New Life!

So after 3 months of waiting to be able to try for a little baby again, we reached August - the month we'd been waiting for to start trying again! Well, try we did, and Sept 4 was the magical day that we got a big fat POSITIVE test! I have never experienced so many emotions in such a short time - happiness, fear, excitement, grief, joy, fear...
After having experienced a miscarriage, I couldn't help but think of all the awful things that could, and had previously, happened. I felt so much excitement, but was also nervous about all the things most pregnant women shouldn't be thinking about. The dr got me in right away and did an ultrasound to make sure everything was in the right places, and it all looked good with the exception of a HUGE cyst on my right ovary. If the cyst got too big and didn't shrink, it could potentially twist, cutting off blood supply to the baby. Talk about adding nerves to the already nervous mama!
So basically they monitored the cyst and I got to see the baby many times as they checked the cyst. It got bigger and bigger, until it reached 5.9cm at about week 8. I was considered high risk and had to avoid bending, twisting, lifting, jogging, pushing, pulling, all those things that were basically required for packing and moving into a new house! Soo...my wonderful husband, mother, and mother in law packed up the majority of the apartment, and everyone helped us move in! Well I went back into the dr at week 10 cuz I was having back pain and was nervous that something might be wrong. However, when I went in everything was fine and we got to see the baby's little heartbeat. It was so surreal but such a reassurance that everything was fine. The ultrasound tech called it the "gummi bear" stage because it looked like a little gummi bear! And the other good news was that the cyst had shrunk - to 2.5 cm! Praise God! Prayer really does do wonders!!
At the 12 week ultrasound the cyst had gone down again to 1.3cm and the baby was healthy and showed no neural tube defects, AND it was sucking its thumb! It was only 3 inches long and it could suck its thumb and had vertebrate and organs...only 3 inches - what a miracle!
And THEN, at my 12 week OB, we got to experience the best part yet - we got to hear the heartbeat! There is nothing like hearing the heartbeat of a little baby growing inside you! It was crazy!!! I don't understand how anyone can NOT believe in God when I hear that! I know there is a scientific part of having a baby, but that all was CREATED by HIM! I mean, do people really believe in that "big bang" crap that things just exploded into little detailed arteries and uteruses and growing babies? Is it really SO hard for people to believe that there is a higher power that created them and will be the ultimate judgement? My heart goes out to and my prayers are with those who have yet to understand and believe in Him and the wonder of it all!
Soo...back to MY little gift from God! Once I reached 12 weeks, heard the heartbeat, and was no longer at risk with the cyst, my worry went WAY down and I began to enjoy everything that much more! I am now 15 weeks 4 days along and cannot wait until I start to feel the baby move! I am so blessed to have a beautiful little baby growing in me! I hope and pray every day that God will continue to keep our baby growing strong and healthy! I have my 16 week appt on Tuesday and am so excited to hear the heartbeat again!
The due date is May 10. We are going to find out what we're having - we figure it's going to be a surprise whether we find out now or at birth. And why not alleviate all the frustration with the yellows and greens and everyone not knowing if it's a little boy or a little girl. I mean honestly, can you REALLY tell if it's a boy or a girl when it's wearing gender neutral colors? If I have a little girl it's going to be dressed like a little girl - pink, purple, polka dots, the works. And if it's a boy, it's going to be full of trucks, and baseballs, and blue and green!
I cannot WAIT to find out what we're having. We have names picked out but we're not telling anyone what they are until the baby's born. This may sound rude, but we don't really care about everyone else's opinions on whether or not they like the names we have chosen. We figure that once the name is attached to a beautiful little baby, there can't be any complaints, right!?
I may sound like an opinionated emotional pregnant women, and perhaps that's true, but just setting my thoughts and feelings straight about the comments I've already received. "Oh really, are you sure you want to find out what you're having? You don't want it to be a surprise?" or opinions about traditional vs modern names, or making sure some family tradition is carried on with a name. It's a little much at times!
However, we have amazing families who are extremely supportive and caring and excited about this new life! And my little brother is soo excited about his first niece/nephew. He's living with us for a while and is soo willing and helpful around the house and in our lives! He is always asking how I'm doing or feeling and is so happy for us! I am so lucky to have such a loving supportive little brother!!! And our parents, as always, are fabulous! Ben's parents have been here on numerous occasions helping in the yard or with little projects around the house. From pulling dead plants to creating a new outlet in the basement, or fixing the leak in our dishwasher...it's all been soo helpful! My dad has been pretty preoccupied with a wedding and school, but is definitely looking forward to being a grandpa! My mom has helped me unpack box after box after box...and put up with my indecisiveness as I sit in Target debating over which type of organization method I want to use in the bathroom or bedroom or wherever else - and her decorating skills definitely come in handy! Picking out paint is the next battle! Haha!

So needless to say, we have amazing support, are in a great place in life, and we cannot wait until we have our little baby to hold in our arms in 25 weeks!

Stay posted to hear more about little baby Boline's journey from my womb to our arms!

UPDATES!

Well, it's been quite a while since I've updated my little blogger about my life. Let's see if I can sum up the lighter parts of the last few months...

Summer was an adventure consisting mostly of searching high and low for that perfect house... We put offers on 5 houses, one we were outbid by only $400, one we waited for 60 days to have the sellers back out...grr! But then in August we came across the first house we looked at in June and ta-da - we now have a home! We put in an offer and closed 3 weeks later - October 19th!!! Crazy!

We spent a wonderful 4th of July at the Luth cabin drinking yummy drinks (aka beer!) and hanging out in the sun on the boat.

The first week in August we went to Wisconsin Dells with the family I used to nanny for - best kids in the whole wide world! They're more like our "unofficial" family and we LOVE spending time with them!

As always, we supported our MN Twins!!!

We also spent time at one of my favorite places ever - THE MN STATE FAIR!!!!!!! Here's a hot little picture of Ben and me at the MN Turkey booth, while we were in line for ice cream!!

And my friend Jen is amazing and brought me to Favre's first year s a MN Viking!!! Aah! The energy and excitement in that place was AMAZING!!!

Then this fall we had 2 weddings for 2 of my closest girl friends. Amy & Eric in September, and Jackie & Brandon in October. Soo much fun to celebrate fun times with great friends!

And of course there were many many more fun times this summer - these just happen to be the highlights and the things I have pictures of! It was a fun, rejuvenating, healing summer and early fall!!!