{"id":1083,"date":"2017-11-24T23:22:47","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T23:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/?p=1083"},"modified":"2017-11-24T23:25:23","modified_gmt":"2017-11-24T23:25:23","slug":"pregnancy-after-loss-weeks-14-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/24\/pregnancy-after-loss-weeks-14-20\/","title":{"rendered":"pregnancy after loss: weeks 14-20"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

14 weeks.\u00a0 What a milestone.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I remember thinking, “if I can just make it until 10 weeks… then 12… then 14… then 16… maybe this baby has a chance.”\u00a0 My new doctor’s office was nice enough to let me come in for a Doppler heart rate check every 2 weeks, with the understanding that if I needed to come in weekly or was just feeling anxious, all I had to do was call and come in.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

14 weeks: baby is the size of a “brilliant beet” or a My Little Pony.\u00a0 At 14 weeks and 5 days Tony and I set up our tripod in our backyard and rigged our cell phones and my Canon to it.\u00a0\u00a0We decided that instead of having a few close friends over to watch and document the reveal that we wanted it to just be the two of us.\u00a0 It ended up being perfect.\u00a0 Earlier that day I remember that numb feeling again.\u00a0 I was nervous to know- nervous to bond with this little babe, yet I craved knowing as much as I could about him or her.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We set off a test cannon first- full of streamers and confetti in all colors.\u00a0\u00a0 We were both surprised by the force and the height of these cannons.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I got incredibly nervous before we set off the reveal cannon.\u00a0\u00a0 We were thinking, and wanting a girl…. what if I saw blue confetti come shooting out?\u00a0 But that cannon went off… and our reactions were priceless.\u00a0 Baby Cunningham is a GIRL! #bringonthebows<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

15 weeks: babygirl is the size of an AVOCADO!\u00a0 If you know me… I’m obsessed with avocado and guacamole.\u00a0 This week was especially sweet to me.\u00a0 I began pinning things on a secret “babygirl” board that were pink and frilly and I truly had so much fun.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

16 weeks:\u00a0\u00a0babygirl is the size of a dill pickle.\u00a0 Doppler heart rate check: 160 beautiful beats per minute.\u00a0 She continues to have a fast resting heart rate just like her mama.\u00a0 This week I craved apples + peanut butter and sweet potatoes. 16 weeks + 6 days… I feel something super abrupt and fluttery in my lower abdomen.\u00a0 Was that baby?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

17 weeks:\u00a0 babygirl is the size of a “tangy pomegranate” and goes on another plane ride.\u00a0\u00a0Tony had travel plans to Boston and since I had\u00a0never been, I decided to join him.\u00a0 Was I nervous to fly? Yes.\u00a0 Did it go okay? Yes.\u00a0\u00a0 Back before getting pregnant for the third time I swore that I would never get on a plane while pregnant for fear of miscarriage, blood clots etc.\u00a0\u00a0 God laughed, because I found out in a foreign country and had no choice but to fly across the globe very early on in my pregnancy.\u00a0 And that was her 4th flight since we conceived.\u00a0\u00a0 I prayed that she could handle more air travel, and she did.\u00a0 Boston was super cool.\u00a0 I got to hang out with a bestie and her sweet 14 month old and do some sightseeing! I walked all over that city before posting up next to the Boston Harbor as I ate a cup of clam chowdah.\u00a0 Delish.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

October 15th- PAIL Wave of Light<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

October 15th was Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. \u00a0I participated in the “wave of light,” lighting a candle at 7pm with hopefully millions of others honoring PAIL. \u00a0As I got my photo of our clock and candle, I looked down and saw my protruding bump. \u00a0I thought of how so much had changed since my last “Wave of Light.” \u00a0Life is so fragile, so unpredictable, so devastating and so hopeful. I was thankful for this bump, and for the journey that lead me to share my story and embrace all aspects of it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

18 weeks:\u00a0 babygirl is the size of a sweet potato!!! (Dang… that’s actually getting pretty big!)\u00a0This is the week that I would have gone for another Doppler check had I stayed on my biweekly schedule, but I thought I’d give it a try to wait until our 20 week appointment.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t know that it was worth it.\u00a0 I nearly bought my own Doppler twice that week and felt anxious enough to google fetal movement at 18 weeks only to leave me feeling like I wasn’t feeling baby move enough.\u00a0 But some more googling made me happy that I felt anything at all.\u00a0 Highlight of this week?\u00a0 Ross Dress for Less maternity finds! Target is about the only semi-affordable place to buy maternity clothes in person, so when I stumbled upon the maternity section at a local Ross… let’s just say that I tried on almost everything.\u00a0 I ended up getting this cute Preggers tee as well as two pairs of full belly panel jeans, a pair of leggings\u00a0and some basic tees.\u00a0 I’m pretty happy with everything so far!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

19 weeks: babygirl is the size of a zucchini!\u00a0 This week was about prepping for my 20 week appointment.\u00a0\u00a0 I was so rushed to find an OB when I first moved that there was no “interviewing” of potential docs (does anyone even do that?) about their delivery styles etc.\u00a0 Being a NICU nurse, I am 100% against having a vacuum placed on my baby’s head to help pull them out at the very end.\u00a0 No way in the world.\u00a0 I’ve trained Tony that in the event of my passing out, if anyone comes near my kid with a vacuum that he is supposed to take them out.\u00a0 So I started to prep my list of questions.\u00a0\u00a0And then I got to thinking about the ultrasound, and was pretty freaked out about the amount of information that we would learn.\u00a0 Is baby growing as much as my belly?\u00a0 Is she growing proportionally?\u00a0 Is her anatomy normal?\u00a0 Is she actually moving?\u00a0 Where is my placenta located?\u00a0 All of these things would be answered at my next appointment! It was a thrilling and terrifying realization\u00a0at the same time.\u00a0 Highlight of this week? On my last night shift before my ultrasound appointment, I was sitting at a nurses’ station charting when I began to feel a series of little kicks on my right side. I stopped and put my hand over the kicks and just embraced the moment.\u00a0 Then, a stomach churning sensation as I can only imagine was babygirl doing a somersault and flipping over completely.\u00a0 I was ecstatic, and began to be super excited about our upcoming ultrasound.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

14 weeks.\u00a0 What a milestone.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I remember thinking, “if I can just make it until 10 weeks… then 12… then 14… then 16… maybe this baby has a chance.”\u00a0 My new doctor’s office was nice enough to let me come in for a Doppler heart rate check every 2 weeks, with the understanding that if I needed to come in weekly or was just feeling anxious, all I had to do was call and come in. 14 weeks: baby is the size of a “brilliant beet” or a My Little Pony.\u00a0 At 14 weeks and 5 days Tony and I set up our tripod in our backyard and rigged our cell phones and my Canon to it.\u00a0\u00a0We decided that instead of having a few close friends over to watch and document the reveal that we wanted it to just be the two of us.\u00a0 It ended up being perfect.\u00a0 Earlier that day I remember that numb feeling again.\u00a0 I was nervous to know- nervous to bond with this little babe, yet I craved knowing as much as I could about him or her.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We set off a test cannon first- full of streamers and confetti in all colors.\u00a0\u00a0 We were both surprised by the force and the height of these cannons.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I got incredibly nervous before we set off the reveal cannon.\u00a0\u00a0 We were thinking, and wanting a girl…. what if I saw blue confetti come shooting out?\u00a0 But that cannon went off… and our reactions were priceless.\u00a0 Baby Cunningham is a GIRL! #bringonthebows 15 weeks: babygirl is the size of an AVOCADO!\u00a0 If you know me… I’m obsessed with avocado and guacamole.\u00a0 This week was especially sweet to me.\u00a0 I began pinning things on a secret “babygirl” board that were pink and frilly and I truly had so much fun. 16 weeks:\u00a0\u00a0babygirl is the size of a dill pickle.\u00a0 Doppler heart rate check: 160 beautiful beats per minute.\u00a0 She continues to have a fast resting heart rate just like her mama.\u00a0 This week I craved apples + peanut butter and sweet potatoes. 16 weeks + 6 days… I feel something super abrupt and fluttery in my lower abdomen.\u00a0 Was that baby? 17 weeks:\u00a0 babygirl is the size of a “tangy pomegranate” and goes on another plane ride.\u00a0\u00a0Tony had travel plans to Boston and since I had\u00a0never been, I decided to join him.\u00a0 Was I nervous to fly? Yes.\u00a0 Did it go okay? Yes.\u00a0\u00a0 Back before getting pregnant for the third time I swore that I would never get on a plane while pregnant for fear of miscarriage, blood clots etc.\u00a0\u00a0 God laughed, because I found out in a foreign country and had no choice but to fly across the globe very early on in my pregnancy.\u00a0 And that was her 4th flight since we conceived.\u00a0\u00a0 I prayed that she could handle more air travel, and she did.\u00a0 Boston was super cool.\u00a0 I got to hang out with a bestie and her sweet 14 month old and do some sightseeing! I walked all over that city before posting up next to the Boston Harbor as I ate a cup of clam chowdah.\u00a0 Delish. October 15th- PAIL Wave of Light October 15th was Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. \u00a0I participated in the “wave of light,” lighting a candle at 7pm with hopefully millions of others honoring PAIL. \u00a0As I got my photo of our clock and candle, I looked down and saw my protruding bump. \u00a0I thought of how so much had changed since my last “Wave of Light.” \u00a0Life is so fragile, so unpredictable, so devastating and so hopeful. I was thankful for this bump, and for the journey that lead me to share my story and embrace all aspects of it. 18 weeks:\u00a0 babygirl is the size of a sweet potato!!! (Dang… that’s actually getting pretty big!)\u00a0This is the week that I would have gone for another Doppler check had I stayed on my biweekly schedule, but I thought I’d give it a try to wait until our 20 week appointment.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t know that it was worth it.\u00a0 I nearly bought my own Doppler twice that week and felt anxious enough to google fetal movement at 18 weeks only to leave me feeling like I wasn’t feeling baby move enough.\u00a0 But some more googling made me happy that I felt anything at all.\u00a0 Highlight of this week?\u00a0 Ross Dress for Less maternity finds! Target is about the only semi-affordable place to buy maternity clothes in person, so when I stumbled upon the maternity section at a local Ross… let’s just say that I tried on almost everything.\u00a0 I ended up getting this cute Preggers tee as well as two pairs of full belly panel jeans, a pair of leggings\u00a0and some basic tees.\u00a0 I’m pretty happy with everything so far! 19 weeks: babygirl is the size of a zucchini!\u00a0 This week was about prepping for my 20 week appointment.\u00a0\u00a0 I was so rushed to find an OB when I first moved that there was no “interviewing” of potential docs (does anyone even do that?) about their delivery styles etc.\u00a0 Being a NICU nurse, I am 100% against having a vacuum placed on my baby’s head to help pull them out at the very end.\u00a0 No way in the world.\u00a0 I’ve trained Tony that in the event of my passing out, if anyone comes near my kid with a vacuum that he is supposed to take them out.\u00a0 So I started to prep my list of questions.\u00a0\u00a0And then I got to thinking about the ultrasound, and was pretty freaked out about the amount of information that we would learn.\u00a0 Is baby growing as much as my belly?\u00a0 Is she growing proportionally?\u00a0 Is her anatomy normal?\u00a0 Is she actually moving?\u00a0 Where is my placenta located?\u00a0 All of these things would be answered at my next appointment! It was a thrilling and terrifying realization\u00a0at the same time.\u00a0 Highlight of this week? On my last night shift before my ultrasound appointment, I was sitting at a nurses’ station charting when I began to feel a series of little kicks on my right side. I stopped and put my hand over the kicks and just embraced the moment.\u00a0 Then, a stomach churning sensation as I can only imagine was babygirl doing a somersault and flipping over completely.\u00a0 I was ecstatic, and began to be super excited about our upcoming ultrasound.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journey-to-parenthood"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_6843.jpg?fit=750%2C1334&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8oEBX-ht","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1083"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1143,"href":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1083\/revisions\/1143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopemeetsjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}