Well, we had two doc appointments this week. Tuesday, I went to the OB-GYN and Thursday we took Gabe to his 2-year check-up and here is the scoop:

I got another ultrasound of the new peanut. He has positioned himself precariously so it is hard to get a good picture of him, but none-the-less, it is so comforting to get any picture. He’s doing quite well, with a strong heart beat. I asked about the due date, because I forgot to ask at the last visit. The date of my last cycle says the due date is October 30th, however, the date by looking at the ultrasound says the due date is November 3rd. So, I’m going to go with 11/1/07, as the official due date on record. So, the good news is that the baby is doing well. The bad news is that my blood sugar is high. So, we are watching it closely and I started an oral medication today. I took the first pill this morning and my “after lunch” blood sugar was the lowest number since I started testing. It isn’t dangerously low, but it is well within the acceptable range…so I’m hopeful that I won’t have to do insulin again! I go back to the doc next week and look forward to providing him with wonderful reports on my blood sugar. We are at 9 weeks now and just a few more weeks and we are done with the 1st trimester. It really seems to be moving along quickly. With Gabriel, that 1st Trimester seemed to last forever. The long part of this one, is that once again, due to my history and early bleeding and cramping, the doc mandated that we abstain for the 1st Trimester. We had to abstain with Gabe too. It sucks…but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.

As for Gabe’s appointment, we found out that he is healthy and very big. We got there and they tried to tell us this was his 3-year check-up…Uhhh, no. Don’t rush it, he’s growing fast enough as it is. He is in the 97th percentile for both height and weight. He is just over 3 feet tall. I can’t believe it. Someone at work told me that if you measure your children’s height at age 2 and a half and double it, that will be their adult height. He thought it was a silly wive’s tale, but it worked on his 4 children…so, if that is true, Gabe is likely to be over 6 feet tall. I’m not too surprised, the men on my Dad’s side of the family are exceptionally tall…all over 6 feet. The men on my Mom’s side are fairly tall, probably all close to 6 feet. The catch, I think, is that Mike and his family are all average height or even a tad small, so I wasn’t sure how things would pan out for Gabe. It will be interesting to see if the wive’s tale works.

In other news, we are really struggling for a name. We’ve all ready got a girls name picked out from the first time around…we cannot seem to agree on a boys name. We’ve been through many of them! The kid just might end up being Gabriel v2.0 or something.

A productive weekend makes me happy! I spent several hours in our finished attic getting things cleaned up and reorganized. Since we will have a new member in the family, we needed to clean some things up to make room. We also need to get Gabey in his “big boy” bed. We have these adorable little built-in bunks in the attic, but the mattresses that came with the house were in bad shape, so we through them out a few years ago. So, we need to get a new twin mattress and a guard rail. Although really, the guard rail will just be there to keep him in bed. The bunks are only about a foot off the ground, so the fall wouldn’t hurt him. I’m kind of excited to move him into a new bed, although a little nervous too. The hardest part is going to be keeping him in bed. Any suggestions from seasoned pros are welcome.

I have a doctor’s appointment scheduled for tomorrow. I hope they do another ultrasound. The pictures always put my mind at ease, although really, I’m not too worried. Everything has pretty much felt the same as last time, with the exception of fatigue. I’m not nearly as fatigued as I was the first time around. I was exhausted the entire pregnancy with Gabriel. I had to take mid-day naps and could barely do anything in the evenings after I got home from work. I hope my energy level stays up. I really can’t afford too much downtime with Gabey occupying my evenings.

So, you’ve seen the picture of our new addition. Yes, I am pregnant. It is very early, only 7- weeks, but we decided to go ahead and share the news. The doctor is being cautious since I have a history of 1st trimester complications. So, keep us in your prayers. Both Mike and I feel pretty good about the pregnancy, but a few extra prayers never hurt anyone.

I really just want to say something here for all of those women out there that have been diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). I was just reading a pregnancy forum and so many women were asking the same question. “I’ve been diagnosed with PCOS. Can I still have children?” You know, when I was in my early 20’s, I saw a doc and inquired about my acne, overactive hair growth on my face and thinning hair on my head. The doc said that these were common symptoms of PCOS and she checked my hormone levels. They came back and confirmed that I had PCOS which basically caused my female hormones to be a tad low and testosterone to be high. In specific, it is caused by cysts on my ovaries. Even more specific, the cysts are cause by the release of eggs from my ovaries. Typically a woman releases one egg from one ovary or both ovaries monthly. My ovaries have a tendancy to release a cluster of eggs at one time, which get stuck and turn into cysts. So, there are a few issues with regard to child-bearing. I’m not spending my eggs correctly and will likely run out of them before the average woman. My female hormones are low…which can make a pregancy difficult to “stick”.

The interesting part of this story is that when I was first diagnosed, I was told I probably wouldn’t have children without drastic medical intervention OR fertility drugs. These are options that I didn’t feel comfortable with. There was a time when I felt the same thing that I read so many women writing on the pregnancy forums. I felt broken and incomplete. Then along came my miracle…my Gabriel.

The interesting thing here is that the doc did an ultrasound of my ovaries after Gabe was born. He basically said, my chances of concieving again were low and if I wanted to even consider it, I should have done it right away. Gabe was just a baby, though. The timing wasn’t right. I saw my ovaries in the ultrasound. The organ was a light grey color and the cysts were dark. I’ve got to tell you that I couldn’t see very much organ there at all. It was covered in cysts. After seeing it, I really didn’t doubt the doctor.

Yet here I am, pregnant with our 2nd child. We’ve been blessed with two miracles. So, if you happen to stumble across our blog, when you are googling PCOS…let me just tell you that the doctors don’t always know. It might take more time than the average person, it might take more effort, but I’m proof that it CAN happen and it CAN happen twice.