A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

Well, maybe I should add a few of my own. Like, 'This is not a test.' Ha ha! This picture was taken last Friday at a 12 week scan for our second baby!!!!!! Needless to say, it was a HUGE surprise to find out I was pregnant again; I'm still getting my head around it myself so if you're all in shock, you're not alone. I wasn't sure how I was going to tell everyone and then I got the bright idea of posting it on our blog - sorry Tina that I didn't tell you last week, but I had my heart set on doing it this way. :)
At our best estimate, I am 13 weeks pregnant and due the end of November which would make Reuben ALMOST 11 months when he gains a sibling. I think they call two babies born within the same year Irish twins - not that I've been to Ireland - but I guess this happens a bit over there. The 12 week scan was done to check the nuchal translucency of the fetus (in other words, they measure the clear space in the developing tissue at the back of baby's neck.) Babies with an abnormally large space can be more likely to have Down Syndrome or other chromosomal disorders or congenital heart defects. Thank God our scan was totally normal! There's always a minute or two when they are doing an ultrasound that you hold your breath and pray everything is alright. We didn't have one of these scans with Reuben because we were in America when I was 12 weeks pregnant (and you can only do these scans between 11-14 weeks pregnancy.)
This was actually our 3rd scan during this pregnancy (I only had 3 total with Reuben!) because I experienced some bleeding early on for about two weeks and my doctor wanted to make sure the fetus was actually viable. I had a scan at around 6 weeks and then at 7 and the little heartbeat was going strong both times. My doctor told me once you see a heartbeat, your chances of miscarriage drop drastically but I still didn't allow myself to get very attached to the idea until after the bleeding stopped (I had no bleeding at all with Reuben.) Even now on some days the whole thing seems a bit surreal. Because we haven't told people either, there hasn't been the same amount of focus on this pregnancy as with Reuben - plus, I'm so busy with him, I barely have time to think about it.
The morning sickness was considerably more intense this time but thankfully, it has really subsided in the past couple of weeks and I'm feeling much better. Nathan is excited and has been really looking forward to telling people and I've been the one holding back this time. I was even thinking of not telling anyone at all and just waiting until I started showing and then see how long it took for people to get up the nerve to ask me if I was pregnant or just fat!!!!! Seriously! I have my days of feeling apprehensive about the whole thing as Reuben was definitely more 'planned' than this one, but at the same time, I know that this baby is being brought into the world for such a time as this, and I look forward to seeing what God has in store for this little one's life as I know Reuben has an awesome future ahead of him.
Anyway, speaking of Reuben, I will add another post in the next day or two updating everyone on his latest 'achievements' but I think listing them in this post would probably get lost amongst the excitement of the other news. Blessings to everyone reading this. I'll be interested to see how long it takes for the news to spread (and who will be the first to read this.)