10 Weeks and First Ultrasound

How far along:  10 weeks

Symptoms:  I FEEL AMAZING!!!  I truly feel so much better than I have in the past 3 weeks.  I’m hoping this means the fatigue is starting to let up.  I read that the placenta is fully formed now so it will be making Won Ton’s hormones instead of me, which is why I was so exhausted in the first place.  I was finally able to exercise recently!!  Carina came up from Tuscaloosa two Sundays ago and we planned to run/walk at the Mountain Brook trail that I frequently run on.  It’s a 6 mile loop and usually when I run it I can do it in an hour and burn up to 700 calories.  I was told by my doc not to let my heart rate stay above 140-150 for long so I brought my heart rate monitor on our walk to see how far I could run without going over 150 for too long.  Come to find out….I can run ZERO.  Yep.  When Carina and I walked the trail, my heart rate floated anywhere from 135-145 by just walking.  Anyway, we planned to do the whole 6 miles when we were to a point that I thought was close to halfway, I asked Carina to turn around because I wasn’t feeling so hot, so we turned around and walked back the way we came instead of finishing the loop.  Come to find out though, we were slightly over halfway where we turned around, so we did a little more than 6 miles.  Anyway, on to my point.  After walking 6 miles and walking only, I burned 850 calories.  HOLY COW.  Apparently when you’re pregnant, your heart rate is already higher than usual because your pumping blood for you and for baby.  Higher heart rate = more calories burned.  Crazy.  So I probably won’t be able to do much running in the future, but with those numbers…I’m good with just walking :)  I also was able to do two P90X workouts so far.  And yes, my doc said that doing P90X was fine (he does it too) as long as I watched my HR and kept it below 150.  By the way, it’s impossible to do Kenpo and keep your HR below 150, FYI.

Maternity Clothes:  Not yet, but I swear that over the holiday weekend I gained a bump.  Very small and right under my belly button and, I’m sure, only noticeable by me.  I’ll probably start taking pictures next week.

Weight Gain:  Two pounds

Sleep:  Sleep is great these days!

Cravings/Aversions:  Nothing to take note of

Baby Size:  Prune!

Gender:  Doc said we’ll know around 18 weeks, depending on how my appointments fall, but if I’m supposed to be seen every 4 weeks, that means I’ll see my doc at 12 (that appointment is June 14th), 16 and 20.  Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll find out at 16 :)

What I Miss:  Not too much right now, especially since I’m finally working out again!

What I’m Looking Forward To:  Next appointment is my 12 week appointment and it’s on June 14th, the day before Carina and I take a little girl vacay to NYC.

Who Knows:  EVERYONE!!!  Once we had the ultrasound and heard the heart beat, I felt much more comfortable telling people.  After the ultrasound we called and texted lots of our friends to share the news.  I told my dad’s side of the family after Anderson’s final tee-ball game of the year.  After telling a few more people on Saturday, we finally put it on facebook on Sunday. 

So our ultrasound was Friday, May 20th.  I was so nervous.  I knew that the miscarriage rate decreased significantly once you heard the heartbeat so I was trying to hold it together and not run too many “what if” scenarios through my head.  Justin and I got called back and to my surprise they did the ultrasound from on top of my stomach, not the other way in which most first ultrasounds are done!!  I was pumped about that part.  I was praying so hard at that moment that she was searching on my stomach and looking at the screen.  Finally the tech said “well it looks like you only have one baby in there”.  Thank God for that!  Then she turned the screen towards me and showed me the baby.  Then she zoomed in super close and pointed to the heart that I could see was moving SO fast.  She turned on the volume and I heard the most precious sound ever.  I cried.  Heart beat was 185 bpm.  She said everything looked great so far.  I’m so thankful for that!  Here’s Won Ton’s first pictures:

They say 9w1d which means 9 weeks 1 day, which is what they thought I was at the time, but we got downgraded to only 8 weeks 3 days after she measured the baby.  I can’t wait to hear the heart again.  I only got to hear it for about 3 seconds and I really want to hear it for longer next time. 

I made a blog this weekend about the gender poll.  I added one to my blog so feel free to vote away, just leave me a comment and tell me what you voted for because I love seeing who voted for what and why they think it’s a boy or it’s a girl.

Now it’s lecture time.  This won’t apply to most of you, but it’s just a helpful tip when you’re friends with someone who is pregnant.  We, the pregnant people of the world, get offended pretty easily.  Please be aware of that.  Especially when it comes to the baby.  The place I have found I’ve gotten offended most is when it comes to the sex of the baby.  A long time ago, before we were pregnant, Justin and I always joked with our friends that we only wanted boys because we couldn’t handle the “princess diva” attitude that tends to come with girls.  This was before we were pregnant though.  When you become pregnant, you all of a sudden don’t care about gender anymore, you just want a healthy baby.  I never understood those people that said “oh we don’t care what it is as long as it’s healthy”, but I do now.  I would love a boy, but I would also love a girl.  I could teach my little girl to dance.  I could see her wearing tutu’s and helping her practice for her dance recitals.  Not to mention that we have a girl nursery planned as well as have a girl name, but we don’t have either of these things for a boy.  As much as I would love a boy, I would love a girl too. 

Now to the tip of the day part.  You would be shocked at how many people have said this to me.  Even if I were to say “I kind of want a boy”, for the love of God, don’t say “well since you want a boy so bad, I want you to have a girl”.  Seriously people!?!?!  This is rude and completely unnecessary.  Basically you’re saying that you hope I don’t get what I want.  Why would anyone do this???  It is TOTALLY different if you say “I think you’re having a girl”.  Many people have said that based on the heart rate and that is completely and totally fine.  It’s when you assume that I want one sex so you hope I get the other one.  I don’t understand people at all.  So tip of the day, don’t tell a pregnant woman you hope she gets the opposite sex of what she wants, because you might just never hear from her again.

That being said, I think I can reveal what I think the gender is.  Justin and I differ on our opinions of this.  Justin thinks won ton is a girl.  I think it’s a boy.  I have NO IDEA why, I just do.  I keep saying “him” and “he” unintentionally.  It just slips out.  When I saw the ultrasound and saw the pictures of won ton, I kept seeing boy.  However, I will not be disappointed if I have a girl.  Like I said above, there are so many advantages that comes with having a girl!  I’m even warming up to hair bows.  Seriously, I used to hate hair bows.  Especially the ones that are half the size of the baby’s head.  I thought it looked horrible and unnatural for them to be that big.  But I’m starting to like them now.  There are a lot of advantages to having a girl.  But for some reason, I still think it’s a boy.

I’m a little shocked by the outcome of the gender poll so far.  As of now, boy is leading 8 to 5.  This is the opposite of what I have heard people say.  Everyone I’ve talked to seems to think it’s a girl and barely anyone thinks it’s a boy.  I think this is because of the heart rate.  But please don’t be afraid to vote girl because of my little rant above.  Like I said, it’s not people that say “I think you’re having a girl” that pisses me off.  It’s the people that say “I know you want a boy, so I hope you have a girl”.  Huge difference, I promise.

Gender Poll

I personally think it’s funny that I’m only almost 10 weeks pregnant and everyone around me seems to think they know the sex of won ton.  I love hearing what everyone thinks the baby is so I put up a gender poll on the right side of the blog.  Cast your vote, but please leave a comment and let me know what you voted for so I know who voted for what.  I’m interested to see the outcome of this.  It seems like everyone I talk to all think it’s one sex.  Only a few people think it’s the other sex.  I  won’t reveal which one is which because I don’t want it to affect your vote.  I honestly think it’s pretty funny that people have an opinion already at all.  I mean, Justin and I have opinions on what we think won ton is, but we’re the parents to be.  I think it’s funny to hear anyone else say that they are so sure it’s a boy or that it’s a girl.  But that’s why I love hearing what people think.  So cast your vote and leave me a comment!!

My Poor Dog…

Y’all, my dog is so pitiful right now.  See below.

How awful does she look?  Giz tore her ACL last week and we had an appointment with a surgeon on Thursday.  He said she definitely needed to have surgery so they kept her that morning and she had the surgery that afternoon.  We weren’t able to pick her up until the next day.  They shaved the entire back right side of her body.  You can see how swollen the shaved part is from the surgery.  They had to put several screws in her leg.  In addition to that, Giz has had this lump in her right side for years that we’ve asked our vet about and he said not to worry about it and that it was nothing, but the surgeon wanted to go ahead and take it out since she was already going to be in surgery so he took that out and it was sent off for tests to be done to figure out what it is.  I’m just hoping it wasn’t some kind of tumor or cancer.  Either way, it’s out now, so that’s good.  But now she has two big incisions that are stapled.  She has to wear the cone so that she doesn’t lick her stables and get them infected. 

I was at the pool with my sister, Carina and the kids when Justin picked her up and brought her home.  He called me soon after and asked me to come home immediately because he couldn’t take it.  She was in so much pain and was crying and whimpering constantly.  He wanted me to come home so he could leave the house and take a break because it was literally breaking his heart to see her like that.  When I got home though, the pain pills had kicked in and she was fine, just sleeping.  She wasn’t whining anymore.  Thank God, I don’t know if I could have handled hearing that.  I already cried once just looking at her.  The poor thing keeps running into stuff because of her cone.  She underestimates how big it is and she constantly runs into walls and tables and the TV.  Last night, Justin and I had to sleep in shifts so that we could watch her because she couldn’t sleep through the night.  She moved every hour or so and we had to make sure she wasn’t laying on the bad foot.

This experience, however tragic, has showed me how amazing of a dad Justin is going to be.  Guys, he literally slept in the living room next to Gizmo’s side all night so that I could sleep in the bed and actually get some sleep.  He has been by her side all day taking care of her and making sure she knew he was here for her.  It’s so sweet to watch.  Now I’m awake on my shift and Justin’s sleeping.  He’ll probably sleep most of the morning since he probably slept a whopping 3-4 hours last night.  God love him.

  

Sorry if these pics are graphic.  Please say a quick prayer for my dog that she heals quickly.  Our next appointment is in two weeks to hopefully get the staples out and the cone off, but we have to confine her from lots of movement for 6 weeks.  After 6 weeks we have to slowly get her doing her thing again for another 6 weeks before she’ll be fully recovered.  3 months people.  Gizmo is a very active dog and this is killing her.  I can see it in her eyes.  Pray for her please!!

8 Weeks

**Actually written 5/12/11

How far along:  8 weeks

Symptoms:  Can we say CRAZY VIVID DREAMS?!?!?!  I had no idea this came with pregnancy but I looked it up and it apparently does.  I’m having the craziest dreams these days guys.  Anything from tornados to snakes in the bed to Matthew McConaughey.  Seriously.  Other than that, here’s my symptoms breakdown:  Still no nausea, about to have to get some new bras and go up a size, I’m out like a light by 8pm every night, and  I’m worthless around our house these days.  All of which can be summed up in two words:  Poor Justin.

Maternity Clothes:  Nope

Weight Gain:  Finally got a new scale.  Since my 5 week appointment I’ve gained 1 pound.  This depresses me.  I was wanting to go through the first trimester without gaining any weight.  My eating hasn’t changed at all, I eat relatively healthy.  I eat loads of fresh fruit and try to eat a vegetable every day.  I cut out lean cuisines and replaced them with whole grain turkey sandwiches for lunch.  I think the main difference is that I’m not working out.  Previously, I usually worked out 3-4 times a week and now I’m doing absolutely nothing because I’m too exhausted to do anything when I get home from work.  Hopefully this stage passes soon so I can feel like myself again and start exercising.

Sleep:  Sleeping great, but I do usually wake up twice to pee during the night.  Typically once around midnight and then again around 4am.  And then there’s those dreams…

Cravings/Aversions:  I have a theory on this.  I’ve noticed that some women say that during their pregnancy they craved pickles, or chocolate, or had aversions to eggs the whole time.  Here’s the thing I’m noticing.  I’m not craving any one thing in particular.  I think I do have cravings, but they’re for different things at different times.  This morning I was craving eggs so I made some.  Last night I was craving smores, but didn’t give in to that one.  The other night I wanted a sonic blast so I got one.  However, I don’t think these cravings are any different than when I had a craving for something before pregnancy.  If I see something on TV, I will all of a sudden want it, which sounds like pregnancy, but I did that before I was pregnant.  Not sure what that means, but I guess I sometimes have cravings….

Baby Size:  We’re up to a “large” raspberry:

Gender:  No idea

What I Miss:  Having a productive day and having the desire to workout again

What I’m Looking Forward To:  May 20th appointment to hear the heartbeat

Milestone:  Won Ton is over half an inch long now and has eyelids.  The arms are lengthening and he/she can now put their arms over their chest.  Legs are growing too.

Who Knows:  The only additional person we’ve told since Justin’s family was Lillian, one of my friends when I lived in Nashville, who in response sent me an email showing me a purchase she intended to make for our Won Ton.  Behold….

 

Classic Lil.  Classic.  And no, pink doesn’t indicate that Won Ton is a girl.  It comes in blue and black too, this was just the one I copied.

Justin is planning on telling Rob this weekend because Rob doesn’t live in town but is coming in town for Melanie and Wade’s shower that is at our house on Saturday.  He wants to be able to tell Rob in person and I understand that.  I will most likely also tell Tiffany and Trevor this weekend.  They both knew we were trying and Tiffany is one of my closest friends and it’s getting too hard to keep this from her!!  And we’re dying to tell Wade and Melanie, but I don’t think this weekend is the time for them because it’s their wedding shower and I certainly don’t want to “steal her thunder”.  We’ll see how it goes.

7 Weeks

**Actually written on 5.9.11

How far along:  7 weeks

Symptoms:  The frequent urination has let up a little bit.  It’s not too bad even though I feel like I’m drinking endless amounts of water.  While on our trip (which was when I turned 7 weeks) the fatigue set in big time.  It was hard to tell if it was pregnancy related or just travel related.  I’ll blame it on both.  Needless to say, I have really noticed fatigue recently.  The twins hurt like madness.  Sorry if that’s TMI, but they do.  Mood Swings.  Really, I should let Justin write an entire blog post on my mood swings.  This girl that never really cries….yeah she cried three times on the plane to Rome watching Harry Potter and Life As We Know It (that Katherine Heigl movie).  Also, while in London, Justin was getting so tired of me walking slow and he said something about it once and I literally just sat on the side of the street and started crying like madness.  I couldn’t stop.  Justin was embarrassed.  Emotions have completely overtaken my body.  It’s pathetic.  Still no nausea!!!  I hope that lasts.  I did feel pretty nauseous on the plane, but I think it was because we did a million circles because we got there early and weren’t cleared to land yet.  That part sucked.

Maternity Clothes:  Nope

Weight Gain:  None yet.  I told Justin we need a new scale.  Right before we left for our trip it said I gained a pound and I almost cried (see emotions symptom above).  But then I weighed myself this morning and it said I lost 2 pounds.  I think it’s lying.

Sleep:  Not too bad.  I need to desperately catch up to the correct time zone, but other than that, I’m good with sleep.

Cravings/Aversions:  Still none, at least not that I’ve noticed

Gender:  No idea. 

What I Miss:  Mountain Dew

What I’m Looking Forward To:  May 20th appointment to hear the heartbeat

Milestone:  We now have eyes, ears, knees and toes!!!

Who Knows:  We told Justin’s family on Mother’s Day.  Boy was that interesting :)  They literally had no idea we were even trying.  Debbie has even made several comments that she knew it would be a while before Justin and I ever had kids (one of these comments was at Melanie’s bridal tea at our church…during which I already knew I was pregnant).  So we went to church that morning because Gordon was doing the service since our pastor was out of town.  After church we went to Sumo for lunch.  Debbie decided when Jen got pregnant with the twins that she wanted to be called “Nana”.  I found a card at CVS that had a little house on the front and it said “Nana is where the heart is” and on the inside it just said Happy Mother’s Day.  So I bought the card and on the inside I wrote “Can’t wait to meet you in December Nana.  Love, Baby Morris.  P.S. You should probably go ahead and start making the Christmas stockings now that you need to make THREE!”

Debbie actually hand makes all of our Christmas stockings and when Justin and I got married, it literally took her almost a year to make mine.  So when Jen (sister in law) told us she was pregnant with twins, we told Debbie she should get a move on since she had to make two stockings.  So it was a nice little touch to add the thing about the stockings.  Anyway, so we gave Debbie the card and watched her open it and start reading it.  Literally, we saw her mouth to herself what I wrote 3 times before she figured it out.  Then she started whispering “oh my gosh are you serious???” like it was a secret we were keeping from the rest of the family or something.  She finally showed the card to Gordon and to Jen and Aeron.  Jen actually said she saw it coming, which surprised me.  I didn’t think they’d see it coming, but she said that since we got married late in life (we really didn’t, but in comparison to Jen and Aeron who got married in the early 20’s, we did) she knew it wouldn’t be long before we had a baby.

We went back to the Morris’ house and called Justin’s grandparents to tell them.  They were thrilled too but didn’t see it coming either because of how much we like to travel.  Afterwards we discussed the fact that Debbie will most likely need a whole nursery in her house and a minivan :)  I told her she should probably go ahead and register for baby stuff herself because she’ll need so much of it!

So now the list of people who knows include:  Debbie and Gordon (in laws), Jen and Aeron (in laws), my sister Jennifer and her husband Jeff, Carina (who gave me a HILARIOUS Mother’s Day card) and Justin Yarbrough,   and two people I work with (HR rep and my senior manager that I always work with so he won’t be shocked when I’m late to work or moody).  It feels so good to get this out so I can at least talk about it with some people.  I find myself having to be a home body to try to stay away from people so that I am not tempted to tell them!  Since my mom was working on Mother’s Day, we are having a lunch with her this Sunday the 15th and that’s when we’ll tell her and Mike and Lindsey and Jeff and Anderson and Lydia.  Anderson’s last tee-ball game is May 21st and I plan to go to that and hopefully convince my dad and grandparents to go so that I can tell them then.  That will be after the ultrasound anyway and we’ll be able to make it public then. 

6 Weeks

Ok I know there’s been an overload of pregnancy blogs lately.  I PROMISE this blog won’t turn into preggo central.  It’s just that I’ve already written the weekly blogs from when I found out all the way up to week 8 so I’m just trying to move them from drafts.  Once all these are posted, I promise I’ll start talking about other things!!!

**Actually written on 4/29/10

Yesterday was a big day.  The devastation from the monster tornado that ripped through Alabama came to light as pictures and videos exploded through the internet.  I was finally able to get on the phone with my sister Lindsey to talk to her (her and my much talked about niece and nephew live in Tuscaloosa).  Previously it was only through texts because phones in Tuscaloosa were down.  It was so great just to talk to her and hear her voice to know that the family was ok.  She called me last night when Justin and I along with the Lobdell’s, our friend Sam Morris, and Ashley and Brad were at Thirsty Thursday watching the Barons play.  We were there to celebrate my birthday, which was also yesterday (could go down in history as the worst birthday ever).

On a lighter and happier note, as I was turning 28 yesterday, our little Won Ton turned 6 weeks :)

How far along:  6 weeks

Symptoms:  The frequent urination fairy has hit.  I pee every 30 minutes.  Literally.  It doesn’t help that I’m trying to drink more water.  I’m trying to drink about 2 liters a day, so that affects it too.  But I will honestly go to the bathroom, come back to my office and 10 minutes later, have to go again.  I’m having to take alternate routes to different bathrooms so that the same people don’t see me going to a bathroom that often and figure out that I am with fetus.  It’s kind of a pain, but I’m ok with it.  Also, the lady lumps have started hurting big time.  May be TMI for you, sorry, but they do.  I’m starting to sleep a little bit better.  I haven’t had to use Unisom other than in week 5 when I really could not force myself to sleep.  I have had zero nausea, which is fabulous.  I’m a little worried about getting sick on the plane on our trip to Rome/London though.  The websites and books say that nausea hits at 6 –8 weeks.  It’s a 10 hour flight.  I bought barf bags from CVS just in case. 

Maternity Clothes:  Not yet

Weight Gain:  None, but mother of pearl do I feel like a fattie!!!  Bloating has taken over my life and right now, it is more comfortable to unbutton the top button of my pants when I sit down, so that’s what I usually do.  I hope to God I don’t look as fat as I feel right now.  Haven’t gained a pound so I’m pretty sure it’s just bloating.

Sleep:  Much better these days, no Unisom needed :)

Cravings/Aversions:  Still none, at least not that I’ve noticed

Gender:  Don’t know yet.  I’m guessing we’ll know at the end of July

What I Miss:  Still caffeine, the kind that comes in soft drinks.  I want to chug a Sunkist so bad.  I still bring in caffeine though, because there’s caffeine in chocolate and let’s face it, this momma loves her chocolate, however, there’s much less caffeine in a piece of chocolate than in a Sunkist, so I’m good.

What I’m Looking Forward To:  Hearing the heartbeat at our ultrasound on May 20th.  Oh and friggin telling people!!!!  This is the hardest ever secret to keep!! 

Milestone:  Baby is 1/3 of an inch.  Eyelids are forming and hand plates have appeared.  Brain is growing like a “brain on fire” (wording came from babygaga.com).

Who Knows:  Justin and I have kept this secret to ourselves for the longest two weeks of my life, however, we finally broke down and told my sister Jennifer and her husband Jeff.  The only reason we did this was because they were in town for her baby shower in Tuscaloosa last weekend and I wanted to be able to tell her in person.  She appreciated it and she was very excited.  In addition to them, I have also told my HR coordinator at work (this was mainly to give a heads up that since Won Ton is due December 22nd, I’m pretty much out for busy season next year).  Also it helps just in case I have to call in sick a lot or need someone to know I’m at a doctor’s appointment.  We plan to tell Justin’s family on Mother’s Day which is the day after we get back from our trip.  Post on that to come soon :)

5 Weeks and First Appointment

**Actually written 4/25/11

On Thursday, April 21st, I started my 5th week of pregnancy.  I only knew this because on Friday the 22nd, Justin and I had our first doctor appointment.  The Monday after I got a positive test I called my doctor’s office to make an appointment (fully expecting them to not get me in until I was around 8 weeks), however, they wanted to see me that week!  The  nurse wanted to get me in on Wednesday, but Justin was out of town for work, so she said she had something Friday and I took it.  Justin would have been back on Friday plus our firm had that Friday off so no one would be asking me why I was gone for a couple of hours.  It was perfect. 

We got to the doctor around 8:45 for a 9am appointment.  First they took me back to get a urine sample.  That tested positive for my hCG levels so then a nurse brought me into a room and started asking all kinds of questions.  At the end of the day, I think every single person I talked to asked me if I had a cat.  Apparently this is an issue during pregnancy.  Who knew.  Anyway, after my meeting with the nurse, she gave me a baggie full of new mommy info that is COMPLETELY overwhelming, let me tell you.  After I was done with that, they called Justin and I into a room and he met my doctor.  We  didn’t do an ultrasound because it was too early so he told me to come back at 9 weeks for the first ultrasound.  He estimated that  my due date is December 22, 2011.  How’s that for avoiding a Christmas baby??  My 9 week appointment is on May 20th.

So here’s what’s going on at 5 Weeks (also I’m not doing the “bump” pictures until later on…clearly there is no bump right now):

How far along:  5 weeks

Symptoms:  Right now, the predominant symptom is insomnia.  Which is strange because I thought you were supposed to be exhausted during the first trimester.  There are nights where I only sleep a couple of hours tops!  I asked the doc about this and he told me it was safe to take Tylenol PM, though I later read that Unisom is even more safe than that because it’s not medicated like Tylenol PM is.  It’s strictly a sleep aid.  My sister, Jennifer, has taken it almost every day through her pregnancy because she has the same problem, so I’ll probably take Unisom when needed instead of Tylenol PM.

Maternity Clothes:  Nope…don’t want to have to break down for these bad boys for a LONG time if possible.

Weight Gain:  None and I want it to stay this way as long as possible.  I was actually wanting to lose about 3-5 pounds before I got pregnant because busy season caused me to gain a couple of pounds.  Doc said he wants me to gain 25 pounds, I’d prefer that to only happen in the 2nd and 3rd trimester if possible.  I’m not one of those women that desires to be huge immediately.  I want to stay my size for as long as I can.  I do expect, however, that there will be a phase where I will feel like I’m huge, even though I won’t have an obvious baby bump yet.  It’ll be that stage where people that don’t know you’re pregnant just think you’re fat.  I don’t look forward to this stage.  I’m sure that when it rolls around THEN I will desire to be huge so that people don’t think I’m just a fattie.

Sleep:  See above.  I can only sleep when I take Unisom.

Cravings/Aversions:  I haven’t had any of these yet.  The only thing that came close was on Easter when we had ham at Justin’s parent’s house.  For some reason, it upset my stomach pretty bad.  But no cravings yet.

Gender:  No idea.  Won’t know for a while.  I have a feeling, but I’m not mentioning it right now because it may just be me reading too much into stuff.  I’ll wait and see how things go in the next several weeks to see if I still have a strong feeling one way or the other.

What I Miss:  FRIGGIN CAFFEINE!

What I’m Looking Forward To:  Hearing the heartbeat at our ultrasound on May 20th.

Milestone:  Baby is 1/4 of an inch.  His/Her heart began beating this week and eyes, ears, arm and leg buds and mouth are visible.

Side note – you know how women refer to their unborn children as “peanut” or “stinker” or some other cute name?  Well, ours has a name too.  It’s “won ton”.  Justin started calling our unborn child his little “won ton” WAY WAY WAY before we were ever pregnant, so this just kind of stuck, so we’ll be referring to Baby Morris as our little Won Ton in the future :)

**Ok I’m actually writing this part today (May 24th).  I am so completely overwhelmed by the comments I’ve gotten from my sweet little followers.  It makes my day to hear people say that they think I’ll be a great mom because I honestly question it myself constantly so it feels good to hear others have faith in me.  Thank you so much to all of you guys for the sweet words from the past two posts.  I greatly appreciate it and am so thankful for all of you!

How This Happened…

**Actually written on 4/25/11

I’m actually writing this post early, but saving it as a draft and will post it after we’ve gone public with the pregnancy.  Also, it’s kind of long.  I’m actually not documenting this for the purpose of my readers, but more for my own purposes.  I want to remember this process later in life and want our future baby to know how it happened, because it really is one of the moments in life where God truly intervenes.

By now, you guys know that I am a living incubator for a fetus.  A lot of people didn’t see this coming, except for our close friends and a few family members who knew we were going to start trying.  People assume that as much as Justin and I travel, that we wouldn’t have children for a while.  Neither of us wanted children for a while when we got married, but the idea grew on us.  For about a year now, I’ve had the constant thought in my mind of what it would be like to have a child.  It was literally like the desire came out of nowhere.  And then I realized that God gave me that desire.  He planned for me to be a mother and for Justin to be a father and he adjusted our wishes and plans for His will for our lives.  It was a great blessing for God to slowly over time tell me what he wanted from me and I’m so glad that I listened and opened up to the idea. 

We started discussing having children at the beginning of 2010 and decided that we would take our trip to Africa in December 2010 and then start trying when we got back, which is what we did.  We were lucky enough to have it happen very soon, within the first 2 months!  There was a constant fear in my mind that it would take us forever.  I’ve read too many blogs and looked at the stories on babycenter’s website too many times to think it would happen soon, but God has blessed us for sure! 

Justin and I decided that we would try in January and February, but that we would not try in March because if we got pregnant in March, we’d have a December baby and neither of us really wanted a December baby because it’s just too close to Christmas and we were afraid that the baby would get screwed out of presents the rest of his/her life, not to mention he/she would never be able to have a pool party and it would be hard to get people to come to birthday parties with all the Christmas parties going on (all things we’re working through now though).  Although, we didn’t realize that the drug we were taking for Malaria while we were in Africa affects folic acid in pre-natal vitamins, so we actually couldn’t try in January because we had to get the malarone out of my system first.  So we started actually trying in February, but didn’t get pregnant then.  I can’t even stress enough that  we really weren’t trying in March.  But we got pregnant anyway.  I quickly realized that this was God’s way of saying to me “Don’t tell me when you will and won’t have a kid.  You know who I am right?”.  God 1, Morris’ 0.  Of course that’s so bad to say Morris’ 0.  We are totally gaining something from this….a cute little baby that will forever change our lives.

So how did I find out?  Okay here’s that story.  On the morning of April 16, 2011, I woke up at 5am.  I have no idea why I woke up that early, I just couldn’t go back to sleep.  I wasn’t “late” yet.  Aunt Flow was due the next day, however, my temperatures led me to take a pregnancy test that morning.  Let me explain the temperatures thing.  While we were trying, I was charting my temperatures by suggestion of my doctor because he knew I was irregular and after being on the pill for 10+ years, he figured it would take my body a while to become normal again and he said taking temperatures in the mornings would help me tell when I ovulated each month.  Here’s the key thing about temperatures….when you ovulate, your temp drops just a little.  After ovulation, it jumps a lot and stays high until AF comes and then it will go back down again.  If you’re pregnant, your temps will stay up.  In January and February, my temps had a tendency to go back down about 10 days after ovulation.  April 16th was day 11 and not only did it not go down, it took another jump.  So I figured I would take a test that morning.

At 5am I peed on a stick and waited to see if there were two pink lines.  After waiting for about 2 or 3 minutes, I didn’t see a second line, so I trashed the test.  Now, as you know, Justin and I are selling our house and we had planned to do a massive cleaning raid that weekend.  Since I couldn’t go back to sleep, I started going through my closet and separating things I wanted to keep and things to give to goodwill.  When I threw away some old  jewelry, I pulled the test out of the trash to get a second glance.  No idea why I did that by the way, just figured I’d get a second look with fresh eyes I guess.  I saw a second line.  It was faint, but it was a second line.  I was FREAKING.OUT.  It’s still about 5:30-5:45am at this point.  I run to our bedroom and say to Justin “ummmmm….babe…..I don’t know how to tell you this”.  Justin was so delirious and didn’t know what was going on because I woke him out of a deep sleep.  He says that his first thought was that I was about to tell him that his jeep was stolen.  HA!   So I told him that I thought I might be pregnant and he turned on the lamp and asked me to bring him the test.  I showed it to him and he said he saw the faint line too and for me to pee on the digital test to be sure. 

I went back to my bathroom and was literally only able to get out a few drops (TMI…sorry).  But off of only a few drops I saw the word “PREGNANT”.  I brought it to Justin and said “yep I’m pretty sure I’m pregnant”.  At this point, Justin is making so much fun of me because I’m flailing my arms up and down, not so much in a good way, but in a “holy crap how did this happen and what does this mean” way.  It was a Saturday so I couldn’t call my doctor’s office to make an appointment and we still had cleaning to do, so we had to go about our day as normal.  I have no idea how I made it through that day.  Not only was April 16th a huge day because we found out we reproduced, but also because we went to James Hill that morning and purchased our lot and started planning our meetings with the builders to build our house.  So much to happen in one day!!! 

Part of me still didn’t believe that this could have happened, especially given the odds of getting pregnant in March, a month where we weren’t trying.  I kept taking tests and was waiting for one to come back negative.  This is what happens when you continue to pee on sticks waiting on them to prove you wrong:

 

Yeah.   That happened.  Seriously.  And no, I didn’t spend a fortune on tests.  I bought the digital one when we started trying as well as all those strips.  On Amazon, you can get these little strips for $3.  A pack of 25 of them for $3!!  I figured that was a deal so I bought them.  So don’t make fun of me for taking so many, I had 20 or more left that hadn’t been used by April and they would have gone to waste if I hadn’t peed on them.  BTW, pregnancy tests on Amazon are WAY cheaper than they are at CVS. 

That was the longest post ever.  So sorry readers!  Just wanted to document so I could remember the little details.  I also pre-wrote my weekly posts on how I’m feeling and what’s going on between now (week 5) and week 9, which is when I’m assuming it will become public, so I’ll be posting those shortly.  If you actually read this whole thing….props.  You get the friend of the day award.

# 58 – NOT CHECK…

Yes, you read that right.  I said “not” check.  That’s because I can’t check this one off anymore.  I mentioned when I made my 101 List that some of the things either cost too much money or involved a significant amount of time to travel places and I just don’t have that much PTO in a 3 year period to go to all of them.  My plan was to roll the uncompleted items onto a new list because I knew I would complete them all, I just wasn’t sure I would be able to do them in 101 days.  Number 58 is not like this, however.  Number 58 is something that, no matter how long I wait or how much money I run into, I will never be able to cross it off.  How is that possible?  Allow me to explain with one picture.

Number 58 on my list of 101 things to do in 1,001 days was to NOT have a kid.

 

Oops :)

#66 – CHECK!

Number 66 on my list of 101 things to do in 1,001 days was to host a party at my house for something.  I knocked this off this past weekend by hosting our friends Melanie and Wade’s “Stock the Shed” shower.  It’s basically a cuter name for a tool & gadget shower :)  Here’s some pics of the event:

Mel and Wade with the hosts, Justin, me, Mel, Wade, Tiffany and Trevor

Hanging around inside.  That little girl was the hit of the party!

We grilled out!  Hamburgers and Hot Dogs with chips and salsa and rotel

Tiff and I also made some yummy brownies and got some chocolate chip cookies for dessert!

The boys mostly played cornhole in the backyard

Love me some Mel :)

Some of my favorite girls!  Carina, Tiff and Mel.

The happy couple!!  Big day is July 9th!!  Less than two months away!

            

Leave it to Rob.  Any time he goes to a tool & gadget shower, he ALWAYS gets a ladder.  He does this because he doesn’t have to wrap it.

It was a fun party with a great turnout and Mel and Wade racked up on a bunch of fun tools!! 

And The Twins Are

I can’t believe I haven’t blogged about this either.  Jennifer (my sister-in-law) told my MIL that her appointment to find out the sex of the twins was on May 2nd (when Justin and I were out of town).  However, Jen’s a pretty good liar.  She actually had her appointment the week before that and right before we all went to Olive Garden to celebrate my birthday, we headed over to Debbie and Gordon’s house first.  Justin and I knew that Jen had found out the sex, but we didn’t know what the sex was.  Jen gave Debbie a cute little bag and had her open it before we went to eat dinner that night.  (Sorry the video is dark, there wasn’t a lot of lights on in the house because Debbie just had eye surgery and she’s really sensitive to a lot of light.)

GIRLS!!!!

 

Debbie is one excited soon to be Nana!!

# 3 – CHECK!

First off, Justin and I got back from our trip on Saturday.  I will post about the trip and put up pictures, but I wanted to do this post first.  Well, that and I just haven’t found the time yet to go through all the pictures and I’m still on London time which means that as I write this at 12pm, it’s really dinner time in London and then bed time soon after.  Needless to say, I’m already sleepy. 

Number 3 on my list of 101 things to do in 1,001 days was to buy a new home.  Technically, this item used to be “build a new home in James Hill”, but I changed it when Justin and I started to realize that we probably wouldn’t build a new home.  However, I should change it back to the original because that’s exactly what we’re doing.  We’re building a home in James Hill at Ross Bridge!!! 

For almost 2 years now, Justin and I have loved James Hill.  It’s literally like an updated version of Mayberry.  Everyone waves at you when you drive through the neighborhood, it’s a great place to run with sidewalks throughout the entire neighborhood…ones that are actually lit up at night unlike where we live now, a neighborhood pool that I will SO take advantage of and a great school system which we DEFINITELY don’t have at our current house.  Whenever we do have kids, they’ll go to Hoover High School, where Justin and I met :)

We hadn’t driven through the neighborhood in a while so when Parade of Homes was going on in Birmingham, we decided to take a drive through James Hill.  We were shocked to see how many more phases they had opened.  Justin wanted to talk to the people just to see what lots they had open.  One meeting led to another and on April 16th, we purchased James Hill lot 333!!!  Here’s our “dirt” right now, as Justin calls it (because they haven’t poured foundation yet):

That’s Justin and Gordon and Debbie in the picture.  They came with us to look at the lot before we purchased it.  And here’s the house we’re building:

  

We’ll be using different colors of course.  We like the green, but there’s a lighter color green that’s much prettier and we will probably use a cream trim color instead of dark brown.  We just like lighter colors overall.  It’s 4 bedroom 3 baths with an upstairs den between two bedrooms.  The master is on the back of the house and the 4th bedroom is in the front (the windows on the left side of the house).  This is Justin’s “man room”.   Here’s a couple of pictures from this inside of the above house:

Dining room into the kitchen view

View from kitchen to the front of the house

LOVE LOVE LOVE the brick fireplace!!!  We’ll have that too :) 

We absolutely love this house and can’t wait for it to be built.  The contract says that it will be ready in September, but they said that once they start the house (within the next week or two, whenever the permits get approved) it’ll be 90-100 days, which would be around mid-August.

Football parties at the Morris household!!!