We are currently 20 Weeks Pregnant with our First Daughter! We have two sons Logan who is 5 and Mason who is 2. Growing our tribe is definitely the most amazing blessing we could ever ask for and be given and I want to share all the good, sometimes tough, and amazing growth it all brings.
The start of this pregnancy was rough. I had nausea and food aversions with both my boys, but with this little princess it hit me tenfold! Nausea, fatigue that was unreal, emotional ups and downs, PVC’s which I’ll touch on later in this, you name it, but I got through it like all us prego Mama’s do/have done during our pregnancy journeys and you can’t help but think how amazing the reward will be in the end. Definitely worth it all.
I want to start off by sharing how we found out about the gender of our third child because like many journeys we’ve been on, it’s always been quite the adventure and always some twist and turns that lead us to a beautiful place even if we don’t know it in the beginning. Beautiful growth.
Here’s our post we shared on our Social Media Account as we had just announced 2 Weeks Prior from this post below that we were having a BOY because, well that’s what we read on the genetics report or so we thought!
I wrote:
What would 2020 be without a plot twist?! Do we have some news and a funny story to share! And though we announced two weeks ago that we were having a boy, we are not.
IT’S A GIRL!!!! 💗
Yes, we are in shock still, just a little. LOL But we are OVER THE MOON and so very blessed.
See, we had Genetic Screening done due to losing our son I was pregnant with between Logan and Mason at 15 Weeks Pregnant and he carried a rare Genetic Disorder which caused the loss. So now they take some precautions by doing genetic screening and with that we also find out the gender that much sooner!
Two weeks ago on a Friday afternoon I got a message that the test results had been RECEIVED by the Genetics Company. Our doctors office was already closed and we didn’t want to wait so I was able to log in to the genetics patient portal and there the results (I thought) were. It said “click to download results” so I did and it said Gender: BOY! 💙
This was the photo we took to announce having another boy.... little did we know lol.
We were very excited to have another boy, but something wasn’t sitting right with me. So two days later at dinner I got this thought come so clearly into my head to CHECK those results ONE MORE TIME. I did and found the date of this specific Genetic Screening was back from APRIL 2018. IT WAS MASON’S GENETIC TEST that we had done at 10 weeks pregnant with HIM! 😂
Lord, the only words I could get out to Jamie while sitting at the dinner table was, hunny- that is not the gender of our baby. LOL So, Monday morning I called the Doctors and they CONFIRMED they DID NOT have the new babies gender results yet.
Oh my. So we waited and last Thursday they came in! Jamie picked up a sealed envelope from our doctors on his way home from work and brought it home for us all to open. Inside under what felt like a million sticky notes, hidden somewhere in between one it said:
YOU ARE HAVING A GIRL!
Life will never be the same. We have a little Princess joining our Kingdom and I must say this has been a dream of mine since I can remember. An amazing King and Two Prince’s to protect and love her and one Queen who will surely do the same. 💗
So that story of us just finding out the gender definitely started this pregnancy off on a very adventurous note already, in a good way because what a funny story to share with her one day and for ourselves to laugh about! So very blessed to be given a daughter and she was arriving gender wise with a BANG already LOL!
So from up until about 17 weeks I’ve felt pretty rough physically and now almost to 21 weeks I have gotten a little bit of a break, still not feeling the greatest, but it’s a day to day thing. I’ll take it if it’s not me consistently feeling sick! Now it’s to deal with the anxiety and PTSD of a third c-section. I haven’t had the smoothest deliveries and after birth experiences even though I wouldn’t change a thing now due to it all being apart of our story and it lead to some pretty amazing things despite the struggles.
With our first son I went through chemotherapy with him being in my belly and had to finish a few months of chemotherapy after delivery. I tried to deliver him naturally, but after 24 hours of labor and them inducing me (I was being induced a month early due to chemo treatment reasons) and they for forewarned me that I wasn’t aloud to be induced longer than a day or so because of my blood counts and 24 hours later of being in labor Logan’s heart rate dropped and he started not tolerating the induction meds so I was rushed off to an emergency c-section.
Our second son was a planned c-section due to having one prior But also being told I had a tilted cervix which they discovered in my first delivery so a vaginal birth would be impossible. It definitely was tough having a planned cesarean which some think it may be easier knowing what to expect, not for me though because I knew how they went down verses the first one I was just rushed right back. No time to really process it until after that is. Though both my cesareans went pretty well for the most part it was the anxiety and after math that has me experiencing PTSD and I am trying to prepare and work through that so I can make the best of this one.
With our second son going back to that, we had one day of having a “normal” experience of getting to have him in our postpartum room after the cesarean and just experience the bonding and visitors from our close family.... just what I thought it would be like. See with my first son Logan they took him right away after just a few minutes of skin to skin contact and he was rushed to the NICU with under developed lungs/fluid in his lungs and I couldn’t even see him until the following afternoon. It was TOUGH.
Mason our second lasted one day/night beside us and a Longgggg story short, the following day he had to be taken by ambulance to CCMC for surgery. He had a testicle that torqued which means that it twisted at some point during birth and it died. Cutting all blood flow off to the area. So after having that Mama instinct the day after he was delivered that something was wrong, they scanned him and found out the issue and him (separately from me) and I were sent by ambulance to Hartford Hospital for me to be admitted to their Maternity Floor and Mason into the NICU.
So back to the whole routine of what happened (in a different way though) with our first born. It wasn’t easy and it was so freaking scary having your day old baby go under anesthesia for surgery. They had to remove his testicle completely and stitch in the other testicle so it doesn’t ever twist as well because if he lost both he would unfortunately need hormone shots Daily, for the rest of his life. Thankfully if he decides he wants children YEARS from now lol.. with him only having one testicle it will Not affect that.
There is just a lot behind both our pregnancy stories with our boys that triggers some nerves for me going into this third experience. Although I know it will be completely different and what ever comes our way we will handle and be in good hands like the times before, but the nerves are there and mindfulness meditation (what got me through my last c-section) is helping me with this one.
There’s just something about laying on a operating table motionless besides my arms shaking and me shivering from the adrenaline, the vulnerability you feel is just indescribable. I mean I know of woman who went in and no big deal and had their cesareans and that’s it, but so much more went in and behind ours that, well anxiety is to be expected. I just don’t want it taking over my experience so you bet I’m putting in the work to make sure it doesn’t. Talking with my doctors and all I can do to make this third experience as comfortable as possible, I’m doing it!
Moving toward another new thing I have experienced with this pregnancy was very consistent PVC’s aka Heart Palpitations. No matter what I was doing they would start up when they felt like it and man are they annoying and nerve racking. They got so bad to the point I went to see my cardiologist and they ran a bunch of tests to reassure my heart was in good health structurally and that the PVC’s were just induced by the change in hormones and blood volume increase. So after a 48 hour Holter Monitor I wore around to catch them in action and a ECHO of my heart, all checked out well. Besides it showing I was indeed having PVC’s which I knew because I felt them, but structurally my heart is healthy and athletic my cardiologist called it lol. So with that being said the PVC’s will not harm my heart. I am just SUPER in tune with my body, always have been. So any change I pick up on like that!
I will recommend for any pregnant Mama’s that are going through something similar like PVC’s if you have no other reasons for them to be happening besides pregnancy, that increasing my water intake (not just by what I need for my body weight, but also adding a little extra for being active and sweating out fluid which is so important to add in more for if you are exercising) also increasing potassium and magnesium were super helpful!! Naturally I increased them with foods, but you can also take over the counter supplements to increase. Just don’t overdo it. Checking with your doctor first is important. The magnesium is super helpful too if you have restless leg syndrome due to pregnancy or just having that in general.
So now we are pushing almost 21 weeks this week and I’m just counting my blessings for all we’ve been given thus far and All that we’ve made it through thus far. Pregnancy can be far from easy for Many, but remembering that it is only a brief season and to not wish it to by faster is important. Even during the tough times because it will be missed one day and sometimes it’s your last.
Love to you all,
Sheila