Big Heads and Big Surprises

J.R. had his 15 month doctor's appointment on September 22nd. He weighed a whole 26 pounds, which we knew, because one of J.R.'s favorite things to do is join me when I use the bathroom and pull out the bathroom scale and stand on it. So we'd been able to track his weight pretty well. He is a very tall child still, in the 95th percentile for his age, I think he was about 30-31 inches or so... I don't remember exactly. His weight is catching up, finally. But his doctor was worried about his head circumference. She said that it was still over the curve, in around the 105th to 110th percentile for his age. She said that if his body hadn't caught up to his head by the time he came in for his 18 month visit, she was going to refer us to a pediatric neurologist. It actually kinda threw me for a loop, because other than his lack of teeth and talking, he's pretty much right on track developmentally. But we'll see. I think he may be catching up, considering how fast he's growing now, into a third pair of shoes since his first birthday, and his 18 month clothes are fitting him well, some already too small. Hopefully, we won't have to put the poor kid through more tests.



I had a test done that day myself. I was late by over a week on my period, and I'd been super stressed. I figured that it was because of all the family stuff going on that was incredibly stressful. I thought that's also why I missed my period. But I figured I should at least have the test, so I would know for sure. So while I was already at the doctor's office with J.R., I asked if his doc would order me a blood test. I had an appointment with another doctor, but it wasn't for almost another month. She agreed to order it for me, and I went to the lab after we were done with J.R.'s checkup and shots. The lab tech told me that it would take about 24 hours for the results to come in. So I called the next afternoon. It was positive... I was PREGNANT!!! I'd had my suspicions already, so I'd mentally prepared myself. I'd mentioned the possibility to Bryan, so he at least had a heads up, and I wouldn't just come out of the blue with the news. He wouldn't have liked that. He still wasn't happy when I told him the news, but at least it wasn't a total shock.

It took us both some time to get used to the idea that we had another baby on the way. I was wavering between excited and terrified. I had a hard enough time handling J.R., how in the world was I going to handle him in the throes of terrible twos with a newborn baby to tend to as well? Bryan was worried about being able to afford another child, but I reminded him that newborns don't cost a whole lot, the biggest cost is diapers when I breastfeed. If it's a boy, we won't even need to buy clothes, since all of J.R.'s will be season appropriate when this baby grows into them. So once I assuaged that worry of his, he began to wonder if I could handle two kids, knowing how frustrated I get with J.R.. I couldn't do much about that one, except to tell him the same things I'd been telling myself: If God brings you to it, He'll bring you through it; I'll do it because I have to, and learn to cope. That didn't help much, at least not for him.

So we definitely got quite the surprise in the form of a positive pregnancy test. Here we go again!