Hi there.

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I do have a good reason though! And certainly not one I expected! As it turns out, that month I was 95% sure I wasn't pregnant? Well, turns out I was! 3rd cycle of clomid worked like a charm, in spite of being really busy that whole month and really in spite of getting so sick (that was actually totally unrelated, not morning sickness yet). I was so surprised, especially after needing to take so many cough medicines (apparently the guifenisen ones might've helped!) during my fertile time/2 week wait and then my OB telling me to take the short course of steroids and antibiotics and get better even though I was terrified it would screw things up so early in pregnancy. And then I got better and transitioned nicely into the first trimester's morning sickness! Ha! So, I was sick for a while, which is why I haven't been around.

But everything is looking really good. Due to my recent history, we've seen this baby more than I saw Emily early in pregnancy. I got to go in early for my first ultrasound at 6 weeks (as opposed to the 8.5 weeks we first went in with Emily), where we saw a yolk sac and perfectly measuring gestational sac, but we weren't sure we saw the fetal pole yet.

The yolk sac is the tiny, barely noticeable circle on the right side of the dark gestational sac, where the tiny arrow is pointing.

The doctor said that was totally normal for that gestational age and was very optimistic, but we obviously wanted to see a heartbeat before we totally relaxed, so a week later, we went back and saw the baby with a nice heartbeat of 158 bpm!

Yay!

Randomly, we had another one at 8.5 weeks, where we saw some little arm and leg buds!

Baby is upside down with the head at the bottom

Then, we decided to go for the 12 week nuchal scan and genetic screening (because the past year has made me worry more about being able to make a healthy baby), where everything measured normally in the ultrasound and after waiting 2 weeks, our blood test told us the baby was highly unlikely (the doc said the new version we got is 99% accurate) to have any of the problems tested for (trisomies, downs, and sex related genetic issues. Maybe there were other things it tested for too - all I know is they told me everything looked normal.). HUGE relief! In an additional bonus, because we went to the main downtown facility for this test, they apparently throw in a free "Jack or Jill" test - the blood test part of the screening (just a sample of my blood) also can check for the sex of the baby (I swear this wasn't an option given to me just a few years ago when I was pregnant with Emily, I don't know if it's just because we didn't do the first trimester screening with her or if it wasn't available yet or not in my area at the time). We found out we're having a boy! I'm simultaneously excited for a new adventure and nervous because I don't know what to do with boys! Eek! We do have a name picked out though, at least a first name (we can't decide on the middle)! We're naming him after my dad, which I think really touched him - he rarely cries, but he did when we told him. Which of course, made me cry too. His nickname will be slightly different from my dad's nickname though.

Profile

I'm now 20 weeks and we just had our anatomy scan last week. Baby boy was a tad uncooperative and seemed to want to just snuggle into his placenta pillow face down and move his body parts away from view, so while we got fantastic views of his spine, the tech had a little trouble getting a good view of his heart and face at first. After hearing we might need to come back in 2 weeks (and get charged another rather large fee!) to reexamine those areas, we begged them to let me shake my belly up some and try some different positions, which thankfully helped a lot, so in the end, the tech got a fantastic view of his heart (even I could see the 4 chambers clearly!) and a pretty good view of his face and profile, though we didn't get a good profile shot to take home since she put the pictures on a CD before the "belly shake". That part wasn't as clear to me, but the tech pointed out his nose, lips, and chin on the head-on face shot (and I think I saw a few fairly good side views while she was moving the wand around) and she and the doctor seemed happy enough with what she got pictures of. Apparently, my OB does one more routine ultrasound though, so maybe he'll be able to get me a good picture then. If not, the 12 week one above will probably go in the frame. Anyway, thankfully, in the end, both the tech and the facility's doctor said everything they looked at looked normal to them, which was another huge relief! I've also been feeling him for the past 2-3 weeks and if his movement is any indication (apart from during the anatomy scan!), it looks like we have an energetic one (like Chris was as kid)!

Not a very clear profile shot, but the best of the 3 we got. I think he's slightly turned.

I feel a bit bad though - this poor kid is already getting second child syndrome treatment. I kept up a weekly blog with updates on my pregnancy with Emily. I do have a few more pictures this time compared to last time, but I haven't written anything down (apart from this post)! Eek. I am really excited to do his nursery though. I think I'm going to go for a nautical theme.

Emily kind of goes back and forth on her reaction to the news. Mostly, she was unaffected at first. She didn't get terribly excited when we told her, but I think she just doesn't know what it all means. She thinks babies are cute (she always says "aaaww! Look at the little baby!" when we see one or a picture of one) and she has a baby doll that she loves to play with, but a real one is much different than pictures and dolls. She does love telling people that she's going to be a big sister though. And she loved hearing about how she can help - I think she's most looking forward to making him laugh with funny faces and then later on playing cars and trains with him. I have no idea if she'll still be into cars and trains by the time he's ready for them, but I do hope they can play something together. In the past week or 2, she mentions him almost every day, which is cute. She's noticing now that my belly is getting bigger and she asks about it. I can't wait till she can feel him kick. She also asks me a lot how I'm feeling because I was sick a lot in the beginning. She's such a caring little girl! I'm so excited that my kids will have each other.

Anyway, that's where I've been! I do hope to resume posting about my subs again next month and I may post an update now and then on baby. :)