It’s A Little Brother!

Jer has declared that with this new Majority, the transfer of power from “Mom’s Rules” to “Dad & Boys” reign will now include monthly Steak dinners, Action Movie Nights, more than 3 indoor pets, and the adoption of a forbidden real Tarantula. . . Send me all your Tips before this becomes “Lord of the Flies”, lol!

And seriously, Lily and I are loving this beautiful Boy.

We were all sure (except for W) that baby was a Girl. No tears this time from L! “Mom, I’m mature now.” She’s “happy and also kind of sad that it’s a boy but it’s fine”. 😆 We’re also probably going to have regular mom-and-Lily time going forward.

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I was nervous going to my first Maternal Fetal Medicine appointment; excited at the prospect of finding out if we’re having a girl like I suspected, and anxious since there was so much riding on the results of these checkups. My doctor said I wouldn’t be able to fly out to Lee Ann’s wedding if MFM had concerns, that I might need to see MFM more often than I expected (I wanted to avoid MFM if possible).

L and my sister Adelynn came for support, and I was glad to have them there. The ultrasound technician took some time to get a look at the baby while we FaceTimed Jeremy so the gender could be revealed to all of us together. They measured and found my cervical length is actually longer than average, so it’s not a concern anymore but they still want to monitor me every 2 weeks from 16-24 weeks to check changes.

Doctor was very concerned about my track record of 3 preterm deliveries, one of which had a ruptured membrane, one which was a breach emergency caesarean, and one that had me hospitalized at 20 weeks. Can we risk my being stuck in California at an out of network hospital if my water broke? I have been sent to the hospital for labor at 20 weeks in my last pregnancy so it’s not far-fetched. I’d be separated from my family at a crucial time. This is scary to me and I thought this pregnancy would be different or better to be able to fly, but it’s too risky. I’m going to try to cancel my flight.

I’ve been put on pelvic rest after they found my placenta is low (placenta previa) and almost touching my cervix, which can cause complications if it doesn’t move higher. They are watching for that in our appointments as well.

The most solemn finding via ultrasound was cysts in baby’s brain that the doctor wants me to take genetic screening for to rule out chromosomal abnormalities. Particularly trisomy-18, which has a high mortality rate. I was scared but I tried to be brave with L and my sister there. It was a lot to process. I cried in the shower just before bed when I got a chance to actually think about all of these things. . . No more denying and being optimistically ignorant, needing to face some of these issues and problems that I have no control over and just needing to wait for answers. My joy felt eclipsed by uncertainty, and I just really wanted a hug from my Heavenly Father and for Him to tell me everything was going to be all right.