Moving Baby, Stomach Bugs, Hospitals and Gender Reveal

Now on to the pregnancy update for the month of May. I started feeling the baby kicking and moving on the outside on May 3 and Justin was able to feel it the very next day. At first I thought I was imagining it because it seemed so early, but when Justin felt it I knew it was real!

On Mother’s Day, we drove up to my grandmothers for lunch and had to stop by the Galleria on the way home. About the time we got there, I started feeling nauseous. It was very unusual because I hadn’t experienced any nausea for weeks now. Justin kept telling me I just ate too much, but I knew that wasn’t the case! We took Austin to ride the carousel and as soon as it started moving, I looked over at Justin and told him how sick I felt. By the time we got home, all I could do was lie on the couch and feel miserable.

Justin gave Austin his bath and put him down and finally about 9:30 I decided to just go to bed. It had not eased up any so I figured if I was asleep, at least I wouldn’t feel it. I had barely gotten into the bathroom before I started throwing up. Justin walked in to witness the tail end of it and when I finished, he said hopefully that would make me feel better. It did for the moment, but something was telling me that it wasn’t over. I got in bed, but couldn’t really sleep because of the way my stomach felt. About an hour later, I was back in the bathroom. At that point, it was obvious that I had been bitten by the stomach bug.

The night was miserable, as you can imagine, and I barely got any sleep. Justin stayed home with me the next day and I spent most of the day trying to keep down Gatorade in between bathroom visits, while also trying to catch up on sleep. I got out of bed late in the afternoon and decided to try to hang out on the couch for a while so I could at least see Austin. I hadn’t thrown up for a while so I was thinking that the worst part of it was over. I decided at about 5:00 to try some more Gatorade and a few crackers, but as soon as I ate them I started feeling sick again. By 6:30, the vomiting had returned.

I tried really hard to go to work the next day, but because I had not been able to keep anything down, my body was extremely weak. I decided it would be best to call my doctor and see if I needed to come in and get fluids. I had a stomach bug during week 21 with Austin (this was occurring during week 20) and I ended up in the ER getting fluids, potassium, etc. So I had a feeling that going into the hospital was in my future. Sure enough, the nurse said I needed to come in for an ultrasound and to be evaluated. The ultrasound kinda took me by surprise because I was two days away from my 20 week ultrasound where we would get to find out the sex. Now I was going to possibly find out sooner, while Justin was out of town! When I told him this, we agreed that if I found out the sex, I wouldn’t tell him so that he could be surprised two days later.

I went in and the doctor ordered the ultrasound and told me as soon as it was over, I needed to go to the perinatal unit to be admitted. Admitted?!?! I wasn’t expecting that. I got a good report at the ultrasound that everything was fine and the baby was doing great. I also found out the sex – another BOY!! And of course, I was able to keep that secret from Justin for approximately one hour! As exciting as it was to finally know what we were having and not have to guess any longer, it was revealed in a way that wasn’t so exciting. In a way, it kinda spoiled the whole reveal b/c Justin and I weren’t together, and I was so sick that it was hard to enjoy the moment without him there. My friend Marsha was with me, but it just wasn’t the same. Not to mention, I was pretty sure it was a boy anyways so it was more of a validation of my feelings than a big reveal/surprise. Not that I’m complaining – my baby boy is healthy and that is all that matters!

I went up to the perinatal unit and went immediately into a room. They started me on fluids and lab work pretty quickly. I was on my second bag of fluids when the doctor came in about 5:45. I was expecting to be discharged then and she made it seem that if I was still feeling okay, that I could try some chicken broth and if I kept it down I could go home. But at about 8:45 after giving another urine sample, I was given the bad news that I was most definitely spending the night. I was barely peeing, which was unusual after the fluids I had been given all day. My ketones were still extremely high, which prompted them to change my third bag of IV fluids from a saline based to a glucose based drip. I was given an Ambien to help me sleep and after a visit from Marsha late that evening with some toiletries, I went to sleep around midnight. I slept pretty solid considering I never had to get up to pee (which showed me how dehydrated I still was) and once I ate breakfast, I was discharged around 10am.

My 20 week ultrasound the next day was not quite as exciting as we had expected, only because the gender was no longer a secret. He is sitting extremely low, basically his head is right on top of my bladder, so we didn’t get any good profile shots like we did with Austin. Although he is so low, I won’t complain about it considering Austin never dropped! I hope and pray this baby boy stays right where he is because he is already in the perfect birthing position.

We also decided on a name – finally! Our girl name has been in the bag for a while now but the boy name was still a big debate. We let Austin help us pick between two names we both liked, and so our new baby boy will be named Sawyer Ryan! Ryan is Justin’s middle name, so Austin has a middle name from my side of the family and Sawyer has one from Justin’s. Hearing Austin say “Baby Sawyer” or “Brother Sawyer” melts my heart because it is the cutest thing ever. He loves to kiss my belly and says “I kiss Baby Sawyer!” and kisses right on my belly button. If you ask him what his little brothers name is, he says “Sawyer Baby”.

Towards the end of May, we were able to see my belly moving, which is one of the things I love the most about pregnancy. Feeling it is one thing, but feeling AND seeing is so amazing! Justin and I get such a kick (no pun intended) out of watching him go crazy in there! It’s hard to believe this pregnancy has gone so fast and that I’m already over halfway there. We will be meeting our little Sawyer Baby before we know it!!