We are over the moon excited to announce that we are expecting ANOTHER BOY! He is due at the end of July or maybe the first couple days of August... I am 15 weeks pregnant and counting.... we couldn't be more excited!!!! I know you're probably wondering why on earth we are JUST making this announcement but as you know our road to parenthood has been EVERYTHING but typical... so with that, we have been 'cautiously optimistic' with our great news...and now we are so very excited to share it with YOU! By this picture it is almost like he is happy too... he gave me a thumbs up at my last appt so I just had to post this picture!
For those of you who have followed our journey through years of IVF, the loss of our first boys Brennan & William in 2007, to the birth of Sullivan and Henry in 2008... you can only imagine how excited we must have been to find out we were pregnant in 2009! There are really no words to describe it...
The story is actually quite funny... so my family planned a trip to Las Vegas for my mom's 60th birthday and to celebrate Thanksgiving.... it was a fabulous trip... we rented a house...spent time with the family... had a blast... UNTIL.... we got sick... the boys got croup... I along with Erin (my sister-in-law, married to my brother John) both got the stomach flu... bad...I mean really bad... I'll let your imagination do the dirty work... ok anyway... the babies ended up in the ER in VEGAS! ICK... with Patrick and my SUPER parents to help with the drama the same night as I was my sickest.... Off to the ER they went... the next morning I had my mom drop me off at the ER... alone... I knew Patrick needed her help at home...I knew I had to go because of dehydration and I just couldn't stop getting sick... all I wanted was IV fluids...I could just taste them...oh and I desperately wanted anti-nausea meds... like the IV type... I needed to stop vomiting... we were supposed to fly out this day and return to Virginia... I knew that was out of the question...
Ok so you know when you arrive in the ER...they want to make sure you aren't dying... because if you are dying and you don't know it and then you die... you can sue them...ok so I tell them what I want and they don't care... they want to run tests...EVERY test under the sun... I swear it was just to test their machines and make sure they were all working.... Ok so as they eliminate my kidney's failing and my brain from bleeding the doctor comes in with a clip board and he looked quite serious... he said he had some news for me... I was like "ok" ...dude make me stop vomiting... He said "you're pregnant!" I proceeded to tell him that was absolutely IMPOSSIBLE... I was the most infertile person in North America... and that it took years and a serious series of science experiments (as I like to call them) by the best doctors in the field to get me pregnant....he stared at me and just listened...probably thinking I was absolutely crazy... once I was done blabbing my medical history all the way back to my first period in the 6th grade....(ha!) he explained that he had been in the medical field for over 30 years... and that he had NEVER had a false positive...
I confidently told him that I was his first!
Well, he was right and he has still not once had a false positive and I couldn't be MORE excited about it!
So that's the story... we were shocked... then happy and now we are just ecstatic about the news and that we've made it this far!
Once we made it home...we went to visit our favorite reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Muasher... he couldn't believe the news... I think he was quite surprised... one of my Embryologists in his office said she was convinced I took Lupron! She is funny.... how on earth would I get my hands on meds let alone know when to take them! I was happy that Dr. Muasher was willing to follow me and the baby until I made it to 10 weeks... and then off to the Perinatologists I went....
I am taking my weekly progesterone shots...I had my first this week...these help my uterus stay relaxed and it helps prevent pre-term labor... I lost William & Brennan due to an incompetent cervix... and that leads to preterm labor that in my case they couldn't do a rescue cerclage because it had progressed too far too fast... or stop the labor from progressing at 23 weeks.
We learned during my second pregnancy with Sullivan & Henry that a cerclage (where they stitch up the base of my uterus) is key... along with bed rest for the twin pregnancy, and the MONTHS of strict bed rest resulted in two healthy babies.... :)
With this pregnancy I had my cerclage a little over two weeks ago... I am being monitored every 2 weeks by a FABULOUS team of Perinatologists at Fairfax Hospital... the best in the business... or so I think. :) We will try our best to avoid bed rest... the fact that it is a singleton pregnancy and that we are taking preventative measures with the cerclage, and the progesterone injections... we should be ok... Although, I've learned to take it just one day at a time....
I'm actually getting quite good at it.
So, Cheers to 3 boys under 2! Woohoo!
Happy Valentines Day!
xoxo
Patrick, Amy, Sullivan & Henry
Sullivan was not a fan of sitting on the couch. at this particular moment... he wanted to be climbing on things that weren't meant to be climbed on.... funny guy...but at least he looked cute in his cupid is my homeboy t-shirt :)
Henry getting ready to on an outing....
Hugging their Valentine balloons... these boys love balloons...
Henry sporting a new hat made by my mom... the boys wear these hats around the house for fun....and don't worry it isn't cold in the house :) we keep it at 71... I think they just like hats!
listening to a song...
Sullivan trying to climb on a chair.... grunting because it is kind of hard...
taking some time to squat and play on his computer...
pretending to skype with auntie mary... one of his favorite things to do....
sullivan just being gosh darn cute!
oh henry....I love your eye lashes.....
