Baby #2!

It’s happening!!  Baby #2 is on his way and we are thrilled!!  I have looked forward to sharing this news with all of you since the moment we found out we are expecting so the last 8 weeks have dragged by for that reason alone.  The Rowley and Jorgensen homes have been filled with happiness and excitement over this news and we feel so blessed to be where we are.  **There is a long story and a ton of information leading up to where we are now so thankfully I wrote it all down as we went.  If you’re interested in any of it, I will soon be updating the “IVF Journal” tab and there will be a post coming soon that talks about the first 12 weeks of this pregnancy.  If you read both, you may notice some repeating information.**

It’s surreal to think we’re actually here.  Eli passed away just over 18 months ago and at that time it was hard to believe we would ever get to this point again.  After he died I knew that to have another baby we would have a ton of healing to do, a giant IVF process to somehow figure out, and of course feel the desire to have another baby.  It all seemed so daunting but we did it!  And it’s sweeter than I could have possibly imagined.  We haven’t finished healing and never will.  I wouldn’t want to.  The healing process will continue the rest of our lives but I’m okay with that.  We are at a good spot and our hearts are filled with happiness and peace.  Eli has never been closer to us and I know it’s because he’s as joyful about his little brother as we are.  We feel his presence often and cherish it more than anything. 

Going into all of this IVF business Logan and I had made the decision to not learn our embryos’ genders and to just wait and find out the traditional way.  However, as we sat in the waiting room on the day of our transfer, we started talking about this baby-to-be and decided we would like to know its gender.  We agreed to see how we felt when they took us back and if it felt right, we would ask them to tell us.  The experience of hearing the gender was very spiritual and a moment we will never forget.  When the doctor said: “It’s a boy” I totally lost it.  I’m not typically an emotional person in front of other people but I couldn’t control myself and the flood gates opened wide.  We weren’t hoping for a boy and would have been equally as thrilled with a girl, it just made everything so much more real knowing what this baby was.  A girl would have been just as perfect and caused the same reaction, I’m sure, but we also won’t deny that there is something special about having another son after losing Eli.  We couldn’t be more excited and you better believe I’ve already gone through all of Eli’s clothes and shoes and bought many more new ones!

Now for his name!  Austin Michael is what we’ve chosen and we love it more every day :) I’ve mentioned already that we decided on Eli’s name super quick so I was hoping it would be the same this time around.  Logan and I had discussed a couple boy names we both liked before we knew what we were having but when we learned it was a boy, both of those names left the picture for some reason.  I guess they just didn’t fit anymore.  I would think about names quite a bit but one day the name Austin popped into my head and I knew right away that needed to be his name.  Logan really liked it when I told him as well so we were both sold!  As for his middle name, we wanted to stick with a family name and Michael is my younger brother’s name.  We both really liked how Austin Michael sounds together so that sealed the deal!  I’m excited for baby Austin to share his name with such an awesome uncle :)

Medical technology--what a blessed thing!  We’re perfectly aware that the genetic testing performed on our embryos can’t rule out every single health concern but we did accomplish ruling out SCID and that brings us greater peace than you can possibly imagine.  People often tell us that we’ll probably be super protective parents after what we experienced with Eli but I honestly wonder if we’ll be the opposite and think that little Austin will be like Iron Man simply because he has an immune system.  Hopefully we can settle somewhere in the middle :)

Anticipating this baby has been an interesting experience.  In some ways I feel like a veteran mom and in others I feel like a total rookie.  I’m an expert at giving oral meds, changing dressings, and understanding medical jargon but I wonder if I’ll remember how to do normal baby things.  It doesn’t scare me at all like it probably did with Eli, but it definitely makes me wonder what this experience will be like.  What I’m sure Logan and I will be experts on is how to give this baby all the love in the world and in the end I know that’s all that matters.

Lastly, I wish we had the ability to express our gratitude to each one of you for your endless support.  Logan and I have been overwhelmed with the amount of love and support we have received since announcing this pregnancy yesterday. We hope and pray each one of you will feel of our love and gratitude for you. Having so many wonderful people around us is what makes this whole experience so sweet and we are more grateful for you than you’ll ever know.  If you’re curious about something, please feel free to ask.  We are happy to share our story and love having so many people to share it with!