I was on a sewing frenzy last week. Megan’s crib and curtains are done, but there is still alot of work to do. Mostly just sorting.

Megan’s custom diaper bag and changing pad. I thought it would be cool to put vinyl on the pad so I could clean it. Of course, Ethan says, “That will feel nice and sticky when you lay her down on it.” Oh well, it looks good!


Custom interior to fit my wallet, cell phone, attach my keys, and maybe a few things for Megan.

Have I mentioned that I love my doctor? I love that she is experienced, hi-risk–whatever you want to call it–but the office seems as small and comfortable as my old doctor. At least when you are the first appointment of the day. Because I can schedule them so early, I am in and out of the parking garage in less than an hour. Which normally would cost like a $1, but in the Med Center even record timing of 1 hour is $4. But totally worth it.

Today was 23 weeks and 2 days. We are making good progress. Megan’s heartbeat was 150 – perfect she says, and I am measuring right at 23 weeks, again perfect. I told her that I could start making up stuff so that she can start her day with someone intersting, but she said, “…we need some dull ones around here.” I am scheduled for the glucose test at 26 weeks, then began visits and ultrasounds every 2 weeks starting at 28 weeks.

The most exciting event of the day was that Alyssa saw her baby sister move. We watched my belly for a few minutes and saw 2 distinct kicks. Alyssa was very confused, but agreed that it was her sister moving inside mommy.

Megan’s room will be underway soon. The walls will remain the ocean-blue we painted for Noah, but the crib bedding will be completely changed. The fabric is picked and as soon as I can buy it, I will probably start sewing. Right now I am finishing up her diaper bag. I could not find one that I liked, so I decided to make my own. I will post some picts of this cute stuff when they are ready. Girls are fun!

Megan has become a lot more active in the last week. I felt her first kick at 15 weeks and it has been a long 6 weeks to get to this point. There is nothing like feeling that first movement, and there is nothing like wondering why you haven’t felt it again. I would go days without feeling anything, then think “maybe that was it?” But no doubt I can feel Megan everyday, and that is very reassuring. Daddy and Nana have felt her, but so far not Alyssa. Yesterday was the first day I could lay still and expect Megan to continually move. So I wanted Alyssa to come feel, but she was not intersted at that moment. Luckily in the months to come we will have alot of oportunities to feel baby sister.

Everything was great at the ultrasound! Doctor was wonderful, technician was nice and explained everything through the ultrasound, and Alyssa was excited. Okay all are true but the last one. She talked up having a sister so much that I tried to get the idea it may be a boy in her head. Just so she wouldn’t be disappointed, ya know. Well, then she decided she did in fact want a brother, so the first thing out of Big Sister’s mouth was, “No, I want a brother.” Lucky for us, I could say, “But you have a brother, and now you have a sister.” She didn’t care, she seemed actually disappointed. But the great thing about almost-3 year olds is they change their mind so quick. We went to lunch, called the family, then went to pick out a gift for baby sister. Alyssa has this way of picking up the first cute animal she sees and is determined that is what she wants. So baby sister gets a brown bear from the movie Brother Bear. (We have never seen it) But it is cute and she picked it out herself. It is currently in bed with Alyssa so we will see how much it is really baby sister’s. Welcome to the family little girl!


Walking to the doctor’s office.

Watch out Daddy, here come the girls.

Tomorrow is the big day. It really does seem like a big day, something I have looked forward to since week 9, my next meeting with our baby. All three of us go tomorrow at 10am for the 20 week ultrasound. I thought it would be fun to take Alyssa and see her reaction. Plus she will love seeing the baby. She gives him/her hugs and kisses and says “I love you baby.” Okay — so I told her one night at bedtime, “tell the baby you love him too,” but she does it on her own now. She gives the baby stickers when she is passing them around, one for me and one for my belly. She is just so cute, I thought she can only make this day better.

So, what do we want? You may not ask, but everyone thinks it. Alyssa said for the longest time, I want it to be a girl, like us. “What if it is a boy?”, I ask. Not even an option, “I want a sister.” But within the last week, she has now flipped to “it’s a boy.” So much for her being my fortune teller. Bottom-line I think she will be happy either way. Me? I am truly mixed. I would love to have another little girl. Girl is all I know, and I love it. And we don’t have any sisters or many girls around here, so that would be fun to watch… for a few years anyway. But of course, I want to experience the joys of a boy. And I want Ethan to share that bond. I want to have a boy to get back a little of what I missed with Noah, but I don’t want a boy, so that nothing ever comes close to replacing him. These are all good things. It means I can find the joy in either sex. And I am anxious to see where my joy will come from.

I had an appointment this morning for a 17 week check. Short note is that everything is normal. The baby’s heartbeat was 140 and was moving around according to the assistant.

The long note is that I had a bad feeling that something was wrong. Honestly, I have had that feeling days before each visit. I posted that I felt the baby move last week, but I have not felt anything since. Do you know what that does to a person in my situation? She said that it is very normal to not feel all the movements yet. Maybe the baby was just in the perfect spot the other night and had a big kick. But in the next few weeks, I will begin feeling regular movements and that will definitely be reassuring. I have also had cramps when I eat lately. I was pretty sure they were related to food, but that of course just gave me something else to worry about. The doc’s suggestion is to eat regularly throughout the day. Like trail mix between meals. I think she used the word trail mix a dozen times. It is not something your OB usually talks about, it was quite funny. Even as I walked toward the exit, I heard her shout, “Don’t forget the trail mix!” I told her about my anxiety and she said I could come anytime I want to just check the heartbeat. And I can schedule the visits sooner than 4 weeks apart. So I will probably be on 2-3 week intervals. I am very thankful that she is so understanding.

I did the Quad-screen test today. It measures the chance that your baby has one of three birth defects: neural tube defects, Down syndrome, and trisomy 18. It is a standard test that I did with Alyssa and Noah.

Upcoming ultrasound: MAY 18th
Alyssa, Ethan and I will look for signs of a baby brother or sister.

Thank you for your love and concern through this pregnancy. In addition to a healthy baby, please pray for my peace and trust in God that everything will go according to His plan. Which hopefully is the same plan as mine!

15 weeks, 6 days. I am in Abilene tonight. While holding Tate and singing songs to Alyssa, Blakely and Jackson, trying to get them all agree it was time to go to sleep, I felt the baby move. I immediately stopped “Jesus loves the little children” and said, “I felt the baby move!” Blakely came over wanting to feel. Alyssa needed reminding that we were waiting for that first kick. But when she saw Blakely come over and put her hands on my belly, she copied. I think that the baby just wanted in on the action with the cousins. We sat there for a minute waiting to see if I could feel another kick, but no more tonight. I told the girls we will try again tomorrow.

I am so totally pumped! I read in Noah’s journal that I felt him move at 15 weeks, but I thought maybe I estimated wrong. But here I am at 15 weeks and I am sure it was the baby. It is nice to be able to feel the moves of this baby. Sleep tight little one.

I made it from home to my appointment and back home in 1 hour and 45 minutes. That is pretty good timing for a Med Center appointment. The Dr. confirmed that I was still at 13 weeks. The last 2 visits I have had, I went from 7 weeks to 6 weeks, then 10 weeks to 9 weeks. So I was thrilled that I am actually 13 weeks. This pregnancy is going to be long enough without them adding a week at every visit.

Everything went great. I heard the heart pumping at 150 beats a minute. She said that was perfect. She felt around on my stomach and everything was where it should be. I have another appointment in 4 weeks, April 27, where I will do the quad-screen testing. Then another in 3 more weeks, when I will have my 20 week ultrasound. The best news of the morning was her definitive line, “We are not playing around.” She used that phrase a few times to refer to the fact that we have no idea what happened with Noah, and we are not taking any chances this time. She told me, “We do not want a repeat.” Oh, thank goodness she agrees 🙂

She confirmed that we will do ultrasounds at 20, 26, 32, then bio-physical profiles every week thereafter. I think that should do it! In our first visit, she did not seem too excited about the idea of inducing at 38 weeks. But I think now that she has read over our records, she remains as confused as us. And again said, “We are not playing around.” We discussed inducing at 39, maybe earlier. She assured me that an induction was in my future. haha. And if any fluid levels change or anything looks questionable toward the end, we will deliver the baby. Ahhh! All good things to hear. I want a doctor who is as nervous as me, and she agreed we will be crazy the last month. I guess I will just be crazy on my own until then. She did not categorize me as high-risk, she had another term, but I do get the expertise of one who practices high-risk.

All together, I feel great right now. I heard my little baby’s heartbeat, and that was all I needed today. It is amazing how your mind (or Satan) can play tricks on you until you hear that great “du, dun… du, dun” Thank you God!

Are you as confused as me yet? After I made a decision, I thought a good decision, to stay with my original doctor, some new information came to light, and I was able to make an appointment with a high-risk doctor. Everything went great with my visit. I felt comfortable, respected and that God truly opened this door for me. She confirmed that she thought I was in the right place, and delivering at Hermann was definitley a better choice. She reviewed all of Noah’s records and agreed with many, many others that we just don’t know what happened. Tough to hear even 10 months later. But we feel good that this pregnancy will progress as normal.

My due date is estimated for Oct 3. I will continue to see her monthly until week 32, then do visits more often. I will have an ultrasound at 20 weeks, then maybe one more before 34 weeks. At 34, we will do them every week. I am hoping that checking on the baby every week at that point will be enough.

Today, we were able to see the baby. He was moving all around like he was dancing or something. We even saw the casual wave to the parents, like to say, “Hey mom. Everything is cool in here.” We saw and heard the heart beating. Overall had a wonderful visit. I may not have any more news for 4 weeks, so don’t check back too often, GiGi. 🙂