Happy News: We’re Expecting A Rainbow Baby Girl

Trigger warning.

You might have seen my happy news on social media already but being a blogger first and foremost, I had to share that I’m 14 1/2 weeks pregnant with a rainbow baby girl, here too.

We are all over the moon with the news and so very grateful for the rainbow after the storm.

I suffered a heartbreaking missed miscarriage late last year which I hope to write about in more detail one day which was made ever more devastating due to the pandemic.

To be brief, a scan at 7 1/2 weeks showed my baby’s heartbeat beating but a few weeks later, it had stopped. Due to the Covid crisis, I was alone at the scan when I discovered this, and while my family and friends rallied around me, what followed was immense physical and mental pain as well as a procedure.

The care I received at the hands of the NHS during this period was beyond exemplary as everyone from the nurses to the female surgeons I came into contact with, went above and beyond to support me in every way. Ditto post-surgery, my husband, parents, close friends and therapist were able to pick up where the medical team had left off, carefully piecing me back together.

I feel lucky that I fell pregnant soon after this deep sadness, although this has understandbly brought great anxiety with it. Again, the NHS Early Pregnancy Unit which supported me through my miscarriage kindly saw me for several scans in the early months to ease my worries.

Once I reached almost 12 weeks, I paid for a private scan with an NIPT test, often known as a Harmony Test which provides you with the risk of your baby’s potential chromosonal conditions, and as they test the chromosome, they can reveal the sex if you wish to know too. This accurate test can be done from 10 weeks.

I personally wanted a surprise when it came to finding out the baby’s sex as I have never experienced a reveal at birth but the rest of my family didn’t so as it was 3 against 1, I buckled.

I had a feeling the baby was a girl because my symptons varied hugely from my pregnancies with the boys and I also paid for a prediction based on the ultrasound from Baby Gender Pros who boast a 97% accuracy rate (they also predicted that my angel baby was a girl too). You can submit scans from as early as 6 weeks and their theories are based on the Ramzi, Skull and Nub theories.

Below is the prediction which was later backed up by the accurate medical NIPT test.

(This prediction was proved correct by a private medical NIPT/ Harmony test a few weeks later which tests the baby’s chromosomes via a blood test and can reveal the sex accurately from 10 weeks).

Oliver and Xander had been praying for a baby girl (Oliver jumped for joy when he find out and Xander cried happy tears twice) and while I was overjoyed to be having a girl, I never wanted my boys to be girls and all of our priority is for a healthy baby.

I think we might need to brace ourselves for this little lady, as she’s been dancing around in every recent scan and even flipped over in the NHS one we had a few weeks ago. I think she might be taking after me already!

I was always the wild child growing up and my brother was the calm, quieter one so I definitely believe character and behavious has very little to do with sex. Especially as my boys are so mature and gentle.

So, here I am, a little anxious still, which I assume will continue until the birth but I’m finally able to breathe a little more easily now. I’ve had relentless nausea since 6 weeks although unlike my pregnancy with Oliver, no vomiting thankfully. That discomfort is subsiding though and my energy has picked up making me feel brighter too. Socialising with friends and family again has been such a joy. This pandemic hit period has felt so isolating and I’m a girl who needs her girlfriends!

I want to say a huge tthank you all for the outpouring of love on social media about our happy news, I never expected to receive the thousands of comments and messages I have. I’ve read every single one and feel touched by your support and shared joy for us. Thank you too to so many of you who have bravely shared your own stories of heartbreak, and rainbow babies respectively. I hope my own experience might offer some hope to others who’ve suffered baby loss too.

Much love, Vicki and family x