Baby Drue, Numero TWO

On January 24th we found out we were prego with baby #2!!! So here's the story...

We had been discussing for the past few months when we'd start trying again and decided since we didn't know how long it would take to get pregnant, we should start trying at the first chance. Well just after Beck turned 9 months, the day after Christmas, the first chance to begin trying had arrived. "Here goes nothin'!" we thought. I got out the ol' Natural Family Planning kit and began charting to track the prime ovulation days. In the meantime we contacted my fertility doctor to ask if there was anything special I needed to do, based on my previous fertility issues. He said to call when/if I get a positive pregnancy result and they'd start me on Heparin shots.

So on Sunday, at 28 days into the cycle my friend brings it to my attention that it had been a month and I should start testing. I was just gonna give it another week. I figured since I was breastfeeding and hadn't had a cycle in almost 2 years, my body may be inconsistent and I didn't want to get my hopes up. I honestly just wasn't anxious AT ALL to test (unlike the previous pregnancy) because I did not think we would do it on our own, and especially not the first try. I forgot all about the conversation with my friend, went home, and didn't test. The next day she asked if I'd tested yet and suggested that I test because if I am pregnant I need to start shots. I forgot about it until right before I was going to Panera to meet her and the other girls, and knew she'd ask if I'd tested yet, so I figured I better. Luckily I had one test left. I took the test in the middle of rushing to get Beck dressed and out the door. When I came back to look at it, I thought this can't be right and read over the directions. Sure enough, it read positive. So I grabbed the stick, put it in a ziploc, and headed out to Girls Night. I was shaking the whole drive to Panera, and at every red light I got the stick out to make sure it was still showing positive. I was about 10 minutes late so I assumed everyone would be there when I got there and I'd walk in and show them the test. When I arrived, I was extremely disappointed to find NO ONE there yet! Finally after 5 long minutes they began arriving one by one. Once everyone was there, I put the bag on the table and asked "what is this!?" Immediately, without looking at the results, just seeing that it was a pregnancy test, Amanda says very matter-of-factly and in an "I told you so" way, "You're pregnant. You're pregnant." Then it sinks in and they all started screaming and crying. I on the other hand, I was hyperventilating trying to take it all in.

We spent the next 2 hours calculating how far apart Beck and baby will be (18 months, 1 week), baby's due date (Oct 2nd) and how far along I'll be when we go on our girls cruise in May (20 weeks). Oh and how I'll announce it to MY HUSBAND! Haha! Jamie was at class, and I didn't want to tell him over the phone, and he wasn't supposed to be home til 1am. I had decided to make Beck a Big Brother shirt and put it on him in the morning for Jamie to see. Just after I'd ran to Michaels to pick up all the supplies for the shirt, I was on my way home when Jamie called. He got out of class early and was on his way home. I quickly ran home and made the shirt. I told Brooklyn what was going on and recruited her help. Just as we finished the shirt, Jamie walked in the door. I had Brooklyn inconspiculously videotaping in the background. It was Beck's bedtime, but I told Jamie I had kept him up to tell him good night. I passed Beck to Jamie and this made Jamie read Beck's onesie. He read it out loud and I just waited to see if it would sink in. Finally after a couple seconds he said, "wait a minute! BIG brother!?!" I said "yep" and Jamie didn't believe it. He was laughing so hard (for Jamie!) and kept saying "what!?" So I showed him the stick! We still look at that stick every day in just to make sure!

I took a pic of Beck in his Big Brother onesie and sent it to my family, who were all in shock that, a)we got pregnant on our own, and b)we got pregnant so quickly after just having a baby. We share their shock!

The next day I called nurse Bea at Dr. Gentry's office and told her the great news. She ordered blood work to confirm and sure enough, it came back affirmative! She wanted me to begin taking progesterone pills to ensure a good uterine lining, and begin Heparin shots. I also had to have blood work every few days until my levels reached a safe zone. The hcg levels should at least double every few days, which they did. Once they reached about 1500 I could stop and schedule my first ultrasound.

Dec 26 began cycle

Jan 24 positive test

Jan 26 hcg 82, progesterone 25

Jan 28 hcg 260, progesterone 36

Jan 31 hcg 1300

Feb 17 ultrasound scheduled

After my levels doubled on Jan 26, we decided to announce the pregnancy, even though we'd practically told everyone!

To add craziness to the mix, we had been talking about getting a van this summer in case we got pregnant within the next year. So I contacted my friend Josh who is a dealer in Indy to start the process of selling my SUV and looking at vans. We found out we were pregnant on Monday, we listed the car on Wednesday, and we sold it on Friday. Yep. Insane. Josh was nice enough to loan me a van until he found us the van of our dreams! We will be picking our van up in 2 weeks!

The Lord has proved himself faithful, yet again.

I couldn't get the whole video to load, so I loaded it in 2 parts. Enjoy!

Beck 10 months

I love to read!

Look at my teefers!

A Dr. Seuss Fan!

Reading in the car!

We use bread as a distractor at restaurants. He loves it!!!

Monday, January 24th at 10 months old, Beck became a BIG BROTHER!!! We tell him every day, "you're a big brother!" He laughs and squeals and loves it, but he has no idea what we're telling him. Ha!Beck at 10 months. Well we just keep getting closer and closer to that ONE YEAR mark. Tear. My looks more and more like a little boy every day. And acts like one too! My favorite thing he does right now is give hugs. He gives me hugs ALL day. He wraps his arms around my neck, buries his face in my shoulder, and scratches my back with his little fingers. SO sweet.

What's Beck up to this month. Well, he LOVES to drop something and pick it up, usually while he's standing. He'll do this over and over and over, especially if he has an audience who is cheering him on! It never gets old. I posted a video of him dropping his rag in the bath tub over and over... He also loves to read. He has always loved to be read to, but now he loves to hold the book and look through the pages by himself. He really likes his Baby Einstein flash cards too. We go over and over them and he likes to sort through them on his own. Thanks Aunt Jamie!!!

Isn't that boy crawling yet!? Nope! He will army crawl when all else fails and he just has to have something, but he wouldn't dare get up on those knees, and he generally just cries if he can't stand up. He's gotten very quick at surfing the couch and walking behind his walker. As I was putting this blog together (2 weeks late) he started crawling! So I had to give a sneak preview. Check out the video below!

Beck's playmate. I have started watching a friend's little boy and Beck's longtime bestie, Mason, two days a week. Beck LOVES IT! And so do I!! Beck is very entertained by Mason who is 6 months older than Beck. While it is VERY different to have a little guy who can go from room to room and drag out more toys than I can keep up with, I realize Beck will be there very soon! It seems as though Beck's wheels are turning as he watches Mason go from room to room and handle toys in a different way than himself. I think he's putting it all together in his mind and will soon shock me one day by imitating Mason. Beck and I look forward to Mason coming over each week!

My baby was sick :( This month Beck caught something nasty. Flu? Who knows?! But it wasn't good. For two solid days he ran a 102 fever, was puny, and pathetic, lasting over a week. It was his first taste of baby Tylenol. He took it like a champ. He was such a sad fella. He just wanted to be held constantly. He didn't want to nap in his crib, so we all took turns letting him nap on us. Even Mimi got a chance to experience this sweet boy while he was sick, sadly he rubbed off on her a little too much and she came down with it too. Oops!

What's that kid eatin!? Well this month I nursed him between 4-5 times a day. I also starting feeding him table food more, two-three times a day. He eats a soft-boiled (5 minutes) egg (yolk only) in the morning with a little banana. Then he eats 1/4 of an avocado for lunch with a veggie, such as broccoli, green beans, or butternut squash. At dinner we'll let him have about 5 banana flavored puffs. He loves playing with them and he loves eating them, but hasn't grasped the concept that he can feed them to himself yet. He also started using a sippy cup. Funny story there. So I picked him up from BSF (bible study fellowship) nursery one week and the lady handed him to me and said "he did much better when we gave him a sippy cup this week. all the other kids have "sippy cup time" and he didn't have one, so we let him use ours. So could you bring his sippy cup from now on so he'll have one?" And I thought "sippy cup!? What sippy cup!? My son doesn't have a sippy cup!? I didn't even know he could use a sippy cup!" So we went out that day and bought one. Sure enough, he was a pro at it!

Beck went for a 10 month check-up since his growth slowed so much between 6-9 months.

9 month vs 10 month stats:

18lb 2oz vs 18lb 12oz

27.5 in vs 27.75 in

45 cm vs 45.75 cm

11.19% weight vs 11.05% weight

19.95% length vs 14.89% length

Basically what all this means is that he is fine, and has reset his growth rate. In the first 6 months of his life he nearly went straight up on his growth chart, while the average growth rate is at a gradual curve. After 6 months Beck slowed down drastically, nearly plateauing for 3 months, and is now back on a very slow curve up. Most importantly, throughout his growth he has stayed between the 2 outer lines on the growth curve which signal too much or too little growth. Dr. Blanke said it will be interesting to see what my other children do on their growth charts. This may be a pattern that all my children follow due to genetics, or could just be specific to Beck. We'll see. Either way, Blanke is not concerned anymore and Beck will resume on the typical schedule and be reseen at 12 months.