There's been something we've been working on here in the Polzin household. A new member will God willing be making his/her appearance sometime in June 2012. We've been very excited, yet still concerned for the past 19 weeks.
Following our miscarriage in December 2010 we went through a very rough time. We couldn't see the reason for our loss and we were hurting very much. We wondered if we would ever be able to have children of our own. After a long time of trying, we finally became pregnant again in July. However, this pregnancy was also lost at about 8 weeks. Abi had another procedure - and our concerns deepened. Our doctor was also starting to get concerned and wanted us to come in for a special ultrasound to evaluate for any problems. Abi was supposed to come in for an appointment when she was "back to normal."
Well, that never happened. Following the miscarriage normalacy never returned. Finally, on Halloween, suspicions were high and we took a pregnancy test, which was positive. Such emotions! Wonder, fear, joy, grief, concern - all rushed over us. We took another test a few days later and sure enough it was positive again.
Our first doctor's appointment was on November 14. At that time Sheldon was measuring in at 7 weeks 6 days - we had been pregnant for a while without knowing it! Everything looked good at that appointment - but we were still nervous.
Sheldon at 8 weeks
(The name Sheldon is after the Physicist Friendly Dork on the TV show Big Bang Theory - no offense to any other Sheldons!)
With our first pregnancy we had seen a heartbeat at 8 weeks, and when we went to the 10 week appointment there was none - a Missed Miscarriage. We were very cautious and nervous about our second appointment. Abi had access to an ultrasound machine at work and managed to sneak in a video of Sheldon at around 9 weeks - which eased our minds some.
Here is the video:
Our second appointment was on December 1st. Bry wasn't able to go with, so Abi was sure to take a picture to share. What a wonderful sight to see - a moving, bouncing, waving Sheldon with a nice, strong heartbeat. We were so happy that things seemed to be going well.
Sheldon at 10 weeks 2 days - you can seen the head on the right side, a bright little nose, and a tiny arm waving.
Our 12 week appointment marked the end of "special treatment" - our OB decided we were now a "normal pregnancy" and would be on a typical schedule for future appointments - mapped out all the way through April. Of course, nothing can be easy for us, and a bleeding scare had us right back in the office at 13 weeks - but all was well with Sheldon anyways. Plus, we got some good pictures of him. (Sheldon bears a striking resemblance to Donald Duck in those!)
Christmas week marked the start of the Second Trimester. Week 14 was doubly as pregnant as I'd ever been. We felt some relief at hitting this milestone, yet were still hesitant to spread the news. We did tell most extended family on Christmas, however, and got only support and congratulations. Abi thinks she felt some movements during week 16, and we continued to be grateful for our home doppler to listen to the heartbeat. We scheduled the appointment to find out the gender - February 2, 2012.
January 16th - definite baby movements make my day a lot more interesting. Continuing to find clothes to wear although we're decidedly in maternity clothes now (pants). I started telling my fellow residency classmates this week. Lots of support and congratulations from them too.
January 17th - 17 weeks on the 17th.
January 26th - less than 6 days until we find out what Sheldon is! Super excited.
January 30th - After working an overnight shift, Abi had her attending try to figure out what Sheldon was - and it's a girl! I went out shopping for "I love my Daddy" gifts for Bry to tell him the big news. We had been thinking "boy", but just a quick peek at the girls section in a store and my knitting patterns had me very excited. We changed from "Sheldon" to "Penny", and were seeing pink all over.
February 2 - the day of the anatomy scan finally arrived. We had the scan which lasted about 1 hour. Penny was lovely to watch, moving around all over. But she refused to let us get a good picture of her little face. Heart, kidneys, face and brain all looked good. They did, however, see a uterine septum in my uterus. (this means my uterus has 2 parts) Penny and the placenta are on one side of the uterus, the septum is on the other side. So far it hasn't caused any problems with this pregnancy but we're now considered "high risk" and will need to have repeated scans and check ups.
We are thrilled to finally announce this news - it's been a long time keeping it all in!
