Second time around

I haven't really written yet about being pregnant again, so I thought I'd dive in.  I think after Pip turned three I was ready to try again, but it took a while longer for all the elements to align to make it happen.  One thing that took us down the medical path was that Piper's donor was still available, but the sperm bank requires doctor supervision.  This threw me for a bit of a loop because although we had great success with IUIs, part of me still dislikes doctors.  But Shannon felt very strongly that if we could, we should use the same donor again, thus I started working with a RE in Brattleboro (about an hour away).  I had to choose between Albany or Brattleboro which is one of those realities of living outside of a city.   There were a couple of months to gather cycle data and meds this time.  It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't fun or anything.  My body likes to ovulate at night which makes both catching it on an OPK and timing the IUI a little more stressful, but we got pregnant on our second try.  (So clearly not that bad since both pregnancies have taken very few tries).  Working with an infertility doc (but only being infertile due to lesbianism) was a bit weird after we got pregnant because there were more hoops to jump through: blood tests 48 hours apart to check the HCG doubling rate & a very early ultrasound.  Again, not bad, just way more medically involved than I'd have preferred.

I'm 25 weeks, already showing and back to having to pee every few hours. My due date is May 21st.  I've got my glucose test in three weeks. We found out the sex at the 20 week ultrasound - a boy.  It is both exciting and terrifying to know so early.  I have more anxieties about raising a male than may be typical.  I think it's partly being a lesbian, partly societal and partly just not feeling super connected to many men in my life.  Pip was convinced she was getting a sister, but has come around to the idea of a little brother.  We've got a short list of names, but no obvious frontrunner.

We have started to try to get ready.  We went through all the baby stuff we saved & kept the gender neutral stuff.  We gave tons of girl baby stuff to Greg & Emily.  It actually turned into quite a swap because they gave us tons of baby boy stuff.  I think we are ok on baby clothes and this is before our parents have even bought anything.  Both families are thrilled by the way.  We are going to try to get a trip to Iowa in during my maternity leave.  I hope we can fly into the twin cities just because I miss it so.

I already got a little sad thinking about how this will be my last pregnancy (and it's only halfway done).  I also got sad realizing that I won't have a year off to be a full-time parent like I did for Pip during Shannon's internship.  Although it was hard at times, I will miss having time to do storytimes at libraries and to go to the park as much as I did.  Looking back, I can see how great that year was.