Our Angel Baby (LONG POST, some parts descriptive)

It's taken me a while to post about this, but I'm finally ready. 
On April 11th I had my first ultrasound. I was 7 weeks 4 days according to my LMP (last menstrual period). I knew I could be about a week off depending on when I ovulated. I saw a PA and was so excited to see my baby! She used a new machine and was not an actual US Tech. She said I was like her guinea pig. Well she found the gestational sac and saw a yolk sac and fetal pole but NO heartbeat. She also found a 2nd gestational sac that was empty. The baby measured about 6 weeks do she thought my dates might off and I was earlier on than I thought. So she set me up for another US the the following week with an actual US tech. In the meantime I chose to have my HCG levels checked to give me a piece of mind. All the while I kept thinking I might be carrying twins! So I got the results back from 4/11 draw and my numbers were 164000. The nurse said that was on the higher end for 6 weeks so I was excited and really thinking that twins were a possibility! I had the levels checked again two days later 4/13 and they came back 166000. The nurse said that's normal for the numbers NOT to double when they were so high. So I was eagerly awaiting my 2nd US the next week! 4/19- Vince and I headed off for my US. While in there the tech didn't say a word. I asked if the baby was okay and she says the Dr will explain everything in a minute. I started to freak out and Vince reassured me to stay calm. We were both thinking it was TWINS. So we were waiting in the patient room and the Dr comes in. He sits down and I swear he was going to say we're having twins (because of how high my HCG levels were) but he looks at us and said "I'm afraid I don't have good news." I said what do u mean? He says "there's been no growth for a week and no heartbeat. I'm 99% sure you're going to lose this pregnancy!" I was dumbfounded! He asked how we wanted to proceed (natural, induced or D&C) and I looked at him in horror! I said no if this is happening, it's going to happen naturally! So we left the office with an appt to come back in a week if things hadn't started on their own. I was in shock! I immediately sent out a group text to our family telling them we're losing the baby. I was in denial and disbelief! So all the while I still had all my pregnancy symptoms and evening morning sickness! My body was in denial that anything had happened to the baby. Friday morning was horrible and I hated waking up knowing my baby was still inside me and not living. I debated about our options that day.
The problem, was that Vince had a trip planned to go to Missouri for his brother's graduation from Basic Training and his family is from there. With the tickets already bought there was nothing he could do. He was to fly out on 4/24. I really didn't want to be in the process of miscarrying while he was gone. 
4/21- Sat morning came and I was still in shock and denial but a complete wreck emotionally! I still felt pregnant but I could tell that some of my symptoms were starting to go away. That morning I called and talked to an on call Dr.and she was so sweet and went over some options with me. I asked her about taking the medication that is used to basically induce labor and break down the tissues, but she recommended NOT to do that and informed me that it could be very painful (NOT unlike labor pain). She told me to come in on Monday to get another US for a peace of mind and final confirmation that the baby was gone and then talk about doing a D&C. For those of you who are unfamiliar with a D&C it's called Dilation and Curettage. It's the same thing they use for abortions. They go in and dilate your cervix and then use a vacuum to suck out the dead tissues and sometimes will scrape what's left from your uterine wall.
4/23- I was technically 9 weeks 3 days as we went in for our 3rd/final US. This time the Tech was kind and sensitive and showed me where they were normally see a heartbeat and such. I asked for some pics and she was happy to do that for me.
We saw the same Dr that gave us the bad news and I told him I wanted the baby out that day and wanted a D&C. He informed me that it wouldn't happen that day because I couldn't eat/drink anything for 8 hrs before anesthesia. I actually read the night before that you should eat/drink before surgery and hadn't since the night before. So I told him I hadn't eaten/drank anything since the night before and he scheduled me for the surgery. I was to check in at 2:30pm at Sacred Heart Surgery Center and was scheduled for surgery around 4:30pm. We had made arrangements for the kids to be watched. I ended up being bumped back quite a bit but finally got back for surgery at 6:45pm. I woke up a little after 8pm and was in recovery for a couple hrs. We got home late that night.
4/24- Vince left for Missouri later that morning and I was in recovery.
I healed very quickly and without any pain! I was happy that I chose to have a D&C, under the circumstances.

The first few weeks were the hardest for me but my kids kept me going :) What blessings they are!
It also helped me heal knowing that a few of my close friends and family members had gone through MC pretty recently and I had witnessed their heartaches. Although you don't know the pain until you've actually gone through it. So thank you to those special people who helped me get through this! You know who you are!
It's been nearly 2 months to the day since the surgery and I've moved on, but will never forget my precious baby! It's still difficult to see pregnant woman or come across someone who is due when I was. But I'm looking forward to getting pregnant again; hopefully sooner than later!

Easter

Posting from my phone again ;)
I pretty much dropped the ball this year with me being newly pg and all I just didn't get anything done! No new outfits, no baskets, no egg hunt :(
Dom recovering from his surgery (tonsillectomy and andenoidectomy) last Thursday.
But the Easter Bunny did make it and brought a new movie and pre filled eggs! The kids loved it!
Later that afternoon we went to Vince's grandparent's for a luncheon and a little egg hunt for the kiddies!
I was so nauseous from the car ride it took me a while to eat something.
So that was pretty much it!
I have to add that Dom found the egg with the most $ in it ($3) and he was so excited! Lily was sad she only got one egg. Sara loved finding her 2 eggs!

Our Family Is Growing :)

Yup you guessed it! We are surprisingly expecting another baby! I found out on 3/20 and couldn't believe it!
I'm due somewhere around Thanksgiving. So now we start another new adventure of pregnancy! I'm so excited! I'll be blogging about my feelings (good or bad) and my symptoms! I want to look back and remember another fun journey of pregnancy and child birth!
How I found out:
Our family was very sick with influenza, sinus infections, colds and flu about a month earlier. Sara had the stomach flu on 3/17. 3/18-20 I had waves of nausea and a few headaches. On 3/19 I woke up with a bad headache and was sick to my stomach! I took two Advil to get rid of mg headache and about a minute after I took them I ran downstairs and up it came! So later that night I started thinking that I hadn't started my period yet and should have that weekend. I was thinking no way am I pg! That month we had actually stopped trying! So I decided to take my temp in the morning and if it was up then I'd take a test. Sure enough it was up. 98.24. So off to the bathroom, hands shaking and preparing for a letdown, that was not the case! I was so shocked, excited, happy! I called Vince at work and told him! He couldn't believe it!
So here we are in week 7! I'm having waves if nausea increasing lately. No throwing up though ;) It took a while but my boobs finally got sore around the 5th week. I don't want to eat anything the first part of the day due to nausea and an empty stomach, but I force myself to eat and it's getting better ;) The bloating has started a lot earlier this time (5 weeks). It's calmed down when I hit 7 weeks on Sat ;) The fatigue has been a lot and I need a nap almost every day. I usually have to wait for Vince to get home from work. I have already broke out the maternity jeans due to the excessive bloating and belly trying to show early ;)
Starting weight (for my records) is 119 lbs.
So here are the first pics of this wonderful journey!
I'm posting from my phone so hopefully they turn out. I couldn't find out where post a caption?
So this is from 5-7 weeks so far. Don't mind the "beauty marks" ;)
The pics are not in order, sorry :(

2nd Test taken 3/21

1st test 3/20

Latest pic - 7 weeks -Losing the bloat I think :)
3/7

4th week - let the bloating begin! Already?

6 weeks!

5th week! Holy bloat!

5th week! Is this for real?

6th week!

Catching Up!

I can't believe four months have gone by since my last post! Time flies when you're having fun :) Well, we are all doing fine and school is in full swing! Stay tuned for multiple catch-up posts/pics!
A quick family update:
Dom started full day Kindergarten in Sept and loves it! He's turning 6 in January!
Lily started Preschool in Sept and goes four days a week, half day! She loves it so much! She is 3 1/2 yrs old :)
Our little baby is no longer that...she turned ONE on Oct 24th and is now 13 months old! She's walking and almost running! She loves to play and laugh and is such a joy to us! She loves her siblings and is becoming a little Daddy's girl :)
Stay tuned for more :)

Lily's visit with birth family

We had our annual visit with Lily's birth Dad and Grandma T. We spent 5 hrs at Riverfront Park and had a lot of fun and made some good memories! This is the 2nd time we've met this side of her birth family. Her Grandma T drove up from California to attend the visit. They invited a friend to take pics of the visit. We did approve upon meeting her and it actually is a pretty neat idea. She took over 300 pics and put them on a disk for us to take home! For once it was nice to NOT be the one taking all the pics.
Lily greeted them with open arms! She was a little apprehensive with her birth Dad at first, but it didn't take long to warm up to him. She had no reserves with her Gma T! It was really cute! They got her a Tinkerbell lunchbox, 4 headbands and barrettes! She loved them ALL! Her birth Dad has been saving a musical snow globe of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus since last Christmas. This was a special gift :)
I loved watching how they took in every smile or frown or jump or skip or whatever Lily was doing. There were some really tender moments captured :) They loved the photo books and albums I made for them.
So, we had a great time getting to know them better and watching our kids having a good time!
Here are some of my favorite pics that were taken!



An emotional greeting!









Gift time!





Pretties for her hair!


Lily's birth Dad looked everywhere for a snow globe that had a music box and he found this one last Christmas. It's Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. What a beautiful gift!


Time to ride the carrousel!




Holding hands with Grandma T!


Weeeee!!!


Time to go down the BIG RED WAGON slide!


WEEEEEE!!!


What a handsome guy!


Pretty girl :)


"Let's do it again" says Lily!


STUNNING PIC! I think we might frame this one?


Watching the ducks!






WATER TIME!




Hmmmm...wonder how this tastes?


"Check me out"!


It tastes pretty good in this hot weather!


Someone's getting sleepy...





This is such a tender picture :) She was sooooo tired!






LOVE THIS!


I LOVE this pic! The facial expressions are almost identical!


Enjoying some snow cones!


A great family picture!


Two peas in a pod :)


Three generation photo!


Someone loves her Grandma T!


One last ride!