The results are in!

Last week, we went for our first trimester screening. It was quite a process- starting with the water. You must have a full bladder to get a full trans abdominal ultrasound. It's a good thing our appointment was in the morning because I could not have handled that mid-afternoon. The staff was quite efficient considering they had a room full of women who had to desperately use the bathroom.

First we saw a genetic counselor. There wasn't much to talk about because no one in my husband's family or my family has any congenital abnormalities (that we know of). My husband and I are also of different races so the chance of having a child with genetic abnormalities are greatly reduced. After speaking with her she sent us back out into the waiting room. Then we were called in by the ultrasound tech. She was very nice, however the baby was sleeping face down in my tummy so for a few minutes I considered shouting obscenities at her as she pushed and moved the wand around on my very full bladder for what seemed like an eternity. Finally the baby turned! She was able to get excellent pictures of the back of the neck where they take the NT measurement. If my memory serves me correctly, I think the number was about 1.25... I think. She got really good shots of everything she needed- the top of the head, the rump, all that jazz. The best for us was the profile shots- I think it's the most recognizable for untrained technicians. The baby even looked like it waved at us. She gave us those pics in sequence- arm at side, arm midway in air, arm fully extended!

Then we had to wait for the doctor to review the pics. I considered having my husband go fetch him because I was sure my bladder was going to explode. The hubby was sitting next to a door that I made him check to see if it was a bathroom. Negative. Finally the doc walks in, announces everything looks good, prints us out a few 3D pictures, and then leaves. The ultrasound tech handed my a towel to clean up my belly, then I beelined to the bathroom, thank goodness there wasn't anyone else in there. However, when I came out there were about 3 other women waiting. Then back to the waiting room :( The constant back and forth between exam room and waiting room was a real pain, but I'm sure it's what works for them. Next was a finger stick. I can take a blood draw but that finger prick made my finger hurt til the next day. After she pricked she had to squeeze out blood for 5 different sample drops. Painful. I have a new found respect for diabetics. Then back out tot he waiting room (I told you it was annoying). Then we able to schedule to the 20 week scan and finally we released.

I got the phone call this morning that everything came back good good and they will see us at 20 weeks. This is a huge relief from our incident about 3 weeks ago. More about that later. I am just very happy that we are progressing well and I look forward to our 16 week appointment. Here is one of the 3D pictures of our face down bundle of joy!

The Mrs.

I'm in love 1/26/11

January 26, 2011.

We saw our baby for the first time today!!!!!


My doctor was amazing. She sat down and talked to us about what she was going to do, what to expect, and what she expects from us. We did a medical history and the regular gynecological exam then she said those magical words... "I'm going to get the ultrasound machine!" I could not hold in my smiles. I had a trans vaginal which was a little weird for me, mainly because on TV all you see in trans abdominal. We saw our blueberry right away and it's heartbeat just flickering away! I'm surprised I didn't cry. This is even more real to me now. I took HPTs every week just to make sure I got two pink lines or 'pregnant' on the digital, but actually seeing the black and white snowy image just sealed the deal. When we got in the car, we called our parents right away, they were all squeals of course.

The baby's measurement gave me a due date one date before my projected calculations: 9/8/11.
I am so excited!!! She gave us two pictures :) I feel like staring at them. I immediately went for my blood draw and while hubby was waiting for me, he was staring at them too :)

We went to work after, but once we got home, I scanned the pics and emailed them to our parents and siblings. So far here are the nicknames the baby received: Fuzzy, Snowflake, Weather map.

This was definitely an exciting experience for us. I can't wait to see the baby again.

Telling the 'Rents (part 2)

Well we most certainly cannot share the good news with my parents without telling the hubby's family!

I believe my hubby first called his mom to make sure she was home. Once she answered we made up a bogus story about how we were coming back from an outet shopping mall and since we were near her highway exit we wanted to stop by. To make it even more believable we told her that we something we knew she would love and we wanted to drop it off! She bought it :)

While we were at Target picking up the "baby gifts" for my parents, we got a picture frame that holds two pictures and had the word "grandkids" imprinted on it. This was perfect because my mother-in-law has a grandson from her older daughter. The plan was to put a picture of her grandson at the top and a sign that says "coming in 2011" at the bottom. Of course when I got home I could not find a single picture of our nephew. I know we have one but we had just moved a month ago and not everything was easy to find. We had a picture of him hanging on the dining roon wall- however it was too big for the 5x7 picture slot on the frame. So we forfeited the nephew pic and just wrote the words in the bottom picture slot.

When we arrived at her home, we of course started talking about family members and current events. I have no idea how I did not just blurt it out. So eventually she asked us how our trip to the mall was. "O! that's right! we got this for you" was our response. When she opened it, she got it right away :) She was thrilled! We were all hugs and kisses. I think, mission accomplished...again!

In my last post I failed to mention how we also told my brother when we told my parents. My brother is quite a character and usually elicits some type of awesome response. Problem was, Target had nothing...absolutely nothing... that said Uncle on it :( so we ended up putting a target baby gift card in a gift bag along with hubby's #1 Uncle magnet from his nephew. He was in shock and happy for us- but he had such a rough day and it was late at night, that he held his happy dance until some other time.

Hubby's sister is a very emotional person, not unlike myself. We couldn't tell her in person and did not want her to be left out of the good news. So I called her on speaker phone to tell her she needed a new name. "What?!" was her response. I told her I think Aunty would be better suited. She immediately started crying. Actually for a second I thought we lost her on the phone somehow. But she and her tears of joy was still on the phone.

We are so excited that our families were able to share in our excitement with us. No matter our joys or sorrows we know that these 5 people will always be there for us and we can count on them for support. Now that THEY know it's time to put a lid on it... these are going to be a long two months of secret keeping :)

Telling the 'Rents (Part 1)

Keeping secrets is not really my strong suit. Apart from a surprise party, if you do not want anyone else to know- do NOT tell me. I never intentionally spill the beans, it always comes out... accidentally. I can't hold a secret, even if it had handles -so it's best to just leave me out of it. This is how we arrive at telling my parents.

I see my parents pretty often- usually about two to three times a week. They have been anxiously awaiting news of their pending grandchild since my hubby and I returned from our honeymoon and any chance they get they will make a reference to "when they have grandchildren". I must admit in recent months it was becoming a little annoying since we were trying and not getting a BFP every cycle. My dad even had the nerve to say "everyone can get a grandchild except me" as if all we had to do was run to the nearest mall and pick up our little bundle of joy. He will never admit it and will always disguise it as "I was just joking" but he was dead serious! I was a couple of weeks away from sitting the two of them down and letting them have it- nicely of course :)

I figured I would need my mom during this time. She will be quick to tell you that her mom was not the one to unload piles of wisdomly advice- which my grandma wasn't that type. I think my mom wishes she did have someone to do that and will try her best to do that with me. She'd want to call me to see how I was feeling and trade pregnancy symptoms. I also think my mom lives a little vicariously through me. Whenever I hit a major milestone to celebrate she always says 'they didn't have this when I was growing up!". Just the other day while pregnancy book shopping she said "they didn't have all these when I was pregnant", I had to remind her that I am sure they did- you nor your mom bothered to drive to the bookstore to seek it out; there is no way pregnancy books were invented in the '90's or 00's; even if it's a larger and diverse selection today- it's not new. Either way, after I found out that my doctor’s appointment wasn't going to be until I reached 8 weeks, I convinced my hubby that I needed to tell them sooner rather than later.

We stay in a house that my mom owns. We had recently been undergoing some renovations so my parents were over pretty often. With the most recent issue being a leaky roof it was very easy to get them to come over. It had rained the night before so I called my mom and told her it was bad....hehehehe. In actuality the roof didn't leak at all but I thought it was a good way to get them over. And in true parental fashion they showed up after work!
Of course we had to distract them for a little bit once they arrived. My dad was cool, but my mom was all over it. I had to start an argument with her in order from her not going into the room where the supposed leak had occurred. My hubby had cooked so I invited them to eat and as we sat down to dinner I revealed that it was all a trick. They were a little confused but when we explained that we actually invited them over to "Thank" them for all of their hard work in helping with the renovations they slowly began to get over it. We had "stopped and got them thank you gifts" as our token of our appreciation but they had to open their gifts together or they wouldn't understand. This was to prevent one of them seeing the gift before the other.

They simultaneously pulled out of their bags bibs that read "I love Grandma" and "I love Grandpa". My mom screamed! My dad’s jaw dropped. You could see the excitement in their eyes. Mission accomplished!

Finding out 1/1/11

Although we've been trying, it was a shock to find out I was pregnant. I just did not expect it. I know it's silly but after so many failed months, I was ready for more disappointment.

I've been charting so I knew exactly when to expect my period. On Friday December 31st I thought for sure I would have a temp drop. I've been charting since March of 2010 and my LP is usually 13 days. One month I had 14 day LP and I thought okay maybe I'm having another.. yeah that's right, my body is doing something different for the new year. We didn't get to bed until 4 am that night/morning so when I took my temp the next morning and it was still high, I thought for sure it was because I only had 2 hours of sleep. I rolled back over and went back to sleep. Looking back, at this point I still had all of my PMS symptoms except mood swings. My cramps were always a sure sign my period was coming. Ha!

To humor myself - and to make sure - when I finally rolled out of bed I took a IC HPT and jumped in the shower. After sitting on the couch for a while I suddenly remembered I took a HPT. I peeked and saw two pink lines!!!!

I could have fainted.

By then my husband was awake and I wanted to tell him in a special way. So, I grabbed the car keys and ran out of the house to Target (but not without first stopping at three different dollar stores). I bought him an "I love daddy" baby bib... gender neutral of course. I accidentally left my phone at home and he had sent me several texts because he didn't expect me to take an hour at the store to "pick up some soap". When I got home I explained that 2010 had been kind of a rough year for us (we had quite a few ups and downs) and I believed that 2011 would be a better year for us. I gave him the gift bag that contained the bib and he said "aww thanks, but I know you want to have a baby".... only my husband. I looked at him tearfully and said "no silly, I'm pregnant!". Then he cried- joyful tears of course! After a few minutes of emotional hugs and kisses, I showed him the two pink lines. My husband then asked me if I took the test right! To indulge him and to share that joy of seeing the stick appear with two pink lines, I peed in a cup and left him dip it (a little gross, I know). He would kill me if he knew I told someone that he dipped a stick in a cup full of my pee, but I could see the excitement in his eyes. Carefully reading the instructions, he said okay we have to wait 3 minutes. I walked away and what seems like 30 seconds later he appeared in the closet doorway and said "two pink lines!" I thought it was hilarious. He stated he couldn't wait 3 minutes and checked right away. All day we would randomly look at each other and say "two pink lines!"

I insisted he take me back to Target because they were having a good sale. While we were there, we picked up a digital test.

The next morning, I shoved the 'pregnant' digital in his face and he smiled then rolled over and went back to sleep.

We are overjoyed that we are expecting our first little one. We've wanted this for a long time and now it is one step closer to becoming a reality.

It's me the Mrs.!

I finally made the jump into the blogosphere :) I've been wanting to do this since I had the yearning to be a mom- I just could never find the "right" name. Well now I've found a name and I think it perfectly describes what's about to happen.

In just a few short months, I will go from being the Mrs. to a Mom. My hope to use this blog as a way to document my journey and one day be able to look back and remember this special time. Up until this point, I have documented my thoughts and feeling elsewhere and in the coming days I will be 'importing' that info so it's all in one location.

If anyone else happens to read this, I hope that you will share in my experiences, joys, hurts, and everything in between and take away something meaningful.

from, Mrs. to Mom