Pregnancy Highlights

We had to wait 3 months from the time of my miscarriage before we could start trying to get pregnant again. This was not only so that we could grieve, and not only so that my body could heal from the miscarriage, but because I had to have a rubella immunization. Rubella immunizations can cause birth defects which is why you can not have them when you are pregnant and they recommend waiting at least 3 months to help ensure that your next baby won't have birth defects. 

Had my first pregnancy been successful, I would have gotten the rubella shot after I delivered. Instead, I got it after my miscarriage. 

We started trying Christmas morning in 2009.

On January 24, 2010, I took a pregnancy test. It was positive. Three days later, Ben confessed to me that he had a feeling we were having a boy.

Because of my miscarriage, I had extremely bad anxiety over this pregnancy. My moods went up and down constantly. I went from being extremely excited one moment to crying and freaking out that this baby would die too, the next moment.

Over the next month, I had 3 instances of nausea. None of them resulted in vomiting. Thank God for that.

Two days before my first appointment, I had a breakdown. We were watching Criminal Minds, and it was the episode where JJ brings her baby boy into the BAU. If it would not have been for Ben, I would have been lost. 

On February 23rd, I determined that leftovers were no good. Over the next few months, I would keep trying, but I found leftovers were disgusting. I also determined that chicken breast, pork chops, steak...well, basically any meat that wasn't ground had to be eaten slowly in small bites or the texture made me gag.

February 24th, 2010 - Tears. Tears. More tears. What a wonderful birthday present for Ben. There was our little one on the ultrasound with a little flutter which marked his heart.

The following Saturday (February 27th), we told our families. First, we went over to my parents' house and gave them the news, showing them the ultrasound picture. They were super excited. That afternoon, Ben's family came over to celebrate his birthday. We took the framed ultrasound picture and placed it on the baker's rack to see if anyone would notice. Ben had admitted that he had told Kris about the pregnancy weeks before, so she offered to "find" the picture. I tried several times to get Jody to notice the picture. I asked her to get the house phone for me. I asked her to put it back. Finally, I had to say "Jody, can you look at my new picture and tell me what you think?". That finally did the trick. 

Ben's mom was all "I KNEW something was up!" :)

I still had sad moments, especially early on, even though we'd seen the heartbeat. To this day, I wholeheartedly believe that Caleb's older brother or sister is looking down on him and watching over him. He has the best guardian angel a little boy could ever ask for.