We're having a baby!

Losing a child was one of the hardest things I have went through emotionally.  But, God helped me through it.  After 5 months we found out that we were having another baby.  I'm so grateful and happy that God has blessed us with another child.  But, to be honest this pregnancy isn't the same. For the first trimester I was so scared of miscarrying that it wasn't very enjoyable for me.  Every time I would go to the bathroom  I would wait to see if there was blood.  It was awful.  At 5, 8 and 12 weeks I did have some bleeding, but it stopped.  It was just a reminder of what had happened a few months prior.  But, once I was in the second trimester I had some relief knowing that the chances of losing this baby was very slim.  I was able to start enjoying the pregnancy.  If anything this experience has brought me closer to God.  There was a reason we lost our child.  Only God knows why and I'm okay with not knowing.  I find comfort in knowing that my little angel is with God and I will see them again.  I know that if I was to dwell on the fact we lost a child that wouldn't be fair to this one.  So I have prayed and learned to accept that God has a bigger plan.  I might not always understand it, but I do trust in him.  God is Love!

1st Trimester - Signs/Symptoms

Before I knew I was pregnant I had symptoms and didn't even know it.  One night I went to bed and began cramping.  I believed that I was getting ready to start my period since it had been days past when I should have started.  But, I never did.  The next night around the same time, cramping again, but still no period.  On the third night it was getting ridiculous and I took some ibuprofen.  After that I had no more cramping.  Later on I discovered that this was implantation.

My second sign was the increase sense of smell.  I was walking my dog around the neighborhood and all of sudden I got a scent of something that was awful.  I thought it was going to make me sick.  I had no idea where the smell was coming from, but it was out there.  I learned later that this sense is extremely heightened during pregnancy.

After we found out we were having a baby, around 7 weeks, the normal symptoms began to kick in.  My breast were so sore and enlarged.  I never had this problem with my periods, so I had no idea how bad it got until I became pregnant.  This lasted for around 3 months.

I have never thrown up.  But, I did have nausea everyday for a month straight.  I believe a lot of the reason for this was my increased smell.  I would go to the grocery and it was torture!  All the different foods mixed with the odor of different people.  My husband also made some homemade salsa with fresh cilantro. It still makes me cringe thinking about it. 

I did have my bouts of being emotional I'm sure, but I don't believe it was to bad.  My husband may differ on that, but in my opinion I wasn't horrible.  Overall, my first trimester has been a pretty easy one compared to others.  My total weight gain was 4lbs.

Traveling While Pregnant/Husband Graduates

Even though my husband just a few days prior had his fainting episode, he still wanted to travel back to see family.  He also had recently learned that he was going to be graduating with his Bachelors degree.   So, it was really important for him to walk across that stage.  Graduating from college is such an honor and it would have been horrible for him to miss this experience.  So we set off on our 1,000 mile trip.

At the time I was in my third month.  I didn't really know how I would hold up traveling for that distance.  But, it had to be done and I would just have to rough it out.  I made sure to bring plenty of snacks, since I was still having some trouble with nausea.  I also took a pillow and blanket in case I could sleep some, but usually that never happens.  All together this trip would take us 15 hours to drive.  When we reached around 10 hours into the trip I started to become pretty uncomfortable.  Between the backache and swollen feet, I wasn't a happy camper.  In a normal circumstance I wouldn't recommend traveling this long of a distance for someone who is pregnant.

We arrived at a my brother's house later that night and I was never so happy to get out of the car.  That following Saturday was my husbands graduation.  I can say one thing, even though I was miserable during most of the drive, it was well worth it to see the smile on my husbands face.  We got to see family for two weeks before we had to head back.  Unfortunately, we only had 2 weeks leave saved up and that used up all our vacation.  But, we wouldn't be able to see family again until the next year, so it was worth it.  All together in those two weeks between driving back and forth, we drove 2,500 miles.  I really don't think I would have been able to do it if I would have been further along in the pregnancy.

Health Concerns For My Husband

After everything we had been through together it was all looking up from here.  Our first trimester was almost over, the risk of miscarrying was going to drop drastically when we reached this milestone.  We had just decided to announce to the world, aka Facebook, that we were having baby!  We had planned a trip to go back to Kentucky/Ohio to visit family.

It was a Sunday afternoon and we were laying on the couch.  My husband had been having dizzy spells for almost a year now, daily.  But, after a while you get us to it and don't pay much mind to it anymore.  My husband got up to get something to drink.  When he stood up I seen out of the corner of my eye him bracing himself against the wall.  I knew he was dizzy and it would pass in a few seconds.  The split second I looked away I heard him hit the floor.

I jumped up running to him.  When I reached him he convulsed so hard, hitting his head and arm against our french doors.  I didn't know what to do, so I grabbed him holding him for dear life.  I didn't wanting him hurting himself anymore than what he already had.  After fighting me for a minute he began to calm down and come to again.  He had no idea what had happened, completely blacked out.  What do you do when you see someone you love in this situation?  Panic!

I began running around, not knowing what to do.  So I called the one person I knew that would know, my mom.  She got me to calm down and take breath.  It wasn't good for me to be panicked, Eric needed me to be strong.  Plus, it wasn't good for the baby.  I took him to the ER and after running test we didn't get any real answers, only bruises and a pump knot on his head.  They told him that he might have hypostatic hypertension.  Which basically means his blood pressure drops suddenly if he gets up to fast.  He was told to eat healthy and no more alcohol. 

Needless to say, I worry about him even now.