B has an announcement to make...

Yep - she's gonna be a big sis...which means - I am pregnant!! This announcement has been a long time coming, and we've had to wait a little longer than we originally thought to spread the news. When I went in for my supposed 8-week initial sonogram, my doctor told me I was only 6 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Her theory is that I ovulated late, although when I went back a week and a half later supposedly I was 8 weeks and 5 days pregnant. Regardless of the timing, I was just excited to make it to 12 weeks and hear the heartbeat so we could share the news.

Only we went for our 12 week appointment and my doctor couldn't find the heartbeat...

It was the most scary feeling as I lay there on the table while she went back and forth across my stomach with the Doppler. The only sound it was picking up was MY heartbeat. Kevin grabbed my hand and a million thoughts started racing through my head. There are days that I still haven't really even processed the fact that we're having another child, so the thought of losing this potential child was a seriously foreign concept to grasp within a time span of 2-3 minutes. My doctor seemed a little worried, but casually said, "we'll just go look." So we got up, changed rooms, and I lay back down on the table for a sonogram.

THANKFULLY - baby was in there jumping around like a little bean. As it turns out, my placenta is on top, and the baby's back is towards my back, which means that because of the positioning and the thick placenta there was no way for the Doppler to pick up the heartbeat. As it stands, my due date is 6/1/2012, but because B was a C-section I'll have a scheduled C-section at 39 weeks...

Or so my doctor thinks.

I'm weird about wanting to keep baby inside as long as possible. With B, after my failed induction I carried her almost 41 weeks before I finally gave in and scheduled a C-section. I figured if she was happy in there, I might as well leave her in there since I felt great up until delivery [with the exception of PUPPS - horrible pregnancy rash - which I'm PRAYING I don't get again]. Plus - B's birthday is 5/24, and it is VERY important to me that our children are far enough apart to be able to celebrate their birthdays independently. The reality of it is that I'll likely be planning 2 parties in the same week [yikes!!], but I refuse to combine celebrations as I want to show each child that they are individually cherished in their own way.

So I asked my doctor if I could carry till 6/1 and she said no. :-/ Apparently 2nd babies tend to be bigger, and with B being 9 lbs. 4 ounces then I could have a baby Goliath growing in my stomach. She tentatively checked the 2012 calendar and decided that 5/28 would be a good day; however, she wasn't certain if that was Memorial Day or not. IT IS!! "If it is," she said, "then we would probably have to do it 5/30 or 5/31 based on my call schedule." Thankfully she is very understanding of my desire to have the 2 babies as far apart as possible, so she's pretty much ruled out the prior week.

Did we plan it? Kind of, but not really. Can you really plan when you're going to have a baby? Mostly we are just joyful and excited about our new addition. While it will be a challenge to have 2 so close in age, let's be honest - we're not getting any younger. The older I get the more I value my sleep, which means I'm ready to get the sleepless nights behind me sooner rather than later! AND - I haven't really been motivated to lose the baby weight from B knowing that I'd be gaining 30 pounds with baby #2, so now's the perfect time to just keep eating Taco Bueno, Chick-fil-A, and Whataburger.

It was hard to keep the secret initially as my belly bulge started early. With a stretched out uterus from B and an extremely short torso, baby has no where to grow but out. This pregnancy is definitely different. I've had no morning sickness, but been more nauseous, and have also been surprisingly less tired. With B I went to bed at 8:30 almost every night during the first trimester. This time, I've made it up till the start of TMZ at 10:30 almost every night. :-)

Please pray for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. It still feels surreal, but we are so thankful for God's precious blessing of another child!