Baby #2

So by now, just about everyone knows our big news :).  Snookie baby #2 is on the way!  Even though we were planning on having more kids, this came as a surprise to both of us... me especially.  I was so oblivious to all the signs that I actually gave blood last week!  When I didn't bounce back after a couple of days, my suspicions grew.  I felt extremely nauseous, tired, and weak so I decided to buy some cheap Target brand pregnancy tests.  Not wanting to waste them (or get a false negative), I decided to wait until first thing in the morning on Sunday, April 28th.  I had just rolled out of bed so I was pretty groggy, but wanted to make sure either way.  Whenever I think about it, I laugh because I was so 'out of it'... I hadn't even finished putting the cap on the test and setting it down before the line showed up.  Then, I sat there in a sleepy stupor trying to make sure that's where the line was supposed to be... "is that the right line?"  I remember when I took the test to find out about Logan, I was ecstatic.  I cried and practically jumped up and down because I had wanted it for so long.  This time, I was pretty much in shock... I was happy but very surprised (and still sleepy). 

So there you have it.  I'm pregnant :).  I know it's for real, but it still seems surreal.  I'm looking forward to the stage where I start feeling pregnant (uterus expanding, baby moving, etc.) instead of just having the fatigue and nausea.  And of course there's the early pregnancy doubt and worrying because it's so hard to know that everything is ok.  I just pray that everything will be fine :).  On that note, God gave me a bit of a wake-up call the other day.  I was praying for this baby, that it will be healthy and have a perfect heart, lungs, kidneys, etc. and was thinking about everything that we went through with Logan.  Immediately, the first part of Ecclesiastes 3:11 popped into my head.  It says "He has made everything beautiful in its time."  I nearly broke down in tears (yes, I'm emotional... thanks, hormones).  I will never think that God didn't make Logan perfectly and beautifully but this was a very blunt reminder :).  Needless to say, that message has changed the way I pray for this baby just a little bit.  I still pray for a healthy baby, but I know that God does perfect and beautiful work and I will trust Him in all of it.

The next step is for me to go to an obstetrician and hopefully get an early ultrasound to see the little bean.  Ever since Logan was born I have wanted my future babies to be born naturally (vaginally) but had to find a doctor that would be supportive of a vbac (vaginal birth after caesarean).  I searched for hours yesterday and called multiple offices... most said they didn't do them at all (?!?!) but I finally found a practice that is known for doing vbacs.  I made an appointment for next Tuesday at 2:30 and am very excited to meet the doctor/s and midwives.  I'm especially excited because they deliver at the Northside Hospital in Forsyth County, which is maybe 10 minutes from our house.  They have a fairly new Women's Center there and the rooms are so nice.

Please join with me in praying for this pregnancy to go smoothly and have no complications.  We're so happy and can't wait to get to know our little Christmas present :).

Baby Baby Baby!

By now, just about everyone has heard our big news... I'm pregnant!  I'm very very excited and I created this blog so that you can follow along with me during and after the pregnancy :).  As soon as I found out I'm "with child" (or "knocked up" as Jason so lovingly puts it), I signed up for about 4 different baby website newsletters and "liked" a bunch of facebook groups that I now get emails from.  Needless to say, my inbox has been overflowing with baby information and I'm loving it :).  I doubt everyone is/will be as excited as I am to hear that the baby is the size of a blueberry and is growing hands and legs right now, but in case you are, I'll post updates here weekly, if not daily.

I am currently 7 weeks along and am experiencing many of the symptoms of the 1st trimester:  nausea, headaches, fatigue, hunger, heartburn, discomfort, and others that I won't go into ;).  It's hard to think that I have to wait another 7 months before meeting the little guy/girl, but I'm excited about the journey to get there :).  Jason is still adjusting.  I found out on our 4 year anniversary that we're expecting and when I told him that night, I think he was in shock.... for about 10 days.  But I think he's finally coming around :).  We both want a boy first, so I think it helps for him to talk about 'boy stuff'.

Anyway, on to the technical stuff.  Here's some information from an email I received yesterday (from www.babycenter.com) about baby's progress:

• The big news this week: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.
• If you could see inside your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body.

So there you have it... that's what MiniSnooks looks like right now :).  These emails always catch me off-guard when they use "he" or "she" to describe the baby and its growth, but once we find out what it is, I'll start editing them so that nobody gets confused ;).

Thanks for visiting the new blog and I'm so excited about sharing the next 7+ months with you! :)