Baby Spratling #2

Well finally, at 20 weeks, I am announcing that WE ARE PREGNANT! I don't know why it took me so long to announce it but I suppose it was that I wanted to make sure that everything was alright. Plus, I love to relish in good news and just think about it. Announcing it opens it up for everyone else to comment and I just wanted to be in my own little world with my thoughts and not everyone else's. Not that we haven't told people, we have. We just haven't announced it over social media until now. Also, I don't get embarrassed easily but I also don't like to seek out attention so posting a picture on Facebook or the Blog just seems like *begging* for congratulations. This is why I don't announce it in Relief Society. I just let people talk and/or see me start to show and figure it out for themselves (not that I mind AT ALL when other people announce it-I actually love it when they do. It just makes me, myself, and I feel a tad awkward). But now that I am posting this you do need to congratulate me in a comment because I am expecting it ;).

I also wanted to do it in some cute way and it took me until 19 weeks to finally get out and take some pictures of Ethan so that I could do it in the way that I wanted! So the above picture and these below were taken last week. I really wanted it to be Ethan who "announced" the pregnancy. He, however, didn't really like the idea of having to hold still while outside. Luckily, I got a few good shots. This one was taken right before he threw the paper to the side. That is why the rest are just of him playing ;).

 Riding the horse. I love his face in this one.

I just love the rocking motion of his head and face in these shots. He is pretty focused.

When we had our first appointment with Ethan at 13 weeks we got to listen to the heartbeat and we also had an ultrasound because the doctor didn't think my uterus was big enough to be that far along (Ethan ended up measuring 5 days bigger, which I thought was ironic). My point in telling you this is because we left our first appointment knowing for sure that we REALLY did have a baby.

In my first appointment with this baby, at 9 weeks, we didn't get to hear the heartbeat or see an ultrasound. I couldn't find anyone to watch Ethan (everyone I could think of was sick or out of town) so Trent took Ethan out while she gave me my exam and felt my uterus. She told me that my uterus felt like it was the right size (which confirmed to me that I was pregnant) and also cleared me for a VBAC (which I am SUPER excited about...more on that later). When I went out to see Trent he said, "So? Are we pregnant for sure?" I laughed because I felt the same way! It felt so inconclusive to have the only evidence be that my uterus was bigger than normal! I assured him that we were and told him that she had felt my uterus, even though I felt a little unsure myself.

Because Ethan came 6 weeks early though, my doctor recommended me to get an ultrasound that next week to confirm the due date (so that if I have preterm labor we know exactly how old the baby is). It was so comforting to see the baby on the sonogram! As soon as she started the ultrasound we could see the baby kicking and moving and I think we both breathed a sigh of relief that we were "really" pregnant. It was truly beautiful. The baby kicked and moved and made it hard on the sonographer but she came out with measurements that said the baby was a week farther along than we thought. She also said that it looked as though the baby might have a mass by the stomach which could be a gastroschisis. Gastroschisis is what Ethan was born with, where his intestines were outside of his stomach. You can kind of see what she is talking about in the picture below. You can see the baby's head from the top and two arms and there is a whitish/gray mass in between the arms. She told us that 10 weeks is too early to tell because technically the intestines could still be moving into the abdomen at this time and that if they were still out at 14 weeks then it would be a for sure thing. We were of course worried, but seeing as how we had been through it once before we knew that we could handle it and that babies born with this can and normally are completely healed within a few months. We decided to be happy that we were pregnant and try not to worry about something they may not even happen.

This is shot of the baby's back.

 

With Ethan I didn't start feeling movement until about 22 weeks, but with this baby I have been feeling it since 15 weeks! In the last three weeks though I have felt kicking just about every time I have sat or laid still. I love this part about being pregnant. It is like a constant reminder that I am carrying a baby and that he/she is doing okay!

And today we got to have our 20 week ultrasound! We did not find out the gender, so don't skip ahead to see what we are having ;). When the sonographer first started she said the baby was in a ball and unless it moved we wouldn't be able to see anything! Luckily, she got it to shift around and we were able to see how the baby is doing.

She took shots of his/her feet and spine (pictured below) and of all the organs, even the top lip.

And she assured us that this baby definitely does NOT have gastroschisis. I had told myself that it would be okay if it did, and better us than someone else who didn't know what a relatively easy defect it is to fix. We also decided that I would probably do a c-section again for the baby, just to make sure its intestines were okay. And even though I had convinced myself it would be okay, I was so relieved to hear that the umbilical cord had a nice strong connection to the stomach and there was no chance of that birth defect. We discussed with the sonographer how most people look forward to a 20 week ultrasound because they will get to find out the gender of their baby. She said that it always seemed a little more like a miracle when a couple who had a previous child with a birth defect, like us, came in and were able to find out that this new baby was healthy. And when we thought Ethan was fine at 20 weeks we were grateful, but knowing now that this baby appears healthy means so much more. It is amazing all the little things that can go wrong, and yet somehow, most of the time, they all seem to go just fine. Also the baby is right on track, measuring at 12 ounces.

I LOVE these 3D shots where you can see the baby's face.  Trent says it looks like a boy ;). We didn't get any of these with Ethan and although I have always thought these were cool, it just seems that much more beautiful to see one of your own baby. It kind of makes me emotional.

And before you get excited about some of these pictures and think you see some boy parts, just let me tell you that the sonographer assured us she hadn't seen anything to make her think it was a boy and a girl and that for most of the ultrasound the baby's umbilical cord was wrapped between his/her legs. Just letting you know ;). You can also really see in these pictures that the baby is curled into a ball and has his/her knees up by his/her face.

Well, we should see be seeing this baby's face for reals in about 20 weeks!