For THIS Child, We Prayed....

Most of you know that we had a rocky start to the pregnancy with Noah. At 8 weeks, we ended up in the ER and were told after two ultrasounds that we had lost the baby. We were devastated and spent the rest of the weekend grieving the loss of the baby that we had been so excited about. We cried and tried to accept God's plan, understanding that miscarriage is a sad but very common occurrence. We had only told a small number of people and felt that we had to share our loss to move forward. Again, we were overwhelmed with love and support. We couldn't have been more appreciative.

At the ER, they had set up an appointment for me to see my regular doctor as a follow up. We talked about the symptoms and what had brought us in to the ER over the weekend. She decided to do an ultrasound again to confirm things for herself. We were totally unprepared for what had happened next. I'll never forget what she said. She started with, "I'm so sorry...wait...no, I'm so sorry." And then she turned the screen around and pointed. "We have a baby with a heartbeat." I don't think I can put into words what the felt like. Joel and I were speechless. I think we even laughed in our amazement. It was total shock. We had had TWO ultrasounds and had spent hours in the ER. How could this be true? But, it was true. The most amazing and wonderful news!

Joel and I left on a complete adrenaline high. I don't remember much else except for the calls to our parents to share the good news. We were so happy! It was such an incredible turn of events and we didn't know what to do next. But the relief was short lived. Follow up appointments had been scheduled to monitor the pregnancy a little more closely over the course of the next 10 weeks. My doctor believed it was a subchorionic hematoma and told me that I could expect more bleeding, but that the baby was fine and I would most likely go on to have a healthy, full term pregnancy. "Most likely" was not quite the reassurance I was hoping for. I always expected that I would be a bit of an anxious pregnant woman, but having been through that experience, I was a wreck. I don't think I was able to really relax until about December when I was feeling the baby move regularly. We prayed every day that God would let us keep THIS baby. We do our best to trust in His plan for us, but we desperately wanted to meet the baby that had given us such a scare! (As I had joked at the time, this kid was grounded for life!)

Fast forward to now. We have a beautiful, healthy, happy, incredible son. We are SO thankful for Noah! Words can hardly express our joy and gratitude to God for giving him to us. He is so amazing and we never tire of marveling at his sweet sleeping face or his hysterical laughter. So, on the birth announcement, when we included the Bible passage from 1 Samuel 1:27, "For this child, we prayed..." it has a very special meaning for us. While we always prayed for the blessing of a child, we truly prayed for THIS child. And exactly a year later, we still do.

30 weeks down, 10 to go!

This weekend, we had a great visit with some of our college friends. Jeff and Brandi came up to stay with us so that we could all attend a baby shower in honor of our other friends, Mike and Erin! The boys celebrated the shower by visiting a nearby drinking establishment while the ladies enjoyed the usual shower activities. :-) It was especially fun to get to see Erin and Mike as they are due the day after us in March! It was fun to visit and relate about how our pregnancies have been going and Joel took some great pictures of the future friends and their mommies out by the pool.
We also celebrated a VERY special occasion with Jeff and Bran while they were in town. On Friday, Brandi received her PhD!!! We are so very proud of her and it was really exciting to get to be with her to celebrate all of her hard work! :-)
As for the regular updates, scroll on down for the latest stats. I've come to the conclusion that pregnancy sucks for the most part, but nobody tells you that part until it's too late. Of course, there are plenty of people who will disagree with me, but I think they might be a bit delusional. :-) JK... Granted, I will readily do it all over again someday, God willing, because I know every ache and discomfort will be beyond worth it - but people....do you KNOW how long ten months is??? *sigh* Good thing this kid will be a total angel and sleep through the night right away. I'm going to be exhausted by the time they arrive. Wait, what do you mean that isn't how it works? ;-)

How far along? 30 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: about 30 pounds give or take. Eh...whatever.
Maternity clothes? Nope. I'm totally back in my size 6 clothes! Riiiiiight.....
Stretch marks? Still negative. Thank you, genetics.
Sleep: Comes and goes. Some nights I sleep like a rock, others I feel like I slept ON a rock. :-/
Best moment this week: The crib arrived this week! It's still in the box, but it's here! Yeah! (Thanks Dad & Pam!)
Movement: Constantly. We've graduated into the stronger jabbing and 'stretching' phase, where Baby Corcoran likes to push out in all directions. At the same time.
Food cravings: Still no real cravings. I guess I bypassed that symptom, too?
Gender: Well, at Erin's shower this weekend, the popular belief was that it's a girl! See, isn't this fun... 40 weeks of guessing! :-)
Labor Signs: Hello Braxton Hicks...I think. I didn't think I was having any, but just recently I started noticing times where my whole abdomen hardens up for a minute or so. If a friend hadn't described hers the same way, I don't even know if I'd have noticed them. They almost feel like a crunch or a sit-up - definitely not comfortable, but not painful either. Other than that - no labor signs thankfully!
Belly Button in or out? Still rockin my 'flattie'.
What I miss: Sitting comfortably. Those days are long gone.
What I am looking forward to: HA! Not being pregnant anymore! :-) Have you noticed a theme with this post?
Weekly Wisdom: The baby won't care where he or she sleeps, nor will they care if their nursery is set up in advance. (Thanks for the reminder Mom! I know it, but it's hard to keep it in perspective!)
Milestones: None that I can think of this week, but that's okay, too!

Current Projects: Decluttering the house is our plan of action right now. We are planning to take advantage of donation pick-ups, e-waste pick-ups, and might even get a dumpster. We both tend to keep stuff we don't need to keep and we'd really like to get back to basics!

Finally!

Well, I haven't bothered to post in a while because we were holding off on the public announcement until now and I didn't really have much else to share! Now that the secret is out, I figure I can share the journey with those near and far by posting on the blog! :-) I found this little 'form' and I am going to try using it to keep everyone updated...hopefully this will keep everyone in the loop without being too boring!

How far along? 16 weeks!

Total weight gain/loss: Still hovering at about 7 pounds - although after our 3 week eat-fest in Italy & Croatia in June, I don't think I ever really weighed myself until after we found out we were expecting, so I'm not quite sure but that's my best guess!
Maternity clothes? Oh yes - pants especially! I can't stand when things are too tight on my belly, it's incredibly uncomfortable.
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: Not getting enough and feeling like I always need more
Best moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat on Wednesday and recording it to listen to all the time! :)
Movement: None that I feel yet but we've seen quite a bit of activity on previous ultrasounds!
Food cravings: Nothing specific - I'm just always hungry!
Gender: Don't know - something makes me think it's a boy, but God only knows
Labor Signs: Thankfully no!
Belly Button in or out? In...but I've noticed a bit of change already...yikes!
What I miss: Wine, my normal clothes, deli sandwiches, and being more active
What I am looking forward to: Being obviously pregnant, not in the "is she...?" stage where people wonder if I just need to lay off the cheetos! :-)
Weekly Wisdom: To let go and just ENJOY my pregnancy... courtesy of the great doctor I saw this week.
Milestones: Announcing the news to the world - aka Facebook!