It' a ... PARTY!

So I think the biggest looming question when you become pregnant is,

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

When I would respond, "no," it was quickly followed by,

"Are you going to find out?"

The answer to the second question was always, "yes."  I just can't imagine not finding out if another person (the doctor and the ultrasound tech) knew.  I mean, if I am going to be inches from the screen that shows me, how can I not!?

So first, here's what the old wives tales say:

Carrying high or low: BOY
(I'm carrying low)
Cravings: BOY
(I wouldn't call them cravings, but steak (for a week in May), grapefruit, and sour pickle spears)
Breakouts?: BOY
Nope
Hands Chapped?: BOY
My skin has been sooo dry.
Husband's weight: BOY
If anything, he's lost weight.  Could be the 100+ weather.
Chinese Gender Calendar: BOY

Morning Sickness: GIRL
How about all day sickness
Even/ Odd age/years: GIRL
27, 2011 both odd = girl
Heart rate: GIRL
Always above 140 (so far)

Wedding Ring test: Since I've read that circle means girl on one site and boy on another, I'm not sure.  It was a pendulum over my hand and a big circle over my belly.

And this test said I was 60% girl, 40% boy.

Some people say that the mom knows.  I did not know.
People would ask me what I wanted.  I seriously was happy with either!  I could see myself as baseball mom; I could see myself with a dancer.  I could see myself with a bookworm boy or girl, or a rambunctious boy or girl.

I started off wanting a girl.  Then I convinced myself that I was having a boy.  The week before the ultrasound I started thinking of baby in the feminine.  I had a dream where she was born early, but healthy, and I started calling her by a female name.  A couple of times when thinking about baby I would think "her."  But once I started doing that I started to think, "if we eventually have a boy and a girl, I'd prefer that the boy were older."

So we had the ultrasound on Wednesday August 17th, and baby totally cooperated with revealing the sex.  Since hub's b-day is on the 22nd and he randomly had a Saturday night off, I decided to plan a party!  I love having people over!  Hubs started calling it the "sex party." Everyone we told that to thought it was hilarious.  I could not however, bring myself to actually write "sex" on an invitation, so it remained in the file name only.

Here's what the invite looked like (names and details of location changed):

So we didn't tell anyone if it was a boy or girl till Saturday.  Well that's not totally true, I told my sister, who is a huge pain, and threw a pout-fest the week prior. The truth is I really did want to tell someone, and who better? Sorry mom, I love you too!

We told our families at lunch on Saturday, which also served as a bit of a b-day lunch since my dad & hub's dad's b-days are the same week.  But on to the party ...

I wanted to think of a fun way to "reveal" the sex to everyone, and I'm a really big fan of games.  I was planning on doing a big word jumble and handing out letters, and making people figure out a phrase, but I couldn't think of anything creative or funny.  Hubs was being no help at all so I finally said, "I know you're going to think of something hilarious on Saturday night or Sunday morning, and then I'm going to be pissed.  So instead, think of something now!"  He had a 45 min drive, and 15 mins later he called back, "I've got it.  It's a mix between Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.  I've already got some categories and questions."   He's awesome!

We had 5 categories:

Movies with Babies
Babies in Music
Famous Babies
Babies in Television
The Pen is Mightier (thank you SNL)

We had 2 teams (girls vs boys).  One person would come up and spin a wheel, and have to answer the question corresponding to the number.  If they got it wrong the question would go to the other team who could work together to guess the answer (like Family Feud).  If neither team knew the answer, nothing happened.  When a right answer was given the team could guess a letter.  The phrase we had created could only be guessed after a winning answer was given by the team.  The girls totally dominated this one.  Here's what it revealed:

Yes, this is a Harry Potter reference.

IT'S A BOY!!

We had such a fun time at the party, and are so glad so many people could come (although we missed those who couldn't).  Here's some cute pics.

Yummy Dairy-free cake (and most of the food), made by C-Store!

And here is a picture from the ultrasound!

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Back

So what's great about the fact that no one knows about this blog is that I don't have to apologize for my absence!

To sum up the pregnancy to date:
MAY - so queasy, so tired.  I literally was thinking, "what have I done?" "have I made a huge mistake?" "what is this parasite sucking all of the life out of me!?"  If I wasn't working or actively engaged in an activity outside my home, I was asleep.  I only ate bland comfort foods, some fruit (grapefruit sounded so good, but I don't think I ever had any), and some veggies (I definitely loved super tender/slightly overdone steamed broccoli).  I could not handle the thought of fresh cilantro or spicy foods.

JUNE - somewhere during a rehearsal just before recital I made it over some sort of hump.  My body decided that although it was tired, it would persevere if needed.  I felt like I was quite a rockstar after making it through 2 very long days of dress rehearsal and recital, but it did take me 4 days to fully recover!  The stomach was still unsettled most of the day, but I was able to enjoy a greater variety of foods, and nap time was down to a more reasonable number and was not everyday.  I did take one road trip to Austin with my parents, and questioned my sanity in deciding to drive to MN in 2 weeks time.  We had an appointment on the 28th, which marked the last full week of my first trimester!  The heartbeat was strong, somewhere in the 150s.  Some say this is a sign that it's a girl.  ?

JULY - we started the month with a long venture up to MN for my cousin's wedding.
Day 1: we traveled to St. Louis on the 4th. Once we were checked in and had a small nap we walked from the hotel toward the arch down market st and through the parks to eat, and catch some fireworks.

Day 2: St. Louis brewery, visited Hubs' great-grandfather's old house, White Castle (I stayed with just fries, loaded as they may have been), Forest Park, the Basilica, naps, the arch (really just walked through the park, we'd both already been up), and a Cardinals game!

Day 3: Drive to MN, Dinner with family
Day 4: gave the bride a massage, hung out with family, rehearsal
Day 5: Wedding Day! I spent the morning at my grandparents sitting outside on the deck sipping tea. The wedding was a blast.
Day 6 & 7: Saw hub's great-aunt and first cousin once removed. Celebrated Kylie's birthday. Hung out with family!
Day 8: Drive to Salina, KS.  We visited with a friend of mine from high school and his awesome wife (who is due with her 2nd 5 days after me!)
Day 9: the LONG drive home
July has flown by.  I've been teaching 1 night a week, but that has wrapped up.  I've been massaging, but summers are always slow.  My energy is back up: not to normal, but probably normal for a hot summer day!

We purchased a crib set.  Or rather hub's parents purchased a crib set for us!

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Happy Mother's Day

A review in pictures:

On the first cruise: loving the new hair (on both of you!)

2nd cruise of the day!

Surprise!

All in all it was a wonderful day, and we got to share the big news with Mom & Dad-o!  There were some tears of joy ...

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Going to the Doctor

So as soon as I got the results of my pregnancy test I called my OB/GYN. They like to do the first visit in week 7 or 8. The first available date was May 17th. My birthday.  I'd be 7 weeks and 2 days pregnant.

I'm thinking about changing it to a week later, but am feeling so conflicted. Part of me wants to go as soon as possible, but part of me also wants to be more certain about the baby's health after the appointment.

I just really want to see a heartbeat.

Most women average a 28 day cycle. I was averaging 34. This means that the fetal age would be calculated at 5 weeks, but I might really only be 4. And even though I know everything goes by date of LMP, I might only measure 6 weeks. But even at 6 weeks we should be able to see the heart beating. But what if the heart stops, and I don't know it until my next appointment in 4 weeks? I don't know if that's a case for or against moving the visit to the following week: my second appt would occur sooner, but a heartbeat later (week 8 vs. week 7) is a stronger indicator of survival.

I also really want to let myself start getting excited, because I feel the excitement swelling. I'm happy, although still reserved. I also really want to start telling close friends, though I swore I'd wait till I heard the heart.

On mother's day we are going to tell the hubs' parents. The odd thing is, this was my mother-in-law's idea. Because I didn't have a mimosa Easter weekend, and because I'm going out with both my family and their's on mother's day, she thought that I was planning on telling them then. I debunked this claim to my SIL, the weekend before I knew that I actually was preggo. However, I thought it was a really cute idea, and kinda wished that was why I was planning the day as such.

So good idea Mom-o, hope you're a little surprised! :)

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2 pink lines

On May 4th at 7:30 in the morning I saw this.

Yup I'm pregnant.

At first when I saw them I wasn't excited at all. I was nervous. I stood in the guest bathroom for a couple of minutes breathing and trying to figure out how I felt. I didn't know. I felt like just staying there and keeping it a secret. This moment always seemed like it should be a jumping up and down moment. I walked back to the bedroom and tapped on the open door. Surely Hubs hadn't fallen back asleep. He had beaten me to the master bathroom to pee, and wasn't the first thing on his mind that morning that I was taking a pregnancy test!? Apparently not. I tapped a little louder and he looked up very confused. I don't remember what exactly I said; I think I just held up the test. He hugged me with excitement. I was speechless.

I went off to work to give 3 massages, and surprisingly didn't think about it much. It didn't seem real. Afterward, I went to my parent's house, where I first told my mom. I just showed her the picture of the test on my phone. She said, "does that mean you are!?" in a quiet but excited tone, my dad was in the living room and could hear us. When I nodded she gave me a shushed "oooooh!" which if you know my mom is showing a lot of giddiness and enthusiasm. It immediately made me feel more calm, and a little bit excited.

I tried to be clever with the way that I told my dad, but he was too doped up on meds (he had his knee replaced last week) to catch my subtlety. Finally I spilled the news outright and he said something like, "good, that's good." And then reminded me that I probably shouldn't be telling people yet. "Yes Dad."

When I hugged my mom goodbye she said, "I'll be much more excited for you in 3 months." I let her know that her reaction was perfect, and that I totally understand. My mom had 2 miscarriages between my sister and me: the second happening late in the 1st trimester, and only 1 or 2 months before I was conceived. My sister's first pregnancy was a miscarriage as well. I've always kind of had it in my head that my first would also be a miscarriage. I've been preparing for it. I already have a to-do list for after I miscarry:

eat a lot of sushi

drink a lot of red wine

paint the front bedroom and dining room
    donate blood

But that's not actually why I was nervous when I saw the double lines. It just gave me anxiety. Like, "do I really want this?"

Later that night I called my sister and told her to grab her phone. She knew immediately why. I had emailed her a picture of the test. She was giddy and apparently had a big goofy smile on her face, just as I had for her both times she had told me her news. She helped me feel a bit more relaxed about the news, and even a little excited.

Here's to the pregnancy journey, no matter how long it actually lasts.

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