Baby #2 : Second Trimester - Announcing our pregnancy and The Gender & Name Reveal

This post covers April 26th to July 21st

At the beginning of gestational week 15, we went to the fabulous Magical 4D Images. We did the same thing with Kaleb because I am the worst at waiting. I honestly don't know how people did it before, I feel like knowing my baby's gender and knowing their name helps me to bond with them before they're even here. We love 4D Images. Their equipment is always the best and I get to lay on the little bed and they have a TV on the wall in front of me so I don't have to crane my neck at the monitor. And Blake and Kaleb sit on a comfy couch next to me and watch a big screen TV. Its Awesome. AND its weeks earlier than when the doctor does the gender test.

So my grandmother had already predicted a girl (she also predicted when I was going to get pregnant) so we were thinking she was right. Well, Blake believed her, I was still unsure... I thought "maybe its a boy." I dont know, I think I wanted a girl, so I set myself up for the "plan B" scenario. I did the same thing with Kaleb. I always wanted a boy first so I kept saying "Its probably a girl."

But when I hopped on the table, and they gelled me up, there was no little boy business to be found.
They told Kaleb "You're having a baby sister!" he seemed unimpressed, but Blake and I were so happy! Granted, she kept crossing her legs and twisting and turing but they say 99% sure its a girl.



Well we went home and started telling all our family. Blake's sister was pregnant with a little girl too, so that was exciting. But in my family, our little one would be the first great-grandaughter and the first girl in something like 10 years. So everyone was very happy. (and thats not to say anyone would have been upset with a boy, we love boys, boys are awesome, but since we're having a girl this is how the story is going.) We also thought that, since we knew the gender and I was starting to show, it was time to tell the world (read: Facebook) as well. I had a whole mini movie and great project planned out as an announcement, but was still on the lazy/tired end of things so just ended up recording a quick announcement by Kaleb... which is posted earlier in the blog.

Anyway, after the gender was discovered our talk quickly turned to names. There was one name I loved since childhood, but when I married a Green I quickly dismissed it. We went back and forth and my forerunner was Penelope. When it seemed like Blake had finally conceded and that would be her name... It didn't feel right. I kept going back to that name I loved.
It was Rachel.
But my fear was that in naming our daughter Rachel with a last name of Green people would automatically think of ...

and even though we love the show and shes awesome in it, I was NOT naming my daughter after her.

But it kept bugging me. So I talked to Blake about it and he basically said "Lets name our daughter a name you love, and the few people that put together the character and the name will probably not think you named her AFTER the character, just that they happen to have the same name."

It made sense and was all I needed to be convinced. :D

So our daughter's name will be:

And we can't wait to hold her in our arms and welcome her in our lives!


... If she still is in fact a girl because then THIS happens...


Week 21 comes along and we go to our medical ultrasound. We figured an ultrasound is an ultrasound so we just choose the cheapest place... WRONG MOVE. This place we went to in Santa Ana was dirty (there was no actual dirt or anything it was just in a crummy building and gave off that dilapidated vibe) our technician seemed to barely speak english, and while my husband and son watched she told me
"ok, you see baby? You see that there? Thats the c*ck."
and I'm like... uh excuse me?
"It hard to see, but that look like a c*ck. Its a boy, ok?"
again I asked for clarification again and she kept spouting the c word about my little baby.
So Blake took a few pictures of what she insisted was a penis (in her own colorful way). I just said "ok", and after she threw a washrag on my belly and told me to clean myself up, we got out of there.

I immediately called Magical 4D Images and told them our medical ultrasound gave us a different gender result. They said I could come right in for another session (on the house, obviously) and they could double check for us.

Well when we got there and I recounted the other technician's bedside manner, and then showed them the picture of what the other place's crappy ultrasound machine picked up they said they didn't see male bits at all.

They lubed me up and took a gander on their brand spankin' new (I was the first client they used it on!) 4D machine and we looked for the gender....

No penis.

They said she was squirmy, but clearly a girl.

Thats good enough for me!

I am still a little nervous that she will come out a he (only because we have girl name and girl clothes, but we will OF COURSE love and be so happy with a boy too) but I'm pretty sure we're having a little lady. . . 90%.

Baby #2 - From TTC to Positive Test

(This post covers October 2013 - February 2014)
 Now that the cat's out of the bag, i thought I'd write a bit about the pregnancy journey so far.
Fair warning, I will be writing about trying to conceive, ovulation, periods and pregnancy tests... so if you don't want to read about it... Don't.

As soon as Kaleb turned 2, we knew we wanted to start trying to have another little one. Well, actually we had talked about it for some time before, but we kept going back and forth. Honestly, I thought I would want more babies right away, but after having Kaleb I realized I needed more time before starting down that baby road again.

But, just like with Kaleb, when the time finally felt right, it felt RIGHT! So we started trying in October of 2013. Now, with the first time we tried (with Kaleb) I got pregnant right off the bat. So, even though I kept saying "It can take 6 months to year to get pregnant." I DID NOT think it would take longer that one MAYBE  two trys - tops.

Well, figuring out my ovulation days via calendar, we tried in October. I got these bulk pregnancy test off of ebay (because oh my goodness they are so expensive in stores!).

They're a little ick at first because basically they're dip sticks. They came with a little cup for your dipping convenience... yeah. But they're basically the same things you get at your local pregnancy test store without the casing.

Anyway, They say you can test up to 5 days before your missed period, so of course, 5 days on the nose I take the test- negative. I then take a test EVERYDAY until the bitter flow of disappointment arrives.

We then try in November... on every ovulation day.

I again take the test for five days until its clear I'm not pregnant.

We debate about trying in December, because the baby's due date would be within days of Kaleb's birthday, but we both wanted to be pregnant so bad, we decide at the last minute to try this cycle anyway. But it didn't matter, because after 5 days of testing, I'm still not pregnant. (you would think I would stop testing early by now, but that didn't happen.)

So we try in January... We had just moved to our new home, EVERYTHING was chaos... I was still organizing still unpacking. Add that to the fact that I still wasn't pregnant and I was just a ball of stress.

We tried... and after the calendar said my cycle was over, I decide to take an ovulation test (that came with the pregnancy tests) just to be sure. I was skeptical because I read that they were notoriously inaccurate, but I was desperate.  The test said I was still ovulating, and I didn't really believe it...  I also didn't really do anything with the information.

We just continued on as a married couple, not the time-keeping-baby-making-Nazi I think turned into when I "knew" I was ovulating.

Well, February rolls around and its 5 days before my period, so I take the test - negative. The next day - negative. I'm just done. My hope is gone.

I know we only tried for four months and so many people try longer and have much MUCH greater struggles, but going from "pregnant on the first try" to five months and nothing, I was surprised and so sad.

It was February 9th, A Sunday and the day I was supposed to get the red devil in my belly (New Girl, 50 Shades of Day) But hadn't yet. Were at church and I didn't have any... lets say 'protection' with me in case I did start. So, knowing I would I rushed home and as I grabbed some, I had to push aside my pregnancy tests. I stopped for a moment... could I be pregnant?
No, no I had taken two tests already and I wasn't. I was resigned to not being pregnant for a while. Maybe I needed to lose more weight (my "fix" for everything, though I haven't really done it yet), maybe Kaleb would be older than 3 when we had another one, would that be so horrible?

Feeling defeated I went back to church and carried on with my day.

That evening, after dinner and as Kaleb was taking a bath, I realized I still hadn't started. So, with guarded hopes I took the test.

Kaleb was next to me in the bath as I stared at that VERY faded blue line.

I was shocked. I was happy, but I was shocked.

Emotion filled me. Filled me to the brim.

I still didn't totally trust it though. I had to take another test. An expensive one from the store. Maybe my whole batch was wrong.

My plan (for about 10 minutes) was to put Kaleb to bed, somehow convince Blake I needed to leave, confirm my pregnancy and if I was pregnant, tell him in some really cool way on Valentines day.

Well, we got Kaleb out of the bath and in to jammies. I got through story time and when we had family prayer, I just started crying.

Blake came over to me, asked "whats the matter?" and held me. I managed "Nothing! I think I'm pregnant. The test said maybe but I don't believe it."

He did. Right away he did. But I went to the store any was and took a "proper" test. One of those digital ones so I could be sure. No faded lines, just "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant".

We cried, and were so thankful.

We decided not to tell anyone for a while, to make sure everything was going to be OK.

(I called my cousin and grandma, but they kept it under wraps.)

Anyway, I'm now 18 weeks and want to write a WHOLE lot more about my second pregnancy experience so far, but this post is already crazy long, so I'll save it for later.

We are so thankful for our little one and cannot wait for these next few months to be over and to just hold her and have her become a part of our family.