A heartbeat

Today I went in for my first pregnancy check up. It started off with my doctor getting this little handheld device and putting it on my abdomen and moving it around. All I could hear for what seemed like an eternity was noise that sounded like the wind on the ocean. My heart just sank. I was getting so nervous. Now, in reality, it was probably only a few seconds of this noise, but I just was feeling like something might be wrong... finally I heard it. It was the sweetest sound I have ever heard. A heartbeat... A baby's heartbeat. It was slightly strange, I must say, to hear a heartbeat coming from my stomach...haha... but I LOVED it! It was just 100% fantastic!

Everything was perfect! The heartbeat was strong, my uterus size was textbook perfect, and my pelvic bones are exactly the right shape and size for a hopeful flawless vaginal delivery. All good news!

The only thing that a little different was my blood type. I'm A- and I never knew that before. So, all that means is towards about half way through (or something) I'll be getting an injection that will smooth things over, just in case the baby's blood is positive and it mixes with my blood within me during delivery...or something...haha...

I also got the bill for what it will cost from my doctor and I was pleasantly surprised! I don't know what I was thinking it would be, but it was way better than I had assumed. And I absolutely love my doctor and his nurses so I'm very excited about going through this process with them.

So, I guess the next step is to wait to feel the baby move in about a month or so. How weird!

Thank you God for allowing everything to go so well so far!

Summertime!

As of yesterday, I am 11 weeks along! WHOO HOO! (sorry Kel...Wes has the camera, so it'll be a few weeks until I get another picture up.) Even though I'm nearing the end of the First Trimester, I'm still not feeling better in the morning. I don't think it qualifies as morning sickness, but maybe it does. It's hard to eat breakfast just because my stomach is unsettled. I don't feel like I'm going to throw up, but I do feel like my stomach is hurting a little bit. Hopefully that will all magically go away when I get to the Second Trimester. And people keep telling me...over and over again...that this Second Trimester is a magical time so they better be right! haha...

So I have been savoring every single summer day! Some teachers are bored out of their minds in the summer. I am not. Some teachers get summer jobs. I should, but I do not. Some teachers complain that summers are too long and students will forget what they learned. I do not. I LOVE SUMMER! So I make the most of every lazy summer day. I visit friends, I lay around, I clean house, I go to the pool, I go to the park, and I really want to start volunteer somewhere. I LOVE SUMMER!

My graduate school classes start next week, which reminds me that I need to order books. It is a beating how much they charge for college textbooks at the bookstore... so I just look at every place possible online and order them from there, as I'm sure most people do now. I'll be taking theories/methods of counseling and career counseling/guidance. So, if any of you need help in any of those areas, talk to me at the end of the summer (smile).

What a week!

So much has happened this past week! And it has all been fantastic!

1. School is OUT! WHOO HOO! Not that I don't like my job, but there is a time and place to be very excited about our wonderfully long summer and the time and place is NOW! It was fantastic! The kids left on Thursday, we left on Friday...and we don't have to be back there until August. (sigh) that is so great!

2. Memorial Day weekend: all my cousins, well, most of them, and aunts and uncles came to visit us! We have a very involved family and so it's always fun to see them and catch up. We went to the zoo, the Ranger game, church, and of course...we ate a lot. Loved it! (pictures to come...)

3. Church: Voddie Baucham preached. I've been hearing Voddie speak for a long time now. He's been at Super Summers, Hot Hearts, camps, etc., and every time I hear him I feel like he absolutley loves Jesus. He always brings up really fascinating scriptures from the Bible and explains them in a way that is quite possibly over the heads of half the audience. But, I really do like him, and it was really good for all of my family to hear it. :)

4. The pregnancy: Nothing new to report. Today I am at 9 weeks and 4 days! It's so crazy that I'm entering in the 3rd month! I did cave on the Friday of when school got out and had a teeny tiny cup of diet coke. I was kind of feeling bad about it but then I was smiling from ear to ear because a lady came in that was already showing and she had a big ole glass of diet coke to drink! So, I don't feel bad about it at all!

Well I am definitely pregnant!

Not as if I were really questioning that anymore, but I did tell Wes on the way there that I would feel really stupid if I wasn't actually pregnant.

But I LOVED being at the doctor! It was so much fun! My first order of business was the ultrasound which was my favorite part. She was fishing around in there making sure everything was ok and just talking to us. Then she turned the screen towards our faces and said, "Well there it is." And it was SO cute! She showed us little arm buds and little leg buds and it's big ole head! And it was just squirming around in there! And it was kind of hard to see at times because she said the baby was kind of to the side/back of the sack and if it would just move forward a little it would be easier to see since there wouldn't be as much fluid. I was like, oh great. We already want it to do something and it won't do it! haha...

The baby measured to be 8 weeks and 3 days old and we thought it was 8 weeks and 1 day old so we were pretty right! The due date is 12-28-07, right in time for Christmas. He said when time gets closer, if needed, we can talk about inducing on a certain date. The baby's heart rate was at 156, which she said was nice and strong and everything looks picture perfect! Thank you Jesus!

I go back in two weeks for some blood work and then two more weeks for an exam.

I loved it! It was so much fun! (sigh) now I just have to wait until the end of August to see it again!

I actually worked out!

Can you believe it? I was so proud of myself! And it wasn't just my usual take Ebony on a 30 minute walk workout, it was a 45 minute interval workout! WHOO HOO! I felt so good about myself! So, I stepped on the scale after my awesome workout and it said I gained 1 pound!

are you kidding me?!

(sigh) well, now's not the time to get freaky about the scale I suppose...apparently I'm supposed to gain 25 to 35 pounds over these next months. But still...

So I went to Half Price Books and looked through their pregnancy book section. I found a book with like 1,200 questions about pregnancy. Today I focused on all the questions about exercise. I guess that's the theme for today. It just kept reiterating how important it is to exercise. So, because I am already starting to love this little tadpole I have growing in me, I want to do the best that I can. I'm even going to try to go workout before church tomorrow! (or maybe after) ...we'll see.

I also was kind of wishing that I had a flat stomach. That way it would be totally easy to tell when I start showing. Right now if someone forced me to strip down they would think I was 4 months pregnant...I'm not. I just don't have a flat stomach...

Well, tomorrow is the beginning of week 6! I can't wait for my babycenter.com update!

8 to 9 weeks? Are you kidding me?

Today I called my doctor's office. They open at 8:30. I called at 8:29. Thankfully, someone answered. I said, "hi, I'm a patient here and on Saturday I got a positive pregnancy test." She was very nice, asked me about my period, and then we set a date. I know they hear these things probably almost every day, but I think I needed some sort of validation from her. I think I needed her to say "Yes! A positive pregnancy test means that you are absolutely, without a doubt, 100% pregnant!" Why? Why do I need that?? I just don't know... And do you really have to wait that long to go in???

So am I really contemplating buying yet another pregnancy test? YES!! HECK YES!! geez. Why am I like this? Pregnant people of the world: do you feel this way too? Am I the only one?!

I can't stop thinking about it. I pray at every free second in my head, God please please PLEASE let this baby be strong and healthy. Sometimes I say it out loud. I know a lot can happen during 9 months...especially the first trimester. (sigh) God please please please let this baby be strong and healthy!!!

Are my thoughts going to be running 100 mph during this entire pregnancy? I'll let you know...

Two Faint Lines

So yesterday morning I took a pregnancy test. And when I say "took a test" that really means that I took six of them...yep, $57 later, I was pretty sure that I was pregnant. The first day of my last period was Sunday, March 25. That makes my due date December 30, 2007. wow. This baby better be born in 2007! What a great tax write off! (oh you know you were thinking the same thing.)

I've called almost everyone that I know. But the best person I told was Wes, my husband. Wes was so cute about it. He kept saying, "Are you serious? Are you serious?" And when he finally believed me he said, "WHOOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!" hahaha...gosh I love him.

Well, today was the first day of week 5. That's really week 4 of pregnancy, but for some reason they like to confuse everyone and count the week of your period. Babycenter.com is keeping me updated on all that is going on with my growing little sac of cells. This is my first. It's probably going to be interesting.