OH the Joys of Pregnancy (SERIOUSLY)….

I wanted to go back in time a little bit and write about my experiences with pregnancy so that I don’t forget (beware this is long)…   I am probably in the minority when I say that, for the most part, I LOVED being pregnant!  Once I got past the nauseous-ness and EXTREME exhaustion of the first trimester, it was truly an amazing time in my life.

I took a pregnancy test at home on Wednesday, 8/27/09, just a few days after our first wedding anniversary.  I was nervous, anxious and a crazy mess waiting on the results (which were only a couple of minutes but seemed like decades).  When the timer went off and we ran to look at the stick to see the outcome, I think I nearly fainted.  I couldn’t believe it—it was POSITIVE.  I was going to have a baby after ALL these years of dreaming about this.  To say that I cried tears of joy wouldn’t be accurate—the salty floodgates poured!  I think Craig shed a tear or two also.  Austin wasn’t home and we wanted to tell him first so we went and picked him up from Craig’s parents and we actually told him in the truck.  To be honest, I was a little worried at how he might take the news since he has always been the center of attention but he blew me away (as he did through my entire pregnancy).  Craig said something to the effect of, “How do you feel about being a big brother?”  He understood right away and was extremely excited.  His first response was, “I hope I have a little sister!”  He was extremely positive and very involved throughout everything—the name picking, the decorating, shopping, etc…  He has even started his own blog dedicated to his baby sister.  It is called, Dear Addi.  Check it out at http://dearaddisonclaire.blogspot.com.

I want to start out talking about the first trimester:  My husband, who was working 3^rd shift (10 pm to 7 am) was also finishing up his last two semesters of college while I was pregnant.  His typical day went something like this:  get off work at 7am, come home to take a shower, get Austin up for school, drop Austin off, go to class until 11, get home around noon and go to bed until about 6, have dinner with us, and then go to work at 10pm.  This was his schedule 4 days a week!  Every day when he got out of class at 11am, he would call me to see how I was feeling.  During the first trimester of my pregnancy, I felt nauseous most of the time.  My sweet hubby would ask me if I wanted him to run to KFC and get me some mashed potatoes and gravy and bring them to me at work before he went home to go to sleep.  Knowing that he needed sleep, I wanted to tell him to go on home and get some rest (I REALLY wanted to tell him that) but I usually agreed that KFC mashed potatoes was of dire need as it was the food that I seemed to CRAVE that first trimester and didn’t make me sick to eat (I ate a lot of Honeycomb cereal the first trimester too)!  So…he brought me that several days per week—he is so good to me!  (We gave Addi KFC mashed potatoes and gravy for the first time when she was 9-months old and she LOVED them and we know why!!) 

Once the first trimester passed, things were truly uphill…  All of my doctor visits were positive—weight gain good, blood pressure very good, ultrasounds good.  I was overly anxious about finding out the sex of this baby though so we went to a maternity specialty shop that was new to Lexington, called Baby Belly, and purchased a kit that was supposed to be 90% accurate at determining the sex of the baby as early as like 16 weeks I think.  Since I wasn’t going to have the “sex-determining ultrasound” until my 20-week appointment, I knew I had to try this kit, which was around $40.  We came home and I precisely followed the directions of getting the urine sample.  The results—IT’S a BOY—without a doubt, the results were a definitive BOY!!  I must admit, I have dreamed my whole life of having a little girl but when the results came back as boy, that didn’t matter at all.  I was super excited to have a son—especially having been told that boys are cuddlers and love their mommas so much!  We came up with a name, Aiden Michael, and I even bought a few cute boy outfits (though the selection of cute boy outfits was slim compared to the selection of ADORABLE girl outfits as I’m sure most mothers know)….

The 20 week appointment came with my OB doctor and I was looking forward to getting confirmation of what I thought I already knew and was hoping to get some cute pictures of my little boy.  This was an important doctor visit so we took Austin out of school for it and had quite an entourage at the doctor’s office—Craig, Austin, Mom, Dad, Lisa, Lyndi, and Katie Belle were all there.  We went into the ultrasound room and the tech started looking at the heart and telling us about the chambers and that everything developmentally looked great, etc…  All of a sudden, Lyndi goes, “Oh my goodness, it’s a girl!”  I looked at her like she was crazy because I saw nothing on that screen that resembled a girl (or a boy for that matter).  The words that followed will never be forgotten.  The ultrasound tech echoed Lyndi’s observation, “Yep, it is definitely a girl.” WHAT???  This can’t be.  I asked the nurse how sure she was to which her reply was, “well, if it isn’t a girl, there are going to be some issues” or something to that effect.  That was good enough for me.  The tears were streaming—not a dry eye in the room.  My dream had come true—I was going to have a little girl.  (Either way, my dream would have come true because I had just always wanted to have a baby but a little girl—WOW).  I was walking on air.  I had to go back to work that day after the appointment but I don’t think I accomplished a thing—my head was in the clouds.

As my little girl grew, I was able to feel movement and that is when the real fun began.  That is an indescribable feeling.  I LOVED it and it was so encouraging to know that she was active and full of life.  And ACTIVE she was.  The fact that she is a very active baby now should be no surprise to me since she was a mini Mary Lou Retton in utero!  Sometimes I would be sitting at work, trying to focus, and she would be moving so much that I would just sit there and watch the extortions of my ever-growing belly!  It was so comical—it definitely broke up the monotony or the workday!  Craig and Austin were also entertained by her—sometimes our entertainment for the evening would be watching my belly!  She was even active at night when I was trying to sleep which was frustrating sometimes but I also found a lot of humor in it because I do believe she was preparing me for the sleepless nights in my near future! 

Even 33 lbs heavier which is the amount I gained with her, I still never felt as if I couldn’t get around.  I worked out up until 30 weeks of pregnancy but had to discontinue my workouts after having a few early contractions (which I was told were due to dehydration when they hooked me up in the hospital and made me drink a gallon of water).  I was only at the hospital for a few hours though and was sent home after being told to drink more water and to discontinue my workouts.  In the last month, the basketball under my shirt made it difficult to do things such as tie my shoes or get up from a horizontal position but Craig and Austin always helped me out in those areas.

To wrap this up, I have to say that there are days when I miss being pregnant and am a little sad that I won’t have this experience again (Craig was “fixed” back in November).  On the other hand, I am so blessed and thankful to have been able to go through this as I was starting to believe that I would never have a child of my very own (I was 36 when I delivered Addison).  It was so much fun to take her with me to work every day while I was pregnant with her—I got to have her with me everywhere I went and when I went to sleep, she was right there with me too.  I got to be her sole protector and care-giver and that was truly an honor.  Thank you God for blessing me with this wonderful, miraculous experience!