Southern Simplicity: Pregnancy Memories

I'm going to try to recount 5.5 months of pregnancy here so that we can remember the milestones we have crossed with our sweet baby girl!!

Back in the beginning of March I took a home test because I had been nothing but exhausted for weeks! I was chalking it up to high stress and not enough sleep, but a friend recommended I test just in case. That test came back negative. So I was back to believing it was from stress and no sleep.

First part of April I started to feel queasy every single day. Several times I just thought I was getting sick and the rest I again chalked it up to extreme stress. I wasn't losing weight, I wasn't hanging over the toilet, I just felt sick all the time. As long as I ate something I was okay, so I was eating constantly.

I'm not sure when it started but sometime between April and May I started waking up around 4am every single day having to use the bathroom. It was really starting to get old and messing up what little sleep I was getting. Finally, on a Saturday morning, May 19, I had had enough and decided to take another test just to let myself rest easy that we weren't pregnant. Well, I took that test and a few minutes later I was shocked to see that plus sign. No way, I thought. Really? Us? Now? Oh my goodness, what were we going to do? I went back to bed but laid awake for the next several hours contemplating how to tell my sweet hubby that we were going to be parents.

First plan was to wait til his birthday, which was a week away, and make a "baby" gift for him to open (a bottle, a pacifier, a bib, or the like). If you know me, you know I can't keep a secret for very long from people I love, so while we were at Target that day I bought a blank card that said Congratulations on the front of it. When we got home I secured the pregnancy test inside the card (along with the second test I took "just to be sure") and brought it downstairs with me. After dinner, I handed it to him and said, Happy Early Birthday. I think he was really shocked because he asked me if I was joking!! I wrote inside, "...not what you were expecting, was it?" As it slowly sank in what I was telling him, we kinda stared at each other in shock!!

I made an appointment with the health department (since we have no insurance and no money) for a pregnancy test to confirm and also to sign up for WIC/SNAPS programs. After a very long process of waiting, they finally called me back into the nurses office with the results. Yes, we were very pregnant!! LOL! I went over to DSS to start the Medicaid process so I could get a doctors appointment set up for an ultrasound and prenatal care.

That night we called my parents and told them. I'm not sure who was most excited!! Over the next week I called family and close friends and began to share the news!! We were so excited even as we were still in shock! I began searching for a doctor who would accept Medicaid new patients and finally found one, but had to wait til the Medicaid was officially processed. So nearly a month after finding out I was prego, I finally got a doctors appointment on June 14th.

Somehow we agreed on a nickname for her. Phillip had drawn a really cute baby turtle scene and as soon as I saw it I was like, "Turtle!" and it kinda stuck. To further make it stick, Phillip bought me/her a cute TY turtle and I found my book, "One Tiny Turtle" . I also found my book, "The Puffalumps Pillow Poems" , both books I had had as a child.

Going into the appointment I was incredibly nervous because I had no idea what to expect. It was exciting to see the baby on the ultrasound and I remember laying there trying to figure out what I was seeing! The nurse asked us if we wanted to know the sex and we of course said yes! (Although by now we had agreed that it was most likely a girl!) The nurse confirmed that it was a girl and that I was 15 weeks and 6 days...one day away from FOUR months!! Meaning I had basically finished up my whole first trimester. The rest of the appointment is mostly a blur as it seems that there was a lot of information to remember and a lot going on!!

The nurse had given us several ultrasound pictures and we stopped at Target right after the appointment and picked up a small, pink photo album to put them in! Her Daddy picked out her first blanket, complete with a cute little monkey attached, and together we picked out matching onesies for her. (The week before this I had stopped at a consignment sale and picked up several pooh bear onesies!)

That weekend we drove to VA to pick up our girls for the week. On the way home when we stopped for lunch, we told the girls they were going to have a baby sister!! I'm not sure if they completely got it or not but I can't wait to get a picture of all three of our girls together!!

We have been busy making our baby registry, picking out a name, planning her nursery (finally decided on a theme!!), and I've been doing a lot of research into breastfeeding, birth, baby gear, etc!! We do plan to breastfeed as long as we possibly can--no formula here I hope!! I do plan to have as natural of a birth as possible..no induction, no c-section, no epidurals, etc! People think I'm crazy but thanks to a few well educated friends who believe in more than the "traditional hospital birth", I've learned the CONS of these things and do not want to expose myself or my baby to them if they are not needed. Medicaid doesn't cover a home birth so we will be going to the local hospital but I intend to have a birth plan written up and ready to go!!

My Mom and sister are planning my baby shower back home and I cannot wait! Not only for the shower but also to see all my friends!! I cannot wait to see them and I'm excited about what "Turtle" may receive!!

In the meantime, it seems that many of my friends are pregnant too and most are due around the same time or within a few months! There will be lots of babies on facebook this winter!! :)

Tonight, Phillip got to feel her kick/punch when he laid his head on my belly!! It was an awesome feeling! I've been feeling her flutter around for probably about two weeks now, but this was the first time she was active for Daddy!!!

Needless to say we are super excited about our baby girl!! I cannot wait to meet her around the end of November, first of December. She will come when she's ready and who knows? She may just share a birthday with her Grandpa (Dec 7th). Her "official" due date is November 30, but since that is technically only 38 weeks and pregnancies are actually 40 weeks (10 months), I expect her to be an early December baby. She already has a mind of her own, though, so whenever she decides to come out into this crazy world, we will be waiting!!

Here are some ultrasounds pics from 16 weeks and a picture of her nursery theme!!