Baby # 2

In my last post I announced that we are officially trying for baby #2 and indeed, that topic does deserve its own post. As I've said before, I spent Averie's first year pretty much obsessed with trying to figure out when we wanted to start trying again and calculating the age gap our decisions would create. Before we knew it, she was one and then it felt like we really had to make a decision. My husband has been on board to have another baby pretty much since Averie was born, but the being-pregnant-sucks-party-of-one over here wasn't immediately ready.

I had a few reservations that made me think twice, the biggest? I just hate being pregnant. Everyone likes to tell me that each one is different but my truth is that it just isn't. I have 2 under my belt now, and both were the same: I was miserable. That's the honest truth, and pretending that the next one "could" be different is just silly. I'm a straight shooter and I know what to expect, and it's going to suck again. The only part I did enjoy (and still miss) is the feeling of Averie moving around. She was super active and I loved every minute of it. I never got to feel Mason move, but I saw on the ultrasounds how active he was so I imagine that he would have been like his sister.

Of course I am still scared that history could repeat itself, but that isn't my overlaying reservation on having another baby. As strange as it may sound, I'm somewhat used to being nervous and scared when it comes to being pregnant and I'm more and more comfortable with my fears. I know it sounds a little silly in writing, but I know what worries me and what doesn't now, so when it happens I also know how to deal with it. If only I could prevent it with this valuable knowledge! Baby steps... There is also a part of my brain that keeps repeating the statistics for miscarriages... 1 in 5 pregnancies. This would be my 3rd pregnancy... those odds freak me out a little but I know I can't dwell on it.... let's not even talk about all the complications that could arise, even if neural tube defects leave me alone.

Before we got pregnant we found out that I only ovulate every other month so I was assuming that would still be the case when we started trying again. We went out and got an ovulation predictor kit and I began doing them every other day (it says to do them every day but I just think that's overkill... if you do it every other day you still won't miss an ovulation since they are typically for 48 hours AND you save money on test strips.) I was still exclusively nursing/pumping at this point so I cut one one nursing/pumping session in the afternoon once she turned one. At the risk of being too obvious- I still haven't had my period since getting pregnant. Actually, next month will mark a full 2 years without it (I know, my girlfriends love to tell me they hate me when I point this out) so I was sort of experimenting with how much nursing (or lack thereof) would cause me to ovulate. I am not ready to stop, and neither is Averie so I figured we would work our way down one by one to see if I could stimulate ovulation.

I had done some research on it and found out that many moms get their periods (even with nursing as much as me) between 6-12 months and here I had an almost 14month old without it. I asked a bunch of my friends with kids around the same age and all of them had theirs already too. I started to feel a lot of pregnancy symptoms (vomiting, fatigue, headaches) so I took a pregnancy test just to be sure I wasn't missing a huge clue but it was negative. That was about 2 weeks ago, and about 1 week into cutting out the 1 nursing session. One of my friends sent me a link that described all the symptoms I was feeling and it turns out I am in the 50% of moms that get these symptoms when they start to wean. Lucky me right? As crappy as those symptoms were, it was nice to know that something was happening with the changes I was making. Then, a few days later I almost forgot to do a quick ovulation test and I was shocked to see the little smiley face on the test strip!

I didn't think I would ovulate so quickly. I had only cut out one feeding for about 10 days and I was already ovulating!!! I was so excited I grabbed the test and ran out to my husband who was on his way to the hardware store (we've been very busy with our home renovations- more posts on that later too!) and I told him to hurry back before I even realized what I was saying! We talked about it and we want a summer baby, which means waiting to conceive until fall. However, it's pretty transparent how great I am at being patient...

With Averie I announced right away that I was pregnant because I am not so great at keeping secrets, and I believe in honesty... especially when it comes to those of you who have been on this journey with me from the very beginning. However, when I do get pregnant again, I would like to exercise some restraint and wait until after the 12 week mark to announce. (This miscarriage thing freaks me out more than I'm letting on.) So for anyone on bump watch... I won't tell you if we decided to wait for my next ovulation or if we got down to business... or if we scrapped the whole "we are actively trying" thing for a "we want a summer baby" thing.

In the direct future for this blog, you can look forward to the last installment of Averie's party (Entertainment and Favors woo hoo!) and LOTS of home renovations updates!

Only time will tell ;)