Looking at Baby Green Dot

We had another appointment with our perinatalogist, Dr. G, today. It was the first time Luke has gone with us to an appointment. I was very nervous going into it because I really did not want to get bad news with Luke there. Thankfully everything looks GREAT with the baby. He is measuring exactly where he should and looks exactly like he should.

His head is up by the right side of my rib cage, which explains all the bladder shots I've been getting lately. He is measuring about 1.2 pounds right now. His hands were up by his face for most of the sonogram. It was so weird because he is so much bigger now that you don't just see a whole baby in the picture, you have to look at each part seperately. He had the hiccups during the sonogram, which was adorable. Luke thought it was so funny. I loved it because I couldn't feel them - still not ready to feel hiccups daily (or twice daily if he's anything like his big brother!) Oh, and he is DEFINITELY a boy. ;)

Luke's reaction was priceless. I wish we'd taken the video camera. He was in awe, and you could just see the love already there. After it first started, he said, "This is hilarious!" And then later on, he was pretending that Green Dot was having a conversation with him. His voice got really high pitched and he said, "Hi, Luke, how are you doing today?" "I'm good, baby Green Dot!" His favorite part was hearing the heartbeat. He asked the tech to do it again, so she turned it back on when she was done getting all the measurements.

It was wonderful having Luke there. He was so well behaved and interested in everything going on. I can't wait to take him back with us when we go again in six weeks.

Here's Green Dot at 22 weeks 1 day gestation:

He is looking at the camera and both of his hands are up by his head.

And here's one of his feet:

The Story of the Green Dot

When we found out that the baby is a boy, one of our friends, Mr. Mike, told Luke that we should name the baby Red Dot. (If you don't know what that means, get yourself to a Rangers game during the 2011 season! Or look back at this post.)

Luke loved the idea for about two minutes until he realized that he is the Red Dot! So he decided baby boy could be the Green Dot. And since this child is nameless, the nickname stuck.

Luke Stories

After a late night last night, Luke slept past his usual wake time of 6:30 AM. At 7:45 I finally drug myself out of bed to take my thyroid medicine and was marveling at how he was still asleep. I noticed the garage door open when I came into the kitchen, but I just figured it wasn't latched well when we came in last night. It occasionally opens on its own. So I closed the door, took my medicine, and went got back in bed to relax a little longer before Luke woke up.

About two minutes later, I heard the garage door open again. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little figure pass by the doorway of our room as he made his way across the living room. I was shocked that Luke was awake because all of his tell-tale signs of being awake were missing - lights were off, music was still on, I hadn't even heard him go OUT into the garage.

A few minutes later he came in our room, announcing it was morning time. He came to my side of the bed and I asked him what he was doing in the garage.

"I was hungry so I went to go get some gum out of your car," was his response.

Now just how do you respond to that one? Nate and I were a little dumbfounded.

****

After church today, we were eating a smorgasbord of lunch options. Luke was munching on a sour cream and onion potato chip and offered on to me. "Hey, Mom, you want a chip?" I politely declined. Then he said, "Mom, my baby Green Dot wants a chip. Here." With that he tossed it across the table and stared me down until I ate it.

****

Newest catch phrases:

"Sweet action!"
"I sure do."
"Feel the ___ in my belly." (fill in the blank with whatever he just ate.)

Picky, Picky, Picky

I often wonder what God is trying to teach me by placing me in a family with the pickiest eaters EVER. I thought Nate was bad, but he'll at least try new things (some) and eat an occasional green bean. Luke, on the other hand, takes the cake. He is SO picky. I wonder how he is my child because he doesn't like veggies (only cucumbers). Nate wonders how he is his child because he doesn't like potatoes. Except in the form of french fries from any fast food restaurant. ::::sigh::::

After nearly three years of attempting to be nonchalant about his diet, I'm over it. I think a lot of his "issues" are that he is SO stubborn. Our rule has been that he has to try a bite of whatever we are eating; if he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to eat it. Well he will barely take a bite of something - even something he should and probably does like - and then immediately say he doesn't like it. There have been many nights of Luke going to bed hungry because he hasn't eaten what has been provided for dinner. But he doesn't care - as he tells me, "I'll get yogurt and cereal for breakfast." Some nights he eats something different from us - but only if we're having something that I know he doesn't like. Usually he has to eat some form of whatever we're having.

I realized the other day that I should start praying for Luke to not be so picky. After all, nothing I have done has changed him. God's the only one who can! I've also come up with a new strategy...he has to eat three bites of any food before he can decide if he likes it or not. Three bites because he is three years old. Today was the first day of implementing this new plan. I made The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner. He was excited to have soup, but only because he thought it was my mom's chicken & rice soup we had the other night. He took one look at the tortilla soup and was instantly panicked.

Nate gave him a bite and we were met with this face:

He has the soup in his mouth. A nice mouthful of chicken, black beans, corn, Rotel and cheese.

It took some coaxing (and maybe a threat of a wooden spoon thrown in there) for him to swallow. After two more bites of soup, he was eating it. Of course, we were partially bribing him with tortilla chips to get him to eat more. "Luke, you can have another chip after you take three bites of soup." His idea of a bite was a bit of broth on his spoon so I had to feed him like a baby - put the soup on the spoon, put the spoon in his mouth. But you know what? He ate it. Almost the whole bowl, plus lots of chips. And you know what else? It was DELICIOUS. Seriously, click the link and make the soup. You'll be glad you did.

My prayer is that our new strategy helps him realize that he actually WILL like different foods if he just gives it a chance. I'm sure there will be some things he just doesn't like, but his limited number of foods right now is ridiculous. I also pray that baby Green Dot does not follow in his father and his brother's footsteps. :)

About the Pregnancy

I haven't written down anything about this pregnancy so far. I've been too afraid I will jinx something. But I'm getting to the point now where if I don't at least document some things, I will forget them. And since this blog has been like Luke's baby book, this is the best place for me to keep track of things. Just a warning - here comes a LOT of rambling. :)

We found out we were pregnant on September 15th. It was a shock - I really only took the test because I was late and just wanted to rule it out. Apparently my usually totally normal cycles went a little wonky over the summer and that led to a baby. I remember saying, "Oh, sh!t" when I got the positive test with Luke, and this one had a similar reaction. The week before, I had a dream I got a positive pregnancy test. I never thought it would come true. I also had a dream that I was bleeding, so I figured it meant if I was pregnant that I would be miscarrying soon.

Nate and I didn't know how to react to this pregnancy. After three miscarriages the first weeks after finding out you're pregnant are scary. We talked it to death for a few days before we decided that we were going to be happy. We were going to feel blessed. Because regardless of the outcome of the pregnancy, at that moment our baby was growing inside of me. God had given us another opportunity at having a child and we were going to be thankful. We were going to have faith that no matter what happened, God would make everything okay. In the last year I learned that while my miscarriages totally sucked, we went through them for a reason. A truly crappy situation turned into a blessed situation, and I knew that if we were/are meant to go through another one, in the long run it will be good.

So we kept things quiet. And we prayed.

I waited two weeks before even calling my OB. I had a couple instances of spotting - one right around the 6 week mark - which TOTALLY freaked me out and I just knew I was miscarrying. Then it stopped. So once I passed the point where I lost the first two babies, I called my OB. My first appointment was on the first day of the playoffs, October 6th. It actually ended up being DURING Game 1 of the ALDS. Nate gave me his iPhone so I could keep track of the game at Dr. Z's office. Since no one knew I was pregnant, he couldn't get away from work to go with me. I had a quick sonogram - one that I almost refused but decided to just go ahead and have it. It showed a healthy peanut with a strong heartbeat. So we were thankful. I joked that this little baby was the Rangers good luck charm. Hey, we went all the way to the World Series! So this little one has a Rangers connection just like his big brother.

After that appointment, Nate and I had to decide if we were going to do any genetic testing. There are two tests we could have done to see if the baby's chromosomes were balanced or unbalanced - the chronionic villi sampling (CVS) or the amniocentisis. After a LOT of discussion and prayer, we decided not to do either. All of our reasons for doing either test were selfish reasons, so we decided to just have faith.

We went back to Dr. Z on October 27th. I was 10 weeks and 1 day pregnant - the exact same point where we found out we lost our last baby. Needless to say, I was freaked. But that appointment was the answer to a prayer. They automatically put me in the room with the sonogram machine and told me that even though we technically could hear the heartbeat on the Doppler now, they were just going to do a quick sonogram to make sure everything was okay. I did NOT want that Doppler anywhere near me at that appointment. Of course, everything was just fine. I found out at that appointment that my thyroid levels were off so that meant I needed to go see Dr. G, the only perinatalogist in the area to get my medication adjusted.

When we talked about the testing, we both said we weren't going to see Dr. G unless there was a reason. And the thyroid turned out to be the reason to get me into that office. I am hypothyroid and it can be detrimental to a pregnancy so we had to go get it under control. We went to Dr. G on November 2nd - 11 weeks 1 day - and both agreed we weren't going to discuss the balanced translocation unless he brought it up. Turns out that Dr. Z brought it up - at our appointment we met with a genetic counselor and then had a sonogram before meeting with Dr. G. Even though we were there three hours, it ended up being a very informative appointment. We learned that a balanced translocation can occur randomly - so it's possible that I didn't inherit it from one of my parents. And we learned there is a chance that Luke's chromosomes are totally normal. We also learned that the two chromosomes of mine that are mixed up - #2 and #16 - will not lead to a child with birth defects or any form of retardation, etc. We learned that if any of our babies have and UNbalanced translocation, they will not survive. Normal/balanced = life; unbalanced = death. Our last baby had an unbalanced translocation.

So yes, that means that if THIS baby is unbalanced, he will not live. Dr. G said it is highly unlikely I would carry this baby to term if he is unbalanced. That most unbalanced translocations involving chromosomes 2 and 16 lead to early miscarriages. He said more than likely if we made it to 16 weeks, we would probably have a healthy baby. As awful as it is to know there is a small chance I could deliver this baby and watch him die, it is a relief to know there is no gray area.

We saw Dr. Z again at 13 weeks and this time I couldn't get away from that stupid Doppler. But again, it was an answer to a prayer because the SECOND the nurse put that thing on my stomach, we heard the heartbeat. There was no moving around trying to find it - it was just there. We were ecstatic. I'm not scared of that thing anymore, by the way. By that point the news of the pregnancy had gone public and we had a ton of people praying for us. It was the first appointment where I wasn't a bundle of nerves.

Made it to 16 weeks and had another appointment with Dr. Z. She did a quick sonogram and everything looked good. It was uneventful.

I had another dream that week. I was standing next to my bed, holding my newborn baby against my chest. I looked down at its face and marveled at how much it looked like Luke. And in my dream I said, "I can't believe it's here and it's perfect." Nate said that dream was God's way of telling me to relax and that everything was going to be okay.

The BIG appointment with Dr. G was on December 15th - 17 weeks and 1 day. The sonogram showed a healthy, normal looking baby boy. Dr. G said we could breathe a little easier, that the risk of miscarriage was almost nothing now - but that we won't know for sure if he is truly okay until May. Of course he can't tell me - "Becky, you're going to have this baby! He is going to be just fine!" So we came home and told Luke he is going to be a big brother and that he is going to have a baby brother. (That's the video in the previous post.)

We made it through Christmas and past the one year mark of my D&C. December 29th was the date that we found out we lost the baby and that morning, I prayed for God to give me some reassurance to the through the day. I hadn't been feeling the baby move a lot, but that day he went crazy. He was dancing in there or something because I felt him all. day. long. It was the greatest thing.

I hit the 20 week mark on January 4th and went back to the OB on the 5th. It was a quick appointment and his heart rate was a strong 147 bpm. We see Dr. G again on January 19th and this time we will take Luke with us. It will be his first time to see his little brother, other than in sonogram pictures.

So that catches up the past four months.

We still don't know what we will name this baby. We're calling him Baby Green Dot until we figure that out. I've been feeling great lately - lots of 2nd trimester energy with a very, very healthy appetite. I just can't get enough FOOD! My current craving is artichoke hearts and I go through a jar every two days. My favorite way to eat them right now is sauteed with spinach, mushroom and tomatoes and served over pasta. I really, really want a fresh artichoke but they aren't in season right now.

Okay...if you made it through my rambles then you get a gold star. :)

Video of telling Luke about his brother

I finally got this uploaded to my computer today. This is the video of when we told Luke he is going to be a big brother. We waited until after our appointment with the perinatalogist on December 15th. This video is from that afternoon: