The pictures....

Yesterday I had my first doctor's appointment, and it went really well. They checked everything, ya know all those things that make you really uncomfortable, yeah, all that! lol. They originally calculated my due date as Oct 13th, but then asked if I wanted to see the baby and hear the heartbeat. I said yes! And when they measured the baby on the sonogram, they measured the pregnancy at exactly 8 week (instead of 7) and changed my due date to October 8th. The picture to the right is little baby Pearson. If you look close, there is a little plus sign at each end of the light spot. The left one is the head and the right one is the booty! It wasn't moving much, but at one point it started to wiggling on the screen which was really cool. My mom was with me and she was all giggly and teary eyed and I was totally thinking that she was this huge dork, but then I got to see this next picture. This one is the heartbeat picture. They turned the sound on and I was able to hear the little 'thump, thump, thump' of my babies heart and then I started crying! :) If you look at the bottom of the picture, you can actually see the baby's heartbeat, and they said that it was really good, because it was strong and consistent. As you can see the beats are all about the same intensity and distance from each other. Little baby Pearson as a heartbeat of 175 beats per minute, even this early! :) Needless to say that I was really excited. I called Mitch when we left the doctor's office and he was really happy that I got to see the baby, neither of us thought we would be able to so early. Thankfully we live in a wonderful time of technology that has allowed us this blessing! I have my next appointment in 4 weeks (March 27th) and then the appointment after that we'll get to find out the sex of the baby. (Maybe then, Mitch and I might be able to agree a baby name or two!) I still have to do some lab work in the next week or so, but I doubt that that will be even half as exciting as the sonogram.

Stop reading now, if you don't want to know the intimate details of how they were able to see the baby so early....lol

So I had read about this in my pregnancy book and was seriously dreading it. Its called a vaginal sonogram, because they actually insert the end of the machine up the vaginal canal to the uterine wall. Apparently the uterus is still down in the pelvis area this early in pregnancy, so an abdominal sonogram cannot see anything. But against the uterine wall, they can see the baby. So here I was thinking that they were going to attempt to stuff this rectangular hand piece that they normally use on abdomens up there. But thankfully it isn't that at all. Its this long cylinder, about the diameter of a tampon, so it wasn't bad at all. Just so that everyone understands. haha.

The First of Many..

Tomorrow I have my first doctor's appointment and I'm so excited. It should be very interesting. I want to know so much. Most of which I probably won't get tomorrow, but that's okay. I want to know my due date. I want to know if its twins. I want to know if it is a boy or girl, or two boys or two girls or whatever. I want to know what kind of pregnancy I'll have. I want to know how I'm going to feel, what it will look like, how it will act, if he will look like his father, or if she will look like me!?!?

It has been a long week and I'm exhausted. I definitely need my prenatal vitamins so that I won't be so tired. I also need to stop feeling like I can't eat. I'm not throwing up but I'm not ever hungry. I have to make myself eat, which doesn't work very well. I got the house all cleaned up tonight, and most of the laundry, so that I don't have any work to do this weekend! :) I'm so excited, I can't sleep but I'd better try. I'll update tomorrow with all the new info!!!

Already time to start a new week....

The past several days have been VERY busy and exhausting! Not that I don't love staying busy and being tired but it gets a little old! It started on Thursday, after working all day, I came home and there were ants all over my kitchen floor. I spent 20 minutes cleaning that up and waiting on my mom. She has offered to come and help keep the house up once every week or two, so that I don't get behind. She got here and we scrubbed the bathroom and did some laundry and I can honestly say that it was hard to even walk to the bedroom that night for bed, because I was sooooo tired!

I woke up in my sleep 2 or 3 times because my right arm was numb or "asleep". Which was really weird because there was no weight on it. When I was getting ready for work it happened a few more times for no reason, so I called my OBG-YN and talked to a nurse who told me that it wasn't related to my pregnancy but that I needed to see a doctor because it wasn't normal and we need to know the cause of it. So I got all emotional and scared and started bawling. :) I couldn't get a hold of Mitch because he was in a meeting so I told the lady at the building to tell him it was really important. When I told him what the nurse said he told me to tell work, and go to the doctor. I was pulling in to work at this point because it took me so long to get ahold of him, so I just went inside, red puffy eyes and all, and told Steve (one of my managers) what was going on, and I didn't even have to ask, he just told me to get to a doctor. I called my mom and headed to her house, and I let her make the calls to the doctor's office. They couldn't see me, so we went to the emergency room. After talking with the doctor, blood work, lab work and an ultrasound of my neck and arm, they determined that the problem was being caused by a pinched nerve I had a couple of years ago. The nerve is in my neck, on the right side, and still bothers me every couple of months, and apparently, when it gets tight, it causes the muscle to tighten around the nerves and blood vessels traveling into my right arm. With the increased blood flow because of the pregnancy, it was causing the numbness which it usually doesn't. They told me that I have to ice it more often, as well as put heat on it if it gets tight. Also Mitchell gets more massage duties! LOL. We didn't leave the hospital until almost 4, after a LONG DAY (especially since I didn't even get a room, I was on a bed, in a hospital gown, in the hallway.)

We stopped by my Aunt Cathy and Uncle Mike's house since we were already down there, and I got to tell them about the pregnancy. They were really excited. My cousin Kelly arrived shortly after we did, so I got to tell her too! :) In addtion we got to see Kelly's adoreable little boys, Luke and Ben and they were so sweet!

Mom and I had dinner together and then I headed home, fully exhausted, and fell into bed...

Saturday was no less busy. I got up at 10ish and headed to my grandma's house. We had lunch together and did a little shopping. It was good to see her, because she is such a sweetheart, but I wasn't feeling as good as I would have like to. I'm not sure what it was but I felt like I was about to throw up all day. :( After I left Gran's house, I went to see and hang out with my friend Starr. Sasha had already gotten there, when I drove up and we got to spend some time catching up. Starr wanted to 'touch my belly' and I let her, but only because she's special! I'm still not loving this whole 'everyone wants to touch my stomach thing'. lol. I guess I'd better get used to it. :) Her friend Cheryl from Gainesville came up and we scrapbooked for a couple hours, before I had to meet my inlaws for dinner. We went to Longhorn's, which was nice. Unfortunately we found out that Mitch's dad was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. That's not good, but I'm sure that with a few diet changes and the meds they gave him, he'll be fine. Our nieces were there and they were sweet. Alana said she wanted to spend the night with "Uncle Mitch and Aunt Jen." So we brought her home with us. She was such a big girl about getting ready for bed, and going to sleep.

When she got up this morning, Mitch was already up, and said that when she came out of the bedroom, the dogs both were in her face trying to kiss her. She was pushing the hair out of her face and said "Good Morning Doggies!" Mitch couldn't believe how happy she was when she got up. When she came in the bedroom with me, she sighed and said "Its such a wonderful day!" She's so cute! We got ready and went to church. She had a good time and Dr Brunson's message was good. We met my dad for lunch at Chili's and then took Alana home. When we got home, Mitch wanted to wait a while and so we didn't lay down for a nap until almost three, which is why we didn't wake up until after seven and why its almost 11 on a Sunday night and I'm not even tired! I'd better hit the sack or I'll be up all night! :)

What a weekend....

So today is Tuesday, February 17th. Mine and Mitchell's second wedding anniversary. :) We both worked today and won't celebrate until this coming weekend but its exciting none the less.

This past weekend, we were supposed to start doing our baby shopping (ie doing some comparing of prices and narrowing down our preferences) but we found out on Thursday that my family was giving my uncle a birthday party in Lakeland, so we stayed home all morning, drove down there at noon, and got to the party around 5. My cousins had been cooking all day and the food was GREAT! We spent a few hours eating and visiting with my family that I don't get to see that often. It was really nice. Every family member seemed to come up to me and say the same thing "So I heard you're going to be a mom! Congratulations, we're so happy for you!" lol. It was really nice. We didn't get home until midnight and we were soo tired. When we tried to go to bed, Casey (the dog we're dog-sitting) decided she didn't want to sleep and stayed up barking most of the night. She and Mitch were in the other room so he got almost no sleep and therefore didn't go to church with me on Sunday. :(

I had lunch with my family after church. When I went home Mitch was just getting up. We watched tv together for a couple of hours. Nicole, Mitch's coworker, called and said that she wanted to have dinner with us, so we met her at the Japanese Steakhouse and ate with her and her kids. (Her husband was on duty all day.... I think she was craving some adult interaction! lol).

Yesterday, my sister in law came up to my work to see me. She brought the girls (my nieces) up also, and they were sooo cute! :) It was great to see them. Now I have some cleaning to do and I really don't want to! haha! We have Casey until tomorrow afternoon. Hope it goes well! :)

One of those days....

So yesterday seemed to go by so slowly that I couldn't wait to get out of work. I went to the gym after work and spent 20 minutes doing cardio before my yoga/pilaties class started. By the time I left the gym I was nice and energized (or tired, those mean the same right?). I came home and cleaned because this afternoon through Wednesday, we are dog sitting. I had dinner with my parents and then Mitch came home and we went to bed.

The dogs were being good but then we remembered that I hadn't made Mitch's lunch yet, so we got up to do that, and when we went back to bed, the dogs didn't want to lay down. But after a few minutes, Toby got with the program and laid down between Mitch and me. Tama however didn't seem to want to cooperate. So I put her in her cage. About an hour later (11:00 PM) She started barking. Like a lot. This woke Toby and he got out of the bed. I tried to leave the bedroom while leaving Toby in the bedroom, but he ran between my legs and straight to the kitchen (where the cages are). I let Tama out of her cage and she went to the sliding glass doors as if she needed to go outside. I put their leashes on them and opened the door. Toby ran so hard that he pulled his leash out of my hand, resulting in me (in my underware) having to run like 5 steps out my back door to pick it up. I looked around and didn't see any reason for him to act that way. I tried pulling them both inside, and Tama wouldn't come. She was just standing on the back porch, when this little dockson came walking up.

I now understood why Tama had been barking and why Toby had run so hard out the door, but that didn't help any. I knew who this dog was because it is the third time that he's shown up on my back porch in the middle of the night. The other two times were on nights that were colder than 45 degrees. His house is about a mile from mine on the other side of the neighborhood. So when Tama came inside, so did Bailey. I was so mad because, obviously, my two dogs were not going to calm down anytime soon, especially while Bailey was anywhere close. By this time its almost midnight. I grabbed my robe, and got in the car with all three dogs, and with out my glasses and drove to Bailey's house. I stood on thier front porch for 15 minutes ringing thier doorbell and knocking, but no one came. I came home and had to put both Tama and Toby in thier cages, and Bailey in the front bathroom. I then attempted to go back to sleep, which didn't happen for almost 2 hours because the dogs were wining, barking and otherwise making noise.

I again tried to return Bailey this morning, to no avail. So I sit here now, with three dogs and have to leave for work soon. As soon as I get off work, the Allens are droping off Casey (an 80 pound Golden Retreiver) which will bring my grand total to four. I might actually go crazy before today is over. The earliest that I can attempt to return Bailey again is 6, when I get back from driving the Allens to the airport. Lets just say that I have a few choice words for Bailey's owners, because they don't have a fenced in yard, but they have one of those invisible fences, but they don't keep the collar on Bailey except when they take him outside. What happens is that they open the door to go out, he slips outside (without the collar) and takes off running. Instead of going after him, they let him go and wait for him to come back. If it happens right before bed, they just go to bed and leave him out all night. My problem is that they do this on nights that are colder than 45 degrees, so little Bailey walks the mile to my house and stands outside wining until my dogs hear him, wake up, wake me up and we let him in, and then I'm the one up in the middle of the night while they are sleeping tight. GRRRRR....I don't need this stress while I'm pregnant!

Busy Sunday....

Yesterday was the Sunday of Pastors Conference at our church. Which means awesome music, preachers and very full pews. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Mitch and I went early to church and went to the Newlywed class to let everyone know that we're pregnant. It was so exciting! Sunday School was short, since everyone wanted to get to the services. Mom has saved us seats, since she had gone to hear Paige Patterson. I told Mr Don and Allison and they were so happy for us. (That's our Deacon and his daughter, we've sat on the same pew as them for almost 15 years, so we claim them as our own!)

After church we had lunch with my family and my Grandma Gwen came. It was very nice. She brought a stuffed animal (puppy) for "one of the babies" (as she put it). It is so cute. When we got home, Mitch went to sleep and I tried not to, unsuccessfully, because when I went to wake him up for the evening services, I fell asleep! Mom and Josh called me at 6 and were like "They just let out the early service, get up and get on the road!" So I did. Mitch stayed home though.

I got there in time to see Charles Billingsley sing "Midnight Cry" before Dr Vines got up to preach. It was just like reminiscing. He was so good. Not that we don't love Dr Brunson, because we do, it is just soo nice to hear Dr Vines again. We ran into the Korns and Daniel Petlansky after church, and I told them too! :) (I just can't keep this to myself!) Jenny Korn told me that she never found out the sex of the babies before birth. I can't imagine not knowing!!

Then Mom, Josh and I went to Bono's for dinner, just like old times. It was fun, because now that we're all grown up, it is rare that we get to hang out just the three of us. It was really nice. After that, I stopped at the Waller's again so that I could see and tell Tara myself. She was so happy for me! And it was nice to spend some time with them.

Today I'm volunteering at Pastor's Conference in the Internet Cafe, so I'll be there until 3ish, and then might stay for the evening service, we'll see!

Sweet Congratulations...

Saturdays are supposed to be relaxing days, but I always seem to have something to do. :) And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I went to Marie's Bridal Shower and her family all congratulated me. That was very nice. I also stopped by the Waller's house. Mrs Darlene was the only one home but I told her anyway! She was really excited and I'm going to have to go back and hang out with her and Tara to catch up.

When I got home, Mitch and I spent a few hours just hanging out with each other. We decided to go see a movie and grabbed a bite to eat just before it started. When the movie was almost over, my phone started vibrating. I looked at the number and asked Mitch if he knew any 931 numbers. I didn't answer it and they left me a message. When we got out, I checked the message and it was my cousin Becca, congratulating me, because she had just heard the news. I called her back and we talked for 20 minutes. She's such a sweetheart and I love her so much! It definitely made my day. :)

Tomorrow is church and Pastor's Conference. I'm not sure if we're going to spread the news, but I also don't think I can keep it too quiet! :)

Our first baby gift...

Today was another hectic Friday (so far, at least). I worked my behind off at work and was ready to leave, when Tiffany Corbin came in and handed me a very little pair of white socks. Said she had picked them up for the baby! :) I was so excited. I know they are just a pair of baby socks but they reminded me of the miracle that is growing inside of me!

Tonight we're supposed to have dinner with Kris and Marie so that we can tell them. Its been killing me that we haven't told them, but I thought Mitch and I should tell them together since they're our best couple friends.

Last night Mitch got off work earlier than normal and we had dinner and talked about the baby. We're so excited and still digesting the reality that we are going to be parents in just 9 short months! :)

Starting to notice....

Today Mitchell turned 29. I got up and made him cinnamon rolls, even though they didn't turn out quite right. I'm so happy for him and glad that we are going to have a child (or two) before he turns 30.

Today is also the first day that I really feel pregnant! I am soooo tired! I must have yawned constantly all day. I also had a little dizziness and nausea. I don't have any morning sickness, but I had a table of guys today who must have worked at some sort of gas company because they smelt like gasoline and every time I went to their table, I wanted to throw up! That's something I'll have to get used too. As people around the restaurant found out I was pregnant, they started pushing food at me! :) Now that's something I can get used too!

After work I went to San Marco and met my sister. She was so excited to hear that I am pregnant! :) I also called my grandma Gwen and told her and she was excited too! She said she's been praying for me to have twins for months. That makes me really hopeful....maybe it will be twins after all! :) (Lord willing).

Spreding the word...

Today, we started spreading the word! :) Always a fun thing. Mitch wanted to tell his parents, so he called them. He couldn't get his mom on the phone, so he called and told his dad. Jeanne called me and congratulated me. I told my mom yesterday and she was excited but I knew I wanted Josh and Dad to know sooner than later so I set up dinner with them tonight. We were all sitting together and I said, "Dad, I need you to come and get the baby furniture and take it back to Mom's so that you and Josh can strip and stain it." and of course Josh was like "No way!! I'm not doing that" and Mom was across the table mouthing the words "Ask why." So Josh did and I said, "Because I can't do it while I'm pregnant." Josh started crying! It was so sweet! Dad said "No you're not!" (at least 3 times). And then he cried too!

I called my Aunt Betty and Aunt Doris and told them both. I'm sure it won't take long for the word to spread. :) I still have to make a few more calls to make but I'm a little tired so it might have to wait!

Great News

This morning I got up expecting to start my period. I figured I'd take a pregnancy test, not expecting anything, so much so that I sat it down and went about getting dressed and almost forgot to check it! :) I went to throw something away and saw it, with a plus sign in the window. I was so shocked that the look on my face was hilarious. (I know this because I immediately looked at myself in the bathroom mirror!! :) ) I then literally jumped up and down screaming silently. I opened the door to the bedroom (as Mitch was still in bed) and said "Honey...I just took a pregnancy test and it's positive!" His response was "I don't believe you." (stated with a slight slur as he literally had been asleep). When I showed him the test, he smiled. I ran back into the bathroom, set down the test and ran back to the bed. I laid across him and kissed him and then laughed mischievously and said "Maybe it will be twins or did you hear about that lady who had octuplets? That could be fun!" He said "That's not a baby, that's like a litter and we're not dogs!" Just the kind of humor that I love him for! We are so excited.

I have to set up an appointment at the obgyn to confirm but I'm pretty sure! Its actually really funny because just last night we were watching tv at like 10:30 and I decided I was hungry. I went into the kitchen, at a strawberry, a pinch of shredded cheese and then was looking around the door for something else. I noticed at the bottom of the door that I had an empty jar of okra that my mom had made. I picked it up and drank most of the juice, and then made myself some chicken flavored pasta. While the pasta was cooking I got a bottle of water out and thought to myself "Wow, those are some really funny food combos, you'd almost think I was pregnant!" And then I find out this morning... I AM!! :)

The Lord is just so gracious and giving, and we are so thankful to be given the opportunity (hopefully) to raise a child (or two!) in His Word and His way!