Baby #2 - 16 Weeks

• How far along: 16 weeks
• Size of baby: measures 4 1/2 inches — about the size of an avocado — and weighs 3 1/2 ounces
• Total Weight Gain: 1-2 pounds maybe.
• Maternity Clothes: Not yet.  Still comfy in my normal clothes.
• Gender: Unknown. I had a dream this week that I was a surrogate mom (what?!? I know) and went to find out the gender.  There was a room full of people, and the doctor asked how many had decided to keep their babies and most people raised their hands.  I was relieved and said I was keeping the baby too.  Then the doctor told us we were having a girl.  I had a crazy dream about having a girl before we found out Chesney was a girl too.  We will see if this dream is gender revealing as well.
• Sleep: Sleeping much better.
• Cravings: Sweet corn, egg white sandwiches (Chesney and I ate nearly a dozen eggs in 2 days this week! And yes, Grampy, we wasted all those yolks!).  Orange favored beverages except orange juice. Grape juice.
• Anything making you queasy or sick?  Meat and powder scented stuff (lotion, deodorant)
• Best moment this week: Feeling baby move and family time.
• What I miss most: Feeling well rested.
• Symptoms: Nausea is getting better and dare I say vomiting is on the way out?
• What I'm looking forward to: 4 weeks until we find out the gender. 
• Movement: Felt baby move on July 23, 2012.

Family Fun Day

Today was an absolute blast.  We had such a fun family day, starting at 6:30 am sharp!  My little girl has such a concise internal clock.  We played for a while and then had waffles for breakfast.  After cleaning up, we hit the showers and then took a trip to the Madison Zoo.

 

 Chesney was so excited to see all the animals.  I think her favorite was the giraffe.

 

 

 I love this girl so much!

 

 

 Chesney thought the bear in his pool was pretty cool.

 

After the zoo, we went to Chili's for lunch.  Since we don't go out to eat often, Chesney thinks it's a blast when we do.  She had a great time eating chips and salsa and drinking my lemonade.

After nap, we spent the rest of the day swimming, playing and reading. I honestly can't remember a more wonderful family day.

Grandpa's 96th Birthday Party

We celebrated Grandpa's 96th birthday this past weekend with a cook-out and swimming.

 

 

 

 All of the cousins with Great Grandpa.

 Ryan provided a little entertainment for the party.

 

Happy 96th Birthday Grandpa!

Rainy Day

We woke up to rain this morning and decided it was the perfect day to...

 PLAY IN THE RAIN!

 

Baby #2 - 1st Kicks

I felt baby #2 move for the first time tonight! I'm looking forward to lots of kicks and movement the rest of this pregnancy.

Baby #2 - 15 Weeks

•  How far along: 15 weeks
• Size of baby: measures 4 inches — about the size of an apple — and weighs 2 1/2 ounces
• Total Weight Gain: Hopefully back at zero
• Maternity Clothes: Not yet.  Still comfy in my normal clothes.
• Gender: Unknown
• Sleep: There are times at night that I'm uncomfortable but for the most part I sleep well.
• Cravings: Sweet corn.  I could eat that everyday (and I practically do). Orange favored beverages except orange juice.
• Anything making you queasy or sick?  Meat and powder scented stuff (lotion, deodorant)
• Best moment this week: Starting to organize the nursery.  And now I have to wait until we find out if we will have a boy or girl.
• What I miss most: Not being nauseous.
• Symptoms: The vomiting has gotten better and is down to a couple times a week.
• What I'm looking forward to: Finding out if we are having a boy or girl.  Decorating the nursery!
• Movement:None yet

Fun Friday

Chesney and I stopped at a rummage sale yesterday, and the lady happened to be a sweet grandma to a little girl.  She gave Chesney a hat and boa.  When we got home, Chesney took her "scarf and hat" out of the car while I unload what we had bought.  And I came out to this...

Kayla's Baby Shower

I am beyond thrilled that my little sister is having a baby!  This past weekend, we celebrated her baby shower.

 

 

 So many wonderful people came to celebrate with us.

 

 My grandma made this beautiful quilt for Kate's baby.

 My mom made this cute quilt for Kate's baby.

 

 

 

Kayla got so many wonderful gifts for her sweet baby girl.  And she probably already has them all wash, organized, installed or put away!  Now on to my niece making her grand appearance.  I can't wait to meet this baby girl!

Baby #2 - 14 Weeks

This pregnancy has been SO different than my pregnancy with Chesney...in almost every aspect.  I am WAY sicker this time around and more tired. 

•  How far along: 14 weeks
• Size of baby: measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and weighs 1 1/2 ounces
• Total Weight Gain: -1 pound (thanks to way too frequent meetings with the porcelain throne.)
• Maternity Clothes: Not yet.  Still comfy in my normal clothes.
• Gender: Unknown
• Sleep: Pretty good aside from a couple bathroom breaks.
• Cravings: Not too much!  I have more aversions such as meat.  I really don't like many things to drink except one thing.  I found Hi-C orange lava when I was pregnant with Chesney and it is the one thing that I can almost always drink without feeling sick at the thought of it.  I only have a juice box of it about once a week.  I mostly drink water.
• Anything making you queasy or sick?  Most food but especially meat!
• Best moment this week:  Seeing baby on the 13 week ultrasound.
• What I miss most: My normal energy and not feeling nauseous all the time.
• Symptoms: Nausea most hours of the day with vomiting more days each week than not. My doc wanted me to try Zofran which I have used a couple times with relief.  Fatigue which has gotten much better.
• What I'm looking forward to: Finding out if we are having a boy or girl.
• Movement: None yet.

Baby #2 - Our Journey

Our journey to baby #2 was much different and more difficult than expected.  We knew soon after Chesney was born that we wanted another baby to add to the family.  God had different plans.  

After struggling to conceive, we miscarried a baby in March 2011.  In May we found out we were pregnant again only to find out at our July appointment that this pregnancy would end in a miscarriage as well.  When my hormone levels wouldn't drop, I was taken to Surgery for a D&C in early September 2011.  

We again tried for what felt like forever until we decided to see my OB in January for recommendations.  After lots of lab work came back "normal", we decided to see a specialist at Generations Fertility Clinic in Middleton, WI.  Dr. Lebovic was amazing!  He ordered some further testing which all came back normal. 

In April, we were both a little discouraged so I decided to ask when we could consider some medications to boost fertility.  To my surprise they said "anytime".  So I was started on Letrozole 7.5 mg daily for 5 days.  We had a follow-up appointment in mid April which showed 3 follicles.  On April 20, 2012 I had to take an injection of Ovidrel to trigger ovulation.  We decided to proceed with IUI to increase our chances to conceive (on April 22).

The two week wait is a common term in the infertility world as it is the wait until you can test for pregnancy.  Since I used Ovidrel, a false positive pregnancy can be detected if a pregnancy test is taken too early.  I was so antsy to test that I decided to take a test on May 1st.  A faint positive so I wasn't sure if that meant the Ovidrel was still in my system or what we had been waiting so long for was finally happening).  Two days later, I did another test with a BFP (big fat positive).  May 3rd was the day we officially found out we were pregnant.  

Chesney and I told Daddy that night when he came home from work.  I drew out BIG SISTER on the pool patio. When Daddy came home, I asked him to stand on the deck to look down and see what Chesney drew.  He was shocked!

The beginning of the pregnancy was definitely scaring knowing that we had miscarried so many times in the past. We had our first ultrasound on May 29 at Generations which showed one healthy baby with a strong heart beat in the low 140s.  

 

We established with a new OB, Dr. Rozeboom, on June 12.  At this appointment we got to see our little peanut again, healthy as can be.  His/her heart rate is in the low 140s.

We are so excited for this pregnancy journey!

BIG NEWS

We are so excited to announce that we are expecting baby #2.  Chesney is so excited to be a big sister.

Today we had an ultrasound at 13 weeks and baby looks healthy.  Here are some pictures of our little sweetie!

We can't wait to meet this baby in January!

Summer Vacay: Part 2

4th of July was fairly laid back.  We had the 3rd annual boat parade on the lake which the kids were pretty excited about.

 My little 4th of July Princess did some fishing in the morning.

 

 

 

 The official boat parade.

 

 

 Royalty at the boat parade.

 Great Grandma Dahl came to watch the boat parade and have dinner with us.

 

 

 Chesney and Emma.

 Me and my sweetie pie!

 More swimming practice.  This is when Chesney learned to swim on her own (with a life jacket on). 

 

 She's swimming!  She swam to the floating dock and back a number of times in the last few days of vacation.  And she was so proud.  She kept saying "I can swim all by myself."

 Trying on the goggles and taking them for a swim.

 Lots of play time in the sand.

 

 

 Chesney got brave and wanted to ride on the jet ski.

 

 We ended our vacation with a few pontoon boat rides.

 

 

 Our home away from home for the last week, the cottage.

 We had such an amazing vacation and can't wait to go back soon.