not to us

We didn't have an appointment for some unheard of Star Trek or Star Wars creature; we had our first pre-natal appointment for Baby Goodwin 2!! This morning, the Goodwin family headed over to Dr. Harrison's office to get this pregnancy officially started. We have an official due date, now! BG2 should be arriving sometime around November 21, 2008. That means I'm about eight and a half weeks pregnant.

We had mostly good news today. My body is growing the way it is supposed to be growing, and things are looking good. I got a lot of bloodwork and other tests taken, and we'll have the results of those sometime this week. Chances are that I'm slightly anemic again (like I was last pregnancy), but that is easily fixed with an iron supplement. We also learned that, because of my history of miscarriages, we'll be getting another ultrasound at our next appointment in a month. How exciting! Another chance to see our little one and make sure that s/he is doing alright.

We also got a little bit of not-so-good news. Most of you know that Ruby, our first daughter, was born six weeks premature and that her amniotic sac broke eight weeks early. These two conditions are called PROM (premature rupture of membranes) and Premature Labor. The PROM has a recurrence rate of 25%-50%, and the Premature Labor has a recurrence rate of 50%-75%. When I had Ruby, Dr. Harrison had said that I would have about a 25% chance of all of that happening again. Today, she said the chance is more likely to be at least 50%. I was very shocked. I asked her why her opinion had changed since Ruby's birth. She said that, due to my entire obstetric history, the fact that I had completely spontaneous PROM, and the fact that my body naturally went into labor so early, she felt I was probably on the higher end of the range.

I am a little sad to know that we're facing such a high probability, but I'm also thankful to know the facts. I had already decided that we would be totally ready for this one before 30 weeks this time, because I learned my lesson with Ruby. When I was admitted to the hospital for Ruby, we had exactly one umbrella stroller, one pacifier, two baby outfits (one boy and one girl), and a crib with no mattress. I don't want that to happen again. :) This is going to be a busy summer of preparation! :)

We'll be keeping BG2's information a secret, just like we did for Ruby, so you all have several months of guessing to look forward to! (I just ended my sentence with a preposition...sue me.) :) After our appointment next month, when we know everything is okay, I'll probably open up a pool like we did for Ruby. :)

We love you all, and we appreciate your continued prayers for a healthy, safe, pregnancy with a healthy little baby at the end of God's pre-ordained gestating time!

On an unrelated note, Kyle has been in Rio de Janeiro on a mission trip for the past week and a half. He was called to preach and do some outreach home visits. His updates have been infrequent, but things sound like they have gone well. He was supposed to fly out of Brazil this evening around 8:00, and he is expected to land in Indy around 2:15 tomorrow afternoon. Their trip *to* Rio de Janeiro was full of obstacles and delays. Please pray for a seamless, safe trip home. Ruby and I miss our lunch partner, and we can't wait to have him back! He'll be writing a report of his trip when he gets back, so I'll make sure to copy and post it here!