The Beginning

I always thought about possible writing, but never thought it would be in this way. My name is Julie and my husband and I Brian are expecting our 2nd child in December. On Friday, July 28, I was 19 weeks, and we had our 4 week check up. Leading up to this point things have a been a bit different with this pregnancy then they were with our 2.5 yr old son Theodore. I found out I was pregnant on Thursday, April 20, during our spring break. I told Brian the next day and needless to say he was quite surprised. We were planning to have a baby at some point during the 17-18 school year just not quite in December, but the Lord always has the master plan. We shared the news with immediate family and close friends. We had our first ultrasound to confirm the gestation of the baby on Thursday, May 4. Everything looked fine and baby’s heart rate was 129 bpm and was measuring as we expected and would be due December 22, 2017.

My next check-up was Thursday, June 1. I would be 11 weeks the next day. I felt like you do normally during pregnancy: tired, appetites off, sick to your stomach, headaches, nothing new, but when our midwife tried to find our baby’s heartbeat using the doppler she couldn’t find it. We searched for about 10 minutes and decided that the baby was still too low in my pelvis. She brought in the portable ultrasound machine and found baby. The machine was older so she could identify the baby and see the heart beating, but Brian and I had a hard time distinguishing shadows from body parts. We both left that day a little uneasy, but I told myself the baby is fine I will go back on Friday, June 30, and we will hear the baby then.

A week before my appointment I called the doctor’s office panicked worried, “What if the baby’s heart wasn’t beating, what if something happened?” The nurse assured me it was normal to not hear the heartbeat that early in pregnancy and I would hear the baby at the next appointment. On June 30, I went to my appointment by myself. Brian was working summer school and I thought it will be a normal check up. The midwife and I talked a bit and then I said, “I really want to hear my baby.” The midwife searched and searched and no heartbeat again. At this point tears are streaming down my face. She went and got the ultrasound again and there our baby was. Laying calming and I could see the flutters on the ultrasound of the heart beating. That day I didn’t hear what I wanted, but I did see the baby was alive and saw the heart beating.

I got the orders at that appointment to make my anatomy ultrasound. I was excited we would finally be able to find out if it was a boy or girl. I was told too this could be scheduled anytime during 18-22 weeks which was perfect because my sister who lives in Brooklyn, NY would be home in Ohio visiting and Brian’s older sister would be home visiting from Malaysia too, so they would get to join us in finding out this joy. I called the Maternal Fetal Medicine office and was told they would not schedule me till 22 weeks. I said okay and had my ultrasound scheduled for Friday, August 11. The scheduler really wanted me to come in the following week, but missing school the first week is not a good idea for any teacher, but especially when you teach students with Multiple Disabilities. My best friend told me about My Little Me, so Brian and I decided that we would schedule an appointment there to find the gender that way we could have our gender reveal party before our sisters had to return to their homes. Little did we know that it was this appointment that would revel a future for us very different than the one we'd originally expected.