I'm Thrilled To Announce.....

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!

We have kept this secret for the last 5 weeks or so, and it has been killing us!! We surprised the family with the news yesterday when we had them over for the Bama/Duke game. Both of our parents were in on the secret, but that was it. Like I said in my previous post, we had a lot of our family over for the game, and for a couple of birthdays. So....ya know that cake I ordered from Edgar's for the birthdays???!?!!

THIS is what it looked like:

We used it to announce our news, and it did a great job! Joseph lit the candles, brought the cake out, and started singing. As he brought it closer to Melissa (my sister-in-law and the Aunt-to-Be) and Grandpa Lovell, I kept waiting for a reaction. It wasn't long until there was a pause of silence..then a HUGE scream from Melissa!!! As soon as she screamed, I just started laughing and crying at the same time! It was the perfect way to announce it and everyone was so incredibly excited! Evidently, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law had a bet going about when we'd have a baby. Adam thought it'd be around this time next year. I told him if I had anything to do with it, I would NOT be 9 months pregnant in the heat of Summer! Kudos to those who do it! Now, there's a bet going between a few people on whether it will be a boy or a girl. HA! I don't really have a feeling either way...yet, anyway. I may start to get a feeling over the next several weeks, but not right now.

Of course, I took pictures of the pregnancy tests I took....I took about 5 total :-), but only took pictures of a few.

And because everyone likes to see for themselves....

I took these two tests first. Notice they are faint lines. I hate traditional tests for this very reason. They're too subjective for me! Even though I knew it was positive, there's still something awesome about seeing that little word pop up on the screen! SOOOO....a couple days later I took THIS:

Ah, MUCH better! Can't deny that one!

And because I'm a little crazy, I may have taken another test or two over the next several days. Now this next picture is one I seriously debated about putting up. But, hey, I guess I better get used to people seeing me in awkward situations, right? What do I mean, you ask? Well....see for yourself:


Yep, that's right.....NO MAKEUP!! Dark circles and all! If you know me, you know I go NOWHERE without makeup, therefore, NO ONE sees me without it. I don't even go to the beach or the gym without makeup on....yes, I'm serious! But, I wanted to capture this moment (even if it is the third positive test I took) so I figure I might as well share it. :-)

So, tomorrow I will be 9 weeks! Hard to believe I'm already almost in the double-digits. It has already gone by so fast. At about 5 1/2 weeks I started having very light (like, EXTREMELY light) spotting. Sorry....nothing is really TMI to me anymore. This can happen in a healthy pregnancy, but it can also be a sign that something is wrong. Well, after about the 4th day of it (AGAIN, VERY LIGHT, and sporadic) I was freaked and called the doctor. They had me come in to see the on-call doctor. They took some blood to check my beta levels, progesterone, etc. The doctor checked me out and said he was pretty certain everything was OK, but we would see what the bloodwork showed. Well, my beta levels were good, but I would have to go back 2 days later to make sure they doubled, but my progesterone was toward the lower side.(Which, apparently, is a common problem) So, they started me on Prometrium, a progesterone supplement, which I have been taking for about 3 weeks now, and will continue to take until probably the second trimester when the placenta takes over. This could have been causing the issues I was having. After the second round of bloodwork, they determined that my levels WERE doubling (PRAISE THE LORD!), but they still wanted me to call and schedule an ultrasound JUST to be sure. A few days later I went in for the ultrasound. Joseph couldn't go, so I had my mom go with me. I had to tell her the news the day before, because I was so scared and had to talk to someone (besides Joseph). I didn't want her to find out that way, but I'm so glad she was there with me through it all. As soon as the ultrasound tech said "Everything looks great!", the tears started flowing! I couldn't control them, so I didn't even try to! I was exactly as far along as I thought I was, which was 6 weeks, 4 days, and we got to see the little heartbeat..beautiful sight!! That moment changed my life and made all(well, most) of my worries go away! The doctor said that there was a small bruise underneath the gestational sac that was more than likely causing the spotting and it would reabsorb so things should be fine. Sure enough, she was right. I actually hadn't had any that day or really the day before, and I haven't had any since! I have been able to enjoy this pregnancy and stop worrying so much. (But I am a worry wart by nature so no worrying is never gonna happen!) So there's a little information to catch you up on things so far. I don't have another appointment until next Thursday, 9/30, where I'll finally get to see my ACTUAL doctor! :) I've only seen the on-call docs at my appointments so far. But they're great too!

For the most part, I am feeling OK. Mornings are the worst, but even those aren't too bad most days. It's mostly just nausea for now. I've found that if I let myself get too hungry (which happens a lot faster now), it quickly turns into "OMG, I'm absolutely going to hurl if I don't get something to eat!!:..But then there's the fact that the idea of eating most things makes me want to hurl too! Sooo....I've been eating a lot of dry carbs. Chips, crackers, pretzels, etc. I still eat real food though too...mostly at lunch, and a little at dinner. Breakfast is usually saltines or dry cereal.

Well, you're mostly caught up. I will do weekly updates, including pictures. (which are mostly bloat right now, if anything) I'll do my first one tomorrow for 9 weeks.
I will leave you with a couple last pictures. I saved the best for last.....

This is from yesterday after we announced it to the fam! NO, it's NOT twins!! Just two different views of the babe! HA!


Ultrasound from 9/3/2010 - 6 weeks, 4 days. The most beautiful picture I've ever seen!!

Joseph and I feel incredibly blessed that God has given us this gift and we do not take it for granted. We decided to start trying back in May. Even though it only took a few months, every month that test was negative it was devastating. But I know that God always has better plans than we have for ourselves and I am so thankful to Him!
I'll do my first weekly update tomorrow!