By now, the news is out to our family and friends. Our little family is growing by 1.
It took a while for us, well me, to decide that I wanted to go through all that again. My first pregnancy was nothing short of awful. From almost the minute the little window showed 2 lines, I was throwing up. It was so bad the doctor prescribed an anti-nausea medication to help, but it did little to ease it.
As early as my 12th week, I started with a pregnancy rash. My OB and dermatologist both had a very hard time identifying what exactly it was. Most pregnancy rashes don't present that early. It was absolute torture. The prednisone did help though.
Everything stayed pretty awful until about my 25th week. At this point I just started to feel like I was enjoying being pregnant. That too did not last long. At my 33 week check up, the soon tech determined my little guy was too little, my fluid was low and the blood flow through the cord was restricted. Off to the perinatologist I went and was quickly admitted to the hospital with no determination on how long I'd be there.
A few short hours and an emergency c-section later, we met our little 3 lb. 4 oz. baby boy. He was perfect, but would spend the first 3 weeks of his life in the NICU. Something I never considered and I believe it changed me forever. The NICU is a tough place to be. Many babies there were much worse off than my little guy, but seeing those parents and babies, well, it's something you never forget.
Fortunately, the prednisone I was on for the rash was enough steroid to help his little lungs develop and we were soon able to bring him home.
That whole experience was enough to make me never want to do that again. We got lucky, he was healthy and did we really want to test fate again?
But 4 years later, here we are again embarking on another journey. So far, this pregnancy has been vastly different. The morning sickness isn't anywhere near what it was with my first pregnancy. It's rare and that in itself is a blessing. I'm exhausted, but I'm chasing after a 4 year old and don't have the downtime like I did before. I'm just over halfway through the first trimester and am hoping my luck continues.
Understandably, each doctor visit will be met with a little more anxiety, but I am doing all I can to prevent the problems I had before, although, no one really knows what went wrong.
Thanks for coming along on this truly awesome journey!
