Anticipation for warmer weather also brings anticipation for the arrival of Baby Holicky #2! The baby's official due date is June 24 :) (because of my history doctors goal is May, my goal is June!)
A little background info:
Kynzley has been asking (more so requesting!) for a sibling for the longest time! We are so excited to be making her wishes come true, but to get to this point has been a crazy roller-coaster of events. Because of a crazy reaction my body exudes during pregnancies doctors told us after Kynzley the possibility of having more children naturally was slim to none. At that time we were just happy that Kynzley and myself were alive, we took the advice and moved on with life. After almost two years we decided to meet with the head high risk doctor in our area to see what he thought of us getting pregnant on our own. He was hopeful and noted I would be watched over very closely. Okay! It didn't take us long to get pregnant after that meeting it also didn't take long for the swelling to start and BOOM - hives! They started on my neck and would work across my face. UGH!!!! We sadly lost the baby. Mentally and physically I was drained! Three pregnancies (one before Kynzley), all ending allergic reactions. We are blessed beyond blessed to have Kynzley here with us so why push it?! After much discussion we decided that Kynzley is defiantly a miracle and we would spend every day thanking God for our blessings and not pursue having more children. Holicky, family of three!
Well, after some time passed of course I got baby fever (Francis's baby fever never left!)! It was time to start looking down other avenues to expand our family. We decided to go with a surrogate! After a meeting with the fertility specialist we chose our surrogate and went though paper work. Welllll.... that paper work took me a LONG time to fill out. I just didn't have that 'Yes! This is the perfect choice to grow our family!' feeling. I had a lot of selfish moments. I wouldn't be feeling the baby move, I wouldn't be growing the baby belly, what about belly pictures!? I struggled too because the surrogate that we chose lived some distance away, doctor appointments would be super difficult to make. I "thought" about this decision for so long our surrogate decided to expand their family (we couldn't be happier for them!!!!!), it made my decision of 'this is not for us' a lot easier. We decided to once again be done and were happy with our family of three!
Haha, you guessed it!! Another round of baby fever! At this point Francis was ready to trade me in! The poor guy, who definitely wants more kids, keeps agreeing with me about no more and then I change my mind. Well, this time we decided on foster care with intent to adopt. We were accustomed as to what was involved since we went down this route right after we were married. We finished all our paper work, had all our interviews and were only a call away from bringing a child into our home and YUP you got it! We changed our minds! After our last meeting with our social worker we were hesitant with information that we were given and decided that we have too busy of lives to be as flexible as the county wanted us to be. So option one: pregnancy - OUT, option two: surrogacy - OUT and now option three: foster/adopt - OUT! We moved on in life, ignored the fact of trying other options and enjoyed our time as the family we have always been!
Then, this past spring friends of ours had a beautiful baby! Such an exciting time! Francis kept nagging "it gives you baby fever doesn't it?", "do you have baby fever yet?" and I kept replying "Nope!" Ha! Who was I kidding?! The baby was so cute, the relationship it had with it's sibling was amazing and Kynzley was obsessed!!! Guess what Francis??!!!?? At this point his reaction showed me he was ready to toss me out the window! I was definitely giving his emotions and patience a run for the money! We were really down to only one option - adoption. We agreed as to how we wanted the adoption to go and contacted our local adoption agency. At our meeting we were informed that we actually wouldn't be able to be picked by a birth mother until the beginning of 2014. The agency can only accept so many families per year to make placement more of a success. We would start the process in November 2013 (paper work and home study) and then as of January 1, 2014 we would be put in the data base. We felt positive and looked forward to talking with the social worker in November (this was currently August 2013). About two weeks after our meeting the social worker called and said they had a perfect fit and a spot for us and if we could pick up our paper work and get it filled out we could start right away instead of waiting! Awesome!!! Francis picked it up on the way home from work and we dug right in! Of course Francis would have to travel three weeks in a row for work at this time so his end of the paper work got very behind. We kept in touch with the social worker and patiently waiting for him to be able to finish his portions. Our paper work was pretty much complete and Francis had to head off on another business trip. What a perfect time to tell him I've changed my mind, right?! He didn't think so! I called him while he was away in the middle of a meeting. I don't tend to call him unless its an emergency when he's gone on business because I know how busy he can be. I felt like this was an emergency :) I called and he didn't answer and then he called me right back. He said "Hey, I'm in the middle of a meeting. Everything okay?", my reply "YOU"RE GOING TO HATE ME and more and likely be mad", he hesitated "okay?", "I don't want to go through the adoption anymore." He snapped back (very understandable) "Of course you don't!", "Let's just go ahead and get pregnant on our own and hope for the best." Silence! "Uhm, I'll call you after my meeting. I'm kind of confused. I'll talk to you later."
Obviously we had a great conversation and we got pregnant right away!
Yes a great feeling, but yet very nerve racking at the same time. The first trimester was spent hiding awful hives that covered my chest and back and dealing with the swelling that would come and go. When symptoms like this have appeared in the past it usually didn't take long to miscarry. To make sure we were on top of things (I cannot take any chances with my health because I need and want to be here for Kynzley) I called my high risk doctor early on. After the first high risk doctor said he didn't want to see me because I was 'too high risk' I was referred to the main high risk doctor. They saw me right away to make sure everything was all right! It was perfect!!!!
I am now over the first trimester and halfway done with my pregnancy! I get seen regularly and take lots and lots of tests to make sure they don't miss early signs of anything. So far the doctors and nurses have been wonderful! I will not go past my due date but I am hopeful that I make it close!
So, some positive updates:
-20 weeks 2 days
-Ultrasound was great! Baby looked perfect!
-Gender unknown! Went for the surprise with Kynzley and we decided to do the same this time :)
-Baby is active!
-Positioned just like Kynzley was - very LOW and snuggled right into my pelvis. Kynzley was born with a flat nose because of it. Can we go 2 for 2?!
-Kynzley loves the belly growth but has very small patience when having to wait for the arrival of 'her' baby
-No morning sickness or nausea, just hives and swelling. Don't know which would be better
-No specific cravings
-My goal is to make it to 37 + weeks (Kynz was 36 weeks), only push 12 minutes (Kynz was 13 minutes) and be able to get out of bed not long after labor (I was in a padded bed for three days after Kynzley's birth)
