Note - This post may have some pieces of information that you may feel are graphic or TMI so please feel free to skip. It's here for me to document and to share. Through this process, I have felt many times like I was alone or not told about things (definitely could share a post on this topic) that I wish people talked more about...
So, last week I gave a quick synopsis of how we found out and who we told first. I have debated with myself to tell all the details of our journey, but in many ways I feel like it's not fair not to share our experience. Not fair to others and not fair to Baby J. At the same time, I want to respect our privacy. So somewhere in there I will find a balance.
All of that said, the first trimester with Baby J was filled with laughter, tears, worries, and all sorts of emotions. We are happy to be in the second trimester with him/her and to know that as far as we know he/she is healthy.
On January 28th (you may ask why I remember this day...I do because it's my father's birthday), I noticed some bleeding after a week of cramping. After calls to the doctor's office and our nurse at work, I ended up on my way to the ER. I knew the odds. The chances for a miscarriage are high, especially considering how infrequent they are discussed (20-25% before 12 weeks, depending on different research). Also, it seems that I have had many friends who if they have had a miscarriage had it with the first pregnancy. I was uber worried and scared, but prayful that God's will would be done (well maybe not that peaceful, probably more like what I wanted.....). At this point, only Mom, Dad, and the Hub's mom knew about Baby J. So off to the ER, we went. After spending 5 hours there, I was released. The baby appeared to be just fine. They couldn't explain the bleeding other than it might have been implantation (even though it was like a week and a half late...) While there, they took blood and performed an ultrasound, so we got to see Baby J for the first time! It was super exciting!! Too bad they didn't take pictures. They told me to contact my doctor on Monday and let them know what they had found.
So on I went to celebrate my Dad's birthday and tell the rest of the family that weekend. My nerves were still a mess, but I knew that worry and "bad" emotions would not be healthy for Baby J.
On Monday of that week, I contacted my doctor (or really his nurse) and was told to call back if the bleeding came back. They were somewhat concerned with all the cramping, but thought that was normal. So on Thursday, the bleeding came back....a lot less than before, but still there. So, a phone call to the DR occured. The DR decided it was time to come in. So on Friday, I went to the doctor. He did his thing and ended up doing a second ultrasound (yes, two in two weeks!!!) - picture of the ultrasound is below. His conclusion was that he had no idea why the bleeding was going on or the cramping, but I wasn't trying to miscarriage. So I was told to take things easy and call if I had any more issues.
Baby J at ~7 weeks
Sometime around 9-10 weeks, the cramping went away for the most part, though it was followed by nauseous.... Luckily, there has been no more bleeding. Baby J has done well on growing and developing (well, best we know) as he/she should.
We told some select friends about Baby J early on as I needed a support system (with all of the above...I definitely needed help/advice). And the rest, we waited until we had our next appointment (at 11 weeks). Between 11 and 13 weeks, most of our family was told of our upcoming arrival. And the rest of the world found out at 14.5 weeks.
Baby J at 11 weeks
At 16 weeks (and a couple of days), Baby J is still doing well. We had a check up ~1.5 weeks ago where we heard his/her heartbeat again. It's strong at 150(ish). We won't be back to the doctor til the beginning of May when we will do another round of check-ups and find out if Baby J is a he or she....Bets are being taken...with all the money going to me (just kidding!) Seriously, go ahead and give us your predictions. We will be keeping ours quiet until we know for sure...
