Baby Richins Due December 6, 2019!

You guys! I can finally shout it from the rooftops... WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!! We couldn't be more excited to meet this sweet baby and just feel so grateful that everything has been so smooth this time around. I will be 13 weeks on Friday and had an appointment today and baby is looking great with a heartbeat of 159! And s/he actually looks like a BABY now. I'm in love!

With Charlie, it was such a rollercoaster. I was still grieving the loss of our first baby and then BOOM I was pregnant again. I was really just so anxious and worried the entire pregnancy because losing my first baby really really really shook me. Plus it took 9 months to get Charlie, so it was just such an emotional journey. I recognize that 9 months really isn't that long, but for me it was. I had been ready to have a baby for YEARS prior to trying and was patiently waiting for Landon to be ready so 9 months really felt like an eternity.

With this baby, everything has just been straight forward and smooth. I found out I was pregnant on March 29th, like two days after we booked our trips to NYC and Hawaii. I honestly would NOT have booked the trips if I knew I was going to be pregnant already but obviously I didn't think it was going to be happening anytime soon. I was SHOCKED. And it's funny because I've always said I would never have a baby in December... well here we are! ;) Luckily the baby is due early December so I'll be having him/her the end of November. That's far enough from Christmas right?!

My test was so light because I always test so early but it was definitely there. I really was in shock!!

To surprise Landon, I put Charlie in his "Big Bro" shirt (by the way he threw a FIT that morning and did NOT want to wear the shirt). Charlie jumped into bed and Landon tickled him for a few minutes and was just clueless to the shirt. Finally I had to say, "Charlie, tell Dad about your new shirt!" It was really cute once he realized what was going on.

Obviously super thrilled haha!

When we told Charlie that there's a baby in Mom's tummy he lifted up his shirt to tell us there's a baby in his tummy too. It was sooo funny! He went on a date with Nini and Papa that morning and told them alllll about the baby in his tummy.. Oh my gosh we were DYING when they told us! Luckily I had a good cover up because I had actually just had a check up a few weeks prior with my OBGYN so I told them that I had explained to Charlie that we were going to see the doctor who took Charlie out of my belly and how he used to live in my tummy. Oh boy... :)

My doctor is so awesome and let me do blood tests to check my hCG (pregnancy hormone) levels to make sure it was doubling like it should. My hCG was definitely doubling fast and was much higher than averages that I was looking at online (it was 36k at 6 weeks and 112k at 7 weeks!) I was actually really worried that I might be having twins! But I guess I just have higher hCG than average which might explain why I get so sick.

My tests the day after my first positive. The lines were much more clear and then getting that positive digital is always so exciting! I will not tell you how many pregnancy tests I took over the next month....

It was soooo hard to keep it from family this time because last time we were in Oregon and I didn't have to see anyone... I'm just the least sneaky person in the world! On top of that, Daren (Landon's dad) was staying with us and I was like carrying Saltines around and running upstairs to puke. Good thing it wasn't a woman staying at our house because she definitely would have figured it out haha! Once we told Daren he was like... oh my gosh how did I not put that together?! :)

I started throwing up at like 5.5 weeks with this baby and with Charlie I didn't throw up until 8 weeks so I definitely think I'm more sick this time. Maybe I won't be sick the whole time this time though? Luckily I'm not sick the entire day and do okay during the day but man once 4pm hits I'm just miserable and mostly have to lay down and then throw up nightly. On top of being sick earlier, my belly has decided to poke out like right away? I look 18 weeks pregnant! I had to crop out my stomach out of so many pictures that I was posting because I just look very pregnant already. I know the baby isn't very big yet so it's just bloat or something? I have no idea what's going on!

At 6 weeks and 1 day, we went to Riverton Hospital for an ultrasound. I was just anxious and wanted to see a heart beat and we were able to see cute little Charlie at 6w1d and his heart was just beating away. Well, I guess this baby is shy because they could only see the yolk sac. I was honestly devastated and fearing the worst. I cried a lot. Landon was hopeful and we decided to announce a few days later to our families on Charlie's birthday. Everyone was so excited!

A week later, my sister Emma who is an OBGYN, did an ultrasound for us. It was so cute because the minute the baby was on the screen she yelled, "HEART BEAT!" It was such a relief to see our baby and that heart beating away! We were soooo relieved and happy!!! I really couldn't believe it.

Since then we've had two doctor appointments and have seen the baby two more times. I don't have any pics of those ones because the machine is so ancient and can't print pics but man, we love seeing our baby. Charlie is so cute and loves to see the baby too. He talks about the baby in his tummy and how he gets to hold the baby. He's going to be the cutest big brother and I really can't wait to see him with his sibling!

With Charlie, we did genetic testing and found out he was a boy at 11 weeks. But I have a different insurance plan now and the test isn't covered so I have to wait until 15/16 weeks and I'm DYING to know. Seriously dying. I honestly do not have a gender preference and will be happy either way but I just want to know! Emma will do an ultrasound for us, so hopefully the baby cooperates and we can know in the next 2-3 weeks. I feel like I'm having another boy but I guess we'll see!

The excitement this time feels a little different because I actually know what it feels like to meet your baby and how overwhelming that love is. So I feel like I'm more excited because I know exactly what I'm getting into and how amazing it is. On top of how excited I am to see Charlie hold his little sibling and how sweet they will be together! I can't believe we are going to have TWO kids!

I have a hard time to be motivated to do anything right now because of the sickness/exhaustion but I really want to do pregnancy updates like I did with Charlie. So hopefully I can stay on top of that. I have loved going back and reading my Charlie updates and comparing that pregnancy with this one. It's just really special to read back on old blog posts so I have to keep reminding myself how important it is and force myself to do it.

Anyway, we are all SO excited and can't wait to meet you Baby Richins! And we love you so much already!!