The first time we laid eyes on you.(Kevin's Story Part 2)

On September 30, 2015, at nearly 12 weeks along, Scott and I went in for our first ultrasound.  We were both incredibly nervous but trying our best to stay positive.  Only a short time before I had gone in to have an early ultrasound for a previous pregnancy.  We had been told there was no heartbeat and our own hearts had been crushed.  We just knew that if we went in today and saw a heartbeat that everything would be fine.

I went back to the room and the doctor had me lay down on the table.  She put the cold gel on my belly and slid the ultrasound wand across my abdomen.  I had never been so nervous in my life and I think Scott was feeling the same.  The doctor quickly located the baby and there was the tiny flicker that was the heartbeat!  Scott and I both breathed sighs of relief!  Not only that but our little baby was squirming around on the screen as if showing off just for us.  In that moment all was right with the world.  The doctor wasn't able to print out pictures for us that day because the machine refused to work properly.  Normally we would have been disappointed but on that day we were so happy to have seen that little heartbeat on the screen that nothing was going to bring us down.  We walked out of the clinic that day on cloud 9.  After all the struggle and disappointment of the previous years we had our miracle baby.  It had happened all on it's own!

The doctor got me in again one week later on Oct 6th just so I could get photos printed out.  Everything looked great.  The baby was more active than the week before.  I even got to see my sweet little baby suck it's thumb for the first time.  The doctor handed me the little sheet of photos and I was so excited to get home and show them to Scott and the big boys.  I think seeing them was the first time it truly dawned on the boys that they were really going to have a new brother or sister. Now it was real.

I had been given a number to call to schedule an anatomy scan for 20 weeks.  When I called a few days later I was told there were no appointment available for that time frame and that they would call me back with the first available appointment.  I got the call later that day.  The first available slot was for December 17th-the due date for the baby we had previously lost.  On that day I would be nearly 22 weeks along.

The beginning.(Kevin's Story Part 1)

 After discovering Kevin's rare diagnosis I searched high and low for anyone who had gone through the same thing and had next to no luck.  As hard as this is to relive and continue to live I write this in hope that it will help just one other person and also as a sort of therapy for myself.  Although Kevin's life may be short I can't bear for his story to go untold.  I have chosen to start at the beginning and will continue to post updates as our story unfolds.

Scott and I discovered in the summer of 2015 that we were pregnant for the 5th time.  This news came just weeks after a very traumatic early miscarriage and we were both excited and scared to death about another pregnancy so soon.  We talked about it and decided not to share the news until we were past the 12 week mark.  A few weeks went by and in August of 2015, at about 10 weeks pregnant, I couldn't hold back the news any longer. I felt great and there were no signs of anything being awry in this pregnancy.  I was absolutely petrified at how I was going to care for 2 year old twins along with a new baby but none of that really mattered.  After battling secondary infertility to have the twins and a recent miscarriage, this baby felt like our own little miracle.  My excitement far outweighed my nerves and we decided to make the pregnancy public.

 I knew I wanted to find a special way to announce and after much deliberation came across the book What to Expect When Mommy's Having a Baby and instantly knew how I was going to go about it.  We recorded the moment we made the announcement to the kids and used this photo to share our news on Facebook.

 We were completely over the moon and still in shock that we would soon be the parents of 5 children!