16 weeks and the Verdict IS!!....

BOY! Had our anatomy scan at the perinatologists office yesterday and we are having another boy! His big brother is over the moon since he's been rooting for boy since the day he found out we were expecting. Wow is all I can think. Another boy? Can I handle that much testosterone in my house? lol We were really hoping for a girl of course since that has been my dream since I was young to have a little girl one day but we are still thrilled. I'm having to switch gears since I've been convinced we were having a girl this time and have been planning which I guess is where I messed up lol. We may make plans but God directs our steps and I know He has a reason for blessing us with another boy. While I still hope for a girl one day (yeah, my crazy self has decided this might not be our last youngin!) but I am so thankful for this little boy and will love him will all I've got! He will definitely be in good company since he will have 2 big brothers which makes us a total of 3 boys and 2 girls in the family (counting my stepbabies that don't live with us). So I'm preparing myself! I at least know what to do with a boy, I have plenty of practice lol. And plenty of hand-me-downs from my sister and best friend who both have little boys. I'm still in shock though lol but so blessed and happy since we didn't know if we'd even be able to conceive, this baby is going to be loved and spoiled something crazy!

Other than that news, everything else is going smoothly so far. My nausea is steadily decreasing which is awesome but I still have food aversions and sometimes eat something thinking it will be awesome only to regret it after the first bite. That is not fun and I miss Mexican food (that is my Number 1 No No food right now, can't even look at it!).
All my tests came back good, no down syndrome or trisomy 18. Second test for downs was done yesterday  so I won't get that result until next week but the first one was good so we expect this one to be fine. They ran my repeat test of the anticardiolipid panel yesterday too. Since I've tested in the indeterminate to positive range for it twice they needed to test once again to make sure and I'm praying that comes back fine.

So without further ado, here is our little man! (He didn't want to look at us, was napping face down in his placenta lol)

15 1/2 weeks

Yes, I've been a terrible blogger for a couple of weeks. I have felt zero desire to share anything for some reason but I guess there hasn't been alot going on. I'm super tired once again and wondering why the 2nd tri is not as amazing as everyone says it should be? But I'm weird and nothing that is normal for others is ever normal for me it seems..oh well lol. Like my crazy autoimmune stuff...gearing up for another awful flare. Yep, my rheumatologist told me she's never seen a pregnant woman NOT go into remission during pregnancy. She was certain my giant swollen toes and feet would go away. Well, they went away for about 3 weeks total and one of those weeks I was on prednisone for poison oak so that was probably why it was not active at that time. Now, it's creeping up again. Not only is this extremely painful and annoying (I can only wear flip flops for crying out loud! It's about to winter and I'll still be floppin! ugh!!!), I'm in complete fear that my immune system will start attacking the baby. It may be completely nonsense to feel this way but I can't help it. When I know my immune system is attacking place it should not, why would it not try to attack the foreign body growing in my womb? God I pray it won't! I go back to the perinatologist for our anatomy scan on Tuesday the 30th so we will find out pink or blue (YAY!!!) so I will bring it up with him then. Hopefully he can put my fears to rest. He's assured me they will follow me closely because autoimmune disorders can sometimes cause the growth to slow down towards the end of the pregnancy so they have to watch that (but what could they do about it? I dunno?). I know I'm in good hands but my insane emotions still get me sometimes.

Symptoms are the same really, slightly less nausea but tons of heartburn. Tired. Back has started giving me trouble and I knew it would at some point but I was hoping not this early. I went to the chiro two days ago and she fixed my SI joints and sacrum but yesterday I started hurting again and either my joints are so loosey  goosey now that they will slip right back out of place again or it's just time for the pain to start. It sucks, there's no other word for it. Sleep is difficult but I am so thankful my dear mom & dad bought me an amazing bed early in the year that adjusts so I can sit up to sleep. If I didn't have that I'd be in the recliner every night struggling to get comfortable. But we'll take it a day at a time and hopefully I won't need laproscopic surgery in the 3rd tri. That would be terrifying!

On other fronts, work is the same. My coworkers all know now and that is a huge relief because hiding it was getting difficult. I am as big at this point as I was at 6 months with my son. It's crazy. And my uterus is still very low and I can barely find it so I guess it's all innards being shifted around but I definitely cannot wear any of my regular pants anymore and finding maternity pants for my insanely long legs is so difficult so not sure what I'll do when it gets cold! I'll be a sight: capris and flip flops in cold weather. Yep, that should be fun. But, I'm so very thankful I'm here and if that's what I gotta do then so be it!

Guess that's all for now, hopefully I will be able to post again next week. Well of course I have to share the gender so look forward to that! I'm so excited! ...think pink..think pink.. lol ;-P but we will be happy either way :-)

Blogger Block & 13 weeks

Ever just feel like not blogging? That's been me for like a week. I just don't feel like it lol. But nonetheless I will be irritated with myself next week if I don't. I turned 13 weeks Saturday by my calcs, today by the doc's. Still battling nausea that I thought was going away. No such luck. I am miserable to say the least. And Mexican food is my sworn enemy. I've tried eating it twice in the last couple of weeks and both times I became so sick that all I could do was lay in bed and groan. So I will not be attempting that again!

We had our NT scan last week and my mom went with me because hubs was working. Everything looked great! I was sooo relieved! Bladder is normal, NT measurement normal, all is well so far! They will be retesting for the Anticardio Phospholipid Syndrome the first week of November when I go for the anatomy scan. 3-4 weeks feels like forever away! But we will get to find out pink or blue 2 weeks early so I'm super excited! The doc said they will continue to see me for the rest of the pregnancy regardless of the APS outcome just because I have an autoimmune disorder since it can sometimes cause issues with growth and some other stuff so they want to monitor closely in the 3rd trimester. Fine by me! More peeks at our little one!

So I'm breathing easier about everything and feel like God's got us covered on all bases. :-) I am not really showing much more than I was a week ago, sorta feel like my uterus is sitting way back this time. At this point with my son I could very easily feel it below my belly button but when I push around now I think I can feel the top of it but then again I can't tell cuz I got extra fluff. Oh well, guess she/he will make their presence known before too long. You could say I'm "showing" but only cuz I can't suck in anymore. Stupid fat. Hope I can get rid of it after!

Oh and I almost forgot! My poison oak hell is ending! Turns out I did not have cellulitis after all and the prednisone my derm gave me worked wonders. It also helped my arthritis which was an added bonus! I didn't take it like she asked me to (7 days on 40mg and 7 on 20mg) because that is just way too much steroid (a dose pack starts out at 30mg and reduces by 5mg a day for only 6 days!) so I took 40mg for 2 days and 20mg for 2 days and 10mg for 1 day. That seemed to be just enough and I am rejoicing! I still itch some but I think it's just the residual dryness causing that because the rash is pretty much completely gone. Yesss!!!

Guess that's all for now. I apparently had more to write about than I thought!

12 weeks and Posion oak is E.V.I.L.

So here we are at 12 weeks, broaching the second trimester mark! How did that happen!? I'm so so very thankful to be here and feel a bit "unworthy" of feeling surprised I would make it here. I read so many blogs of precious ladies who are now pregnant after one or more miscarriages. And here I am, big 2nd pregnancy and have never had a miscarriage. I just have had alot of medical issues that made me fear that I would miscarry. And I still fear it. But I am so very excited for those that are doing so well that have faced loss, they so deserve it!

At 12 weeks I am just now starting to feel like a baby "bump" is about to happen. I have been "showing" for a couple of weeks now, mostly cuz I can't suck my gut in anymore so I really look 6 months pregnant. UGH. I started wearing maternity clothes a week ago after the ponytail holder trick started to become to uncomfortable. I have one of those belly bands and have a couple of pairs of pants that I use it with but I'm getting to where sitting in normal pants is just not cool for my very low belly area, too constricted. I already feel like a cow. Of course before getting pregnant I had all these magnificent plans of being 60 pounds thinner so that I would only have half of that to lose after baby but of course those plans never came to fruition. I actually weighed more than I have in a long time when I got preggo and that is just worrying the mess outta me, I'm gonna have a helluva time getting the weight off after baby. I am not a good dieter, will power is not a word I'm very familiar with, wish I knew where to find some of that.

Symptoms: nausea still rearing its ugly head every now and then, not constant though. Heartburn really bad some days, none others. Fatigue getting better but still not gone. I'd love to be able to clean more than one room of my house without feeling like I've run a marathon. Oh, and I ITCH like crazy! I posted about the oh so evil poison oak rash, it's still torturing me. Two weeks now. The oozing and ickiness have dried up but now I've got this large swollen inflamed area that I thought was turning into cellulitis but my derm has assured me it's just part of the awful immune response continuing. Man...is there any end in sight? I went to my ob yesterday to find out what he wanted me to do and he sent me to the derm who has decided to put me on low dose prednisone to try to knock it out. I'm not happy about having to take anything. My doc ok'd it and agreed I could take it or a shot. I opted for the pills cuz at least I have the option to stop them if my anxiety about harming the baby gets to be too much. What's crazy is a week ago, my ob refused to let me use a steroid cream to help with the itching, now this week he's ok with a shot or pills? Is there really that much difference in 5 days? I dunno, but I can't go on like this in misery. I get no sleep, I have to leave an ice pack on it all night long just to be able to sleep in small spurts, it's so hard not to just claw myself to pieces! On top of that, I now seem to be allergic to all laundry detergent and body wash. So more itching! UGHHH!! really? I know pregnancy is usually miserable but I'm supposed to be feeling pretty good at this point as I go into the 2nd trimester and that's just not happening. Oh well, I'm still happy I'm here.

Oh, and some GOOD news! When I went to the doc yesterday, he could not find the heartbeat with his dopplar so he sent me through ultrasound again just to make sure. Of course it was thumping away at 170 bpm. So I've gotten 2 ultrasounds in the last 2 weeks. LOVE!! And I posted last week about the bladder being enlarged which scared the mess out of me. Well I think this unexpected ultrasound was God's way of letting me know it's ok! The bladder now looks normal! Praise GOD!! So all the fear and anxiety and stress of the last week thinking something horrible was happening to our little one has just rolled off our shoulders. Apparently she/he just had to pee. lol. Man what a relief! But I will still go for the perinatal appt. tomorrow just to be sure all is well and we will see him again next week for the NT scan. Not sure why they can't do the NT this week but they are adamant that I need to be 13 weeks for that. Fine by me, just one more chance to see our precious baby!

So that's all the news for now. Hoping all goes well tomorrow and next week. Moving forward and so very thankful!!