The True Story of What Was

I want to try to blog more.  I want to remember this time in my life.  And look back on it and laugh at how very naive I was!  A friend of mine who is just about as far along her pregnancy as I am recently let me know that she enjoys reading the blog because it’s about the same things she’s thinking about right now, the same things that are going on with her.  I thought – I should blog more.  But who wants to read about what’s really going on with me – abdominal pressure, maternity jeans, upgrading my bra TWO sizes, stretch mark cream, bathroom issues, itching all over my yummy and everywhere else I am growing, my new body pillow, my anxiety about daycare and finances, what nursery furniture I am looking at, blah, blah, blah.  Ah well, I guess I can pick and choose the topics I think others might want to stay up on, and the things I might want to look back on, and leave out the gory details.  I can save the gory details for our personal catch up time.

A few weeks ago I looked at my first “corporate” day care.  It’s actually not, it’s not even a chain, but it is a large day care that has 2 infant rooms, a toddler room, 3 year old room, 4 year old room, and a kindergarten room.  It scared me.  I backed off for a few weeks.  But I’ve jumped back in. There was nothing wrong with it, it was just overwhelming. Last week I made probably 40 calls to home day cares.  Yesterday we looked at our first one.  This week we have 4 more daycare appointments – two with home day cares, and two with larger day care centers.  It’s such an important decision to make.  And it feels so very scary.

It’s a GIRL!  Based on our 20-week ultrasound, we’ll be adding yet another girl (all our pets are girls) to our household.  The doctor told us they wouldn’t tell us the gender unless they were 99% sure.  They make you drink FOUR glasses of water before the ultrasound, so that your bladder is full and your uterus is pushed out.  I almost peed myself before we even left the house, had a very uncomfortable car ride to the doctor, and almost cried in the waiting room.  Man, I am baby – how am I going to handle labor!?  After the ultrasound, we met with one of the doctors who told us that “she” is doing great, growing right on schedule, and that our screening tests came out great.  It was so funny to hear “it” or “the kid” referred to as “she.”  We have a name in mind, but feel strongly about not calling her by that name yet, in case we change our minds.  Also, we want to keep the name to ourselves, so I don’t want to slip up.

I’m still going nuts around the house.  If it’s not nailed down, I am ready to donate it to Goodwill.  My most frequently used phrases lately are, “we’re all making sacrifices here,” or “can I have this for the yard sale?” (we’re not having one, but I’ve been watching a lot of Clean house) as I throw out or donate other people’s things . . . the dog’s, the cat’s, Ryan’s.  It’s kind of a running joke – we need to make room for this baby, oops, for her.

Deep breath.  Ok.  I am going to do it.  I am going to post a belly picture.  And one where you can see my actual skin.  This picture was taken at 16 weeks and 5 days.

We had an ultrasound at 7 weeks at our first appointment because we wanted to make sure there was really a baby in there before we went home for Christmas and told everyone.  At 7 weeks, we could see the heartbeat on the ultrasound.  It was a white pulsing thing inside another blob, but unbelievable none-the-less.

At 11 weeks, we got to hear the heartbeat, but were told we wouldn’t have another look at him or her until about 20 weeks.

So, we opted to do an ultrasound combined with a blood test for the first trimester screening to get an extra peek at him or her.  It was amazing. You could actually see the profile.  You could see the fingers, the toes, the arms, the legs, the brain!

In the photos below, the baby is seen in profile, laying down on its back with its head to the left of the photo.  The last photo is of a hand, or so they said, but it could very well be a foot.

Our first real look at Fetus Ford in utero.

We have decided to find out the gender of the baby, and anticipate we’ll get our first chance to check for that at about 20 weeks, which will be in mid-March.  We’ll share the gender, but not the name.

Well, you may or may not have noticed that I have really been slacking on the blogging.  This is partly because I am lazy and partly because I haven’t yet wanted to blog about the biggest thing that’s going on in our lives.

Here we go . . .

As you can see above, I’m pregnant.  Here’s how it all went down, without the gory details (because my mom reads this blog – sometimes!)

May 5, 2009:

Ryan passes his big important oral exam and moves closer to completing his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA). On our car ride home we are both thinking about it, and much to my surprise Ryan speaks first. We decide to move forward with something we’ve been discussing for the last few months – having a child.

May 18, 2009:

We have a shot of rum after a long day at work, and on our way out the door to Black Eyed Sally’s for Fried Chicken, Pulled Pork, Collard Greens, Mashed Potatoes and Sweet Potato Fries we shake on the following deal (which I agree to only because I feel the odds are very low and I’ve had a drink or two):

If we have twins, a boy and a girl, I agree to name them Shannon and Seamus. Shannon I am fine with, Seamus seems way too hard for a poor child to learn to spell.

August 2009: We have our last hurrah in the form of a trip to Alaska!

November 22, 2009:

We’re planning to head to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving and I know there will be lots of beer drinking.  While out running errands, I grab a pack of 3 pregnancy tests.  I take one soon after arriving home, just before Ryan is about to step on stage for an orchestra gig, and about 4 hours before he’ll be home.  I assume it won’t be positive as the others have not been.  And low and behold, what do you know?  Positive.  It’s so hard, but I don’t call my mom.  I tell the dog of course, and the kitty.  I clean the house.  FINALLY, Ryan gets home and I tell him.  I take another to be sure, and then another the next morning.  Wow, this is really happening.