My Birthday and the Facebook Announcement

Originally written July 20, 2012

Well, I had another appointment at Comprehensive on Tuesday. We went over a couple questions we had with Dr. Tumaneng, like how long I could keep playing softball. She didn't think it was an issue to finish the season, as long as I don't have any complications. When I asked her about the placenta previa, she was kind of surprised. I guess it didn't say that in the report she got. It said it was on the back wall. I am kind of wondering if it was just barely covering my cervix, and with the little bit of spotting I had while we were in Oregon, maybe that was the placenta shifting off of my cervix. I guess we'll find out in about a month. It makes me a little less nervous though if it wasn't mentioned. But I know sometimes there are mistakes, so who knows. My Pampered Pregnancy gift this time was a meeting with their nutritionist. I'm not sure yet if I'll take advantage of it yet or not though. I'm sure she's going to want me to gain a lot of weight, and try to jam pack me full of calories and food. I've tried it before, trust me, it doesn't work.

Yesterday, my birthday, I signed up for one of my other Pampered Pregnancy gifts, my 1/2 hour massage. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as the third trimester one was with Nora. And actually, my lower back actually hurt more once I got up off the table. :(

Since Adam was finally able to get a hold of his dad and tell him the news, we were able to announce it to the Facebook world. I had seen a picture on Pinterest, kind of like what we did, but didn't really think about it. While I was in Oregon though, Adam found a similar picture somewhere and decided it would be a fun way to announce the news online. And I put the caption, "Here's a math problem for you... If you have 2 Gibsons and you add 3 Gibsons, how many Gibsons do you have? (Extra credit if you can tell me the property illustrated from the word problem to the picture)." Adam wrote, "Expecting #3. This child is doomed to a life a nerdiness......" Lots of people commented on the creativeness of it. It fit so well for a math teacher and an engineer.

How far along?: 14 weeks 5 days
Total weight gain/loss: Yesterday, I actually hit the 100 mark on the scale! Sounds pretty pathetic, I know, but I haven't been back up there for a while with nursing Nora still. I think I started right around 95-96 pounds, so 4-5 pound weight gain. :)
The Bump: It's there. Pretty hard to hide at this point, especially since it's summer. (With Nora I could hide it longer under bulky sweaters.)
What I’m excited about/looking forward to: I guess still finding out if the placenta shifted up, and the gender, but probably more the position of the placenta.
Maternity Clothes: I'm loving the maternity shorts. I've got 2 pairs from Nora. I could still wear my regular shorts or capris, but why when they're so comfy? :)
Symptoms: Still the lower back ache... making it hard to sleep. That can go away any time now.
Belly Button in or out?: The top half is still out a little.
Food Cravings/Aversions: I've been more thirsty lately, not for anything in particular though. I think it's just the * ahem* lovely heat we've been having. (That can go away any time now too!)
What I miss: Having more energy. Isn't that supposed to come back during the second trimester?
Milestones: The baby has meconium in his/ her intestines.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Originally written July 15, 2012

I haven't had time to write for over 2 weeks now! Goodness! My mom took Nora & I out to Oregon to visit her Great-Grandparents, Great Aunts & Uncles, and a bunch of cousins. Since we were out there over mom's birthday, I wrapped up the ultrasounds we just got in wallpaper (Grandma didn't have wrapping paper, so we improvised.) and gave it to mom as a birthday present.

Nora helping Grandma open her birthday surprise!

Grandma said she already suspected!

She was very excited, of course, but not terribly surprised, she has suspected that we were expecting when we went garage sale shopping and I was looking at baby boys' clothes. (Not that we know it's a boy yet.) She was excited to have her family there and be able to share the news in person though!

While we were out there I also got a phone call from Joan, the genetic counselor, and so I told my very confused cousin, Jen, that the results from the first trimester screening came back, and looked pretty good. She thought I was talking about the results from Nora's screening, and was wondering why they were so late, until her mom, my Aunt Carla, pointed at my belly.

When we got back from Oregon, I was the personal attendant for a friend's wedding. I Deacon Tom & Mary, Maria, and a couple other people that I knew at her wedding about Ender, but I made sure that they didn't tell the bride. When she opened her gift from us the next morning, it was signed, "Love, Sarah, Adam, Danni, Nora, & baby-to-be." I guess she didn't catch it right away, so Maria had to tell her to read it again.

How far along?: 14 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Right around a pound or so... I thought I would have fattened up more at Grandma's in Oregon, because I'm sure Nora did!
The Bump: Getting harder to hide, but since we've started telling people, I'm not so worried about it.
What I’m excited about/looking forward to: Finding out if the placenta has moved up, so I won't have to have another c-section. (I don't think it has yet, because I still have a lot of lower back pain.)
Maternity Clothes: I pulled out a pair of maternity shorts today, because they looked more comfy than jean shorts, and I'm all about laziness today!
Symptoms: Lower back ache, and tired. I think the tired is from the time change from our trip, and from running around all weekend with wedding stuff.
Belly Button in or out?: The top half is still out. My cousin, Kassidy actually made a comment about it while we were out there.
Food Cravings/Aversions: Nothing really lately.
What I miss: Right now, probably not waking up with a back ache every morning, and having more energy to get things done!
Milestones: This week the baby starts "practice breathing."

What is a joyous pregnancy like?

One thing that we talked about when we were at Faith's Lodge, was that those of use that lost our babies will no longer be able to experience a joyous pregnancy. For a couple like us, we had about 2 months where we were still "innocent," in that, we didn't know anything other than joy during a pregnancy. But when we had that first ultrasound with Danielle, that all shattered in an instant. We were told our baby had major heart complication, and may not live. Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of carrying Danni, but there was always still that lingering worry that weights on your mind all the time.

This time around, I feel that the only time we've really almost reached that innocent-joyous pregnancy was when Krista scanned the baby heart showing us the 4 chambers and that it was on the left side. But there still wasn't that innocence there. It was a joyous-relief: hearing that our second child won't have to have heart surgery, that the baby won't be hooked up to countless monitors, wires, & lines, that we don't have to plan for the worst, but hope for the best, because this baby has a better chance.

I think that hope and joy held us together for a while. But now the worry is starting to set in again. With Danielle, I felt her move very early on for a first-time mommy. I am now reaching the point with this one, especially since it's our second, that I should be able to start feeling the baby move (check this out on baby kicks). But I haven't yet. Now I'm sure there's plenty of reasons why I haven't felt him/her kick yet, for example, the placenta is in the front this time (I rarely every felt Danni kick where her placenta was). That thought got me through about a week, but now I'm starting to worry if the baby is still alive. Miscarriage rates, yes, they drop drastically after week 13, but look at the rates for heterotaxy (4 out of 1 million), they're even lower.

We have an appointment at Woodwinds with Liz on Monday. I'm hoping if I ask, Liz will bring the doppler out again and let me hear the heartbeat again. I think that will put my mind at ease for another two weeks until our next ultrasound, or better yet, until I feel the baby start to kick.

14 Weeks, 6 Days

Math Babies!

Yesterday, I made an appointment with Perinatal for my 17 week u/s. It was for Friday at 1pm on a day that I had workshops (no sub needed!). But, if Adam were to go, he would be missing his two most difficult classes that day. He didn't like that, and being a teacher, I wasn't too fond of it either. So he asked me to reschedule, especially since this u/s we should be able to find out the gender.

Before I rescheduled, I wanted to ask one of my co-workers, Sherrie, if she would be able to cover for me for 7th hour, if I was able to change it. She said it wouldn't be a problem, and since there wouldn't be any "paperwork" for subbing, that I wouldn't have to worry about taking from my sick leave hours (the district only lets you take them in 4 or 8 hour chunks, and I would only be needing an hour at most).

Today, on my prep, I called and got it switched to Tuesday (when Adam's done early with class). I was able to get a 2:30 appointment! (Our school day goes until 2:15pm, and usually the latest I could get them was 2pm.) Of course, I asked who it was with, and, unfortunately, it is with Dr. Danilinko (known as "the scary doctor" from my other blog from my pregnancy with Danielle). I took it anyway though. I figured at the last appointment I had at Perinatal, I didn't even see Dr. Calvin, so hopefully, I won't see "the scary doctor" at this appointment. Plus, I'm hoping that I'll have Krista again as my u/s tech, and if something really is wrong, that she'll let us know right away, instead of sending the doctor in.

Anyway, I digress... I sent Sherrie an email just asking if she could cover the last 10 minutes or so of my 7th hour that day so that I could leave and get there on time.

At lunch, the ladies were talking about Sue, another math teacher, who is currently pregnant with her second, and due in May. (Apparently, with her first child, Sue was in labor during the school day, but just kept teaching. She had Katie that evening.) I figured it would be a fine time to bring up my news. I said, "Well, I asked Sherrie if she would cover one of my classes at the end of the day, because I am going to have an ultrasound. We are pregnant with our second." Sherrie said that she was wondering if that's what it was, because she said I had a "twinkle" in my eye when I asked if she could cover my class. But she said she didn't want to ask then, since there were so many people around. Jane, the math department head, said that she already knew, but was waiting for me to say something. She said she didn't hear it from Polly or Pete (the principal & vice principal), who I had already told. (Now I'm wondering where she heard it. I'll have to ask tomorrow.)

Later during my 6th hour prep, Shannon, another math teacher, who's the same age as me, came in and said she heard about my news. She said that she's only 3 weeks behind me! (There's going to be lots of new babies in the math department!) She said she's already had one u/s for dating the pregnancy, and she's having another at 12 or 13. I asked if she was doing the first trimester screening, and she said she didn't think so. I explained what it was, and then encouraged her to ask about it.

So now I can tell the students... whenever I get around to it!

Inquiring Students

Today during PAWS (it's like homeroom or advisory), one of my students (her name is actually Sarah Rose... what a good name!), said "Mrs. Gibson, come here." She pulled me aside and secretly asked me if I was pregnant. I asked her where she had heard that rumor. She said that someone in my second hour had told her that I said that I was.

Now I never actually denied it, but I never admitted to it either. (I'm a bad liar, but I can avoid the truth!) So I started telling her about Danielle. She didn't know that I have a daughter, so she asked to see pictures. I showed her the ones on my computer, and told Sarah her story.

Hopefully, she won't be mad and accuse me of lying (cause I didn't!) when I do tell them (once I tell my co-workers first!). When I was pregnant with Danni, Megan A. asked me if I was pregnant and I denied it. Then she got mad at me when I finally told my advisory girls (and actually, Mrs. Okan got to it before I did!)