are we ready for round 2?

The quick version:
We're pregnant!! I'm due June 15th, we're planning another homebirth with the same midwife and we're totally excited.

The extended version with catch up on the weekly updates:
I wrote this post back in July very hopeful that we would be expecting a little one in early March 2012.  Unfortunately we will not be.  When we returned back from our Washington trip I had a bad feeling and did an ultrasound to check up on baby.  The heartbeat was very low, a couple of days and repeat ultrasounds later and that low heartrate wasn't there at all.  I refused all medications as I was already having signs my body was working on its own.  It took almost 4 wks, so I didn't end up passing everything until early August, but managed to get through without needing meds or a D&C.  We were certainly sad, we absolutely wanted another baby.  But, we both understand that things like this happen and they happen often.  We hugged our little boy and went on with our lives.

Fast forward to October:
We were celebrating our anniversary and my mom was in town to visit and help with Liam.  I had my interview with Kaiser on Friday and found out I was hired!!!  Then we headed off to our usual dinner location, tapas downtown to celebrate.  As it always is, the food was delicious.  We got home before Liam headed to bed and I decided I better figure out just where I was in my cycle, hasn't it been a while??  I tested just before hoping in the shower and it was positive.  I-WAS-SHOCKED.  I didn't think we would get pregnant again so quickly, after only one cycle since the miscarriage.  I couldn't yell for Dominic to come in because I didn't want to alert my mom just yet, sorry mommy :).  As I hoped in bed for the night I tossed the test at him and said, check this out.  We were exstatic of course.  We agreed not to tell everyone back home until we were sure things were going ok, not because we didn't want them to know if things didn't work out, but because we didn't want to stress them out!  Typically when I get a postitive test I do hormone testing 2 days apart to check on the rise and do progesterone to be sure that it's at appropriate levels, then serial ultrasounds until we see a heartbeat around 6wks.  I didn't do any of that this time.  I decided that they were normal with the last pregnancy and it didn't mean anything. 


We did an ultrasound at 6.3wks and did see that little flicker of a heartbeat.  I started getting nauseous, just like I did with Liam, which I hadn't with the miscarriage.  Then the exhaustion set it.  While all this was going on Liam came down with some virus and the poor little guy couldn't hardly breathe, read as NO sleep for momma. I was MISERABLE.  I spent a ton of time in the shower trying to get my sinuses cleared out.  Thankfully Dominic didn't really get sick and was able to take care of both me and Liam.

5 week belly shot: The before, 142 pounds

7 week belly shot: I would like to preface this one by saying that we have a rule, He's suppose to cut my head off in the shot, since the focus is on the belly anyway.  I am never trying to 'pose' because of this.  Apparently he wanted to mess with me and decided to add the face for this one, since I had no idea I'm not even attempting to look decent. Thanks hun! 138 pounds

8 week belly shot: do you notice all my bruises inflicted by Liam??

On Saturday Nov 12th we heard G2.0 with the doppler!  That was at 9wks 1day.  How refreshing to hear on the outside.  I knew we were past the previous point where things went wrong and once you can hear a heartbeat externally there is a good chance you're in the clear.  We told both sets of parents the same day and they were elated.  It was quite funny to see Liam react to the doppler and the noise coming from it.  He didn't want the gel to touch him at all and was very upset if I tried to get the doppler near him.  I don't want him to be scared of either the heartbeat or the doppler so I listened again on monday and basically made him touch the doppler.  We listened to his tummy and he did much better this time.  I think regular exposure is going to be the key.  The nausea that was there in full force at the very beginnning is starting to improve at this point as well.  Not gone but getting better!

9wk belly shots:

I scheduled my first midwife check for December 1st but needed to get together with Andrea to help her brush up on some skills so we just incorporated my appt with that on Nov 18th (at10 weeks exactly).  We listened to baby again and same as before, a super fast heartbeat!  Things are looking good, we're going to do labs at some point but still haven't decided if we'll wait until I start at Kaiser or just do them now.  I was able to reflect on Liam's birth a bit with her too.  It's so hard to know how long time frames were when you are in labor and immediatly afterward I kept forgetting to ask.

10 week belly shot:

On the 21st we got crazy and decided to put an offer in on the house next door.  It's 3 bedrooms vs our current 2 which will come in handy with another kiddo, plus we'll be able to monitor the renters we're hoping to get in this house pretty easily.  It's bank owned and if we get it at the price we offered we can totally afford to fix it up like ours, plus still be about 10K ahead immediately.  I'm trying to be optimistic but I have a feeling either the bank will hold out for more and/or someone crazy is going to actually give them what they're asking...Here's hoping!  Nausea is continuing to improve..dare I say it's almost gone?!

11 week belly shot:

I'm kind of shocked but the bank took our offer on the house!  We've already had the inspection and found out what I was suspecting, the HVAC needs to be replaced.  The good news is we can't get a loan approved without a working HVAC so they'll need to replace it!  There is also talk that the appraisal, which is done and should post monday, will come in under our asking price.  Again, I feel like this is good news.  We can't get a loan if our offer is for more than the appraisal so the bank will just have to come down.  On a negative note, being in the house again makes me see exactly how much work needs to be done.  When we close at the end of the month we're going to have a busy few months.  In baby news, I'm still tired but not near as nauseous.  I haven't been taking my prenatals because they made me gag so much I nearly threw up, but I think that will help me to feel better so I'm going to force myself to stomach them. 

12 week belly shot, baby is the size of a lime/plum this week! Holding steady at 140 pounds