The Second Time Around!

Wow, Hazel is actually taking a nap and I have caught up on the general household tasks so I actually have some time to post. First off, the clear absence from blogging has been mostly because I have been tired and sick due to the fact that we found out we are expecting another little baby this August!! We can't believe it and are overjoyed that our family will soon become a foursome. It was definitely a bit of a shock at first though for several reasons. To start, I exclusively breastfed Hazel for the first six months of her life and we introduced solids in early November. Usually when this happens, a lot of moms get their period back because of the drop in breastfeeding. Also around this time we decided that we were open to stop "preventing" our next pregnancy and that we would like to be pregnant at least at some point in 2010 (the year in which my big 30th birthday was looming as well). November and December came and went and I still didn't have a period and didn't notice anything that strange. However, on our flight back to Fresno from Seattle for Christmas I felt pretty sick to my stomach which was unusual. Then I started feeling some cramps and a general exhaustion. Lastly, I noticed that Hazel was much more fussy after breastfeeding. I didn't think much of it until I had a weird shooting pain that I experienced in the first trimester with Hazel that really made me wonder for the first time whether or not I might be pregnant. I still had a pregnancy test from Hazel (it was a two pack) so I thought it would be funny to take a test just because (maybe I had a premonition). I almost passed out 3 minutes later when it said "PREGNANT" clear as day! Of course I had to wait until Marshall got home from work, which seemed to take forever, but once I shared the news he was elated as well!

The next two weeks were pretty overwhelming for me, not knowing how far along I was in the pregnancy and also struggling with whether or not I should return to work on February 8th as originally planned. The first question was answered at my first appointment with the midwife where they did an ultrasound and put me at 8 weeks. The work issue waited until the last minute when I finally decided last week (just days before I was set to return) that staying at home with my babies was the best choice for our family. All in all, I feel so happy that we even have that choice and I am so grateful to Marshall for being open to letting me decide what I wanted to do.

So here we are in early February and this new little baby is set to be here sometime around August 21st. We had another ultrasound last Wednesday at 12 weeks, 4 days and everything looked great. The ultrasound technician said that they had really high resolution machines and that she was "really good" at predicting the sex even at 12 1/2 weeks and she told us that she *thinks* this next baby might be a boy! We will just have to wait until our next ultrasound on 3/22 to know for sure. Overall I am just so grateful that the baby is growing well and appears to be healthy.

So that is the roller coaster that is our lives right now. Marshall is busy studying for his licensure examination which is a real beast. We are really hoping he can get all of his licensure requirements done before this next little one arrives cause we are definitely going to need all hands on deck!