The Beginning of a Blog

So, I've had a few people tell me that I should start blogging all these wonderful things in my life. So first off, a little bit about our family:

I'm Megan (22 years old).  I currently work at our local hospital as a registration clerk. 
Jason (30 years old) is my husband.  He works at Visions Auto Glass and repair.

We met in 2006 when I first started working for Jason at a local gas station here in town.  Wouldn't you know, the entire time I worked there we never said a word to each other.  Shortly after I had left to move back home after college, Jason always let me know how he wished he could find another reliable employee as myself.  We eventually started talking more on a daily basis that year.  I moved back to Fort Dodge in August of 2006 and moved in with Jason.  Hmm, it was interesting living with a guy for the first time- but we survived.  Jason took good care of me!

As the next couple years went on things seemed to be good.  We had our ups and down, but for the most part things were good.  On July 1st, 2008 Jason proposed to me while we were on a fishing adventure at Kennedy Park.  Well, let's just say that day of fishing was more like 5 minutes of fishing.  Honestly, what girl wants to fish after finding an engagement ring on the end of your fishing line.  NOT ME!  Since the new engagement had been more exciting than our fishing trip- we turned our boat back around and headed home.  Everyone was thrilled to hear our news. Although, my entire family had known about it for 3-4 months already and no one said a peep!!!

Things were going well for us.  Jason had a good job at Visions and I was currently working at our local Sears store full time.  Things were really looking good for us.  Everyone kept asking when we were planning to get married, but we kept putting it off.  Not because we didn't WANT to get married, more because I didn't WANT to plan a wedding!  It seemed like so much work.  We both knew that we would be together forever so.... instead of planning a wedding- we planned to have our first child.  In December 2008 and January 2009 we were pretty sure this is what we wanted. 

Lucky for us, conceiving wasn't hard to accomplish.  By March we were pregnant.  Jason and I were extremely excited!! All of our doctor appointments were going great.  We couldn't wait to get to that 20 week mark to find out what we were expecting.  It was an exciting day.  The ultrasound tech waited til the very end to tell us- IT'S A BOY!  Sure enough, we went home and started searching for names right away.  We couldn't find any that we really liked UNTIL we found the name Benjamin.  We stuck with the name and were excited to call our new baby Little Ben.  We slowly worked on the nursery (painting it 3 times before finding the right color).  Things were starting to pull together and we were getting very excited to meet our little man. Until..................

September 23rd..... was my scheduled day off of work and was also a scheduled day for a doctor's appointment at 1:30p.m.  I had worked late the Tuesday night before, so when I got out of bed I just layed on the couch until it was time to get ready for my appointment.  Jason had called to tell me he was sent out of town for work and wouldn't be able to make the appointment- no big deal, since he had been to all the other appointments with me.  AFTER getting to the doctor's office, I had noticed that our little man hadn't moved much that day.  I let Dr. O'Connor know this and he quickly started to search for a heartbeat.  After what seemed like hours, there was still no sign of a heartbeat.  So, it was off to the ultrasound tech to see what we could find.  Mind you, I am there alone..... when the Ultrasound tech confirms that our little man was no longer with us.   I was in so much shock, I couldn't even cry.  The doctor started to cry as we walked back to the exam room.  He explained I would have to be induced in two days and deliver our stillborn child.  He explained the procedure to me and off I was.  I called Jason while in the elevator heading down to my car.  He headed home right away.  So on September 25th, I was induced a 7:30 a.m. and from then on it was a waiting game.  I hadn't had much improvement all day.  Contractions didn't start until after 10p.m.  The contractions weren't horrible and were mainly in my back.  Jason attempted to get some sleep on the 'not so comfy' couch in the delivery room.  By 7:30 a.m. the next morning I decided I'd go ahead and receive the epidural to help ease the pain.  By 8:43 a.m. on September 26, 2009 our little angel had been born.  Benjamin Michael Hanna was born at 8:43 a.m. on September 26, 2009.  Not a day goes by that we don't think of him.

After all of this had happened, Jason and I decided what our plans would be for the next year.  Our first plan was to get married in fall of 2010.  So we searched the calendar for possible dates and decided on August 21, 2010.  After losing our first child, many people told us to wait to try to conceive again and that we should focus on our wedding for the next year.   We mostly agreed with everyone when they told us this, but deep down we had other plans.  Jason and I KNEW that we wanted another child.  We both felt ready to try again soon after losing Ben. Once we got the okay from our doctor, we began trying again.  We didn't tell anyone we were trying because we were afraid of what responses we may get.  So after a few months of trying and many tears later.... we had finally found out in March 2010 we were expecting again!!  We were so excited!!  We decided we'd still keep with our wedding date and not hold off any longer.  So on August, 21, 2010- we got married at St. Paul Lutheran church in Fort Dodge, IA.  The day went great!! Lots of family and friends were there to share our special day with us.

As for the pregnancy, everything has gone pretty good.  Doctors' appointments have been great.  We found out on June 30th that we were expecting another little BOY! At our 28 week appointment the doctor told us we would start being seen every week starting at 31 weeks to monitor our baby's heartbeat.  This is just a precautionary step due to our loss at 33 weeks last year with Ben.  For this pregnancy we bought a handheld fetal heart doppler so we could monitor our little one's heartbeat anytime things seemed suspicious.  I was a great investment and has saved me many trips to the local Emergency Room to get checked out.

Sunday August 29th, Jason and I started redecorating the nursery.  All it really "needed" was a new shade of paint and some rearranging of the furniture.  We ordered new bedding for the crib and it should be coming any day now.  The dresser is STUFFED with clothes!!  Almost everything else is ready for baby, just some minor things left.  We also started to redecorate our bedroom.  We ordered new carpet and also painted this room.  Our carpet should be in next week and then we can start moving things back into the room. As for now, we're sleeping on our mattress on our living room floor.  We attempted to sleep in our spare bedroom, BUT that didn't work out so well.  It's very hard for a 6' 5" husband and his pregnant wife to fit on a full size bed!! I will post pictures when the rooms are completed.

Well, this story turned out quite a bit longer than I had planned, but I thought you might like a little background on the Hanna Family before we begin this blogging journey.