The Wild, Wild West

With the realization sinking in that a baby was on the way, Matt decided that he should go on a trip that he and his friend have been meaning to do for quite some time now. With a baby coming, he figured he should go on his trip now rather than later. So, for Matt's birthday, he went out to Texas. He flew in to San Antonio where he met up with his long, lost friend from college, Adam. They then began an 8 hour drive toward the Texas-Mexico border headed for Big Bend National Park. They camped and hiked there for 5 days and nights. Below are some of the pictures that Matt took while on his adventure.

And yes, that is a bear. It was also out for a hike that day on the same trail as Matt and Adam.

Baby Stuff

Yea for friends who THINK that they are done having children and who want to give things to those of us who are just starting out!! Below is a picture of the "big ticket" items that have recently been received. I know that everyone looks at blogs for the pictures, but when your little one is not quite photogenic yet, you really have to be creative on pictures. So, this is probably a stretch, but at least it's a picture, right??


Again, God is so good, and I am so thankful for everything!

Special shout-out to Beth Gregory for the giving away of the infamous Boppy! I am assuming that it will be one of the most-used items that we will have. How wonderful!

Update from the MD

We had our monthly doctor's appointment today. All went well. We heard the doppler of the baby's heartbeat, but we did not get a number rate. It was fast, though. Matt and I estimated that it was beating about 2.5 times per second which equals about 150....of course, that is OUR estimate.
More good news: the doctor did not think that I necessitated an ultrasound today. Although I am disappointed about not seeing our baby, I am so happy that all is going well enough to be able to be somewhat of a "normal" patient.
I have gained 2 pounds---she told me that she wants me to gain 33 more. Even though I am pregnant, as a woman, that is so hard to swallow.
During my pre-pregnancy days, my blood pressure was on the higher side of normal, and that was a concern of my doctor should I ever become pregnant. However, now that I am pregnant, my blood pressure has been great! It was 108/66 today! Woo hoo!!
At today's appointment we did our genetic screening tests, so we should be getting the results of that in the next couple of weeks. Our next appointment is in 3 weeks, and that is our "Anatomy Ultrasound" appointment---the one that everyone waits for!
We are so thrilled and blessed by our upcoming bundle of joy! God is so great and compassionate. His steadfast faithfulness brings tears to my eyes.

Boy or Girl?

As we hit the 15 week mark, it is getting closer and closer to the time when we can find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I have gone back and forth between what I think that I am having, and have never felt 100% about either. I am very much swayed by what other people tell me, afterall---I know nothing about pregnancy!! Early on I thought that I was having a girl, but now I have shifted to thinking that it will be a boy.

So, here are the clues for both a boy and a girl:

First of all, the heart rate. The book says any heart rate over 140 tends to be a girl (lower heart rates tend to be boys). Our heart rates have been 156 and then 162.

The first wedding ring/pencil test that was performed on me (with my wedding ring) went round and round in a circle, meaning a girl.

The Chinese conception calendar says girl.

Last night, I had another dangle-an-object-over-my-wrist test (with a pencil), and it said boy---very strongly boy.

And, according to the experts (ladies of the Sunday school class), my symptoms of pregnancy say boy.

Who knows?? We go to the doctor next Wednesday for our next appointment, and unless something has changed, I will get another ultrasound. You better believe that I am going to be squinting to see if I can see anything that will help sway my opinion one way or the other.

On a different note, Matt has been very crafty and handy as of late (not that he isn't usually). He put together the first official piece of furniture for the baby's room. It took a while because it literally came in about 50 small pieces, and every little piece is held together with at least 4 screws. I am actually impressed at the craftsmanship of it and the sturdiness. I have found that storage in a baby's room is all about creativity and making use of every little nook and cranny. As you can see, this is exactly what we have done with this piece of furniture. It fits PERFECTLY between the hallway door and the closet door. It is white with silver knobs and feet and a glass door on the top part.

Christmas Village 2008

Today (well, this entire weekend) was the infamous Christmas Village here in Birmingham. It is an awful place to go when you're expecting.....and don't know if you're having a boy or a girl. So, my day was filled with trying to find the cutest gender-neutral outfits possible. I only found a couple of things that I really liked, but I got the business cards of many places so I could contact them when we know what we will be blessed with. Below are some of the purchases made....

We have embraced the fact that we live in Alabama...sort of. This is a little piggybank in honor of the school where Matt and I attended graduate school. Turns out there aren't many Samford spirit items....weird. This is also where he/she can save up for her/his college tuition...haha.

Some good ole houndstooth just in time for football season...next year. Hopefully it will be just as easy to be an Alabama fan next year as it is this year. ROLL TIDE!

Such a cute little Christmas outfit. The green striped fabric is the same on the pants as in the tree. There is brown gingham for the trunk. Oh, it is so precious in person.

Just in case you needed a close-up of the detail and the sweetness. Just precious.

Other items were bought today, but they were bought by my mother-in-law as birthday or Christmas presents, so I don't get them yet. It was a glorious day full of too many people in narrow aisle-ways pushing and shoving and complaining----just the thing to get us all in the Christmas spirit! I would say it was productive and fun, but you can ask my comrades in the mission (Vickie, Jacqueline, and Shauna McVay) for a second opinion, if you'd like.

Announcement

Today we told our Sunday School class (and the church) that we were going to be having a baby. We have known for quite some time now, well, only a month and half or so, but it has felt like forever! We were one of the couples in charge of bringing breakfast, so naturally we decided on a healthy breakfast food---cookie cake. We went to a large, national chain shopping center to have our cookie cake made and personalized. We told them that we were announcing to our friends that we were having a baby and wanted it to say "We're Expecting!" It was going to be a couple of hours before it would be ready, so we finished shopping, went home for a while, and then went back to pick it up. I did not want to have to find a parking spot, so I dropped off Matt and let him run in and pick it up. When he came back to the car, his first words were, "how do you spell 'expecting'?" Obviously this was not a good sign. Needless to say, the word had been misspelled. We tried to decide if we wanted to try and save it or not, and we decided not to because it was kind of funny. So, this morning we took our cookie cake to Sunday School and proudly announced that "We're Exspecting!"

Amazing

God is amazing. His craftsmanship is undeniable.

In the course of the past few weeks, I have had to change doctors. It was somewhat devastating. My past doctor had been with me for years, knew me, and was just as excited and amazed that I was able to become pregnant as we were. The new doctor seemed nice enough, but I was still nervous. We went for our first appointment with the new doctor and our second appointment as expectant parents. Because I was a new patient and because of the past diagnosis, I was able to have an extra ultrasound at 12 weeks.

Here is our baby...actually resembling a baby. Amazing. 4 short weeks ago the baby was literally a blob of cells....and now....wow! We could literally see the baby's arms moving around. The baby would settle down, and then I would laugh, and the baby would get startled and start moving around again. The heart rate was 162 and we have the same due date.

Can It Be?

We were both very reserved and did not want to get too excited. We had just been told this would not happen. We had not told family yet, and we were not going to until after the first doctor's appointment. At the first doctor's appointment, we had an ultrasound and were able to hear the heartbeat. It was amazing. "So fast and so strong," said the ultrasound tech. That was very reassuring to us. However, even after seeing that little blob (or chicken nugget, as Matt has called it) on the screen and hearing the heartbeat, I was still not convinced that I was pregnant for some reason. At this appointment I was 8 weeks, and I did not feel the slightest bit pregnant. I had not gotten sick or nauseated. I had not gained any weight, and I did not feel different. Because of this, we were going to wait to tell family, but when we got in the car after the appointment, we both decided that we wanted to tell them and that we wanted to tell them NOW.

Here is our little baby. The heart rate was 156. Our due date is May 9, 2009.

God is Good

After years of being told that I would not be able to become pregnant very easily if at all, an interesting event has taken place. At the end of July, I finished up a round of blood work to test hormone levels again. The results were the same as before...not enough for ovulation, and therefore not enough to conceive a child. Matt and I assumed this would be the same testing outcome as before, and we were right. We thought about adoption, but quickly hit a road-block when most of the agencies started looking at applications when the applicants were 30 years old or had thousands and thousands of dollars just laying around. We are neither of those descriptions. We prayed, and we decided that parenthood would have to wait for a while. At the beginning of September, I had what I thought was a cold or sinus infection. Many people at work had the same symptoms, so I had decided that that is what was the matter with me. There was one difference---my co-workers were calling in for this illness, and I did not really feel THAT bad. And, (the upcoming sentence refers to nursing "lingo" and may be found gross by some) everyone else definitely had an infection whereas my snot was still clear---no infection. I attended a class and was catching up with some old friends, and one of my friends told me that congestion was her first sign that she was pregnant and advised me to take a pregnancy test. I laughed and filled her in as to why this could not be what was going on with me. On the way home from the class I stopped at the drug store and bought a pregnancy test---after all, I would not want to be pregnant and not know it, right? I took the test later that night, went downstairs to do some laundry, and when I eventually remembered that there was something waiting on me, I went upstairs and saw this...

Needless to say, I had no idea what to do. I was happy but scared, excited but reserved, and there was no way that I was telling Matt. I picked up the test and threw it in my dirty clothes hamper knowing he would not be doing laundry anytime soon. The next day I went to the drug store again and bought the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth positive pregnancy test. That was when I decided it was safe to tell Matt.