The "other" Baby Bird

Well, we got the SHOCK OF OUR LIVES on April 9th.

I AM.................. P. R. E. G. N. A. N. T.!!!!

You see, I sort of had a hunch, but ignored it for.... 2 months.  I know! A long time!! I just assumed my body was getting back on track after nursing for 7 months, and before that for being pregnant for 9 months! I really just thought I was irregular and things were working themselves out. Because come on now.... you KNOW OUR STORY!
So then on Easter Sunday I just felt different. I felt like something was going on down there. That, and given that I was 2 months late, and that it felt different to hold Isaac on my stomach, and my stomach had just recently started pooching. I was sad thinking that it's cliche, I stopped nursing and started gaining weight. I had also recently become very tired in the afternoons. More-so than usual. So tired that I actual took a nap a few days because I could not keep my eyes open! Also, a few weeks before, in the morning when I woke up, the smell of coffee, and just food in general made me nauseous feeling. I had to eat right away when I woke up so that I would not get sick. (I did not have that feeling with Isaac's pregnancy. And that feeling with this pregnancy actually went away after about 2 weeks or so!)
 It had been a nagging thought in my mind for weeks before that that I should take a test, but I kept stopping myself from actually purchasing one because how could it be? I can't get pregnant on my own!!! I felt silly buying the test. I really thought, this is dumb, but it's just sort of one of those things I have to do so I could rule it out.
So the day after Easter, it was time. I picked up Isaac from the babysitter and headed to Walgreens to buy the test. I took it soon after we got home. I left it on the bathroom counter for a couple minutes to let the results show up. I walked away and kept myself busy with Isaac. After a few mins went by, I walked in and checked it. It was a digital test that either would say "not pregnant" or "pregnant". But either way, the word "pregnant" would be on the test. I walked up to it and saw that the 2nd word was there, and in the glare of the window light, I searched for that first word to be there, the "not" part. As I got closer, and closer, and closer, I saw it was missing that first word!!! My instant out-loud reaction?
"NUH UH!"

I was in shock. Disbelief. All other adjectives where you world starts spinning and your mind starts thinking of any excuse why the test would be wrong.
I really, truly thought, THAT IS WRONG! It had to be! Not only did we have an 8 month old baby, but WE CAN'T GET PREGNANT! And then my mind went negative and thought, well who knows if the pregnancy is still viable. Because I know you can get a positive result on a test, but there is really no heart beat there. I know that is sad and negative, but it is fact that sadly happens sometimes, and given that I would have been 2 months pregnant at that time, and wasn't on any medicine to help that pregnancy, or even a pre-natal vitamin in the least, my mind really thought the baby didn't stand a good chance of survival if I was pregnant. (With Isaac, from day one of conception, I was on Progesterone - in the cream form, no less, because that was the absolute best out there, as well as baby aspirin to help as a blood thinner - helps prevent blood clots that would cause a miscarriage, also the highest recommended prescription-only brand of pre-natal vitamin on the market.)
This baby I was now carrying was growing all on its own for 9 whole weeks. That was scary to me.

Shortly after seeing the positive result, I was sad. Sad for Isaac because he will never get to revel in the days of being our baby. The day we bring home the new baby, he will be the big brother and the older, more-responsibility-given (in due time) sibling. I always wanted to have 2-3 years of him being the baby, getting to see him on his way to toddler-hood, before we thought about a 2nd child. I always felt sorry for the 1st borns who were soon ushered out to their younger sibling who quickly followed behind. Isaac deserved our attention and our undivided love until he was more independent and could speak his needs to us at the very least!
But at the same time, within an instant, obviously, to anyone, this is a clear miracle! How did this baby come to be?! This baby is meant to be! For this to happen to us.... Stuart and Julie who desperately tried and prayed for 5 LONG years, this baby is nothing short of, and will always be, a gift!
A shock that we had to come to grips with, but none the less, a GIFT!

It was a weird, contradicting feeling. I spent that evening just going in circles in my head. We have a 2nd baby coming. I'm not ready for a 2nd baby. This new baby is a gift and miracle. I want this new baby...... etc.

And... I had to process all of this new info alone! Because of course I decide the day to take a pregnancy test is the rare day that Stuart had tickets to go to the Rangers with some of his friends. He left straight from work. He called on the way there, with the sound of his buds talking in the background, of course that was 100% the wrong time to tell him our news. So he got to enjoy the night out, and come home to the shock of his life.....
He walked in the door after 11pm. It was late. If it weren't for this huge surprise, I would have been in bed! I asked how the game was and he said good. Then he asked how my night went....
Obviously this was the time to tell him but (even after thinking about it all night) I could not really come up with anything creative. I was still in shock myself!
So I said "You know how sometimes miracles happen to people.....(then I was quiet for a second), .... I'm pregnant".
He said the same thing I did "nuh uh!" Me: "yes!" Him:  "Nuh uh!" Me: "Yes!!"
Then I went in to my office where I was hiding the pregnancy test in my desk and pulled it out and showed him. He stared at it..... We didn't know what to say! We just sat and chatted, but mostly sat in silence, and just processed all of this! Obviously this meant our world would turn upside down in every way. This would affect the new home that we bought, what we could afford, my work possibilities, our family life, everything!
It was at least a week or so until it felt real. It didn't feel real for what seemed like a long time. (Probably until our sonogram a few weeks later.)

The next day I called my doctor and made an appointment. They could see me that day. I was hoping for a sonogram to confirm the pregnancy, but they just had me take a pee on the stick test! Well DUH! I told you that was positive! So that did not help my worries much about whether or not the pregnancy was going well. The doctor prescribed me some Progesterone and some pre-natal vitamins so that I could at least start taking those.
Oh, so, the appointment was in the afternoon, after I picked up Isaac from the babysitter, so I had him with me. So that felt funny/embarrassing! Here I am carrying my 8 month old in his infant carrier car seat to my pregnancy appointment to confirm that I am 2 months pregnant!
It's just a feeling that people are thinking "Don't you know how babies are made?! And can't you control yourself?!"

The doctor had me go to the lab to have my blood drawn so they could see my HCG levels to see how the pregnancy was going. I had to go 3 times, each 2 days apart so they could see if my numbers doubled each time. This would tell us if it is going well. (all this lab work has to be done before my doctor will do a sonogram....)

I knew there was no way (and no reason) to keep this a secret from my parents. So on Wed., 2 days after I took the test, I had plans to see my friends and Mom was going to watch Isaac at her house while I was out. When I went to drop him off, I said "I get to tell you something that I never thought I would get to surprise you with.... I'm pregnant!"
And then in that very instant, I took her picture....

Her response was "I knew it!" She said it had just crossed her mind days earlier that I would probably end up pregnant on my own pretty soon. (That is a cliché that some women experience after having difficulty getting pregnant the first time.) My dad was not there to hear, but she told him later when he got home. So fun to surprise them! I know they are happy! She is a grand baby loving machine!

This was all going on the week of Mary's wedding. We spent 4 days at Cissy's house over the wedding weekend. One of the days that I had to have my blood drawn fell on one of those days. We didn't want to tell Cissy about the pregnancy until after the wedding since there was already so much going on, so I had to lie about why I had to go find a lab in Arlington to have my blood drawn!
So on Sunday, the day after the wedding, we broke the news to Cissy. She took it well. It was crazy getting to tell people this again, but this time it is actually a surprise to people! With Isaac's conception, nothing was a surprise in the least! People knew the hour it took place! So it has been really fun getting to share the news and watch the shock roll over them.

The next day, on Monday, I had to give blood for the last time. All of my HCG levels were looking great and doing what they need to do, and the doctor said that it looks like the pregnancy is healthy!

So we scheduled our sonogram for one week later.

Our TWO BABIES together for the first time!

As soon as the doc put the wand on my stomach, we saw our baby moving around. He/she was bouncing around, waved the little hand around, moved his/her legs. It was amazing!!! How can this be?! One day we get this crazy news that we are pregnant, then 2 weeks later we are staring at a sonogram screen of this 11 week old fetus moving around and waving!! Just incredible that the first 9 weeks of my pregnancy passed us by without us knowing.
I'm already in my 2nd trimester!!

This has been so wonderful in so many ways. With not knowing about the pregnancy for so long, it is going by SO FAST. Let alone the fact that it is also going by fast because my days are filled to the brim with taking care of Isaac! They pass quickly!
We already get to find out the gender in just 4 days!!!
We have a sonogram scheduled for this Thurs and we are going to have the sonographer write down the gender in an envelope, and then on Saturday, we have friends and family coming over to our house to have a gender reveal party! Like we did with Isaac! His party was by far my most favorite thing we did to celebrate his pregnancy. It was such a loving, memory-filled evening. I hope that this baby's gender reveal party has the same lasting impression. Looking forward to that night with loved ones!

I am currently 17 weeks along. I'll be 18 weeks on this Saturday.

I feel great! Just get tired more so and would love to get more sleep in my life, but that doesn't happen, so I get used to it! Other than that, I just feel perfectly normal! So thankful to not have sickly pregnancies!

Can't wait to find out this baby's gender!!!!!!!!!!!
:)
:)