SURPRISE!!!

I am pregnant and due January 8th!!!  This is a total surprise after 11 years and multiple failed fertility treatments.  We thought we had moved past the baby phase of life and were more than content as a family of three.  But apparently God has other plans for us. 

 

I cannot even describe the shock I felt when I saw "pregnant" on my at home pregnancy test.  That had NEVER happened to me before.  I dropped Tessa off at school and went straight to Target to buy more tests and pre-natal vitamins.  Sure enough, both of those tests were positive too, apparently I am really carrying a baby.  I texted Ryan to meet me for lunch and he knew something was up.  We have lunch dates, but we usually plan them in advance.  I just didn't want to tell him over the phone.  Of course I burst into tears and babbled out the news as soon as I saw him.  To say he is thrilled is a major understatement.  In fact, he recovered from the shock much more quickly than I did.  He brought me home roses that day. 

So, for those of you that have done the math, I was pregnant for our beach vacay and Disney Day, our trip to Texas and our cruise.  I've got the green light from my doctors to go to France with Ryan this fall, although I will have to come home sooner than expected.  This baby is going to be one well traveled kid even before he/she is born! 

Thankfully, I feel really good and am having a fabulous pregnancy.  As long as I keep something on my stomach I don't get nauseated.  In fact, the only "morning sickness" I had was when we got up super early to go to Disney back in May, and even that wasn't bad.  As for cravings, I have wanted fruit and peanut butter more than anything, but not together.  Peanut butter toast in the morning and fruit the rest of the day.  Eggs and any kind of bread have also been high on my list lately.  Caffeine withdrawal was rough, but short lived in the scheme of things.  I had the worst headache of my life the day after I found out I was pregnant and it was directly related to a lack of Diet Coke.  I now have one precious Diet Coke a day and no more headaches.  Since I wasn't sick, I started putting on weight immediately.  If you look at the Houston picture with Chris and Kristin where I am wearing the blue and green dress you can see my baby bump.  I am still exercising, with my doctor's permission.  I am so very tired all the time though.  Even Tessa noticed, asking me "are you laying down AGAIN Momma?"  Apparently twelve hours of sleep at night is not enough for this pregnant Momma, I take a short nap each day too.

The advantage to being 35 and pregnant is that you get an extra early ultrasound.  Our first was at 8 weeks where the pregnancy was confirmed, we could see a heartbeat and everybody said a prayer of thanks that it wasn't twins.  The baby looks like a little gummy bear, a healthy little gummy bear.  My most favorite doctor was out of town, so I saw one of his partners.  She is wonderful and was actually the perfect doctor for me to see that day because she had a baby after turning 35 and her kids have a big age split too.  I'm pretty sure I was still in shock sitting with Ryan in the doctor's office and thinking about baby names.

Our second ultrasound was at almost 12 weeks and we got to see the baby do a nifty little spin with arms and legs spread eagle.  That was the most amazing thing, to see our baby moving.  After that, he/she curled up and went back to sleep and no amount of prodding my belly could produce motion again.  Both ultrasounds look great with everything as it's supposed to be.  The heart rate is high so that means it is a girl, according to the old wives' tale.  But, I have been feeling so good that according to another old wives' tale, I must be carrying a boy.  Who knows?!?! 

We are now that cliché, having a biological child after adopting.  No, we weren't "trying" and we didn't finally "just relax," it's God's timing.  He chose to bless us with another child and we are thrilled.