Ok So I got super motivated after posting Lox’s birth story (finally) and I looked back to see where I left off…
Now I’m depressed again!
Lol, this was the WAY over due blog I literally tried to finish as the hospital called me to come in to be induced…. it obviously didn’t happen! I was SO uncomfortable anytime I tried to get on the computer during my pregnancy bc I mean really, where does the computer go when your belly is THAT big!?
Anyway- here is what I found for documentation purposes!
It looks like this was my attempt to re-cap the entire pregnancy! now there’s a scary thought!
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First of all we have FINALLY decided on a name with the help of your Aunt Taytay (and it’s absolutely perfect for you)! I’m slightly ALL or nothing when it comes to what I like and especially with names and I just knew this was IT. Daddy took some convincing but he came around and loves it now (he always does)!
*Lochlan Everett Minnicks*
So after researching the different forms of Locklan, lochlan, lockton, loxley etc I found that the old English word for “Loc” means “bridge”. As soon as I read that it was a done deal. I couldn’t think of a better way to describe my rainbow baby as a bridge linking us to the other side and even to the one who isn’t with us.
(It’s hard to see it here but this is the HUGE rainbow we saw on the beach less than 30 minutes after we found out we were pregnant with our rainbow baby!)
I knew in that moment it was finally our time and that everything was going to be just fine. Lord, what I didn’t now is how tested we would be.
So here you have it- how it all started little man’s first 9 months of life in mama’s belly have sure been a whirl wind!
We were on vacation for Labor Day weekend in Hilton Head and this was only about our second day there when I just knew it. We were on the way to Sea Pines to let Sissy ride horses and visit the lighthouse and I had this split second dizzy spell. That was the exact feeling I had when I found out I was pregnant with Lola.
So we raced back to the condo and even though I swore I would not take a pregnancy test on vacation (because I had taken about 20 the previous few weeks and was crushed each time it said negative and I refused to put a damper on our vacation) I ran to the store while Lola was napping to get the pregnancy test and a bottle of vodka lol!
It was POSITIVE!!! Finally! Alex was so mad I didn’t let him video it all but I was SO over taking them and getting my hopes up I just did it and yelled “OMG GO LOOK”!
Pretty classy huh Lox? Mama was an emotional wreck the last few months since our miscarriage so please forgive me!
It was POSITIVE!!!!!!
Your daddy and I both about hit the floor! We were so giddy we had to wake up Lola (even though we didn’t tell her right then)! We had so much excited energy we all ran down to the beach and that’s when we saw our rainbow…
That night when we put her to bed we read a book about friends and sharing…. she was having a “problem” with that at the time so I asked her about her best friends and sharing she laughed at me and said “my best friend isn’t here yet- he was still with his mama”.
Dear lord, Alex and I both looked at each other with our eyes as big as the sun….. this girl has some intuition.
When we came back home and I made the first appointment they had… looking back we were scared but SO optimistic compared to the weeks that would follow.
Turns out my progesterone level was super low so I was able to start a medication before 6 weeks (when it’s the most crucial)! It made me God awful sick and the ONLY reason I didn’t go to the ER one night around 3am was because I didn’t have anyone to watch Lola.
It was the most AWFUL sickness I have ever had… EVER.
It was a weekend when I got so sick so we scheduled to go back to the doctor that Monday to check on the baby. I knew the baby would not have survived the sickness I had, I swore we lost this one too.
To make things worse, I literally started bleeding the day after that appointment and absolutely lost it. I just remember running out of the bathroom and falling on the floor screaming for Alex. I knew it was another miscarriage.
I knew it.
We had to wait until that Monday to go back to the doctor and we had pretty much accepted this was the same course the last pregnancy had taken.
I think this is when we started going every week for an ultra sound because something happened about every 48 hours that would terrify us….
It was an emotionally and physically VERY hard time.
Poor Lola, after seeing me SO sick that weekend (she was playing doctor with her stethoscope checking on me constantly) she was being such the caretaker…
By some miracle our sweet baby was not affected and we made it past the 6 week mark…I had never thrown up so much in my life and after going to the doctor I learned I had lost 5 pounds in 3 days. Looking back I can say without a doubt there is no way the doctors would have allowed me to continue to take the medication had I gone to the ER that weekend. I cringed at taking the medication each night knowing it would only make me feel worse but I was absolutely terrified of losing this baby too and I needed to make it to week 11 with taking the medication. I don’t think anything could have stopped me from doing anything anyone suggested that could possibly help me to keep this baby.
After that appointment I literally thought if he survived that he could survive anything!
You would have thought we won a million dollars!! We didn’t even pray for a healthy baby at this point.. we were literally focused on just not losing the baby so you can imagine our excitement when our 6 week check up proved he was healthy “so far”!
.. and when you win a million dollars sometimes you just dance in the waiting room.
I will never forget that day or that feeling… we finally saw a burst of hope again!
Until about a week or so later and I had THE WORST bleeding episode ever … they had talked to me about finding a “small” perigestational bleed on an ultrasound previously but even knowing that I was terrified this was something more. We left in the middle of story time and I had Alex meet me at the doctors office. We sat there absolutely terrified of the outcome…
All I could think while we waited was that was it… again… it really was too good to be true.
When they instantly found him and his heartbeat on the ultrasound I burst into tears. They could not tell me where the blood was coming from but they assured me it wasn’t affecting him.
I don’t think I could wrap my head around “dodging another bullet” but we were so, so happy we did.
I was getting more confident in the multiple positive ultrasounds every week and I was feeling better as in not puking and hurled over in pain but now I had indigestion that prevented me from eating or drinking for weeks and felt just all around pretty bad…My body was getting used to the shock of progesterone but I still just didn’t feel “good”.
With all of this combined and trying my best to “hide it” form Lola yet still keep up with her it was hard (we had only told her up until then that I had a bad buggy in my stomach that was making me sick).
I felt so bad for Lola since I was not being able to go, go, go like I usually am. Her daddy did the best he could to come home early and take over entertainment (and daily everything else) but I knew I wasn’t doing my part with her and that killed me! I hated missing bath time, bedtime, dinner table talks etc.
Wow.
I’m not going to lie…. even since writing this and looking back on it all it’s a miracle we have made it this far. Those days were long, so very long.
I didn’t realize how much I had forgotten in regards to what all occurred during this pregnancy until really looking back to write this.
I remember those days in the first few weeks and they seemed to have lasted for an eternity… When you are counting each day, each minute, each hour to find out if you have lost another baby. Praying every time you move or standup you don’t pass blood and your goal being to make it to five, ten and then twenty minutes of not obsessing over it or running to the bathroom to check…. it was some of the absolute longest days of my life.
A few weeks later things settled down and we finally started to see the rainbow in this rainbow baby…WHEW.
We made it to 11 weeks!
Alex snapped this picture and I was so happy but all I could do was ball my eyes out in that parking garage.
After this appointment we finally felt confident enough to share the big news- with Sissy first of course!
I was So excited to tell Sissy but let’s be honest, I know she already knew which made me more eager to tell her so I could make sure it was a way she understood and not random tid bits she had picked up and pieced together.
It was a few days before Halloween when we told her and she was SO calm about it and eagerly listening.
To tell the truth she didn’t say much at all (and Alex and I just rolled with it) when we started to change the subject she grabbed her book and a baby doll (she hadn’t touched in I don’t even know how long) sat in the rocking chair and began to “read” the book to her baby…
After a few seconds she jumped back down and told me she needed to find a lovie for the babydoll (the book showed the new baby with a lovie). Oh how I love how she internalizes everything. She then hoped back up there and finished reading to her baby.
Things were looking up and although we were still in SO much denial that we were actually pregnant I randomly at around 11 weeks decided just in case we do get to keep this baby I should probably have a “bely pic”.
This was 13 weeks, I swear I had a bump at like week 9 this time… I thought maybe I was bloated because no way was I bumping that soon- yes way.
I swear at 14 weeks is when I could either look like I had no bump at all before eating and look 6 months pregnant after eating. There was no in between.
At 14 weeks we got to find out what you were…. Sister was right there with us! She has said the entire time she wanted a sister but when I asked he that morning what she thought the baby in my belly was she said “Mama, it’s a boy” as if it were a silly question.
I had no idea how much I assumed it would be another girl until they said it was a BOY! Alex and I were both in shock- as much as we wanted “one of each” a boy was so unfamiliar to us… we knew how to raise a little girl and we LOVED rising this little girl… to us another girl meant we got to do all of that again and that just sounded too good to be true to us!
When the shock wore off we were pretty in love with the idea of a boy- a baby Lou! Kind of makes me love this guy even more!
After lunch daddy quickly reminded me that this meant we would need ALL NEW EVERYTHING. An excuse to shop!?!
I have to say I was pretty clueless initially because I have really never shopped for a baby boy but I got it together pretty quickly!
It was getting real now FINALLY and I though not very good I started whipping out the belly pics, I rarely ever came out of my pajamas but you get the idea!
15 weeks!
16 weeks-I couldn’t believe we made it to 4 months (and Thanksgiving) at the time they said I was under weight and not gaining fast enough… HA! I reminded them it would be no problem as I was going home for thanksgiving and would surely FIX that little problem!
Lola’s bump was growing too!
17 Weeks and my birthday week!
19 Weeks!
Our 20 week ultrasound was literally the day we went home before Christmas Eve and it was all either of us needed for Christmas this year- or any year! A healthy report!
New years Dinner at 21 Weeks!
22 Weeks!
25 Weeks!
This little snow storm reminded me of the snow storm we were in the week of Lola’s due date 3 years prior! So I had a little fun with it and tried my best to do the same angle! (Truth be told I was already wearing the gloves, scarves and boots before realizing it!)
I hit 7 months just after Sisters 3rd Birthday party and it was the perfect time for our babymoon (with our third wheel!) If I was craving anything this pregnancy it was the SUN (and chewy ice)!
Lola was looking for her belly…. to bad ya don’t have to look far for mama’s!
If you notice.. the bigger I got the more I just had to capture it!
This is also when I got SO itchy- if I was home my shirt had to be pulled up! Everything itched! This is also when I had several test for Chleostasis and although they were negative my doctors were worried and I began seeing a specialist the last month of the pregnancy.
30 Weeks!
I think 30 weeks is my favorite part in pregnancy! Your still really comfortable and (feel) really close to the end and your bump is super cute to dress!
That was the weekend the sweetest girls in the world insisted on throwing a sprinkle shower for Lox!
This was the same day Lou left for his first (yes he left again at 9 months!) trip to China for 2 weeks! He had picked out my dress and insisted I send him a good belly pic before he took off!
That also meant Gigi came- hallelujah! One of my appointments fell during Lolas nap time so this mama flew solo for the first time ever and I swear they didn’t recognize me!
Thankfully he made it home just as I hit 9 months and the first thing we did (after he got over his jet lag and stomach virus) was hit the lake!
It was just what we all needed!
They started having to track him movements every week due to the fear of choleostasis and around 36 weeks is when I also had my first set of “false labor”…
I think we were literally at a doct2-3 times a week!
They decided to officially induce me at 37 weeks (to the day- they were not playing) and Daddy left to go to China one last time at 35 weeks.
So Lola and I hit the lake for one last girls Lake trip before having our Lou home and Lox’s birth!
So there you have it. This pregnancy was one hell of a ride and little did I know that wasn’t the end of it. Since having him I had to have two surgeries within 6 weeks of his birth and we had our first experience with the NICU for him following his arrival.
It wasn’t easy getting you here but we are SO very glad you are here and we would do it again and again!
