Baby Makes Three!!!

 
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.     Psalm 139:13-16

We are absolutely delighted to announce that we are having a baby!  I am a little over 9 weeks pregnant and due on April 29th!   It is absolutely amazing how much we already love this little miracle that is growing inside of me...and are really looking forward to the journey of this pregnancy and meeting our little munchkin in the spring.

We have already had three sonograms (I'll get to that in a minute).  So we are quite spoiled with seeing our little one, who this week is the size of an olive.  During the first two sonograms, we were only able to see the heart beating rapidly and steadily, but it still gave us great peace.  This past Wednesday, however, we were amazed to see our little angel's head, body, arms, and legs.  Even more amazing was when he waved his little arm at us.  Then, moments later, he started moving his arms and legs and his little head from side to side.  It looked like he was dancing!!!  The sonogram technician got pretty tickled over how well the baby was performing, and our reaction also.  It was right then and there that I decided it was time to tell the world!!!  I could not keep our secret any longer.  Since Dave had already told almost everyone he knew anyway, he was just fine with that decision!!!

So here is our baby story!!!  It's a long one, but totally worth it!!!

In late July, when Dave started his new job, we decided that we were ready to start our family and began trying immediately.  However, in mid August the doctor started me on a 6 week round of steroids, so we decided to put those plans off until I had finished them.  Well little did we know, but this baby was already on its way!!!  And I was clueless!!!  I was so sick!!!  And so tired!!!  But I kept telling Dave that the steroids were making me nauseous and exhausted.  It did not even cross my mind that we might be pregnant.  Then one day I was on the phone with my mom, telling her about it and she said "Molly, are you pregnant?"  I said "Nope, no way!!!"

So a few days later, as I got more and more nauseous, I bought a test.  The next morning I took it, trying not to get my hopes up, but having this gut feeling that my life was about to change.  Sure enough, it took no time at all for the big ole plus sign to show up.

Now despite all of the fun little ways that I had come up with in my head to tell David that he was going to be a daddy, I was so surprised that I ran into the bedroom (where he was sawing logs at 5 am!!!), flipped on the lights, and started screaming "We are having a baby?  How are we having a baby?  We are having a baby!!!"  My husband, precious as he is, sat up, rubbed his eyes, looked at the test and said "Well that is what the stick says...but I don't know...maybe you should get a blood test."  I think it just blew us both away because we had been trying NOT to get pregnant!!!

So a few days later, the doctor calls to tell us that we would be having a baby, and that my levels were very elevated.  Having worked for an OB for several years, I said, "How many are there?" and he said "that's the question...or you could just be further along than you think."  He scheduled me for a sonogram that week to see how many there were and how far along we were.

So the very next morning I woke up and was having some spotting.  I called Dr. Weise and he told me to head straight to the emergency room.  So we did!  Dave had to leave after a while to head to work, so my mom came up to be with me.  Everyone was so nice as they checked me out, did blood work, and I had a sonogram.  Mom held my hand (and jumped up and down!!!) as the image of our little ONE appeared on the screen, with a strong, beautiful, beating heart.  Even though we were prepared for the idea of twins, I was quite relieved to see ONE healthy baby (although my dad says it looks like a jellybean).   Dave says we can do twins the next time...we'll see!!!   The doctor told me that I was a a little over 6 weeks pregnant and that I needed to be on bed-rest for 24 hours.

The next week I went in to have another sonogram, just to check on the baby.  Dave had not been at the first sono, so you should have seen that Proud Poppa's smile as he watched the beating heart!  The doctor said that the baby looked awesome and was growing perfectly!!!  He also told us that I have something called subchorionic bleeding, a blood clot in the fetal membrane next to the placenta.  Most of the time, the body will reabsorb it, but he wants to keep an eye on it.  So he told me that I need to take things really easy (no working out) and scheduled me for another sonogram two weeks later.

And that brings us to this week, when we saw our baby wave at us!  Dr. Weise said that the baby looks great and that he sees no reason not to share our wonderful news!  He also said that the subchorionic blood clot is shrinking in size.  So in 4 more weeks, he will do yet another sono.  Hopefully at that time, it will be gone!  Until then, still no working out.  Even though I was working out almost daily before this pregnancy, I am totally okay with that!  First of all, I haven't felt like doing much of anything.  And second of all, I will do anything and everything I can to keep this baby safe and nurtured.  The protective momma instinct has already kicked in!!!

As much as I want a healthy and happy baby (and pregnancy), I consider it a blessing that we have had the opportunity to see our little one so much.  We are already looking forward to seeing all of the changes that will take place in the next 4 weeks.  Please continue to keep this little one in your prayers!!!

In other news, our new niece, Libby Lynn was born on August 3rd in Arizona to Erin and James.  And on September 23rd, our new nephew, Charles (Charlie) Flannigan was welcomed into this world in Colorado by Greg and Beth.  Babies!  Babies!  Babies!  We are really looking forward to meeting both of them soon.

Libby will be making her first airplane trip to meet Uncle Dave and Aunt Molly in mid-October, with big brother Logan, who is 21 months.  Dave's parents and sister will of course come along!!!  We are really looking forward to lots of family time with them, and the chance to practice having babies in the house!!!