With Child

We’re moving, so that must mean it’s time for me to be pregnant again! I had a positive pregnancy test two days before we left Texas to move up here to Connecticut, the first inkling that Grace was coming into our lives. We are really happy to announce that as we get ready to make the return trip, we are expecting our second child. Assuming all continues to go well, we will be a family of 4 right around Christmas.

I’ve had two OB appointments up here and things look good. The baby is the right size and has the right kind of heartbeat and all that. And there is just one baby in there, which is always a bit of a relief. The ultrasound at the first appointment was so amazing, just like with Grace. This tiny creature shaped sort of like a baby, sort of like a bean, appeared out of the fuzzy gray muddle on the screen. A little cluster of the pixels right in the baby’s chest flickered furiously as his or her tiny heart pumped away. It wasn’t quite as overwhelming as the first ultrasound with Grace, where I immediately burst into tears of awe and wonder at my first glimpse of her; as loathe as I am to admit it, I guess some things don’t have quite the same impact the second time around. Even if the novelty has worn off, it was still enormously wonderful to get a peek into the wee, insular world of our new son or daughter. And now I need to buckle down and find a new OB/GYN in Dallas...

I have not been coping with early pregnancy very well this time around. Nausea, joint pain, a few migraines, plenty of regular headaches, bone-deep exhaustion... I know I felt badly with Grace, but both Robert and I think it is worse this time around. It’s hard to know if it really is a harder pregnancy or if I am just in different life circumstances that have reduced my ability to cope well. I have a busy toddler now and can’t spend as much time catering to my own ailments. And although we were also in the midst of moving and renovating our house and transitioning to a new city at the beginning of my pregnancy with Grace, things feel less fun this around with spending 6 weeks in this temporary apartment. My memories of this place are going to be forever linked with the misery of early pregnancy as I have spent our weeks here gingerly attempting/avoiding eating and lying practically incapacitated on the bed. Fortunately, I am at the tail end of such distress. I think I am already starting to pull out of it and in another two weeks, I should be solidly out of such first trimester woes. Coincidentally, that corresponds with some of our first weeks in Texas. Texas-- move there and you will feel better!