2nd Trimester Happenings

Here we are at 14w1d, fully into the second trimester.  Yesterday, I had a heart tone check at the OB's office.  We're leaving for California again Saturday morning, and I can't leave the state for that long without hearing a heart beat first.  It was 165.  It never gets old hearing that sound.

Several months ago, I mentioned that my best friend here got pregnant the week our first IVF attempt failed.  And, date of all dates, her due date was the exact same date as mine would have been had IVF #1 worked.  To tell you what a true friend she is, she was so devastated by her news (for me) that she could not tell me for 12 weeks.  She finally invited me to Chick.fil.A one day and told me as we sat by the playground.  We both cried and, although it was ROUGH, she knows that I am really, truly thrilled for her.  Prior to this pregnancy, she had lost FOUR babies at 8 weeks.  Can you imagine?  Carrying a baby to eight weeks four different times?  How could I not be happy for her?

DO NOT READ THIS PART IF YOU'RE QUEASY:
I'm reminding you of this story because 1. Her due date is quickly approaching (October 17th) and 2.  Her husband was in a horrible car accident on Hwy. 69 in between her house and mine. The official report is that he was rear ended, not wearing a seat belt, and his truck flipped several times.  All of the skin was ripped off his neck, face, and scalp.  He shattered his arm and broke his neck.  He was air lifted to a hospital in KC, determined to be in critical condition, and placed in ICU.  As terrible as all of this is for him, can you IMAGINE being 35 weeks pregnant with a baby girl and getting this news about your husband?

After a lot of time in the hospital, he is expected to make a full recovery...broken neck and all.  He is a former college quarterback and personal trainer, so he's definitely got the fighting spirit.  She, too, is a private personal trainer and boot camp instructor, so their whole family is out of work for a minimum of six months.  Our church has set up a fund for them at a local bank... We're just so thankful he's alive.

Do I need to tell you how many hours I have spent researching baby paraphernalia? I vacillated between moments of bliss and moments of terror while perusing the Babies.RUs website.  Our final decision was a big one.  We decided on the Chicco Cortina Travel System.

After concluding my own research, my Baby Mama friends highly, HIGHLY recommended we go this route.  What sold us was the 3-way adjustable height of the stroller's handle bar - hello 6'7", he needs it!  Our city has finally wrapped up the trail project that runs through our backyard.  They did a fabulous job and we are ready to stroll it!

The picture below was taken...with my cell phone...through the glass of the kitchen window...So I'm sorry about the quality. It's of the city putting the finishing touch on our back yard trail by adding a privacy fence for our neighbors.  The trail is even closer to their house.  You can also see my babies, the zinnias planted in our back yard.  The require absolutely no care and make great cut flowers for inside your house!

When we return from California, we will enter the one month countdown to find out the sex of Baby H. I just cannot believe this is happening. It is going by so quickly.  The important things remain true: 1.  I love my husband and don't deserve him even on my best day, 2. I am thankful to God many times a day and sometimes burst into tears with joy over what he's done with my life, and 3. My doctor is so, so fabulous.  She is young, super smart, and talks to me like a friend.  I'd trust her with anything and that means the world.

Life is good, girls.  It really is.

And if you want a good laugh...I took my former DD's to Destin.ation Matern.ity to buy a bra this morning.  I tried on the biggest one they had.  You know, the kind you are embarrassed to walk into the dressing room holding?  I figured, well, since I was a DD before IVF, I better go up a size or two.  So I grabbed.......drumroll..... an E.  And guess what? Spillage.  Over the top and underneath. 

Gross.

I guess I'll end up at a specialty store after all, but I don't think these things have reached anywhere near their full capacity at 14 weeks.  I'll try to hold off another month.