Laughing with Sarah

It's been a heck of a week and a half, so apologies for the tardiness of this post! Here are some pictures for you. 39 weeks - December 23, 2016 - My last regular weekly belly shot! December 27, 2016, 5:00 a.m. - The very last belly shot before heading to the hospital for baby day! December 27, 2016, 8:00 a.m. - Welcome to the world, Eleanor Ann! A cute, chubby-cheeked GIRL, born 8lbs 8oz and 21 inches long. Our beautiful sweetheart. December 27, late morning - Mama gets back from recovery and gets her first real snuggles with Eleanor December 27, evening - Sam gets to hang out with his baby sister. He is immediately smitten. Enjoy the pictures for now. There's a lot more to the story! Still to come are a write-up of Eleanor's birth story (boring for her, a little more exciting for me), and then an account of the last couple days, which have found us up at Mayo Clinic with a sick baby needing emergency surgery at a tender nine days old. We're still...

" The Virgin with Child - 1(copyright 2009) " by Catherine Clarke, on Flickr I'm a pastor and therefore surrounded by church people all the time. People who flow along with the liturgical seasons as we move from church festival to church festival in the cycle of each year. December marks the season of Advent, a season of watching and waiting for Christmas. There are distinct themes of pregnancy during Advent, and themes of waiting. We count down the days until Christ's birth. We picture pregnant Mary visiting with pregnant Elizabeth. Which, of course, means that I am surrounded by thoughtful, insightful people who make the connection between the season and my current very-pregnant status. It is lovely. They all want to know what it is like to be pregnant during Advent, and they want to hear about what it is like for me, spiritually. And let me tell you. I want to find some deep meaning and connection between my pregnancy and the Advent/Christmas season. I want...

Two doctor's appointments have taken place since my last entry. The first one was quick and unsettling. It was a busy day and the clinic was running late, which wasn't a big deal for me, but seemed to up the anxiety of everybody around me. Weight was up a small but normal amount. Blood pressure still hovering in the 130s/80s. It was one of those half-naked appointments (fun times), to do the Group B strep swabs and a quick check for any progress whatsoever. Turns out this baby is hanging high, and there are absolutely no markers that (s)he is going anywhere anytime soon. Dr. Locke and I had another quick blood pressure chat, and even though I could tell that neither of us liked my numbers, he also said that, rationally, there was no reason to be worried. He said that, as a doctor, if he hadn't known my history, my BP numbers wouldn't cause him any concern. And so to be fair and reasoned with me as a professional, there was no sense in getting anxious. He also said tha...

After Wednesday's flurry of blood-pressure activity, I was scheduled for a blood pressure check and biophysical profile ultrasound for Thursday, and then another blood pressure check for Friday. For yesterday's BP check, they decided to go ahead and hook me up to the fancy machine that takes my blood pressure every two minutes over a span of fifteen minutes. I grabbed a book, settled into the chair, planted my feet flat on the floor, and watched my blood pressure settle lower and lower with each reading. My top number was back to normal - ranging from 122 at the highest to 118 or so at the lowest. My bottom number was still high - 80 to 83ish, but overall, things looked good. Then off to ultrasound for the biophysical profile, which is basically a very specific ultrasound that looks for specific markers of baby's health: amniotic fluid levels, general movement, fine movements, and thirty seconds straight of baby's practice breathing. The deal is that you have half a...

Today was a double-doctor day. This morning, my c-section consult with Dr. Davis, who will be my surgeon. This afternoon, my regular appointment with Dr. Locke. Matt came with me to my first appointment. We went in, sat down, the nurse checked my blood pressure (routine), and it was 130/80...ugh! Not what I was expecting. We decided to check again at the end of my appointment. The conversation with Dr. Davis was quick and less informative than I had expected. I'd thought that we would talk about some step-by-step details; y'know, exactly what to expect when we checked into the hospital, and what the procedure for the spinal anesthesia would be, and what the surgery itself would be like, and recovery. Instead, we mostly talked through the range of variables and complications, and that was is it. He asked if we had questions, and I have a million questions, but none of them seemed pertinent to anything we had actually talked about. I'll try to catch up with Dr. Locke on s...

I've had two doctor appointments since I last showed up 'round these parts! One yesterday, one two weeks ago. Both incredibly uneventful. A nice, normal weight gain two weeks ago, a negligible weight gain between then and yesterday. Blood pressure still low. Belly measuring like it should. Owlet's heartbeat easy to find and normal. My next appointment is in another two weeks, and part of that day will be sitting with Dr. Davis, my surgeon, for a c-section consultation. Also, my next appointment is my last every-two-week appointment. After that, we go every week until Owlet gets here. We are officially on the schedule for a December 27 c-section (provided I make it that long). That is six weeks from yesterday. Yikes! Over this past weekend, I feel like a whole new batch of pregnancy hormones must have kicked in. Despite not really gaining any weight in the last two weeks, I spent the weekend feeling (and looking) like I had gained, like, ten pounds. My belly started to f...

So you pretty much know everything you need to know from the title. I had my next regular doctor's appointment today. Up about 3 pounds from last month, which puts me about about 15 pounds gained thus far. We didn't discuss my weight at all, so that makes me happy. At my last appointment, Dr. Locke wanted to check that I wasn't doing anything to keep from gaining weight (I'm not!), and in the meantime, everybody around me has started to freely comment on the size of my belly. The combination is a bit crazy-making. Dr. Locke re-confirmed that my bloodwork from earlier this month looked good (my baselines for all preeclampsia markers were totally normal), that my glucose level was under the gestational diabetes threshold (yay!), and that the ultrasound looked good (placenta has scooted up nice and high, away from my cervix and away from my c-section scar, and baby's growth is right on track). My blood pressure today was good and low, Owlet's heartbeat was ea...

Sorry for the sporadic posting! It's not that I don't have things to say, but it has continued to be unexpectedly busy around these parts and all of my writing time and energy has been taken up by other tasks. Soon, hopefully, I'll find a few extra minutes to write out some thoughts about what it feels like to carry both the identity of "infertile" and "(almost) mom of two." But for tonight, just a couple pictures. I have started to feel huge to myself, and am morbidly curious about what I'll look like ten weeks from now...people are freely commenting on my belly in a "Wow, you're so pregnant!" way, which makes me totally self conscious. Anyway, you be the judge: 28 weeks - October 7, 2016 29 weeks - October 14, 2016

Things around church have been pretty crazy. Many projects, many things to be planned, many concerns and crises, and far too many deaths and funerals. I've spent the last couple weeks falling asleep on the couch after putting Sam to bed, and then dragging myself upstairs to bed myself. It's just been that exhausting. Hence the lack of updates around here. The world has appeared to calm down a bit going into this week, though, and I am grateful. We had our most recent doctor's appointment nearly two weeks ago, at 25w5d. My blood pressure continues to stay nice and low (yay!). Owlet's heart rate continues to hover high (but well within the normal range), which continues to make us curious about the old wives' tale about faster heart rates indicating girl babies. My belly is pretty much the size it should be (just slightly bigger than average). My weight...was up from last time, but only a little. Apparently my total weight gain at this point is, like, 10-12 pounds...

Here we are, moving right along. 25 weeks already. I'm not sure how much bigger I LOOK this week, but I FEEL like I had a major growth spurt. All of the sudden, when I sit down, I can feel my belly resting on my lap. And my body has decidedly less pep that it did a week ago. All of the sudden, bending and crouching are super-exhausting, my back has started to get sore by the end of the day, my legs feel consistently tired from carrying around the extra baby weight, and going up a flight of stairs too quickly leaves me unbelievably winded. Hot and humid days make my legs and fingers all puffy, and I can tell when I've been on my feet for too long. After a couple weeks of terrible sleeping, I have, thankfully, started to rest better at night. But my back is always sore in the morning. I am doing the daily heartburn vs. Tums battle, but thus far, I haven't been as miserably heartburn-y at night like I was with Sam. Meanwhile, Owlet has been doing a lot of stretching recently...

Have I mentioned that Sam is currently in love with the idea of this new baby? :) He is very very sweet. I can tell that Owlet is growing, because the kicks and flails are getting stronger. As for me, I'm feeling like my belly and weight have been holding steady, or at least we are taking a break from exponential belly growth right now. For as quickly as the belly showed up at the beginning of this pregnancy, maybe we've evened out a little bit. 23 weeks (and one day...and one interloper!) - September 3, 2016 24 weeks - September 9, 2016

Seeing as most of the picture I've taken these last few days are of our flood damage, it is a welcome change to take a picture of something nice: 22 weeks (and one day) - August 27, 2016

If you don't want to read the rest of the story, no worries. The quick update: had my regular monthly OB appointment yesterday afternoon. My blood pressure was good (which, given the rest of my day, as you'll read, is a small miracle). Owlet was squiggling up a storm in my belly, and heartbeat was 144. Belly is measuring 22cm, which is spot-on for being nearly 22 weeks. A small and very appropriate weight gain over the last month. We talked over the ultrasound report, and everything looks good. The only thing to keep watch on is my placenta, and not for any of the reasons that I had suspected. Apparently, anterior placenta after a c-section could potentially signal that the placenta has nestled in and gotten itself stuck in my c-section scar, which wouldn't be the best. But Dr. Locke communicated that the risk is pretty low, and that there's nothing to do or worry about right now, and that we'll do a repeat ultrasound sometime before 30 weeks. Otherwise, all is well...

This is what I look like as of today: 21 weeks (August 19, 2016) Owlet is still wiggling up a storm, and the belly is definitely growing. I don't have another doctor's appointment until next Wednesday, when we'll get to talk over my ultrasound results in addition to the usual business of weight, blood pressure, Owlet's heart rate, etc. Funny (not so much) story: My ultrasound was last Friday, and the ultrasound tech was very kind. She did all her business, and then took time to show us fun pictures of Owlet wiggling around, and Owlet's crossed ankles, and cute profile shots and all. She told us that the radiologist would now look through the pictures and write a report, which would then be forwarded to my doctor, who would talk through the results with us. She warned us that this sometimes takes a couple of business days, and so, being a Friday, I didn't expect to hear anything until at least the middle of this week. I got a phone call on Monday morni...

Two "momentous" things today. First, I'm exactly 20 weeks! Which means that I am halfway through this pregnancy (minus a few days because, you know, planned c-section and all). It also means that it is time to start taking weekly bump pictures. I think that our bathroom mirror is particularly friendly, because I'm pretty sure that I'm bigger than this picture would suggest: 20 weeks (August 12, 2016) Second, we had our twenty week ultrasound today! Being a Friday, Sam and I started our morning with breakfast at Magpie, as usual, and then Matt picked us up and we all went over to the hospital together. We had explained to Sam that we were going to the doctor to see pictures of the baby. He was excited! Though I think that the "pictures" were not quite what he was expecting. We had a very nice ultrasound tech, and she explained that she was going to check a lot of things and take upwards of 100 pictures, but that she wouldn't be able to give ...

In pregnancy, there is no rhyme or reason to any calories in/calories out equation you can devise. None whatsoever. I was on vacation the first week in July, at a conference the third week in July, and on vacation again the first week in August. Meaning that my eating habits have been all over the place. Or, rather, that I've had many very enjoyable eating experiences over the last month. :) I've also re-committed to working out these last couple weeks, mostly strength training and core. Lots of squats and lunges and side planks (ouch). Meanwhile, I keep stumbling upon pictures of myself from three years ago, when I was pregnant with Sam. I am a month "behind" where I was when I was pregnant with him, so it is an interesting mental and memory exercise to try to compare what life was like three years and one month ago to what is going on right now with this pregnancy and my body. We are almost at the halfway point in this pregnancy, and hour by hour I can't...

I just made myself a cup of coffee using the pour-over system I received for my birthday back in June, because it is 3:00 p.m., which feels like nap-o-clock, and I haven't had any caffeine yet today, and I don't care to spend any more time or money to get coffee any other way. Friends, I am tired today. I haven't slept well for a few nights now, and am still catching up on sleep from a fantastic but full-scheduled conference last week. Last night, I woke up a lot because the crazy dreams have kicked in. Not sure about the night before. We had another regularly-scheduled doctor's appointment today. Everything looks good! We were in and out very quickly. Owlet's heartbeat was quick and easy to find, whooshing away at 160bpm. My blood pressure continues to stay nice and low. My weight jumped a crazy 8 pounds from last month, but my weight was down last month a couple pounds from the month before. So I'm really only at a net gain of 8 pounds overall. Just fee...

This is what we posted yesterday on various social media outlets to share our exciting news with the world: Sam gets a promotion! Effective late December. When asked to comment, Sam says, "First will be my birthday [in November]. Then Thanksgiving. Then Christmas. Then the baby comes!"

Gotta' love quick, easy doctor's appointments. Weight was pretty consistent with my weight from my heartbeat check, which puts me at a pretty negligible overall weight gain since my first appointment. Dr. Locke seemed satisfied with that, and I'm remembering that I was slow to gain weight early on with Sam as well. Somehow, though, my belly and boobs seem to keep growing! In fact, near the beginning of this week, I sprouted a little belly - quite literally overnight. I'm still not sure you'd know I was pregnant by looking at me, especially if you didn't know me before, but the bump has definitely begun to get bumpy. :) Blood pressure was nice and low, which is GREAT. I want to keep it that way as long as possible. It only took a few seconds to catch the heartbeat, much to my relief and joy. It was Matt's first time hearing Owlet's heartbeat! Yay! Heart rate was clocked at 164, which is just fine. According to all the old wives' tales, faster he...

Welcome, back, family members who have been shut out of this blog for a few weeks! We finally shared the news with both sides of our family this past week, so I can now come out of hiding (not that I managed to write a whole lot during the weeks I kept the blog private or anything). First of all, I realized that I never followed up on my last anxious post! Oops. I went back to the doctor a week later for a quick, off-the-books heartbeat check. I went into the office with high hopes but few expectations, and even fewer emotional back-up plans in the event that we still couldn't hear anything. Dr. Locke asked me how I was feeling, and whether my belly had started feeling any bigger to me yet or not. And then out came the doppler. It took about six seconds before we heard the glorious sound of that teeny heartbeat, galloping away inside my belly. I had scrunched my eyes closed from the moment I got onto the table, and once I heard that sound, I got a little teary, and a huge smil...