MY RAINBOW BABY BIRTH STORY

I can’t believe it’s been three months of Romi in our lives, and somehow that short time feels like forever. I was hoping to get her birth story on the blog pretty soon after the big event but I got lost in the baby bubble of cuteness so apologies for the absence on here!

So what have I been up to in the last few months? Well apart from spending hours staring at her sweet cheeks, chilling at home with my boob out and squeezing in a few pelvic floor exercises here and there, I’ve been mainly getting to know this little human of mine…and oh what a sweetheart she is. But more on that another time, for now let me catch you up on how it all went down with our rainbow baby. This ones a long one so maybe get yourself a cuppa and get comfortable…

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

** So this one is a bit of a special one, as it's the first post that Paul has written for Wild & Grizzly! It certainly has been a journey so it's nice to hear his side of this whole crazy pregnancy journey and his thoughts on choosing a baby girl name. **

What’s in a name? Well, it seems like quite a lot!

So here we are, nearing the end of pregnancy, about to welcome a new baby into the world, a new daughter, a new sister. It’s been a long journey. I’ve always wanted two children, I’m not sure why, but two seems right for us, though Lori would argue for three or four, or maybe even more. Though for those of you who read the blog know, to get to this stage, well, it hasn’t been easy. We’re incredibly lucky to be expecting at all, it’s crazy and wonderful and unbelievable and amazing…we’re incredibly lucky.

So what do you do with all of that luck, how do you turn that into a name? When we had our first child we just knew (well, Lori did) straight from the 20 week scan, the name was sorted, in place, it fitted, it was perfect and has been perfect ever since. We love our little free-spirited boy, he is wild like his mummy and sometimes grizzly like his daddy (though never as much, that would be impossible). So, we need another perfect name, out of all the names in the world, that shouldn’t be too hard, right?

DOES MY BUMP LOOK BIG IN THIS?

It's funny how many changes you go through when you're pregnant, and how much I'd forgotten it does! Especially when it seems so different this time round. I know with Felix I was lucky enough to scrape through the first 12 weeks with little sickness and my only real cravings were for meat (which is weird as I don't eat that much meat at all), and so the slow weight gain and strong stomach muscles meant I sported a tidy bump. In fact from behind you couldn't really tell I was pregnant even up to my due date.

A LITTLE PREGNANCY UPDATE!

So it turns out I haven't quite been keeping track of my pregnancy on here, or elsewhere for that matter! No weekly bump shot, no dear diary journal, no weekly Instagram updates. In fact I'm wondering if this little girl might look back and feel a little disappointed at the lack of evidence of her growing in my belly? 

WE HAVE SOME EXCITING NEWS!

Oh hey you lovely lot! Sorry it's been a bit slow to post on here and hopefully this will explain a lot of the radio silence, but if you haven't already seen our exciting news over on Instagram and Facebook, we are becoming a family of FOUR! Yes in January we are expecting our rainbow baby!

We have been blown away by all your wonderful messages, comments and kind wishes sent our way over on social media and just want to say a huge thank you for all the love you've shown us!

As some of you may know this has been an extremely long journey for us and we are already so so thankful to have such a beautiful, kind, sweet and loving son who is waaaay to cute for his own good. As I've only touched upon our story briefly on here, I thought this would be a good opportunity to document it all in one space and share my thoughts on it so far...  erm you might want to make a cuppa and get comfy ...

This pregnancy is a total miracle, a true Rainbow baby! After three miscarriages (four babies) and a full year of investigations by a fertility specialist, we were given the numbing results that we had less than 5% chance of having another child. My ovaries were shutting up shop also known as Premature Ovarian Failure. 

In all honestly I was traumatised after loosing our first pregnancy at 15 weeks to Parvovirus (also known as Slapped Cheek) and it took a long time for the fog to lift, so when we suffered our second miscarriage and then third miscarriage I felt broken. We were advised to try IVF as our only route and to make a decision quickly due to my faltering hormones. So we talked and talked and cried and talked some more before booking in the treatment. However we were advised that even using ICSI our odds were still way below 20% and at almost £7000 a go we knew we would only have one shot at growing our family.

Now let's rewind back to early May, after spending a weekend with all my family and being particularly agitated and somewhat obsessed with lemon meringue pie, my mam tentatively suggested I do a pregnancy test. Annoyed at the suggestion due to our treatment starting the next day, I eventually agreed as my mam was convinced something was amiss and imagine our shock to see those two pink lines staring up at us! It felt like a miracle, cue tears, laughter, fear and more tears.

Since then the NHS have been nothing short of amazing, due to the pregnancy being high risk we have had scans every two weeks, given all sorts of drugs to help support the pregnancy and they have been at the end of the phone for every anxious moment or worrysome pain. Our consultant said she wasn't sure how this had happened but was thrilled, our councellor cried at the news and for the first part of of the pregnancy I remained in full denial, terrified that each scan would bring bad news.

As the weeks have progressed, my tummy has blossomed and is now hard to hide! So I have finally come to the conclusion that this is actually happening and I'm trying to enjoy it inbetween the nasuea, headaches and extreme fatigue that are still plaguing me at 15 weeks.

We have opted to find out the sex of our new arrival so we have plenty of time to find a meaningful name and make sure F is comfortable and excited about becoming a big Brother. We are so thankful and excited for this little precious person growing and hopefully joining us Jan, until then we are trying to stay postive and enjoy this crazy ride!

Once again thanks so much for all your kind words and support and I just want to send love out to all those who are struggling in their own journey right now.

xx