3 hours! What they were seeing wasn't a hole but extra calcium build up on the heart. They wanted to take a closer look at it because that's something they see more commonly with children who have down syndrome. So many thoughts rushed through my head, but all I really cared about was the fact that my baby was healthy. They asked me if I wanted to take a genetics test to see if they baby would be born with D.S. Of course I wanted to because I would rather be prepared than be surprised. I did some blood work and they told me that I had to wait 7-10 days for the results. Talk about the longest days of my life. I finally got a call when I was in St. George for Mina's graduations and they said that my results came back Negative for Down Syndrome. No matter what the results would have been, my baby is my baby and I would love him regardless. The days of not knowing what's wrong with your baby are hard and dark ones for a mother.
{25 weeks}
We are 13 weeks away from my due date and I feel like that's no time at all. Soon enough we will be welcoming out little bundle of joy, and I can't wait to see his sweet face. This pregnancy has been so many things for me with lots of change and emotions to go along with it. I know all these hardships will all be worth it in the end. I can't believe I'll have two little mini's running around soon.
Love, Laila
