Near the end of June this year, we found out we were expecting again. The discovery came with mixed feelings, as it was only 4 months after our little Lily was stillborn. Part of us was excited to be expecting again, but the other part was afraid to get too excited for fear of having our hearts broken again. Pregnancy was even more of an emotional adjustment than normal. We knew (and wanted others to know) that a new baby would never take Lily's place. She will always be our first. We also knew (and wanted others to know) that having another baby would not heal the sadness we feel at Lily's absence. After an emotional tug-of-war, faith won out over fear and the natural instinct to protect ourselves from the possibility additional heartache. It hasn't been easy, but we have found peace as we have trusted in Heavenly Father's plan and in his promises.
We found a new doctor who we really like. Although he said an early ultrasound was not medically necessary (Trisomy-18 is pretty random and chances are super slim that it would ever happen again), he could tell that it would ease our anxiety. We had a great experience at our 13-week ultrasound. We were amazed at how much detail we were able to see so early. Here are some of the pictures:
The baby is on her back. You can see the spine.
Sucking her thumb or waving.
A little leg.
At 21-weeks we had another ultrasound. The baby, who we found out was a girl, was very active and made the doctor work hard to keep up with her. Here are some of the pictures from her second photo shoot:
She is laying on her back with her feet walking on the ceiling.
A hand.
A bad angle of her face. On the video we have some good profile shots, but every time the doctor took a picture the angle was a little weird. Oh well.
Here are a few recent belly shots. I had intended to do a better belly journal by taking pictures every Sunday, but that worked out about as well as posting regularly to this blog. This picture was taken at 27.5 weeks with a weight gain of about 22 lbs. For a long time I didn't gain any weight, but lately I've started to pack it on. Thanksgiving really helped.
There you have it! Hope it was worth the wait. We haven't chosen a name yet, so feel free to throw out your suggestions (Gertrude and Helga have already been turned down).
6 comments:
I am so happy for you–and the ultrasound pics are so lovely!
I love the picture of her sucking her thumb! How precious!
Congratulations guys! Though Lily won’t ever be replaced it will be a huge blessing to have one you can hold and cuddle. And another girl, we personally love girls!
Though we have been negligent in our blogging as well, we are expecting #3 the beginning of March. This one LOOKS like a boy, though he has been quite modest for all the ultrasounds. Well, that and the ultrasounds on this island are like 30 years old. We’re lucky we could even tell is was a baby in there, much less the gender. We keep hearing, we think there is something there. . . I guess time will tell!
We’ll hope for this pregnancy to be as uneventful as possible for you guys! Congrats!
Hey guys! It was great to see you both at Thanksgiving. We miss seeing you more often. But i guess every once in a while is better than never. So I love the belly shots. Those were always my favorite to take and compare to the last ones. So keep posting them. I need to see how much she is growing. :)
Steph! Your baby bump is adorable! You are glowing fabulously. Thanks for sharing the tummy pics.
Stephanie,
Congratulations! Glad to hear you are doing alright. I miss having you for a VT. Lots of Love
Elizabeth & Rod
Post a Comment