So here's how the pregnancy has been going so far. I found out on December 10th. I woke up that day with a familiar ache in my back. I felt pregnant. Although it was kind of early to be testing, I decided to take an early pregnancy test anyway. It did not come up positive right away, but after a couple minutes, I saw a VERY faint line! I was so excited!!! That night Alex and I went to the mall to get a Christmas ornament for daddy. We found one with a cute little boy sitting in a chair holding a baby. I had the man in the store personalize it to say, "Big Brother Alex." They wrapped it for us and we took it home. Matt did not get home until after Alex and I went to bed that night so we had to wait till the next night to give it to him.
The next evening Matt got home from work and I told Matt that I wanted Alex to open his Christmas gift from mommy and daddy. He was confused as to why I would want him to open it now instead of on Christmas morning. I told him it was an ornament and that I wanted to put it on the tree. He had plans with the guys that night so he said, "Why don't we do it tomorrow night when we actually decorate the tree?" I felt defeated, but had to play it cool so he wouldn't catch on that anything was out of the ordinary. We ate dinner and then he started playing with Alex for a bit before he left. I had the gift right there as well as the video camera, so I said, "Oh come on, you guys are right there anyway, let's just have him open it now." So finally he did, and here was his reaction:
So once daddy knew, it was time to tell the rest of the family. I had this great vision of putting Alex in a 'Big Brother' shirt and just taking off his coat and letting everyone eventually notice. Well, the big brother shirt I ordered took FOREVER to come in and I was losing my patience. We NEEDED to tell the family or I was going to go crazy. We DID wait for the shirt to come, but I was not patient enough to just let him go . . . it was a little forced. Anyway, everyone found out and everyone was so excited about this little life that would be joining us at the end of the summer:
Grandma Gerry and Paw Paw Rick:
Here's the part that was a little forced. When we went to Gram and Poppy's house, Gram was in the other room getting ready for church. As I said, I couldn't wait, so we asked Poppy to take off Alex's coat. I ended up having to go into the other room with Alex as my mom was still getting dressed (therefore no camera) to let her know. She was so excited. When she saw the shirt she said, "Are we having a baby?" So much joy came from me responding yes to that question. Oh, and a little background to the following video. I had to have a surgery about a week before. They do a pregnancy test before surgery and it came back negative. That's why my dad says, "Wait a minute, I thought you were just tested." Anyway, here's his reaction (turn volume way up, I was far away with the camera):
We told the rest of the family off camera, but they were all equally excited. It was a great Christmas and this baby was the best Christmas gift I could get!
Of course we had a wait a while to announce the pregnancy to "the masses" (aka Facebook). I decided Valentines day would be a great day to make that announcement. Since I have been so into baking lately I decided to make a cookie bouquet to announce it. Here is what I posted:
Matt and I have a new Valentine this year:
I received a lot of really nice comments and so many "Likes". I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life who are so excited about my new son or daughter!
So now that the news is out, I have been getting a lot of questions. The most common question is how are you feeling? I had a bit of a rough first trimester this time. I remember being pregnant with Alex and not feeling much different at all. With this one, not so much. I was nauseated quite often, my back was achy and I was absolutely exhausted. Luckily the nausea has subsided now and I have a bit more energy. I don't think my energy level will get back to normal with me being pregnant and trying to take care of a toddler, but it's at least improved! So overall I'm feeling great now, but it was a rough start!
Another question I seem to get a lot is if we are going to find out the sex this time. Honestly, with Alex I wasn't so sure which I wanted to do, so I just decided to go for it and wait to be surprised. That was such an amazing experience for me that I definitely want to do it again. So, sorry for anyone who is just dying to know . . . we won't find out till August!
For anyone wondering if I'm showing, the answer is YES! When they say you pop out a lot quicker with your second one, they weren't kidding! My mom even asked Dr. Bale to move the doppler around my belly a bit to see if we could detect another heartbeat. For the record, there is only one! But yes, my belly is out there and I am loving it! As I mentioned earlier, we haven't had the time or the energy to do weekly bump pictures with this pregnancy, but we did take some when I was 16 weeks. (Compare to my pregnancy with Alex at 16 weeks - Yes, I'm bigger this time, Yowza!)
So that's about it for today. We had the 20 week ultrasound yesterday! I'll post more about that including ultrasound pictures as well as 20 week bump shots as soon as I have some time to scan the photos in.
If you have read this far, I just wanted to thank you so much for all the love and support you have given to me. I'll do my best to keep you updated on this baby as well as Alex. Much Love!
