Baby November

This Mother's Day is like no other I've experienced, because this year, I'm expecting! Yes! It is true! Let me back up a little and explain, because so far, I've kept my pregnancy quiet on my blog.

E and I decided to start trying last fall for a baby. It was a hard decision for us to start trying, I was excited and scared, E was mostly just scared. Both of us knew we wanted to be parents some day, but we love our life, and this is a huge huge huge change. (BIGGEST change you can make!)

We tried for a few months and had luck conceiving in February. I missed my period in early March, took a home pregnancy test and got a negative. I waited, somewhat patiently, and took another a week later. I wasn't expecting much. Since we started trying, I've taken dozens of pregnancy tests that I was sure were going to be positive, all with a negative result. Well the pregnancy test I took on March 16th was different, because there, unmistakably, was a second pink line! (Two lines means you're pregnant, one means you're not). I was so surprised, couldn't even understand what I was seeing. I hoped in the car and went straight to the doctor's office for a blood test. That was positive too, I was officially expecting!

The entire day I kept my mouth shut, I wanted to tell E in person that night. Plus, because, it really didn't seem real, I didn't have a problem. When E arrived home from work that night we talked on the couch like we always do. I tried to pay attention to what he was saying, but am not much of an actress. Finally E said "you seem distracted, what's up?" I just looked at him with surprised eyes and said nothing. I wanted to tell him in a romantic, exciting way, but this was obviously not going to plan. E then said "you got a job?" and I shook my head. "You got another interview?" again no. I could not stop thinking that this was just not how you tell your husband, I wanted it to be more, to be special, but here I was, failing. Finally he guessed "you are pregnant?" I nodded, started crying, and hugged him. He sat there in disbelief, I sat there crying in disbelief, and then we both laughed and I tried to tell him about how I found out. We are due in November.

That night we decided to go out and celebrate. We went to Market Street Grill and ordered a fantastic dinner. Our feelings kept wavering between shock, mild surprise, and excitement. I didn't "feel" pregnant yet, so it was hard believing it was real.

For the next month E and I decided to keep our secret under wraps, so many pregnancies are lost in the first few weeks. We wanted to wait all the way to 12 weeks to tell our families, which would have been nice timing, because 12 weeks along was Mother's Day (today!). After three weeks of keeping our secret we decided it would be fun to tell close family and friends. Easter seemed like the perfect day.

For months I've been planning on telling our families in a fun way - with one of my favorite toys - Playmobil! I bought three sets of Playmobil with a mother and baby way back in December, when I was convinced I was pregnant the first time. On each of the boxes I wrote "We're Expecting!" and wrapped the presents up. On Easter I nonchalantly handed them to family, saying that they "were just a fun little Easter present we found and thought you'd like." Everyone's reaction was the same: huge eyes, huge smiles, and lots of questions like "are you really?!" E and I had kept it a secret so well, nobody had a clue. Everyone was thrilled, excited and so surprised. Nobody had any idea. We also called some close friends on Easter to tell them. E was too nervous to tell Ben, so I decided to. I told Ben we had an announcement, and then said he was going to be an uncle. There was a huuuuggggeeee long drawn out pause (like 20 seconds!) and then he said "you're joking!" We are still laughing about his reaction, because he knew we were trying, and kept thinking we'd tell him something similar every time we talked to him previously. It was hilarious.

Here are the presents, all ready to go. One for my mom, one for my dad, and one for E's family.
All wrapped up. They look like Easter presents, don't they? Nobody suspected a thing.
E talking to Ben after I spilled the beans.
My Grandma was so thrilled. This will be her first great grandchild.
The past month has passed pretty uneventful. My symptoms have been fairly minor. I have a touch of morning sickness sometimes, but it is not a usual occurrence. I've had a few headaches and some nights with insomnia, but other than that, it is hard to believe I'm actually expecting. E's been wonderful, and said some of the most wonderful things. He says he loves me more than ever now, and can't believe how much he loves little Baby November too.

Finally, on Friday, we saw the doctor for the first time. E and I were both so nervous they would find something wrong. I had now reached the 12 week mark, so chances of having a miscarriage have gone down drastically. My doc spent lots of time with us, which was great. She talked to E and I for awhile about tests, classes, and such.

Then my doctor wanted to hear the baby's heartbeat. I was so excited and thrilled, what if she couldn't find anything? What if she found two heartbeats? When she was getting ready to put the doppler on my tummy she told me that sometimes the heatbeat is really hard to find, you'll hear only static for a long time, and not to worry. Then she placed the doppler on my tummy and we heard a strong heartbeat immediately! She said "or we'll hear it right away!" It was so wonderful to finally hear the heartbeat, for the first time my pregnancy felt real! E and I held hands, it was fantastic. She moved the doppler around a little and we either picked up the same heartbeat again or another one. She said she highly doubted it was twins, but asked if I'd like an ultrasound. I said yes!

I felt so lucky that she offered an ultrasound, usually she only gives them at 20 weeks. I don't think I could have waited two more months. She brought me into the ultrasound room and quickly we saw the baby (just one baby). We saw the little one moving his/her arms and kicking a little. It was awesome, finally we really knew this was real! There was a little baby in there! It is way too early to tell if it is a boy or girl, but it was fun to see what we did. We even saw the little fingers and toes. We are thrilled!

Look at that profile! Baby November already looks like a baby, not a tadpole. He/she has all their organs, and most are functioning. Little ears and a nose is already formed. But Baby November is only 2" tall.
He/she kept moving around, it was awesome to watch. In this image you can see their little hand in front of their face. You can even see the tiny fingers!
So, from here we have 8 more weeks to find out if its a boy or a girl. We'll find out in early July, around E's birthday, so that will be fun. In August we have our trip to Canada and Ben and Jo's wedding, and then I have Allison's wedding in October, where I'll be huge! Around Thanksgiving we will be adding another little person to our family, we can't wait.

Any guesses if it's a boy or girl? I'll add a poll to my blog (it is at the top of my blog on the right), please only vote once. So far my mom, E's mom, Joe, Taylor, and I are "feeling" boy. E, Kendra, and Chelsea are "feeling" girl.

Happy Mother's Day!