14 weeks (and our testimony)

We finally made it to the 2nd trimester! I am starting to feel better, and actually starting to feel pregnant. I still have some morning sickness, but its hit or miss. It feels so good to be past the point where we lost Josiah, and its extremely relieving. This may be a long post as I would like to talk about my appt, and also our testimony this past year.

First, the appt went great! My blood pressure is down, which I know its only a little high because I get so darn nervous. I felt a sense of calm and peace during the appt which was great, I know we had a lot of people praying for us. My midwife asked me lots of questions, and even asked if I have felt movement yet, which I said, if I am, I wouldnt know what it feels like. But she said its still early, and by 16-18 weeks I should be feeling something in there. Then came the awaited heartbeat check....We both felt very calm, even when she didnt find it right away. She went a little lower, and there is was! In the 160's which is perfect. I could listen to that all day long! I looked over at Lance and I could see tears in his eyes, and I started to cry which knocked the doppler right off my belly. Then we got our paperwork for our gender ultrasound, which will be July 10th! I will be 18 weeks and we will finally be able to call this little person by name. Also I am measuring a little bigger then 14 weeks, which makes sense because the baby was measuring almost a week bigger in the 8 week ultrasound.

So on to our story. Last year at this time I was pregnant, getting ready to move, and for my brothers wedding. We were due December 31st. At this point I had heard her little heartbeat many times on a doppler I had rented. I thought everything was going to be fine. After we moved we had our first appt here with our midwife and that is where we found her heart had stopped sometime in the last week. I cant explain the grief we felt. Not only did we loose our baby, but my body would just not let go, so I had a D&C. I struggled with that decision for a long time, like I did something wrong. To make a really long story short, we spent the rest of the summer in grief. We prayed, cried, and prayed some more. I got tests done, the told me my baby was a healthy girl, and they didnt know why this happened. So then my midwife did some blood work, and found a genetic mutation of mthfr. Which essentially doesnt allow your body to absorb folic acid like it should, which can cause high homocysteine levels and blood clots. They thought maybe the placenta had blood clots and that is why the baby died. So I went to a specialist who said since my homocysteine levels are normal, that I do not need to do anything special. However I took it upon myself and with the counsel of my midwife, family, and of course praying about it, we decided to take extra folic acid (4 times the normal amount) and a baby aspirin. We figured it couldnt hurt, but it may help.

We thought we would get pregnant right away, but had to wait 3 months to start trying , because of all the tests. Then about 4 months into trying to concieve, I went to see my OB for a normal checkup. She took some blood because I was having discharge from my breasts and she thought maybe my body was thinking it needed to make milk and my prolactin levels were high. So when we get the results that the prolactin levels were high, she wanted to test again in a couple of weeks to see what they were during another time in my cycle. Well the day before my test, Lance prayed over me, we asked God to regulate my body. I went in for the tests and it was all normal, Praise God!

Another time throughout trying to conceive, Lance annointed my womb with oils and asked for the holy spirit to come and heal anything that may be preventing me from getting pregnant. I felt a warm, tingly sensation right over where my uterus would be, and it lasted for a good 2 hours, at that point I knew God had healed my womb.

The month we got pregnant, I was upset because my periods were so irregular, and I never knew if they would come at 28, 31, or 38 days. So about 14 days into a cycle, Lance prayed over me that God would regulate my cycles, and the next day, I started what I thought was just mid cycle bleeding. It lasted for 5 days and was extremely light. I called my OB and she said even though it came in the middle of your cycle, to count it as a period because it lasted 5 days. So about 15 days from that (I was charting my temps for ovulation) we conceived this little miracle! So that mid cycle bleeding was not a fluke, it was God restoring my body back. 9 months after we lost our little one, we were expecting a new little one!

Its been a long 14 weeks, but here we are. This year feels alot like last year, except with no grief and sadness, only JOY! We moved, we have a wedding to go to, and im pregnant and due in the same month. Only this time God is rewriting our story. He has blessed us so much and we are so greatful for everything he is doing in our lives.

Thank you for all the prayers for us and this baby!