I've been meaning to post an update for a few weeks now, and I'm finally sitting down to announce that we are expecting another rainbow baby! Steven will be a big brother and Kassidy is surely looking after us again. We've had 2 ultrasounds so far and the baby is growing right on a track with a healthy heart rate of 171. The first trimester, for me, is always very stressful. I don't have the relief of seeing that my baby has a round head quite yet. In addition, Dr. Connors is out on her own maternity leave. She was such a comfort during our journey with Kassidy and also calmed my nerves during my pregnancy with Steven. Going through the fearful first trimester without her is harder than I expected. The doctors I've seen so far don't seem to have a grasp on how I'm used to going about things...such as blood tests to check HCG/progesterone and regular ultrasounds in the beginning to give me peace of mind that a miscarriage is off the table, etc. I still fear a miscarriage since my first pregnancy resulted in one. I'm told Dr. Connors will return in the fall, so I just pray and spend time reflecting on how grateful I am that I have another baby on the way. I have also been thinking about Kassidy a lot. Some nights I just sit in bed awake and remember what it felt like to get her diagnosis, plus what it felt like to hold her for 21 hours. My symptoms this time around have been nearly identical to what I felt with Kassidy...which makes me think 2 things: 1) I suspect we are having a girl and 2) it makes me scared for defects.
On August 6th we have an appointment with the specialist (the same doctor we saw for Kassidy's official diagnosis and also for good news that Steven was healthy). At that appointment they will be able to see if this baby is okay, plus screen for several other defects. Only 26 days to go....not that I am counting. I'm taking my prescribed 4mg folic acid, PLUS a regular prental and since my progesterone is a bit low, Prometrium (although I can stop taking that in 6 days).
Nowadays, Steven keeps me busy. He will be 10 months old in a few days, and loves to walk assisted. He will cruise around our furniture all day long....however he doesn't seem interested in crawling whatsoever. He loves orange juice, graham crackers and peanut butter - like Daddy. He also enjoys the pool and the snowman Olaf from Frozen. We've been going to the library for story time for a few weeks now, and he will clap and steal the show when we sing songs. He's turning into quite the explorer. With his birthday coming up in just 2 months, it gets me excited to plan a little party and cake for him.
