Big Girl, Big Sister

Our big girl Hannah turned 23 months old today, and yup, she's going be a big sister in about 7 months (heaven willing). We found out 3 1/2 weeks ago that I am expecting again. We were surprised that it only took one month of trying again, and we have been trying to be cautiously hopeful that this pregnancy will go better than the last one. We haven't told very many people that I'm pregnant because we were waiting to see the baby's heartbeat this time (we never saw it last time). But now we've seen the cute little heartbeat twice..

I had an ultrasound on Friday, and the baby is measuring right on and has a healthy heartbeat.

Our cute little peanut. :)

This was the 2nd ultrasound I've had, thanks to a terrible scare we had last weekend. I hadn't had any complications or bleeding with this pregnancy, but then suddenly last Saturday I passed some apparent tissue and then I passed a lot of blood. I immediately called my on-call doctor, and he confirmed that it sounded like a miscarriage. He told me to rest that night and then go in for some bloodwork in the morning (or to go to an emergency room if the bleeding worsened). Scott and I were heartbroken, even though we had tried not to get our hopes up. We both started crying, and then sweet, sensitive Hannah joined in. We were able to pull it together fairly quickly for Hannah, and we were soon just feeling so blessed to have her in our lives as she spent the rest of the evening being her adorable self and making us laugh.

In the morning, I took the tissue sample in to the hospital lab and had my blood drawn. My doctor called me soon after to tell me that my HCG levels were still quite high (73,000). For a split second, I had the thought that maybe I was still pregnant. But then my doctor said that I needed to have an ultrasound because the main concern was that I was experiencing another molar pregnancy. So Scott and I left Hannah with my sister Jana, and instead of heading to church we headed to the hospital again. We were both hoping that they would be able to tell right away whether or not it was a molar pregnancy so that we could quickly schedule a D and C for me and just get the miscarriage over with (unlike my previous nightmarish miscarriage). Scott was sitting on a couch in the room as the tech started the ultrasound and was asking me questions about my current miscarriage and my previous molar pregnancy/miscarriage. Then she suddenly turned the screen toward me and said, "This is the egg sac, this is your baby, and this is your baby's heartbeat." I was absolutely stunned. Scott immediately came to my side and took my hand as we stared in awe at our baby's beating heart. I'm sure I'll never forget that moment. I tried to contain my tears and my shock and thrill as the tech finished the rest of the ultrasound. It was quite amazing, after 19 hours of believing that I had miscarried, to see that tiny little, very-much-alive baby. Wow. I can't really put it into words, so I'll quit trying.

The tech told us that I have a subchorionic hematoma (bleeding in my uterus), and my doctor confirmed this. I had this with Hannah, and it went away after a few weeks. For now, I just have to really take it easy, which is much harder with a toddler around. But I am definitely trying. Scott and I left the hospital in bewildered gratitude, and we hurried and called the poor people whom we had taken with us on that crazy roller coaster ride last weekend. Those were much funner phone calls to make than the ones we had made the previous night. :)

Anyway, I am feeling well--just normal pregnancy symptoms that are a bit worse than they were when I was expecting Hannah. Scott thinks this means I'm having a boy. I guess we'll see. I am still bleeding a little, but it has lessened throughout the past week. My main reason for blogging about this so soon into my pregnancy (just 8 weeks and 1 day) is to ask you all for your prayers. We have felt peace about this pregnancy ever since we found out about it, but we definitely are relying on your faith and your prayers to help ensure us another miracle baby. Thank you, in advance. :)

Now, onto our cute little 23-month-old. We've had to make some adjustments in how often I go out with her and in encouraging her to be more and more independent. Step stools help with washing hands and getting into her booster chair. But we needed to convert her crib into a toddler bed so that I wouldn't have to lift her in and out for her daily naps. The guard rail we ordered online finally arrived, so we made the change last night...

Hannah rocked while she watched us make the change to her bed.

She loved being able to climb by herself into her bed.

She also loved putting a bunch of books on her bed. Most kids would choose stuffed animals--Hannah chooses books. :)

But Hannah wasn't too happy when I stopped her book gathering to put the guard rail up briefly to take a picture. She slept great in her newly converted bed both last night and for her nap today. She hasn't yet figured out that she could probably squeeze out either end of the guard rail. Thank goodness. :)

I only remembered to take some pics of Hannah right before bedtime tonight...

The cutie pie was laughing at her daddy.

 And then she was being silly for me.

Scott and I absolutely love our little girl. She is just so much fun to be around. She is constantly talking and singing and dancing and doing adorable actions to songs. Hannah is so funny and is always making us laugh. She also cracks herself up all the time. She still loves books and other toys, but her favorite thing to do is play pretend with her dolls. I just love it when she takes their arms to make them do song actions. Super cute. Hannah still loves seeing pictures of her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents on my screensaver, and she can name almost all of them. She also loves candy, the cartoon "Bubble Guppies," counting to 10 (super adorable), and singing her ABC's (she's especially fond of the letter O). Hannah is almost always happy and just loves being around people and learning new things.

We love our sweet big girl and are positive that she will be a wonderful big sister!