Baby #2 News

Well, just like when I was pregnant with Hayden, I have been experiencing some bleeding during this pregnancy. Yesterday afternoon, I noticed I was bleeding again. If it hadn't been for an incident earlier in the day when Hayden and I were playing on the floor at home and he tripped and his knee slammed right into my belly, I probably would have brushed it off. But I decided to call the doctor to report it. Since it was 4:30, they said it was too late to come in and recommended I go to the ER. Grrr. But they wanted me to get it checked out, because the impact could have caused damage to the placenta or some other area. I waited until Phil got home so he could stay with Hayden, ate dinner, got to the ER around 7pm, had an UltraSound at 10:30pm, waited until 11:30pm to talk to the doctor for the results and got home after midnight.

The UltraSound revealed a small hemorrhage at the bottom of the uterus near the placenta that is causing the bleeding. It is unknown whether the impact caused the tear or if that was just coincidence. The doctor thought that since I’ve had other episodes of bleeding that the tear might have been there already. I guess sometimes where the placenta attaches to the uterine wall, it can aggravate the tissue and occasionally bleed. The placenta itself is not bleeding. There is a small risk that the tear could become worse, and affect where the placenta is attached, and if the placenta becomes detached from the uterine wall, a fetus cannot survive. The doctor assured me that this risk is very small, and most likely the tear with either heal or just be there for the remainder of the pregnancy. He did recommend pelvic rest and no lifting, straining or exercise for at least a few days of no bleeding. So I’m trying to take it easy.

SO... there’s one really positive outcome of this whole scary experience. Because I had to get an UltraSound done, I got to find out the sex of the baby!! As the UltraSound tech was scanning around and measuring various parts of the placenta and baby, I told her I wouldn’t mind finding out if it was a boy or girl. She was nice and after she got the information needed, she took a peek at the tell-tale parts. Since I’m only 17 weeks along, she said it might be hard to tell. Usually it’s better to see at 20+ weeks. She was watching the screen and said, “Well, you have a boy already”. I have to admit, I was a little sad. I really felt in my heart we were having a girl. I quietly lay there and tried to focus on how blessed I am that he has a heartbeat, and is ok, and that a little brother for Hayden is going to be wonderful. Then the tech pointed to the screen and said, “So this is where a penis would be, and instead, there are 3 lines. That indicates a girl.” HUH??! I thought you just said I was having a boy? She laughed and was like, “Oh, sorry, I was just saying you ALREADY have a boy”, meaning Hayden - who I mentioned earlier when I described the accident. I thought she had meant she could already tell it was a boy. She said she’s about 90% sure it’s a girl, but she never says 100% because especially with girls it is a little harder to tell. But I’ll take 90%! :) She had to do a couple other measurements and scans to do, and later during the procedure said, “Yup! Still saying girl!”. It was so awesome to see her moving all around on the screen. At this stage, you can really make out the spine, hands, feet, head, heartbeat. It was wonderful! Despite the long, exhausting ordeal at the ER, it was so fun to get home and wake up Phil and tell him the news. He thought he was dreaming!

We have a follow-up UltraSound on March 31st. This should also help confirm it, but for now, Phil and I are giddy with excitement that we’re 90% sure it’s a girl! YAY!

Oh, and she is also measuring big for my estimated due date (was August 6th), so by their measurements, a more accurate due date is around July 28th.

Hayden amazes me.

I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm bragging, but I am one proud Mom. Hayden is such a joy to be around and I am so in awe at some of the ways he is developing and experiencing life. It is so much fun to have a 21-month old son! And since this blog is basically Hayden's Baby Book, this is where I get to document all the wonderful things about him. Also, a lot of our friends and relatives haven't seen him for a while, so here are some of the latest developments:

Language - Hayden is talking a lot more than even just a month or so ago. He is starting to put words together like "Bye Bye Daddy" and "Blue Car". He still has his own way of speaking (that Phil and I have learned to decode for the most-part), so not all his words are completely perfect. He often picks up on the last sound of the word and puts it first. Like "orange" is "Jorn", and "green" is "neen", "juice" and "ice" are both "SSS", "on" is "non", and "again" is "Naah". He also has cute ways of saying "Dog"="GoDGoDGo", "Truck"="TruTru", "Car"="Dar", and "Gears"="JiaJeer".

Letters - he recognizes and says over half the letters of the alphabet, whether on a book, piece of mail, sign, menu, poster, refrigerator magnets, or anything written. He especially loves the letter B. Other letters he says and points to are: A, D, E, F, G, H, I, N, O, P, S, T, U, and Y. So far just the capital letterform (unless of course the lowercase is the same, like O, S, and U.) He is even showing signs that he understand that these letters combine to form words. We were at Red Robin and there was a movie poster for TOMBSTONE next to our table. He pointed and said almost every letter, from left to right. Or if Phil or I wear a shirt with a word, he loves to point and spell out the letters. I think his love of letters is because he loves books! He will sit still and listen to several books before nap and bedtime, and throughout the day also. He mostly loves books about trucks and tractors, but also likes a lot of the Dr. Suess books, Sandra Boynton books, and books with animals and numbers.

Numbers - He also likes to point to numbers and either say them or attempt to form his fingers into the number (he usually gets 5 and 4). For some reason, he LOVES 8 and 9 when he sees those numbers. He even points to the numbers on his digital clock in his room and usually says them correctly.

Shapes - He has a shape sorter cube with a variety of shapes - square, circle, triangle, star, moon, etc. He rotates the cube to the correct side and puts the block in the right hole. He only has difficulty distinguishing the half-circle shape from the crescent moon shape.


He also enjoys putting together wood puzzles. He has one that has a bunch of different cars and trucks and he can put the shapes in their proper place almost as fast as I can.

Colors - He can point to and name blue, green, red, yellow, orange, and purple.

Stacking - He understands size relationships and stacks smaller things on top of bigger things. He is good at balancing objects on top of each other and we think he has a future in the circus. ;)

Eating - He has pretty much mastered a spoon, eating a whole bowl of oatmeal with just a little bit of dribbles down his chin. He is also great at using a fork and doesn't eat with his hands very often. He can drink out of a regular cup without spilling, but we usually still give him a straw in his cup to make it easier.

Singing - He loves to sing "Ee-I-Ee-I-O" for Old Macdonald, and actually sings sort of in pitch. Also there are some Beatles songs he sings to. "LaLaLa" for "Oh-bla-di...", the "Leeees" in "...won't you pleease, pleeease help me..." I've got to try to get this on video sometime.

Memory - The other day we were at Fred Meyer and as I was putting Hayden in the shopping cart, he noticed a fire truck parked in the back of the parking lot and made the fire truck siren noise. Just then, 3 firefighters walked in and heard him make that noise, and thought it was really cute. One nice fireman gave Hayden a little postcard photo of the firetruck and a sticker of a Jr. Firefighter badge. Hours later, when I asked Hayden to tell Daddy what we saw at Fred Meyer earlier that day, he made the fire truck siren noise. That's just one example, but I think it's pretty remarkable that he can remember things that happen earlier in the day and make associations like that.

Another example of that is he loves to go get the mail with me, but our neighbor has a big dog that barks when we walk past his house, so every time I say to Hayden, "Let's go get the mail" he says "Mailman!" and then immediately, "DoDgoDgoDgo" in a whimpery voice. I have to reassure him that the dog is inside that house. He has a love/hate relationship with dogs. He doesn't mind seeing them, and LOVES his little stuffed doggie, but he is terrified of the "Bark" even if I do it, even in a friendly, "ruff-ruff" way.

Some other cute and amazing things he is doing now - mimicking my "stroller strides" exercises when he pushes around his baby stroller doing squats! Brushing his teeth, throwing garbage away, getting into his booster seat at the dinner table by himself and buckling himself in (still hasn't figured out the unbuckling part, thankfully), going up and downstairs just lightly holding the wall, and going down a slide.




I can't wait for the weather to get better and we can play outside more. But we stay pretty busy during the week with Stroller Strides on Mon-Wed-Fri mornings, PEPS on Thursdays. He goes to Annie's house on Tuesday mornings while I get some work done and Grandma Doris comes over on Wed after Stroller Strides to watch him also while I work. On Mondays after Stroller Strides we usually stay at the Community Center and play at their Toddler Time area, and on Fridays we often go to KidsQuest Museum. He naps from about 1:30 - 4:30 so it's basically just the mornings that we can get out and do stuff. And as you can see, we pack it pretty full.

So that's my life with Hayden right now. I am enjoying every minute of it and it seems like Hayden is a pretty happy little kid, too.

Breaking News

If I were famous, I would have been on the "Bump Watch" pages of the tabloids weeks ago... and they would be right! Yup! For those of you who don't know, Phil and I are expecting Baby #2 at the beginning of August. Shockingly, this means I have something in common with Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The View. (My good friend Annie loves her, so I won't make any comment here.) Although, unlike Elisabeth, our pregnancy was most certainly planned. Hayden and his little sibling will be roughly 2 years and 2 1/2 months apart. I think that's perfect. Hayden will be old enough to kind of 'help' with some things, and they'll be far enough apart that maybe they won't be quite as competitive with each other as my sister and I were (22 months apart and only 1 school grade apart). But they'll still be close enough to play together once they're a little older.

It's always an interesting game of when to tell people. We told our family at Christmas, when I was only about 8 weeks along. Many people like to wait until they are through their first trimester because that is when the risk of miscarriage drops significantly. But for me, I figured, if the unthinkable were to happen, I would want my family and close friends to know what I was going through. I would need their support. And it's just so much fun to announce the news, and I couldn't think of a better time than at Christmas. Plus, then I don't have to think of an excuse for not drinking wine, which would probably blow my cover immediately. Of course all our parents were thrilled to be getting another grandchild. It's also exciting that Phil's older brother, Jim and his wife Rachel, are expecting their first child in mid-June. I was worried about stealing their thunder a bit, but they were thrilled for us, too. I just feel bad that now I can't loan her my maternity clothes!

So now that I'm through the 1st trimester and feel like it's ok to announce it publicly on the blog. We'll find out if we're having a boy or girl mid-March. I can't lie, I am REALLY praying it's a girl. I love Hayden to pieces, and am thrilled to have a son, but since Phil and I are only planning on having 2 kids total, it would be hard to accept never having a daughter if we have another boy. Of course if it is a boy, I will love him with all my heart. My mother-in-law had four sons and then four grandsons before finally getting the news that Jim and Rachel are having a girl. She has been waiting a LONG time to buy pink! So I too can always enjoy spoiling my niece even if I am blessed with another son.

This pregnancy has been very different than when I was pregnant with Hayden. First, I started feeling nauseous immediately. Every day since the beginning of December, until now. I have been miserable. I have been exhausted. My belly started popping out a few weeks ago, and my belly button is already flattening. And the headaches. Ugh! All this and still needing to keep my energy up with a very active toddler has been much harder than pregnancy #1. I'm finally getting some energy back and not feeling nauseous all day long (it comes and goes).

Luckily, Phil is a little more experienced with being a husband to a pregnant woman and has been INCREDIBLE at picking up my slack, doing all sorts of household chores, taking Hayden on weekend mornings so I can sleep a bit longer, and just overall being compassionate and asking how I'm feeling and what he can do for me. What a man! He even went to Dairy Queen and got me a Blizzard one night I was having a craving attack. Maybe I should milk this pregnancy stuff as much as possible! :)