We're Pregnant!

It worked!!! We‘re pregnant!!! We planned to announce it today and when I logged into Facebook this morning I had a “memory” from exactly two years ago, when we announced we were pregnant with Ellis. I had completely forgotten it was today. So we decided to re-create the announcement photo.

We are hopeful that this one will be our second baby—a rainbow sent by big brother, Ellis, down from the stars.

I’m so grateful to say that for the most part, I’ve continued to have such a peaceful feeling through this transfer cycle, the two week wait, and the last couple days of testing at home and waiting for our beta results.

On Tuesday morning I woke up at 5:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I took my at home pregnancy test and was honestly shocked to see two lines appear. I was excited but didn’t have a strong emotional reaction like I’d imagined.

We waited 24 hours for our scheduled beta blood test and then another five hours to hear back from the nurse, which was a grueling wait. She called and shared the excellent news that our beta HCG was 342 and we are definitely pregnant, which made me burst into tears while sitting in a booth at a restaurant with my mom. I needed that confirmation to really feel the emotions of it.

We are taking things day by day and are just so thrilled to have another Baby Bates on board.

My hope is that the painful memories of our past pregnancies will not evoke fear in us. As @shannonmpike shared in her recent Rainbow Baby Podcast episode, “Different pregnancy, different outcome.”

I know it’s very early to share—I’m just over four weeks pregnant—but I can’t imagine walking this journey without my tribe.

Thank you all for your love, encouragement, and support.