A big sister!

For those who haven't heard yet, McKenzie is going to be a big sister! We recently found out that we are expecting a new baby! My due date is July 30, 2009. I had my first appointment with the perinatologist (high risk ob doctor) yesterday. It is still very early - I will only be 7 weeks tomorrow. This is a high risk pregnancy because of the pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome that I developed with McKenzie which caused me to have her so early. I also found out from blood tests after she was born that I have a blood clotting disorder (MTHFR) which may be involved in all of this too. The most frustrating thing is that there is no known cause for pre-eclampsia (which can lead to HELLP). The doctors will follow me closely and have me taking a prenatal vitamin, extra folic acid (folgard), baby aspirin, and calcium supplements to try to keep from getting pre-eclampsia, or at least to help keep from getting it so early in the pregnancy and as severe as last time. I know what signs to watch for this time, and like I said before, the doctors will watch me more closely, especially after I get to 18/20 weeks. At the doctor's yesterday, I saw the baby on the ultrasound. He/she was so tiny still though that you couldn't really make out anything except that you could see the 4 chambers of the heart beating. The heartbeat was around 150 which is very good for this early. We are very excited to be having another baby, and are praying for a healthy full term pregnancy! I will be expanding the blog to include info about the new baby too, and I am trying to think of a cute title for the blog (without including our last name). If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them! You can leave a comment after this post. Thanks!