Monday, August 31, 2009

First Pictures... A Sonogram


Friday, we had some minor spotting. Saturday it seemed to have cleared up. Sunday, it was back. Today, it seemed better but we still visited the doctor. We had a sonogram and were able to see the little baby's heart beating. Everything looks good. The doctor said that the spotting was coming from a blood clot "behind the placenta". I'm not exactly sure what is meant by "behind". But the doc said it was fairly common and that BJ might experience spotting for up to a week until her body absorbed it. We're a bit worried that there is any issue with clotting especially since she is on blood thinners. But for now, the baby appears to be doing well. It is due April 18.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Week 7 Update

We are somewhere into week 7 now. The baby could as much as a half inch and has a heart beat and a brain. Our three year old son knows that there is a baby in Mommy's belly. He keeps asking how it's going to get out. BJ has been telling him that the doctor will take it out. So far this answer seems to satisfy him.

We're a bit concerned about how to address the baby with our three year old. On the one hand we don't want to get his hopes up in case of a miscarriage. But at the same time, we want him to know and ready for what is coming. And, we want him to understand why he can't climb on his mother --both to protect the baby and to protect his Mom who easily bruises now that she's on blood thinners.

Both of our families now know that we are expecting. They are all a little worried about us. Also, I let my boss at work know so that they wouldn't anticipate me traveling out of the country during the 3rd trimester (when my project team will be most busy).

When I'm not traveling, I work from home. My office doubles as a guest bedroom. We only have a 3 bedroom house. So, now we are in a quandary over whether to make the kids share a room or if we'd be better off moving into a 4 bedroom house. I'm hoping to maybe change jobs next summer. If we wait I might be able to get an employer to pay for moving expenses. Where ever we wind up, we want to stay within a half day's drive of our families here in Kentucky.

Next weekend, we are going out of town to a large fantasy science fiction convention. Both of us are looking forward to it. I've not been in almost 10 years. My wife hasn't ever been but is looking forward to meeting several authors and part of the Twilight movie cast. For this, we will be gone at around the 8 week mark which is where we have sometimes had trouble in the past. I'm torn on whether or not to go. We think that the blood thinners and vitamins work and are hoping for the best. So we will go regardless.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Here we go again.

We're pregnant again.

On the day the when the home test showed positive, BJ started taking baby aspirin, prenatal vitamins and folic acid. She went to her first office visit on Sept. 18 and had it confirmed that she was indeed at 5 1/2 weeks. Several vials of blood were taken. The doctor prescribed daily lovenox injections. The next appointment is Sept 22. Soon after we will visit another doctor who specializes in high risk pregnancies. This other doctor has a 3D ultrasound which should be cool.

BJ told her family about her pregnancy last week. I haven't told my folks yet as I want to do so this weekend in person. Due to problems in the past, I am reluctant to announce it to the world but have let it slip out to a few people at work.

Week 8 is where we had trouble prior to being diagnosed with a single MTHFR mutation. So, in a few more weeks we can breath easy.

I'm still travelling a great deal. Mostly, I am staying in Nashville 3 nights a week. This is only a 3 1/2 hour drive from our home in Lexington. So, it's bearable. At work, I was told that I'm expected to be in Monterrey, Mexico for most of March. I told them "H" no because I don't want to be out of the country during the last trimester.

BJ seems very happy about being pregnant and not nearly as worried as when we had Skylar. We believe that the blood thinners and folic acid supplements work so am expecting everything to turn out all right.