happy news

Now that I've heard a heartbeat and had a midwife appointment confirm to me that everything is okay, I feel like I can share that we're going to have another baby sometime next June. I told several people early in the pregnancy because I just wasn't feeling very well and I had to have somebody to talk to about it, so I know the rumor has already spread a little bit among my friends here. But I haven't wanted to post anything about it on here yet because I was kind of afraid that I would make the announcement and then find out something was wrong and have to write on my public blog to explain before having a chance to process it all. I don't know why I was so worried about it because there wasn't any indication of a problem. At any rate, today I was finally able to see a midwife after having to reschedule my first appointment due to "inclement weather" (a light dusting of snow), and there is a heartbeat and it's nice and strong. I was really expecting that once I heard a heartbeat it would start to feel real that we're going to have another baby, but even now it hasn't fully sunk in. We're very excited.

In answer to some of the questions you will probably want to ask . . .

I'm about 3 1/2 months along. Kevin and the baby will be about 23 months apart.

I've been feeling sicker this time around than with Kevin. The food aversions are a little bit worse and I kind of just feel blah. But it's getting better. I've even been eating chicken this week.

We will probably have an ultrasound next month to make sure everything is okay, at which point we will also find out if the baby is a girl or boy.

Yes, we've thought of some names, but we're keeping that a secret.

I am getting prenatal care at the Women's Birth and Wellness Center. It's a different group of midwives than I saw last time. I think I will really like this place. They do all of the same tests and checks as the other midwives did with Kevin, but I feel like the attitude of the place is different. There's more emphasis on allowing me choices in my care and explaining the purpose of various procedures and tests, and my comfort is really important to them. And when the baby is born they do everything for the baby right there in front of you, often with the baby in your arms. Even if the baby needs a little oxygen, if they can they bring the oxygen to the baby rather than taking the baby away somewhere. Sometimes with Kevin I felt like I had to work pretty hard to get the nurses to bring him back to me if they had taken him somewhere for a bath or whatever, so I really like this way of doing things. The person who did my blood work today was awesome--I only felt a tiny prick, so I assumed she had changed her mind and hadn't put the needle in yet, but then I looked over and realized the needle was in and she had taken most of the samples already! I barely felt a thing! They have also been very up front with me about how much things will cost and what the costs are for, which I thought was awesome. Nobody ever told me anything about that when I was pregnant with Kevin, and it was very frustrating for me to have no idea how much things were going to cost. The only answers I could ever get were that it's hard to say because people have different insurance and every pregnancy is different, but I always felt like I should have been able to get a ballpark estimate for what a normal birth costs. I don't understand why cost always seems to be a taboo subject with healthcare.

I breastfed Kevin until I was about 2 1/2 months pregnant, and at that point he stopped on his own. I was thinking of stopping earlier than that because I was afraid that it was making me feel even more sick (although he was only nursing for a couple of minutes per day), but after praying about it I had a feeling that I needed to continue a little longer until he was ready to be done, and for us it worked out really well. If we had stopped earlier, I would have felt really sad and Kevin would have had a hard time because he wasn't ready. But after only a few more weeks Kevin was ready, and when he was done I felt satisfied too. I didn't notice any difference in morning sickness before and after we were done with breastfeeding. So that was my experience with breastfeeding while pregnant. It's been a great relationship-building experience for both of us and has provided us both with many benefits, and I am grateful that for Kevin and I breastfeeding was such a positive thing.