
So we’re having a baby!!! Today I am 13 weeks, 4 days pregnant; the first day of my second trimester. I’m very happy. I thought I wanted Zoe to be our last because we had a boy and a girl, and pregnancy (regardless of what people say) is the worst. Pain, nausea, can’t eat, shooting pains everywhere, cut open at birth, less functional for a month recovering. You know, it’s just not the best. Lol. Anyway, when Zoe was 6 weeks old I was like, what was I thinking? Our babies are the best- let’s have another one! But Al was not on my page until recently. He was still like… nah. Lol.
Anyway, during the pandemic he was finally like… you know what, let’s have another baby. So here we are. We tried on and off last year- some months I changed my mind, and sometimes we tried. Lol. After like 5 times of trying, I was really worried that I couldn’t get pregnant. The type of radiation I had, proton radiation, was still relatively new. My oncologists told me that I could have an alternate one, but proton worked better; they just didn’t have as much information about it as the other option, which I think was photon radiation? Anyway, one of the oncologists I was working with told me that after I had radiation, I would be fertile for 5-10 years and then would likely stop producing eggs. It has been 8 years since I’ve had radiation, so I was just started to get really worried and sad.
I’m pretty sure infertility is not true about proton radiation unless it’s near the pelvic area, but again- they didn’t have all of the information available because it was a newer procedure. As it turns out, I was tracking my ovulation wrong. I didn’t realize that you could surge for multiple days, but after I realized that I got pregnant the next month. Whatever. At least we had fun along the way. Lol.
It takes the average women up to a year to get pregnant, but I just didn’t expect it to take more than a few months for me to get pregnant. With Alvin and Zoe and the three miscarriages, we didn’t try to get pregnant. We didn’t even want kids at the time; we just weren’t good at not getting pregnant. Lol. So I was like… Aye, where this baby at? Lol. It’s a lot more stressful when you’re actually trying, and when you’re worried about not being able to have kids because of cancer and because of age. But Al was/is always super supportive, and my besties were just a call away.
Anyway, bless the Lord, we are having a baby! Woot-woot. My pregnancies are always high-risk because of the brain cancer and brain surgeries, but now I’m double high-risk because I’m 35, which kind of sucks… But on the bright side, I get a bunch of ultrasounds and get to hear my baby’s heartbeat all the time. I didn’t know that wasn’t normal to have an ultrasound at every appointment until I found out my friends only had 2. Also, now that I’m 35, the gender blood test is covered. So I had a blood test last week and our friends are having a gender reveal thingy for us this weekend. I usually hate gender reveal parties, but we’re going all out for this last one. lol. It’s dope finding out the gender at 13 weeks vs. 16/18 weeks with Alvin and Zoe. Well, really vs. 20 weeks because the anatomy scans are ridiculously late in DC.
The results for down syndrome and trisomy and several other diseases came back, and praise God, our baby is in the clear. Apparently at 35+, you are more at risk to have a baby born with health problems, so I’m very grateful that our baby is in good health.
I’ve got Pinterest boards for the nursery and can’t wait to get it going, but we’re moving in September or October so can’t do anything for a while. We moved when we were 6 months pregnant with Alvin, and had more than enough time to get the place ready so I’m sure we’ll be fine. I just don’t like to wait. Lol.
Alvin and Zoe are so excited. Alvin is the best big brother ever. He’s so sweet all the time. Well, like 90% of the time. Maybe 85%. Lol. Anyway, he said he wants a brother but it doesn’t matter because he’ll love them either way. Zoe said she only wants a sister. That’s it. Lolol. I think we’re having a boy. When I was pregnant with Alvin, I was always mad for no reason. And with Zoe, I was always crying for no reason. With this baby, I keep finding myself angry and annoyed, then thinking… Quiana, nothing has happened. Stop. lol. And some other stuff, but mostly this pregnancy seems more like my pregnancy with Alvin than with Zoe. But we’ll all know soon!
Aye… pregnancy at 35 is not the same as pregnancy at 28. I wasn’t nauseous at all with Alvin and Zoe, didn’t have back pain, was certainly not this tired. But this baby is wreaking havoc on my body and I’m only 13 weeks and 4 days. lol. For like a whole week I wanted to cry every time I stood up. I have never had lower back pain like that in my life- well, one time last year when I pulled a muscle running. Gosh… getting old is gonna be fun. lol. The nausea has gone away and my back is mostly fine. Maybe a week or two ago, I could start eating again. Up until then, everything sounded so disgusting and the thought of eating made me want to vomit. Now I’m mostly just wanting waffles and French toast, which I never eat otherwise. Well, not waffles- I’m always down for chicken and waffles, but French toast is entirely too sweet. I’m not Paleo or anything while I’m pregnant. Al wants me to eat a variety of things for the baby, so I’m just eating whatever. I mean, not much currently; most things still sound gross. But at least I don’t want to vomit. lol.
Not much else has been happening. The kids are almost done with school. We’ll probably go on one vacation this summer. I wanted to take them to LEGO New York for Christmas and Sesame Place in PA this summer, but now I can’t get on rides with them *rolls eyes.* I’m pretty sure that next year we’ll take them to Disney. The goal was to wait until they were old enough to remember the experience to go to Disney, because we’re not spending thousands of dollars for something when they’re two and they only remember through pictures. But now we’re having another baby. And we’re not making them wait until this baby is 5 or 6. Lol. So that’ll be fun.
Well, I’ve run out of things to say. Gonna drink my latte from Whole Foods and watch The Morning Show. Later gators!