What they said and what we're doing

I was all for NOT telling the kids about the baby until I was like 20 weeks pregnant- just to avoid the "is it today" question for the next 6 1/2 months (hopefully). But, Mike really really really wanted to tell them before he left for Italy and when we came home from the Dr. armed with ultrasond pictures to show them....well I had to say yes. So, we told them. Emma's been dying for this day since last summer when a good friend of ours was pregnant. Mike was in Africa and she said "Mommy, you should get a baby in your belly too!" I decided not to explain to her how that doesn't happen that way and just said "maybe next year." She's wanted a baby sister ever since. So, she was really really really excited! She (of course) wanted to know if it was a girl or a boy. We've told her we won't know until November 30th when we have our ultrasound and she asked if she could come with me to that. How cute is that?!? She took one of our ultrasound pictures and hung it on her wall in her room. She also asks me about 20 times a day "how's the baby going, Mom?" She knows it could be a girl baby OR a boy baby and she doesn't let it slip out very often but she really wants it to be a girl. Once I said "it could be a brother" and she said "I already have a brother, I need a sister." I think she'll be fine either way as long as we keep saying it could be either boy or girl- and I told her after we know she can help pick out some clothes and she's really excited about that.

When we told Andrew he just got up and looked down my shirt and said "I wanna see." When he realized you can't really see it- he pretty much lost interest. He asks sometimes too "is there still a baby in there?" He is going to LOVE having a baby since he LOVES babies but I think he's containing his excitement for the real baby instead of wasting it all on the pregnant part. Everywhere we've been since we told him Andrew wants to buy the baby a present which is sweet. At Target he wanted to buy EVERYTHING for the baby "our baby needs a rattle, Mom." "Our baby needs a little bed, Mom." It's sweet to see him thinking about the baby. If you ask him if he wants a girl or a boy he doesn't really care- which is good. He just wants to buy a rattle.

We're all pretty excited for our November 30th ultrasound. It feelsl like FOREVER away but I know it'll be here before we know it.

Our due date is April 22nd and Mike doesn't actually have a return date except that it's for April. Obviously there's a little more pressure for us since so far my pregnancies have ended at 29 and 31 weeks which would be Februrary 4th and 18th. My (very) humble goal is to make it past Andrew's birthday. I'll be 33 weeks the day after his birthday. Even better would be to deliver after 34 weeks since my doctors deliver at a hospital with only a level 1 NICU and they don't deliver babies before 34 weeks. If I had to deliver before then I'd be in Norfolk General Hospital and the baby would be sent next door to the Children's Hospital which sux if you've just had a c-section.

So, how do you keep a lady pregnant who has developed severe early preeclamsia twice? There's no real answer for that question. BUT, in the last could of years doctors have started giving some women with previous history of pre-e daily injections of Lovenox which is a blood thinner along with a baby asprin a day. There's no real science behind this yet since it's only been done for a couple years. The only thing I've got to go on is two doctors, one of whom is a trusted friend have said they've seen it help people. The theory behind it is that pre-e is a condition in which essentially your body has cut off blood supply to the placenta which is why if the baby is not delivered they would surely die. So, while my body may or may not be building up a layer of defense AGAINST the placenta and planning to cut off blood supply to it the Lovenox will help more blood get through for a longer period of time. I figured the slight risk was worth it and we decided to go for it. I picked up my first supply of loaded needles and gave myself my first shot. It's a LOT weirder than I thought it would be to give yourself a shot. I am NOT a needle wimp- at all. But, there's something NOT right about giving yourself the shot. In any case- we've got the first supply on the counter, next to the baby asprin and vitamins. I'm going to keep my weight gain in the 15-18 lb range which again- can only help. And, after all the medical help we can find that may or may not help we're throwing it all in the hands of the Lord and whatever happens- happens and we'll deal with things as they roll our way. I'm not losing sleep over any scenario not because I don't care if Mike misses the birth or if I have a baby in a NICU but because if I have learned anything yet it's that I don't have control over the situation and freaking out because I wish I did doesn't do anyone any good at all. All I can do is eat right, take the medicine and pray I can deal with whatever I'm asked to deal with....and that's the truth.