In December I graduated with my second college degree, a Bachelors in Animal Science. I had applied for many jobs, but being 6 months pregnant, nobody wanted to hire me because I would be going on maternity leave in a matter of weeks to months. It was too high of a risk for many employers to take. After Paige was born, I applied for more jobs, and had a few interviews, which were all dead ends, until I got a random call from a small town dairy near my home town.
April 8, 2013 I accepted a job at a place I never saw myself being. As the new Calf Herd Manager at Hickory Hill I plunged full bore into this full time job, caring for newborn calves. I moved into a new house, dove into my job, and honestly never expected Brad to follow me back to Sioux County. I figured we would just keep doing what the last 2 1/2 years of our marriage was like... long distance, randomly "seeing" each other. At the end of April, Brad quit his job at Trausch Farms and moved up to the dairy with me, in the huge 4 bedroom house that I got with the job. less that a week later, Brad was hired onto the maintenance crew here, and has been working here since. So many blessings in disguise have happened over the course of a year, its unbelievable. Our relationship feels like it has been completely renewed now that we are ACTUALLY living together, spending time together, sleeping under the same roof, doing things together, etc.
June 1, 2013 our lives took another huge turn in a direction we both weren't expecting. Baby #2 is now baking in the oven, which was a complete surprise to the both of us. "Gummy Bear," as we have nicknamed it, is due February 11, 2014. Oh Shit. Are we ready for this? How will this work? So many questions that need to be answered and no answers to be given. 8 weeks into pregnancy, I can already tell this is going to be a long 9 (hopefully) months. After the previous experience, I'm sure you can all imagine the worries that could possibly be going through my head. Brad keeps telling me "it will be fine" and "don't worry about it, what happens will happen"... That's just it. I don't want anything BAD to happen.
June 26th was our first Dr's appointment. We met with one of the two physicians that will be monitoring me through my pregnancy. I will be closely watched by both, and ill be making very regular trips to the Sanford Women's Health building in Sioux Falls. Ugh, that's right. Sioux Falls! I have to do my pre-natal visits and be monitored by a "large-city" hospital because of my risk. I am considered High Risk after Paige, and the small town hospitals (Orange City, Sioux Center, Le Mars) will not take on a high risk patient. They would automatically transfer me to Sanford in Sioux Falls... so there it is. Endless miles of traveling back and forth. We got to see the heart beat for the first time on he 26th. A racing pace of 161 beats per minute gave us the comfort that our little one, was in fact, still alive. What a relief it was to know that I was really pregnant. The home pregnancy test just wasn't enough for me to believe that it was a "viable" pregnancy, I guess, because I didn't really expect a baby, until I saw that ultrasound. The one concern that the Dr. had at our first appointment was that there was a small cyst forming on the umbilical chord, from what he could see on the ultrasound. He assured us that this was NOT in fact something to be concerned about yet. He said nearly 80-85% of these cysts go away by weeks 12-15. If it doesn't go away, then we will in fact be doing some testing to see if there are any birth defects that are present. As of now, we are both keeping a positive head about that 80-85%. We believe this is a fairly high number, and we trust that God has this in His hands. No matter what, this child was in God's plan for us, obviously, otherwise this child would not be here.
Today, July 2, we visited another doctors office at the same hospital to meet the nurse of the second physician that will be monitoring me. We are not sure which one will be delivering me yet, as we still need to make the choice, but hopefully we have another 6 months before we have to worry about that too much. The doctor did a little V-Scan today, which is a "pocket book" ultrasound... it's pretty much an ultrasound on an I-pod. No pictures printed, but we got to see the heart beat again, and our little "gummy bear," which is always a plus side of the visits. We have our 12 week appointment scheduled for July 30th, and we will be going through the 12 week screening to make sure that everything is ok. This is just an ultrasound to look for abnormalities in the spine, etc. We also have a 15 week appointment for another ultrasound to look at that umbilical cyst again. Hopefully, by then, it will be gone and baby will be semi-in-the-clear.
Today the nurse was pretty upset with Brad and I because we didn't want to sit through the question session that all early pregnancy patients need to do. We both felt that we don't need a public question session to ask our questions and that we would be much more comfortable asking them to our nurse in person. The nurse did not like this choice of ours, but went through the general basics. I feel that as this is my second pregnancy, I pretty much feel ok with myself and know what I need to do when. The nurse, obviously being from a large city, was VERY concerned about me working with cattle though. She told me I shouldn't have ANY physical contact with livestock or vaccines, that I SHOULDN'T be lifting anything over 40 pounds, and that I need to be VERY careful, but that she "fully appreciates what I do on a day to day basis."... I wanted to b!tc# slap her so bad. She was SO rude about my career. First off, I've grown up around cattle all of my life, I feel comfortable around them, its my career, and I'm not going to quit my job just because I am pregnant. Second of all, there are how many THOUSANDS of female vets, ag workers, etc. working out in the field EVERYDAY in the US... I'm POSITIVE that there ARE other pregnant women out there working with livestock everyday! WHY is it any different for me!? And my last problem I had with that statement was that, I am not stupid. I know when I've done too much, or when I need to quit doing what I'm doing because I am getting tired. This is a part of my daily life, I don't need to be treated like a child just because I am pregnant, and at risk. I understand, she just wants me to have a successful pregnancy, who doesn't??... but telling me that I can't do what I do everyday in my career just because I am pregnant was stepping over the border for me.
Anyways, so far, so good. I am starting to hit the morning sickness stage, which I completely skipped over with Paige, but, it is all worth it. I cannot WAIT for this wonderful blessing, and I just keep praying to God that he knows what He is doing... ( I know he does, but checking with Him makes me feel just a little bit better about this journey). I have been losing weight so far, which is a concern, but I am also just starting to get my "pregnancy appetite" back, and the meals are starting to pick up. We will get through this, but we do need a lot of prayers and support. Our emotions are still very fresh from Paige, and being as we are due only a short month before Paige's "was" due date, the emotions of being at the same "stage" of pregnancy a year ago are very fresh in my mind as well. We are so happy, but so scared at the same time, so we ask that anyone who has a spare moment every once an a while to send a little prayer for us for patients, peaces, and the good mercy of the Lord to be with us through this pregnancy, so we may finally, hold our own crying, precious little bundle of joy.
6 Weeks... (mostly just bloating)
7 Weeks ... (still mostly just bloating)
8 Weeks... Just starting to show!
I just wrote a long comment and I just lost it! boo.
ReplyDeletelove you both
auntie Joy