33

33 weeks.

The nurses at my the hospital here in town today verified my very grateful feelings on my decision to not give birth here in Hum.
I went in for another weekly non-stress test and you could tell from the moment that I walked in that no one had read my chart.

"Why are you doing these weekly?" the first nurse asked coldly as she hooked me up, assuming that i'm probably full of shit. Or at least that is what her tone read. After i was gaslighted so many times with my pre-eclampsia I really have a short temper when it comes to medical professionals who treat women like they are constantly over-reacting.
It's like if you can't read my chart, if you don't already know why, then go fly a kite.
"Because UCSF wants them done." I replied in a short tone in response.
I was actually considering cutting some of my favorite dahlias from my TruGarden and bringing them to to nurses station today too- because last weeks nurse was such an angel. Last weeks nurse was sweet and teared up when I told her about Truman in a compassionate way.
I was grateful that I had run out of time to cut the dahlias for them with every word she spoke.
"Yes, why though?" she repeated.
I left a deliberate pause hoping that the silence would leave room for her own thoughts about how she should have read my chart to enter her brain.
"Because I was flown out of here down to UCSF with my last pregnancy, had early on set, severe pre-clampsia and resulted in 2 weeks of hospitalization where my son had decellerations on and off during that time and then ended up dying in the NICU."
"Oh, I see." she said. No sorry, no nothing.

Then the next nurse asked the same question and my patience level was low at the point.
I am an animal nurse, so I know that it is unprofessional to walk into a room and start asking questions when all of the answers are literally sitting right there in my chart and they are just too lazy to read them. Not to mention deeply personally and painful questions.
All someone needs to do is write PREECLAMPSIA on first page in my chart and INFANT LOSS and highlight it so every new nurse can quickly look an get the gist.
After the second explanation that day.... for a total of 4 explanations at the same Labor and Deliver in this small hospital I had definitely had it.
Before I left the laborist for the day came in to talk to me- she (thankfully for her sake and for mine) had read my chart before coming in and proceeded to talk to me about fear and birthing this time around. She mentioned that it is very good that I clearly understand that these are two totally different pregnancies and two totally different babies because it will help with the fear.
Don't you think that maybe the nursing staff would figure out that if you are making a patient re-tell and re-live her last experience over and over again every single time she comes in that it might be detrimental to her relaxation? It definitely reassured me that they are not the hospital for me.


Today on ultrasound I got some really good peaks of Remy.
He is beautiful- big chubby cheeks, pouty lips and some duck fluff hair already. My little lion cubs are serious about their manes. ;) He yawned and stretched for us.
One characteristic really jumped out at me though- his nose. It looks exactly like Truman's.
After Truman was born Jeff and I were both trying to figure out whose nose it was and where he got it from and what I think now is that its just some sort of genetic mesh of mine and Jeff's together.... because it's pretty distinct of a baby nose in my opinion.
Brother's with the same nose.
I wonder what else they will have that's alike.

31 weeks

Things have been going really really well (knock on wood).
No signs of pre-e at all.
Titers are low.
Placenta previa is still an issue but not one they are worried about.
I failed my 1 hour glucose test but i'm doing the finger sticks and I think so far so good. We shall see how that pans out.


I'm 31 weeks and I can't believe I only have 7 more weeks to go. It's scary. and a bit overwhelming but I'm excited.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My friend Stephanie hasn't always had it easy. She has experienced loss in her own way. But i'm not going to get into that because that is her story to tell not mine.
But this girl is a bad ass. I always joke that her and her husband have a "Moon list" which is a list that i made up that has everything that they have ever done and goes from here to the moon. In fact going to the moon might be the only thing that isn't on the list.

A random list of bad ass stuff that they have done in their short lives: surf, scuba dive, treasure hunt, live on a sailboat, travel the world on a sailboat, invent majorly complex things that go on oil rigs to keep them from exploding (like the Gulf incident), wrangle horses, save animals small and large and the list of impressive things just goes on and on.
It's like hanging out with the coolest pirate and the coolest mermaid that you've ever met in your life. They sort of seem like fictional characters because of their tales.
But in all honesty i have seen Steph at work and she is a gentle soul, a compassionate and caring soul, who spends her life healing and taking care of the innocent and the broken.
and you just wonder where is that good karma bad around when you need it?

Stephanie and Dwight have been battling infertility.
Its been a long road for them. So things are starting to pick up speed and now is the time for them to really push the pedal on this.
I decided to start a fund to try and help them out.
It's something that I wish someone would have done for me after Truman died. I mean its really stressful when funds are short and medical bills keep coming.
Honestly it feels REALLY good to even attempt to help out these bad ass people.
They really deserve support and a good shot at this before time runs out.

She will be blogging on this link with updates as she moves along in her fertility treatments.
I thought I would share her info on here in hopes that you guys would share her story and this link with people who you have met either in real life or in the blog world who can help her through this time.
Here's her link:
http://www.gofundme.com/BrookerBaby

Thanks guys, xo

Just below the surface

28 weeks.
Something is going on with me that is just out of reach.

On Sunday the lady who performed Truman's memorial service came into my work.
This lady is a bonafide Humboldt weirdo so I wasn't horribly offended when she clearly forgot who I was and started asking questions about if this was my first child or not.
I said no, this is my second son. It still didn't trigger her memory.
She talked about her life, her family member who is pregnant and her dogs and then left.
I found myself thinking about the memorial and how beautiful it was and how much it really helped me process everything that I had happened.

I totally forgot about the interaction.

The next morning I woke up and tears just wouldn't stop coming.
It wasn't that I was sobbing or crying really.... It was just a constant flow of tears streaming down my face.
It's so hard to explain.
This went on for hours and I truly couldn't figure out what brought this on until I mentioned to Jeff that I had run into weird memorial lady the day before. It then hit me that she must have been some sort of trigger.
The timing itself is enough to make anyone weep really. But that must have been it because as soon as i talked to him about it, brought the thought to the surface of my mind, I stopped crying.

Then last night I cried in my sleep.
Down right sobbed for Truman.
Talked about how much I miss him and long for him to 3 women who I have no idea who they are.
I woke up with a stuffy nose and a wet pillow.

This is the first time that I can remember crying in my sleep since the very beginning. Right after Truman died Jeff said I would sob loudly and call for him.

So I think even though I know that this is a hard time for us I still feel a level of detachment from heavy grief. I feel like I'm calm waters on the surface but just below the surface there is a lot going on.

27 weeks

I woke up this morning with grief. I am 27 weeks.
I laid in bed and thought about what 27 weeks meant to Truman and I.
I was emergency flown out of the county at 27 weeks with him.
I had already been pre-eclamptic for weeks.
Once Truman was born at almost 30 weeks, he was the size of a 27 weeker because of his growth restriction.

It kills me that that's all he got in life. Almost 30 weeks in my body and 4 days outside in a plastic box with needles and tubes down his throat and machines.
and the scientist in me is grateful because i know that he would not have made it that far without the medical advancements we have today.
It's just so heartbreaking.

As you know i'm not religious but will be the first to admit that anything is possible and i'm not the one with any answers.
Part of me wonders if Truman knows Remy on any level. Or knew him. Or will know him.
I think about these two boys, these two brothers and I am compounded with grief that they too will be separated, they too will not hear each other's laugh and play and fight and do things that brothers do together.
How do I even begin to help Remy understand any of it once he is able to.

Remy's kicks are very strong and they are the most comforting part of my day.
I hope that he lives a long and normal life and my intuition says that he probably will.
It makes the fact that Truman died even harder to believe.
How the hell did any of this even happen??
How is it that babies die? What is the point of that?
It's such a confusing and disorienting cycle of thoughts and feelings.
I miss my first son, my sweet little lion cub, who had so much courage and strength.
I'm missing all the places and times that are suppose to be filled with him and all of his wonderfulness. I feel the griefs largeness... it shook my foundation, rocked it, broke it up, filled in the cracks and now has settled into the very same foundation of who and what I am. Everything that I am and ever will be is built upon this foundation. It's the sky, it's the horizon, it's the sun and the clouds, it's my heart, it's the colors, it's everything.
and for Remy, I find myself grieving on his behalf. He will never know his older brother. and it breaks my heart that he will be coming into the world already missing someone that should be here.

Remy 25 weeks. With Truman.

A MUST listen radio podcast called "23 weeks 6 days".....
and don't forget to read the comment section (unreal!)

Had to share it with you guys.

I think many of us loss parents, TTC parents, preemie parents and NICU parents can majorly relate. I commend these parents for their bravery and articulation.... it's hard to describe our struggles as well and as clearly as they do!


http://www.radiolab.org/2013/apr/30/?utm_source=local&utm_media=treatment&utm_campaign=daMost&utm_content=damostviewed

Choices and Lying

As the days in my pregnancy move a long my belly keeps the questions coming from strangers.

Is this my first baby?

How old is my first?

These questions are not easy for me at all. In fact they torture me on a daily basis.

I have never been a liar, i have always been very honest until Truman died. Lying for this answer is necessary sometimes depending on the circumstances but it always makes me feel absolutely awful and filled with guilt.

Yesterday i learned my lesson. I will never lie about Truman again.

I was at work and a woman started asking me all about my pregnancy, like any other day and any other customer... this time I decided to lie. Next thing I know this woman is literally crying on my shoulder about her husband of 13 years that left her. Her first husband did the same thing. It turned into a straight up counseling session... one that made me feel like i needed therapy just from listening to her crazy.
Her pain is real. But she dumped it on me not knowing my truth and my truth might have helped her put some things into perspective.
I realized that i made things much much harder on myself by not being honest with her and protecting my and Remy's emotional space.

Towards the end i started to become less compassionate and more stand offish because she was really getting into way too much personal detail with a stranger... i resorted to shrugs and "yup, life has a way of doing that doesn't it?" after 20 mins in.
Then I started resenting her for being so devastated that some douche bag who tells her horrible things and does horrible things has left her and she is so pathetic about it all. She wants him back, etc. Who the hell I am to resent someone else for their struggles and pain?
I don't know but i definitely do it, i acknowledge that it's happening and try not to.
There is plenty of suffering going around in this world.
I guess maybe I just think there is a MAJOR difference between suffering that we choose and suffering that just happens to us.
You choose your husband.

I've read that many people believe that losing their child has made them more compassionate. In some ways it has for me.... like obviously i know what it means to be a mother to a sick child in the hospital where before i didn't.... and i know what it's like now to be both motherless and childless on Mother's Day.....
So i am more compassionate in some aspects due to new understanding and severity....
but i have lost compassion in other areas. Pain is pain and grief is grief and often when someone is in the thick of it it's hard to tell them that there is a difference in all of it.
But i know now that there is a difference because i have lived through many different kinds of grief myself and i do not have as much compassion for people who act flat out weak.
It sounds awful, but it's true.

The amount of effort it took just to open my eyes in the morning and continue to breathe... when my only goal of the day was to make the short but heavy walk to the mail box and back.... and to the bathroom and then back to bed. The grief was just so heavy and the fact that there are people out there walking around, freshly showered, with food and coffee in their stomachs, make up on, shopping around town and stop in somewhere to emotionally dump on anyone who has to listen to them?? It's really hard for me to be super compassionate to their pain.
I have never liked those people who just respond with "buck up, things will get better, just stay positive." But here I am emotionally exhausted... with the biggest case of compassion fatigue EVER, finding myself just wanting to shut people the hell up.
New territory for me.
When I am honest about Truman, it tends to shut people the hell up. Double edged sword.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many of you know that i am adopted.
I have always been SO grateful for this. I am very close with my family and i can't imagine my life any other way even though it hasn't been perfect- i wouldn't trade a thing.
One person that I have lost compassion for is my birth mother, "C".
She victimizes herself constantly and after Truman died she wrote to me saying "I know how you feel right now, I felt the same pain when I gave you up for adoption."
I didn't even continue to read the rest of the letter.
I wrote back explaining that anyone who ever says that to a mother who just held her child in her arms as he died and then had to leave the hospital without him can say that while typing a letter to their very alive offspring is absolutely clueless and it's inappropriate.

One involves choices, many choices.

The other doesn't involve many choices at all, if any.

On mother's day my biological grandmother (C's mom) echoed a statement like this on facebook. I obviously could not keep my mouth shut.

How can you explain to people who really think that they know what this kind of pain feels like?

Without having to bury a child? 

I basically explained that she made choices when she was younger. Then she gave me up for adoption.

Then she met me when i was 13 years old. 

and since then she'd had even more choices to make on how she would develop a relationship with me and she has had pictures and conversations, and moments and chances to be involved in my life and see how i am developing and you simply can not compare any of that to a a woman who has a dead child. 

because there is NONE of that for them, for us. There are no options at all for any of it. 

and they simply just do not understand any of it. good for them.

Because they are so radically Christian they believe that i will have all those chances again. It must be nice to know something so completely in your heart to the point where nothing about death really bothers you all that much. Those deep beliefs keep them from really thinking about how other people deal with life without their children here.

I am not close to my birth family because with all of the chances that I gave C to be a part of my life she made bad decisions over and over again. Given the chance to be a mother figure, she just acted crazy instead.

She has such deep seeded mental issues and spent years alienating me because she could not get a grip on reality and the now. She is stuck in the past on constantly puts her issues with giving me up onto me.... which is beyond frustrating.... because i seriously love the fact that i was put up for adoption. I would never want her as my mother, as mean as that sounds, it's the truth. 

I do think that it takes a special kind of crazy for someone to be able to carry their child for 9 months and then birth it and give it away... it may be loving and kind and i respect it but i also think it's insane. That is just my opinion though. It made it even more clear for me after being with Truman. I'm not saying that she didn't grieve or go through a lot... but there are just way too many differences to list to clump them into the same pain category. There is a huge difference between her loss and mine. To bad i'm the only one who sees it. 

When I hear her and her family put me and her into the same category i feel disrespected and misunderstood.

I really do not think they will ever really figure any of it out. 

Wow, I've been a bad bad blogger lately.
Sorry my friends. What it came down to was that i didn't have anything nice to say so I didn't say anything at all.
I was very depressed.
and with a rainbow baby on board that brought along a lot of guilt.
Especially since things are going very well.
I am 22 weeks, no sign of pre-eclampsia (knocking on wood) and my titers have been low.

I was diagnosed with placenta previa that we will be rechecking so i am hopeful that the placenta just moves where it's suppose to go. We will see.

But I am happy to report that my depression has lifted and I am finally really truly enjoying this pregnancy. Things are looking up and I hope that they continue to go in that direction.

I even tempted fate today and bought Remy his first baby clothes.
It was a pretty big deal.

The car seat is next and that is the big one for me....
for a lot of people the empty baby blanket or the empty crib or never worn baby shoes are a good symbolic visual of our pain.... the one that gets me the most is the empty car seat.
I wanted to bring Truman home in his car seat so badly and thought with every inch of me that I would someday... crushing. I hope I get to bring Remy home in his.

Second trimester with Remington so far:

Kicking like a mad man.... but he is unpredictable in his movements. (which is very different than Truman was-- it's crazy how different they are already!)

He loves seafood (in moderation of course) and anything peanut flavored including thai peanut sauces and peanut butter.

He does not like when i slouch and makes sure to remind me.

He loves the sun (just like his momma!).

~~~~~~~~~

I feel honored to be included on such an awesome project for our community! 
Stop by and see my guest post over at Still Standing Magazine.....

http://stillstandingmag.com/2013/05/motherless-childless-grateful-on-mothers-day/

With Due dates between the end of July and the beginning of October....I know 15 women so far within my circle of friends/ facebook friends who are pregnant. That's out of people who have told me... i'm sure there are more of them out there keeping it quiet.

and i just keep thinking 1in 4..... 1 in 4!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely heartbreaking. I wish the stupid statistic never existed.

--------------

I have been much more depressed this pregnancy then I was with Truman. With Truman i was literally in a constant state of bliss. Not so much now and i think it's my grief mixed with my hormones.
Everything is just so much harder. I feel like i need help but don't know how to ask for it or even if i could figure that part out, i don't know if i could actually allow someone to help me.
But our living situation as got to change. and I need help cooking and cleaning. and packing for the move. and i need help finding a nice place to live that isn't going to bankrupt us.
and i'm feeling really overwhelmed with it all. I feel like a failure of a mother, wife and pregnant woman because i am just not coping with daily stressors well at all these days.
It's times like this when i really wish that my family members lived near by or a close friend. But they don't. and i have been going it alone for so so so long now. I'm just so tired.


Still waiting on round two of titer test results.
It's taking so long this time it makes me feel like we had a big jump in the numbers or something so they wanted to do it twice or something. It's been 10 days of waiting. I just want my baby to be safe and those titer's to be LOW!!!!!
We went for the NT ultrasound and it appears that Truman will have a little brother! I'm only 14 weeks so i'm not going to run out and start buying stuff for him yet but i'm 98% sure that he is a he. So blog world....

Meet our 

Remington Crawford Clerc

"Remy"

how something bad ended up good

On tuesday i started bleeding, again.
I didn't panic.
not because it isn't terrifying but because i have relinquished control. or have been living in the realm of serious possibilities for so long now... that i am a little emotionally detached in some ways. maybe it's a defense mechanism. probably.
i left work, went to bed and by the next day it was gone.

last night the bleeding came back.
it was enough for me to stop and think, huh- twice in one week?
this is starting to seem like a placental issue.
so i called the doctor's line and got the on-call nurse.
and as you all know if you regularly read my posts... the call was pointless because they are inept here.
She was very sweet and meant well, but told me that i could just "relax" and "send positive vibes and love to the baby" or i could go to the hospital.
I pulled the phone away from my mouth and laughed when she said it in her overly caring and zened out tone.
If ONLY sending love to baby would save it. It would fix all of our problems.

Within an hour the blood had progressed to bright red and an amount enough to make me think yes, Houston we are having a problem. Placenta or miscarriage.

I am 12 weeks. 4 days.
Around this time with Truman i had a similar episode although it was different in small ways. I had a low lying placenta with him in the beginning too.

We got to ER which is perhaps the nicest building that i have ever stepped foot in all of Eureka. I felt like i was transported back to the real world... but that didn't last long. It's a friday night in Eureka in the ER... we were surrounded by paranoid drug addicts and mentally ill people. Why isn't someone video taping my entire life? Fiction can not compare. Luckily i triaged right in.

No one, not one of the 6 nurses that i repeated our story to, not the NP, i'm pretty sure not even the ER doctor knew what little c antibody was when they were asking about my blood type.
We were literally educating our care providers at the hospital, awesome.

They put in an IV line and started fluids.
Ran a urine and took some blood.

Our nurse was detached... not in a normal hospital way but in a "this is fun! everything you are saying is great news" type of way. Even though she was totally aware of our history.
She brought in the fetal doppler after proclaiming that she hasn't really used one and literally said "let's play!"
Jeff and I shot each other a look and took a deep breath. Let's not play, because this might be the most not-fun game you've ever wanted to play lady.
I don't think she really thought through how it might make parents feel if she couldn't find the heartbeat.

Of course, Ms. Fun&Games spent about 10 mins trying to find our baby's heartbeat with no luck. Just silence.
I think most people at this point would have flipped the fuck out.
But we didn't.
We recognized that this nurse, at no fault of her own, was ignorant and not capable of truly helping us on any level. and maybe we also just feel pretty defeated constantly since Truman died.
She left the room and Jeff and I waited patiently for the ultrasound tech.

Once the ultrasound tech got there we realize that she was Ms.RuleBook.
She told us that she would not give us a picture of the baby and that we were not allowed to take pictures of the screen. In my head i was thinking screw you lady but i knew that she was coming from somewhere with all these strict rules.
She told us that she can not answer any of our questions, that the doctor will have to do that.

The baby came up on the screen and at first wasn't moving and she wasn't picking up a heart beat.
That's when i started to think, okay this might really be it.
After i sort of let her know out loud that i wasn't seeing a heart rate reading she told me that she had picked one up in the 160's.
At that moment the relief i felt is indescribable.
The baby started moving around and Jeff and I were truly overcome with love and joy for the first time this entire pregnancy without any hesitation.
In that moment, we were together, the 4 of us and we were happy. Really happy.
The baby is SO beautiful and sweet and i really hope that i get more time with it.
It was just this really amazing moment where we were all in sync and realized, any of us could die in a min from now, a day from now, a week from now, whatever... and that will never not be the case. But we just held onto the moment and loved it so much for what it was. and it felt free. it felt strong. it felt amazing.

The tech picked up on our overwhelming joy and loosened up on her strict rules, she spent the next 15 mins just playing, looking at the baby from different angles and just letting us ENJOY the moment. It was by far the best sonogram that i have ever had done. Because it helped me emotionally and she didn't rush. We had time with the baby. and it finally made it real for us in ways that it just wasn't before.

At the end she quietly found it's little profile and printed a picture. She handed it to me and said "I'm not suppose to do this but i know i would have been driving home kicking myself for not just giving one to you. I know how hard it can be, I had fertility problems when trying for my daughter and then she almost died at birth. Just don't tell anyone that you got it from me."

The baby looks very much like Truman. Jeff thinks it looks like a girl. I have no idea.

The doctor came in later and said that i have a low lying placenta and that he doesn't know if that's the cause but if could be. Thanks for the help, bud. We have more first hand experience then this ER doctor so i just will pass the info on to UCSF. The bleeding has slowed but hasn't stopped.

But we walked in worried that we are miscarrying (for the second time this pregnancy) and walked out knowing that no matter what happens we had this beautiful moment that made our heart swell up with love and joy and those are the moments worth living for no matter what happens. I will never ever forget it. We love Truman's sibling, our sweet little rainbow. stay with us little one, please please please, stay with us.

what is it that i really want to say?

I want to speak up to my friends here. I just can't keep quiet any longer.
I am pregnant with baby #2. I am 11 weeks.

Valentine's Day is coming and i've decided that it will be the day that i will announce this baby.
What better day then the national holiday of celebrating love? and this is love at it's finest.

My children.
Still getting use to that.
"My two children."

I've been trying to figure out what it is that i actually want to say to the public of people who don't already know.

How can i possibly explain to them that this is both one of the best things that has ever happened to us but doesn't mean it's our happy ending? because we won't ever have a happy ending if Truman isn't with us no matter how much better things get.
That we are overwhelmed with gratitude and hope but still living with "little c" antibody and pre-eclampsia and prematurity threats?
How do i politely say that i want them to understand where we are coming from even though half of the time i don't even know where i am coming from? half of the time i am bitter as hell that so many of these people are completely and utterly clueless about how complex and far reaching a loss like this is?
How do i tell people who are willing good news from me that we have another obstacle to overcome that ups my chances of miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death without them perceiving me as pathetically hexed?
It's not that i really even care what they think but all of this is sort of ridiculous, i know that, i'm living it. It's fucked up.
How do i get them to understand that there is no amount of organic food or holistic healing and pH balancing or yoga poses that can change my outcomes? How can i make them understand that this isn't on me, that i shouldn't be blamed.
I illogically feel like maybe i am to blame.
maybe i was a horrible person in a past life. maybe i was a horrible person in this one.

What i am truly surprised about is the amount of guilt that this pregnancy has brought up in me. I feel racked with guilt 98% of the time.
and i'm just trying to make sense of this all and find a way of living with it.
because i'm not sure how its going to possibly go away.

I am lucky to have experienced many rainbow babies enter the world through this community and i have watched you all and read along and observed how you have handled it... of course all similar yet all very different in many ways. Either way it's helpful for my level of hope.
I've continued to blog through out this, just never posting my posts... i'll go back now and post them so you guys are in the loop. It's bee hard keeping this quiet when you are a support system to me.

Maybe I'll say something like this? (working this out as i type)

"Truman paved the way. He showed us what heart swelling, ground shaking, ear ringing, gut wrenching love really feels like... the love a parent has for their child. The purest form. We hold him in our heart and miss him every second of everyday.

Today we want to announce that Truman's sibling is on their way. I hold this little one in my body hoping with every inch of me that this works out.

We are grateful to be able to share this news with you but the worry is not over yet. Things have developed along the way... unfortunately things way out of our control, yet again.
Our road has been a long one and even though i tried to prepare in every way possible and even had a false diagnosis of anti-phospholipid syndrome and got the go ahead from the medical team to try to conceive, things have happened.
When i was in surgery with Truman, i lost a lot of blood and needed a transfusion in order to survive.
Out of all the blood that i could have received- my blood donor had an antibody in their blood called the "little c" antibody.
From what i understand this is not a common occurrence at all.
Out of all of the antibodies that we could have got "little c" is the possibly very aggressive one that attacks the baby's blood cells until the baby goes into heart failure if titer levels reach a certain point. I have no control whatsoever on the rise of these antibodies.
We found out at 8 weeks along in this pregnancy. Some of you may remember me asking for positive vibes then.... we will continue to need them.
We needed Jeff's antigens in his blood to test negative for this to not be a big deal.... it tested positive. Not the best news but luckily for now my titer levels are low and we want them to stay low(....forever because this will effect all pregnancies that i have from here on out.)
My blood will be tested every few weeks to monitor if the levels rise. This is very stressful. Not because we are worry-warts but because we merely want an alive and healthy child.
Every week is a gift. If things get worse they will start to do intrauterine blood transfusions to try to keep the baby alive.... to me, it sounds like an absolute nightmare/ horror story but i will do anything for this child. Obviously, these measures that will possibly help the baby also involve risk that could end up killing it.
No matter the titer results, this will always be a concern for us in this pregnancy and any other pregnancy... this will never go away and be nothing to worry about.
and we are sad that we had to let go of the thought of having an easier pregnancy then what we had with Truman.
It's just flat out bad luck.
I just want to point out that sometimes people have bad things happen to them and it doesn't make them a leech upon society or not a hard worker or a victim or someone who deserves bad things because they made bad decisions.... it's just life. and ANYONE is susceptible to these unfortunate things, no one is immune. Whether we deserve it or not, this is happening to us. No matter what people think about us and how we handle these stressors, we are the ones living with it and fighting, every single day since July 24, 2011 when my pre-eclampsia started with Truman.

This threat of the little c antibody along with the threat of pre-eclampsia, placental abruption, IUGR and pre-maturity returning means that we are not even close to out of the woods yet... we are taking this step by step and hoping for the best. Taking it moment by moment and dealing with the different feelings as they bubble up. Pregnancy after the loss of a child isn't easy no matter who you are and no matter what you are facing.

I am and have been in constant contact with the specialists at UCSF, the perinatologists that helped us with Truman, and they assured me that they have dealt with issues like mine in the past. I believe at this point i will need to move down to San Fran to be closer to them. The financial and emotional stressors are worth it if we get a healthy and happy baby out of it.

We are thankful for this child every single day that it is with us whether it's for one more day or the next 60 years. We are thankful for Barack Obama who made this child even an option. We are thankful for those of you who voted for Obama and support Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans- Obamacare. We are thankful to our friends and family who continue to walk this path with us no matter how happy, sad or complex it is.

I wish that this announcement was a typical one that didn't need a 5 page explanation but things are no longer like that in our world. The innocence of getting pregnant and thinking "everything will be fine if i do everything by the book because that's just the way the world works," is completely gone.... but our hope and gratitude isn't and i hope that means something. While we very much appreciate any well wishes and congratulations i do not want to hear "I know everything will work out just fine."
I heard it when i was sick with Truman and the facts are, no one knows how this will work out and I'd rather not pretend to know. We will deal with reality as it unfolds.
We have an added player in the mix with this antibody. Another odd to fight.... so unless you are a Perinatologist, I'd rather not hear what other people think is going to happen versus what is really happening. But we lovingly appreciate any positive vibes, prayers, or well wishes.
Right now things appear to be good and so we will hold on to that - the present moment. We are cautiously optimistic.

This child in no way replaces Truman. This is Truman's sibling, our second child, my second pregnancy. In the child-loss world, any child after the loss of a child is a called a "rainbow baby". The rainbow doesn't mean that the joys of having Truman and the pain/storm of losing him never happened or is "over" in any way. Our rainbow is joyous and hopeful light that we hope stays with us for a lifetime. I want people to understand completely that these are two different human beings and one does not negate the other.

We love Truman and this baby to the end of time, no matter the outcome.
:) and that's what life is all about- Family, Tru love, pursuing your dreams,  and taking risks so that maybe just maybe your dreams can come true."


.......Way too long winded. even baby announcements are complex/complicated!

How about: "I'm pregnant. more shitty stuff happened. you don't get it at all because you don't have a dead child and a body that is back stabbing bitch." ?