Baby #3 | The details

Thank you so much for all of the well wishes about our amazing news! We are over-the-moon excited for this little peanut to come into the world and complete our family. I apologize for leaving you hanging with no details in my last post, but I thought they deserved a post of their own.

So without further ado...

Surprise!
Yes, I'm sure it's hard to believe, but this baby was quite a little surprise for us. After my loss in October, we did get the green light to try again right away if we were ready. And as most people that experience a loss know, you have an overwhelming need to become pregnant again right away. So try, we did. And let me just tell you... we should have waited a cycle. To keep this as TMI-less as possible, I really didn't bleed much with the miscarriage. It was 3 days of super light bleeding and that was it. No cramping or anything. My doc followed my beta levels back to zero, which took a week, and that was that. Well my first period came right on time and it. was. terrible. I almost feel like that was the rest of the miscarriage. I was bent over in pain. Cramping was something awful, and my hormones were so crazy. Again, it was terrible.

On one hand, I was sad I wasn't pregnant again right away, but on the other, I was relieved that everything was behind me and felt like we could finally move on from it. We tried again the following cycle for an August baby, with no luck. I was having severe pain on my lower left side since the miscarriage, so that, combined with the fact that a September baby clearly meant no annual OBX trip with my family {which we love and had already started paying for} we decided to take a cycle off. It was good for us. No stress over the holiday's. I could get checked out and then we would start fresh in the new year.

Ha!

So, what's wrong with me?
Well let me just start by saying that when I called my OB about my pain, she said it sounded like I had cysts or fibroids and that she wanted me to come in for an ultrasound right away. I took the week between Christmas and New Year's to schedule all my appointments. During that week, I had 2 ultrasounds and an appointment with my OB. Of course the ultrasound tech couldn't tell me anything, and frankly, I didn't even ask. So I waited until that Friday morning for my appointment with my OB to ask all my questions. Of course {and I totally knew this would happen} they didn't have my ultrasound results by the time of my appointment, but my doc said that she didn't feel any large cysts and that she would call if she saw something on my ultrasound. When I didn't hear anything by the end of the day Friday, I thought I was in the clear.

On Tuesday morning, January 3rd, I got a call from my doctor at 8am. I missed the call {of course!} and I was so scared. With my OB's office, you have to call and leave a message, and then they call you back. I waited an hour {which isn't a long time, but it's an eternity when you're waiting for bad news} for my doc to call me back. When she finally did, she said that they found cysts on my left ovary, which was clearly causing the pain. I immediately asked her if it would affect TTC and she said no. Whew. Okay, I can handle that.

3 days later? I found out I was pregnant.

Wait, what? But it was a break cycle.
Yeah, I know right. And we can't seem to plan a damn thing with this baby, so we're just going with it. I'm not quite sure how you can try for 2 months with nothing to show for it, take a break, and BAM. Pregnant. Yeah, I'm not sure how that happens, but I am so thankful for it.

I decided to chart this cycle. I never charted before because I was afraid it would just stress me out big time. But since our loss, I had no idea if I was even ovulating anymore. Or when that was even occurring. I thought, well why not chart on a break cycle just to see if everything is back to normal, right? Right! And charting was fun, actually. And so easy. Not sure why I didn't do it before. {For those that don't know what charting is, you just take your temperature every morning and then add it to your chart on a site called Fertility Friend... that's it, the site does all the work for you.}

And if anyone is interested, this is my "We officially suck at trying to avoid BFP chart!"

When we found out...
Okay so, my chart was the reason I tested. When your temperature stays above the red coverline, there's a good chance that you're pregnant. When I got a huge temp rise at 10dpo, I was all "Hmmm, maybe. But how!?!" then when it was up again at 11dpo, I caved and tested. It was bright and early on Friday, January 6th and this is what I saw...I used the cheap Wondfo test first and just sat it on the bathroom counter and started brushing my teeth, when I looked down a few minutes later, I could clearly see a faint second line. I started shaking. I had some "real" tests under the sink {i.e. real expensive} so when I saw that the cheapie was positive, I needed more confirmation. I used the FRER and the digital and I was so surprised at what I saw.

Pregnant.

I was shocked. And happy. And excited. And nervous. And in love. And scared out of my mind. But mostly happy =) Bob came downstairs just as the digital popped up "Pregnant" and I just stood there in the bathroom. He said "What!?! What's wrong?" and I just pointed to the tests. Of course he was just as shocked as I was then we hugged, kissed and spent the rest of the morning saying "I can't believe it!" while getting ready for work.

Telling people.
On our drive to work we talked about how and when we would share the news with our families. He wanted to wait. And I couldn't. I wouldn't. I guess I'm the opposite of most people that have experienced a loss. Our families were amazing through everything. They cried with us. They cheered us on. They were routing for us. They were there when we needed them.

And I needed them again.

I was so scared this time and I needed them to be excited for us and help us stay positive. And I almost felt like they had a right to know now too, in some way. I feel like they experienced the loss with us and they deserved to be happy for us again! If, God forbid, we lost this baby too, we would need them again, if not more this time.

I didn't want to waste any more time being anything but excited about this baby. And that was that.

I didn't do anything fun or exciting this time, I walked in, showed my mom the cell phone picture of the tests from that morning and she screamed and cried tears of joy while my dad was there to give us a big hug. I shared the news with my sisters that day too, who were so happy and excited for us. A few days later when we saw them in person, we shared the news with Bob's family and they, of course, had the same reaction.

It was out there. It was real now. And we were so damn happy about it.

Beta drama mama.
Because I found out I was pregnant on a Friday morning, I had to wait until Monday to have my first beta drawn. I just couldn't wait for the confirmation that this was really happening, and I hoped and prayed for good, healthy numbers.

I went in bright and early on Monday morning for my first draw. I've done this before and knew that I wouldn't get my results back until Tuesday morning, so I waited. On Tuesday afteroon, I still hadn't heard from my nurse, so I called them. She said that the results were still listed as "pending" in the lab database and that I should keep my Wednesday morning appointment for my 48 hour blood draw {to ensure my numbers were doubling.}

I went in on Wednesday morning, not even knowing my results from Monday. So frustrating. On Wednesday afternoon, my nurse called me and the first words out of her mouth were "So, I don't have good news for you..."

Oh, I'm sorry nurse, can you please excuse me while I pick my heart up off the floor?

Then she continues with... "the lab lost your betas from Monday."

What. the. eff? Nurse, please do not start a sentence that way to a girl that just experienced a loss. I thought I was miscarrying again! I kinda figured something happened to my results when I haven't heard back about them in 3 damn days. Sheesh, what a headache!

On Thursday morning, she finally called with good news. My results from the second draw on Wednesday morning were 593 with a progesterone level of 42. WOOT, I'M REALLY PREGNANT!

I went back Friday morning and requested the results to be run STAT. It was MLK Jr. weekend and I refused to wait until Tuesday to see if this pregnancy was viable. Once I got to the lab, I was informed that they don't do STAT bloodwork {ahem, of course they don't} and that I would have to go to the hospital to have it done. I called work to let them know I'd be late and then called my husband.

The first words out of my mouth were "what's the quickest way to the hospital?" OOPS. Sorry honey... now I'm just like that nurse. I'm pretty sure, in that moment, Bob wanted to stab me for scarring him half to death.

I made my way over to the hospital, had my blood drawn at 8am, went to work and my nurse called me at 10am with GREAT news... my numbers more than doubled to a beautiful 1,444 in 48 hours.

This was really happening.

So, when's this baby coming?
I'm due on September 16, 2012, which is Bob's 32nd birthday. =) What a great due date to have! But with my medical history and my rather large monster babies, my doctor won't let me go past 39 weeks. That means this baby will be here on or before September 9th, 2012. {But maybe the 10th though, since the 9th is a Sunday.}

I'm almost 8 weeks pregnant, and let me tell ya... it was so hard for me to wait this long to tell you. But after my loss, I wanted to wait until after my first ultrasound to really share the news. Here's my little peanut again...He/she had a beautiful heartbeat of 148bpm, which we got to see and hear on Monday. I started crying the second I heard it. Even after 3 babies, I still cry. It's the most beautiful sound in the world.

Team Green
When I was pregnant with Brynn I really wanted to wait until birth to find out the sex of the baby. Bob acted as if that wasn't even an option. After discussing it and knowing that we 100% wanted 3 kids, we made a deal. We'd find out with #2 again, like we did with Carter, but regardless of the sex of baby #2, we'd be waiting with #3.

He agreed and here we are. Yes, yes, we plan to wait to find out what we're having. And I'm so freaking excited about it. I just hope we can do it! {I think I can, I think I can...} We really need nothing for this baby, just a few little things, and we already have 2 names picked out, so why the hell not!?!

Okay, so I think that's all for now {and I know it's a lot, sorry!} A few of you requested belly pics, and I plan to post them soon, I promise {for my new readers I get really huge when I'm pregnant} and I also plan to talk about the names we like, Carter & Brynn's reaction, what we think we're having, our favorite baby things, and stuff like that.

Again, thank you so much for all the well wishes! I am so glad that you guys now know and can share in our good news... it makes my heart happy =)

Oh, and for those that are wondering... we're moving up our trip to OBX. ;)