Obviously my blog is mainly about living life with my lineman on the road, the apprenticeship highs and lows and all the adventure that comes with this lifestyle. Once Brandon topped out and we made it to California we were lucky we were able to get settled pretty quick. We found an RV park and haven't moved once, Brandon took a call for a yard 5 minutes away and we were able to settle into a pretty normal routine. I didn't really feel like I had much to tell you about because nothing was changing. We were able to spend our time at the beach, disney, shopping, seeing local attractions, hiking and all that southern California has to offer. We have a beautiful life and honestly I kind of felt like any post I could write would be more of a brag post than anything and I didn't want to do that, so I didn't write.
In our personal lives we were going through one of the hardest things we have thus far. I suffered my third miscarriage in November, on vacation none the less. After the third miscarriage I found a new doctor and the gamete of tests started. There was one day I went in and had 16 vials of blood drawn so they could test for everything possible that was making my body reject these pregnancies. Every pregnancy I lost at 6.2 days, although the 2nd loss I didn't find out until 8.6 days when I went in and there was no heartbeat. I went to the doctor and she went over all my test results with me. Everything looked perfect, except my thyroid antibodies. They were 857 when they should have been around 60 or less. My doctor told me this could be the main cause of the miscarriages but as soon as I got pregnant again she was going to have me start progesterone as well as blood thinning injections to be on the safe side. The blood thinning injections were to prevent any blood clot that could get into the placenta and make the baby stop receiving blood and nutrients it needed from me, thus causing a miscarriage. While I didn't test positive for any blood clotting disorders, they only tested for 3 and there are many different ones that would have been far to expensive to test for. Two days later I found out I was pregnant! It was a mad rush to get all the medications I needed and get in to see the specialist about my thyroid. I got the shots that day and started learning how to give myself shots in the stomach. The medicine burned like hot lava, I didn't do a good job and bruised pretty bad. I had my blood drawn every 2 days to check that my HCG levels were increasing as expected. I was able to get an appointment with the thyroid specialist and he diagnosed me with Hashimoto's disease, better known as hypothyroidism. He said this was of no cause of my own, it can happen to women after the first year of childbirth. He prescribed me some medication and said we would monitor my levels with blood tests every 4-6 weeks.
The next 10 weeks were hard. I wasn't able to connect to the pregnancy because I was so scared I would lose it. This was the 5th time I was pregnant but the first time I didn't dream about who this little person would be. Instead I was taking 6 pills a day and injecting myself with shots that burned for 20 minutes after. My days were spent being scared every morning when I woke up and every time I went to the bathroom. I scoured every blog post, forum and app I could find to find similar stories that had a beautiful outcome. I kept my friends up too late at night and too early in the morning with worried texts. When I made it to 6 weeks and got the see the heartbeat that was incredible, the tiniest flicker you'd ever seen on the screen!
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| 6 Weeks! The size of a grain of rice, technology is incredible! |
When we got back from Idaho I had another doctor appointment at 12 weeks 6 days. This was the appointment that changed everything for me. She was looking everything over and said everything looked perfect. Bashlyn was crying, as she did at all my appointments and I told her, "look do you see baby brother or sister, look how cute" The ultrasound tech only heard me say brother and she goes, "so you had the gene testing done right, you know what you are having" I said No and she responds with "Oh ok, do you want to know?" I sat up "You can tell me this early?!" She says "I can give you a 95% guess, its pretty obvious, if I had to say I would definitely say that is a little boy. I thought you had the gene testing done so I was agreeing with the test that yeah it was a boy". My heart jumped completely out of my chest. I would have been thrilled to have either gender but I so badly wanted a little boy. Now I was able to start picturing life with this little baby, who he would be, how he would look like Brandon and the many other dreams I had racing through my head. I spent the next two weeks obsessing over my ultrasound pictures and texting Candace 100 times a day asking if she still thinks its a boy( sorry girl!)
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| Sweetest little face, first profile shot! 12w6d |
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| BOY?! |
At 14 weeks 6 days we went to an elective ultrasound place and had a beautiful ultrasound done. It was confirmed that our little baby was indeed a boy and absolutely perfect in every way. This was the first time Brandon was able to be at the doctor appointment, so the first time seeing his son!
We had another anatomy scan at 18 weeks 6 days, again two techs confirmed boy and spent over an hour measuring all his limbs to make sure everything was perfect and it was :) It was so fun getting to see him on the screen just wiggling around in there and arching his back so they couldn't get the measurements they needed.
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| 18w6d handsome boy! |
So now here I sit, 23 weeks 2 days, a little over 16 weeks to go and I cannot wait! I am so excited to have a newborn, the sweet snuggles, tiny little diapers, nursing, the yawns, stretches and smiles. Oh I cannot wait! This time it will be so different though. Brandon only got 3 days off work when Bashlyn arrived. We are making sure it is different this time. We are going to head home to Idaho to bring our sweet baby boy into in the world in the most beautiful place. I am so excited to have friends and family visit us at the hospital, something we never got with Bash. I am so happy to have Brandon there for all the firsts throughout the first 5-6 weeks. I am definitely going to need it with our wild child bouncing off the walls! :)
We are going to be headed home to Idaho in just a couple weeks (or less) with such an amazing summer ahead. Friends getting married, BBQs, fires, real camping, and being outdoors in the woods! It is going to be a wonderful time of family bonding and reconnecting with our friends again. Brandon has worked so hard while we have been in SoCal. We have sacrificed greatly and achieved our goals so now we get to reap the benefits of living in Idaho for the summer! We get to celebrate Bashlyns 2nd birthday and bring our sweet baby into the world, what more could anyone ask for?
Sorry this has been so long but that is what happens when I don't write for FORVER!! Until next time my friends!
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