Our 20 week scan...

This is our beautiful baby boy (confirmed today). He is growing well and the ultrasound went without a hitch.

I heard from the diabetic educator today and see her on Wednesday to collect my BSL machine and start taking regular blood sugar levels.

My BP is still high, but not dangerously so - so the doctors are monitoring it.

Now just have to get an appointment to see the Pregnancy physician and organise to see a high risk obstetrician.

Thank you to everyone for their messages of support,
Love Lisa xx

A hospital stay...

Well the past few weeks I have felt increasinly tired and have had headaches. The OBGYN has noted my blood pressure is high, but was waiting to speak with a physician. Then I started having palpitations. At first I tried to convince myself it was just anxiety, but it persisted and after 4 days I went to the GP who diagnosed ectopic beats and commented that my blood pressure was too high. Long story short... he spoke with the physician and I was admitted to hospital yesterday morning. I am now on 3 tablets a day for my BP which seems to be helping and at this stage there doesn't appear to be an evidence of pre-eclampsia (probably too early) and so I have what is termed essential hypertension. In addition my blood tests revealed gestational diabetes - so I am on a restricted diet and BSL monitoring until the baby is born.

I was coping well with all of this information until the doctor mentioned I would probably need to go to a large tertiary hospital for the birth of the baby so he can be admitted to NICU. Just those words were enough - so last night was not a restful one. All I can hope at this early stage is that my BP remains well controlled and that I am able to stabilise my BSLs.

I keep reminding myself this is a different pregnancy and that last time there were different complications. I suppose I had just hoped for a complication free pregnancy. So lots of appointments this week! BUT the best appointment will be on Monday when Kev and I get to see our baby on ultrasound again... I can't wait.

Lisa xx

My latest layout...

This is my layout for the S4L Sketch challenge. I love these photos of Mitch and his Grandpa.

17 weeks and 1 day...

Well another week has passed and another week closer to seeing our precious baby. It seems all the more real now that I can feel the baby kicking so often. So the bets are on for either an AFL player (who will be disowned if he plays for Port) or a tap dancer (who wouldn't want a son like Hugh Jackman... one second thoughts my dreams about Hugh are hardly maternal, so maybe not). The good news is that my blood pressure is down a little and while the doctor says it needs watching, it isn't an immediate concern. So it is just a matter of enjoying this pregnancy :-)

The boys are both doing well, although poor Mitch had a very rough weekend with high temps and some kind of viral illness. There isn't much of him to begin with, so when he doesn't eat for almost 2 days he looks like a little waif. They are both enjoying kindy and they also go to child care 2-3 afternoons a week - which gives me time to rest. I consider myself very fortunate that we can afford to do this and that we have easy access to child care in our area.

I must be feeling better (than I was in the first trimester) because I am back to my organising self and have tidied my craft room and almost catalogued all of our photo CDs. Kev laughs when Harry tries to organise me and I get frustrated - 'karma" is the term he uses!

The other good news is that we seem to have found a solution to Harry's distress in noisy venues. He tends to become quite distraught with any loud noise, particularly in a crowd setting, but I found some kid's hearing protection and when he wears them he has no difficulty at all. This meant he really enjoyed the last concert we went to and spent time dancing around and singing. As he gets older his Sensory Issues may improve, but it is also hoped that he will learn to manage them. So finding this simple technique has been a big step forward for our beautiful boy :-)

Well, not much else to tell... life is good. The boys are happy and all is well in our little corner of the world.

Hugs,
Lisa xx

16 weeks and one day!

So today I had another ultrasound. I was going to say "we" - but really it was just me... unless you count the baby... then it would be "we"...

As you can see my thought processes are truly muddled at the moment. For those smart alecs who wonder what has changed - I got lost twice today - once finding the RAAF base and once finding a major street in the city. And then at lunch time I completely upended my plate of food all over the table, even Pat was amazed at the flair with which I dumped the Chinese food so delicately. Nevertheless it was a newly cleaned table, so I shovelled it back onto the plate and ate it regardless (clearly I have lost none of my class!).

Anyway, what was I saying? Aaah that's right - the ultrasound. Why oh why do the radiology staff insist on a full bladder and then run late? I sat there doing St Vitus' dance for 35 mins, until I couldn't stand it anymore and I asked if I was going to be seen soon. The receptionist clearly noticed my distress (it could have been the jig I was doing) and told me I could empty my bladder "a little". Yeah right lady! You try and empty a pregnant bladder just a little! Anyway, eventually I was seen and the radiographer was apologetic for the wait, so it would have been churlish to be grumpy. And besides she was already doing the scan and showing me latest images of Baby Reid. Suddenly the wait and the rupturing bladder didn't matter a bit - there was our precious baby. And a bit of extra news, it appears (although it will have to be confirmed with the next scan) that Baby Reid is a little boy. It was wonderful to see him swimming about and I could have watched him for hours. But it was onto the task at hand, which was to check on my cyst which thankfully hasn't grown and just needs observing. I sang all the way home, much to amazement of a few motorists.

Apart from that life goes on as usual. The boys are maturing and while there is still a lot of work to do, they are little helpers and continually say that they love us - and that makes all of the work worthwhile. Tomorrow we are meeting with the kindy director to discuss schooling options, so hopefully soon we will have a firm plan in place for where the boys are heading school wise.

It is amazing to think that just over 5 years ago we had resigned ourselves to being childless and now here we are expecting no. 3. Life sure has an amazing way of surprising you.

Here's hoping your life is filled with delightful surprises,
Lisa xx

13 1/2 weeks and feeling fine...

Okay well that may be a slight exaggeration! I am 13 1/2 weeks and no longer vomiting, but I can still sleep up a storm! As Harry kindly pointed out I have "really fat boobies" and a "cuddle tummy" - and am that stage where you don't look really pregnant, but certainly feel it. Kev and I are SLOWLY coming to terms with this huge life change and we are starting to relax a little now I am past the most risky period of the pregnancy.

Last week we had the ultrasound and finally today we were given the collated results of the ultrasound and blood tests which indicate that we are at a low risk for Downs Syndrome and several other chromosomal abnormalities. This is particularly relevant at my age (40 years old for God's sake!!!) and we were previously warned that over 2/3 of these scans come back as high risk in my age group. Because these are screening tests they can't rule out problems all together, but it does offer reassurance that everything is going well.

So now I am cruising into the second trimester. Still mildly stunned to be taking this journey again, but excited nevertheless. I find myself wandering around baby departments and I am fixated on tiny Bond's suits. So far I have resisted the urge to buy anything - but when I start... watch out!!!

Thank you to everyone for the love and support they have shown Kev, the boys and I. It means more than you can know.

Hugs,
Lisa xx

Presenting our baby...

Well today was the big day of our Nuchal Scan - the one where screening is undertaken for various abnormalities. There were a couple of glitches on the way. Our GP filled out the wrong form and a new one had to be sourced... and then we found out that I should have had the screening blood test a week ago, instead of today as advised by the Midwife at the local hospital. This meant that the Doctor in attendance could only give us a preliminary report. BUT she said that everything appears to be "moving in the right direction" and that there were no obvious abnormalities found. It was quite amazing to see our baby moving about on the screen and at one stage it rested its head onto its arm as if the whole ultrasound process was far to exhausting. So now we have to wait for the blood results which will hopefully come withing a week.

When we got home I showed the boys the ultrasound picture and Mitch was very excited asking if that was his baby, Harry asked to play the computer (grin)

Hope every one has a happy Easter - I know we will,
Hugs,
Lisa

11 weeks and one day and counting...

Well we have reached the 11 week mark - where according to many of the text books the morning sickness and fatigue should disappear. Now if someone could just tell my body that! Everyone has been telling me that I look well, but I feel fat, frumpy and tired - such an attractive combination.I am still trying to get to the gym 3 days a week - but this week I haven't slept well and so decided to have a day off.

On a brighter note the boys started child care yesterday. They are walked over from kindy by one of the teachers and stay at child care until I collect them at 3.30pm. This is happening twice a week. The boys loved their first day and Mitch cried when we came to take them home. So far so good...

We are now on the countdown for the nuchal scan which is next Wednesday. This pregnancy still seems quite unreal to Kev and myself and so we are looking forward to seeing our baby on the monitor. The day afterwards we see our OBGYN to discuss whether to have an Amnio to rule out chromosomal abnormalities or neural tube defects. I must admit to being quite nervous. While I never pictured myself being pregnant again, now that I am I want this pregnancy to be a long and healthy one.

Not much else to report.
Hope everyone is looking forward to Easter - I know I am :-)

Hugs,
Lisa

10 weeks today!

Today we reached the 10 week mark. I must admit that the fatigue and nausea leave me in no doubt that I am pregnant - but in a funny way that is reassuring too. The boys keep asking Mummy why she "bomits" and Harry has decided it is because the baby is bouncing on my tummy. Speaking of Harry he was asking what the baby's name will be and I told him we didn't know yet. He gave me one of those looks kids get and rolled his eyes and said "No Mummy - when she is born I will just say "Hi my name is Harry" and she will tell me her name".

So now the countdown is on for the Nuchal scan where they look for indicators for Down's Syndrome and Neural Tube defects and possibly the sex of the baby. 2 more weeks for that scan and then hopefully some more news.

Thanks to everyone for their messages of support. And I apologise in advance for what will (hopefully) be a very long pregnancy :-)

Hugs,
Lisa

Guess what!!???

As many of our friends and family would know by now we recently had some unexpected news. News that is all honesty we never expected or thought possible. It turns out that the Reid family will have a new addition in October! Now that you have picked yourself up off the floor I will give you a little background. Kev and I knew that we would face a hard time trying to conceive, so very early on in our relationship we sought medical intervention. It was only (approx) 10 years later that we finally had our beautiful boys Mitch & Harry... and that was only after years of IVF and many set backs. So after the boys difficult birth and the problems they experienced especially in the early months we made the decision late last year to thaw (and thus destroy) the two embryos we had in storage. In all honesty we couldn't see how we would cope with another difficult pregnancy.

Well life sometimes has a way of catching you off guard and caught off guard we were! I had been feeling very tired and nauseated for over 3 weeks and had decided it couldn't go on. Initially I thought it was simply the fatigue that comes with parenting two little livewires. And for some unknown reason I decided to do a home pregnancy test, just so I could say to the doctors that "no I am NOT pregnant". I have done so many of these tests and was waiting for the usual one line (negative) when all of a sudden there were two lines. I just stood in the kitchen saying some non-maternal words over and over. So sure was I that this must be a mistake I dropped the boys off with a neighbour and went to see our GP. And he said "well you ARE pregnant". A friend's sister who saw me said I didn't look very happy, but honestly I was in shock. BUT not as much shock as poor Kev who welcomed me home completely oblivious to the test and was greeted by the news "we are pregnant". I joke that it took 3 days for the colour to return to his face (and probably mine too).

So here we are less than 2 weeks down the track and 9 weeks pregnant. We had a scan the next day and there was our little miracle wriggling about on the screen. The reality has only set in because of this blasted morning sickness that never goes away. BUT we are both excited and amazed and terrified too...

So there's our news :-)

Hugs,
Lisa xx