...And Baby Makes Four

Plus Mr. Moxie of course.  Yep Austin will become a big brother at the end of September.  My official due date is September 29th, but the ultrasounds have been a few days ahead so who really knows when this baby will make an appearance.  So let me catch you up on the last 12 weeks.

Weeks 0-8

Jeff and I knew that we wanted to have our kids pretty close together.  We have loved having our siblings close in age.  It made for such a great experience growing up. Our hope is that our kids will grow up the same way.  Well in order for Austin to hopefully have his own birthday on September 3rd we knew we couldn't start too early.  So we enjoyed the past few months having fun and traveling.  Our plans were to start trying in January or February and of course I got nervous and said "well lets just see what happens".  On January 16th (6 days early) I decided to test because things weren't feeling right.  POSITIVE!  Jeff was at work so I had to think of an excuse to go see him without him being suspicious.  He had no idea I was testing since it was so early.   Luckily he had forgotten his little black book that day and called to see if I could drop it off.   Perfect timing.  I waited outside his office and as soon as he got in the car I showed him the test.  We were so excited and in shock that it happened so fast.  He asked when the due date will be and I said September 29th.  Little did I know that is the weekend when Virginia Tech plays at Fed Ex Field.  I guess Jeff is destined  not to go to a VT game at Fed Ex because Austin was born the weekend that they played there last time.  Of course I just laughed and said oh well I guess we will be watching on TV.  Over the next few weeks the afternoon sickness started to settle in and I remembered it all too well from Austin.  It always started around 3pm and would last until bedtime.  Many nights I went to bed around 8:30 or 9 just to avoid the sicknesses feeling, but only to be woken up with bad heartburn and peeing constantly.  Around week 6 I traveled to Vegas for work which was tough, because I had to be sneaky and I was tired, but I survived and it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  This pregnancy I have many of the same food aversions as last time with the main one being chicken, but some days it can be any kind of meat.  So strange.  I started craving any kind of fruit and cream cheese on everything from very early on.  At 8 weeks I had my first appointment and everything seemed to be progressing as it should.  The next day we went to get a dating ultrasound and we got to see the little kidney bean wiggling around with a heart beat of 165.  That feeling of seeing your baby on an ultrasound will never get old.

Week 9-12




Facing us and waving

 

As the weeks went on I started to feel better in the afternoons.  I think I really started to turn a corner around 11 weeks.  I had a bloat, but I definitely wouldn't call it a bump until maybe 12 weeks, and a very small one at that.  Dr T. said that most women show around 11-12 weeks in their second pregnancy.  I honestly don't think others can tell I am pregnant, but some of my pants won't close so I have begun wearing the bella band with my work pants.  This past Wednesday I had my 12 week appointment and NT scan.  The appointment with Dr T was very quick.  He looked back through my chart and was so surprised that I actually birthed a 9lb baby.  I guess he forgets after delivering thousands of babies a year!  He said that this labor should go pretty fast since Austin paved the way, and he may want to do an induction so that I have time to get an epidural.  This was not music to my ears because I have heard that inductions are not the most pleasant experience, so I told him I would think about it when we get closer.  Obviously we have a long time until we hit that crossroad.  I did get to hear the heartbeat and it was 169.  Baby kept swimming away and hiding so it was a game of chase with the doppler.  A little side note this was not the first time we heard the heartbeat. My friend Courtenay let us borrow her doppler and we heard it as a family at 10 weeks.  Austin was so curious and kept trying to put the ultrasound gel on his own tummy so we listened to him as well.  So the next day after my 12 week appointment we went to the NT scan where they  so genetic counseling and also and ultrasound to look for any growth abnormalities.  The genetic counseling was pretty much the same as last time except that I am 2 years older so that changes things a bit, but not much.  The ultrasound was awesome and our baby was turning towards us and waving.  The technician said the baby is a little politician haha.  The baby had a heartbeat of 155 so it was quite a bit lower then the day before, but still in the normal range.  After a lot of movement it was time for a baby nap which allowed for the technician to get a few good looks.  So far everything looks good, but we won't get the final numbers for about a week.  As of now Ervy Dos is about 3.5-4 inches from head to foot.  I am feeling much better these days besides the heartburn and we look forward to feeling the baby in the next few weeks.  To be honest it still all feels kind of surreal, because I don't have a big bump and I don't feel anything but the excitement is still there.  My babies are going to be 24 months apart ahhh!  I am sure it will be a crazy, yet exciting adventure.  We look forward to sharing it will you all and having a lot of memories to look back on.