Glucose Test

We have a lot to catch up on, so I am going to break down the last month in multiple posts to make it more reader friendly.  This first post will tackle my glucose test.

First, let me say I was really nervous about this test.  I don't know if my fears were reasonable, but I felt that if I failed this first test, then it was just the gateway to multiple complications as we get closer to delivery day.  I have been so lucky to have no real complaints during this pregnancy, but the realist in me is really just waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I saw this as the potential dropping of the shoe.

I took the one hour glucose test on November 4th.  This was a breeze.  This gave me this fruit punch beverage to drink on my way to the doctor's office.  The beverage reminded me of those Little Jugs drinks from when I was a kid.  An hour after I finish the drink, they took my blood and told me they would call me with the results.

They made me wait for the results until Tuesday and it drove me crazy all weekend.  So, apparently they want your number to be 130 or below.  Lucky me got a 129, but they still wanted me to come back to take the 3 hour test just to be safe.

So, on the 15th I go trucking back to the doctor's office.  The 3 hour test is the most boring thing ever.  Basically, I arrived, they pricked my finger, gave me another drink, and said come back in an hour.  For the next 3 hours, I had to come back at an exact time to have my blood drawn again.  You are not allowed to leave the premises during all this.  I just took naps in my car in between.  At the end of it, they sent me away and said they would call me with the results.

They made me wait 7 days!  Apparently, my doc and nurse took some time off and were not in the office to give me the results every time I called.  Finally, they called me and told me everything was normal.  I was so relieved and happy.  I called Jonathan immediately.  

One fear down, 8,572 more to go...

Our First Shower

Rose and Blaine threw us our first shower on November 5th, 2011 at Taco Mac in Douglasville. If you ask Candi she will tell you that this was my shower since it consisted of a bar, University of Georgia football on the big screen and cornhole, but I tried to "share" it with her. What guy will honestly admit that someone threw him a shower??

We were blessed to have the company of such great friends who I know for a fact are going to be a huge part of Drew's life and maybe even one or two of them will be a positive role model for her.

We received so many wonderful gifts that we know are going to be so helpful with the upbringing of our wonderful daughter but I still felt like some of my friends still found a way to throw some jabs at me......well placed jabs and they will come back in due time my friend.

In the words of Rose, "It's a what?? Really??" Yes Rose it is called a Bumbo and it is a seat that helps the newborn sit upright. Its okay....I will teach you how to use everything before you babysit for us. There will be a quiz at the end of this as well and if you don't pass then Blaine is in charge!!!

My friends that are parents and even my parents have told me that there is no way that I could ever imagine the amount of joy and happiness that comes along with a child in your life. I feel like I know what that joy is now having nephews and a wonderful little girl like Ansley in my life but there is always the other side of the coin. Its like my own MTV Bio, in the opening credits they always said, " you think you know but you have no idea....". There is no way that I could ever put in words the excitement that we have about this amazing journey we are about to embark on, but we are very glad that Ansley will be there with her every step of the way.

Since the first day I was very excited about having a "Daddy's Little Girl" and it is now official that we are on the proper path to brain washing Drew to think that daddy hung the moon. I totally expect to have many more items along these lines of how much she loves her daddy!!

Between all of the cute bibs, clothing, blankets, bouncer seats, bathing supplies, bumbos, tubes of buttpaste and the amazing amount of gift cards we received among other wonderful gifts nothing seems like they will be more useful than diapers!!! What kind of "shower" is held without diapers?? What kind of "shower" helps create a Diaper King??

Only the kind that is full of amazing people, lots of love and maybe an adult beverage or two. Thanks to all that made this the memorable day that it was, we love each and every one of you.

Surreal just became Real

This past week has been so many things.  To start it off it was the longest start of a week ever.  Our doctor's appointment to find out the sex was on Thursday, October 6th.  The anticipation of waiting for this day made Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday move so slow!  But, finally, the day arrived.

There were lots of thoughts leading up to this day.  Of course, I realized I was pregnant, but the whole thing was a bit surreal.  The baby didn't have an identity yet.  We didn't know the sex so the baby didn't have a name yet.  We had no idea what the room would look like.  There were just so many things that were left unanswered.

On top of all of that, I was secretly a little bit worried b/c I do not feel the baby on a consistent basis.  Everyone was saying that they felt their baby by this time and everything I read referred to it, but it just isn't happening for me.  So I needed the ultrasound to make sure everything was okay.

To add to everything else going on in my mind, Jonathan really wanted a boy and I didn't want him to feel disappointed.  My brother really wanted me to have a girl.  Either way I felt like someone close to me would be disappointed.  Even though I do have to admit that I was more worried about Jonathan's desires.

My mom came down the nite before to go with us.  Jonathan's mom met us at the doctor.  We had arranged for just the two of us to be in the ultrasound room upon first hearing the sex and then Jonathan would go get the mom's.  This plan worked perfectly.

So we went in the room and the lady started looking around and let us know that the baby is indeed a girl!  I, immediately, looked at Jonathan but he seemed to take the information well.  Then the mom's came in and they took all the necessary measurements and checked her heart and kidneys and everything else they do.

Apparently 3 little lines/dots means she is a girl!

Her face

Again her face, but her nose looks huge b/c she has her hand in front of it.

Her profile view

Another declaration of her sex.

I was so relieved to find out that she was measuring in the normal range in every category.  All was well, so now we could just be excited and relish in our little one's new identity that could now start to take form.

From the doctor's appointment, we met Jonathan's dad at Sprayberry's to eat lunch.  It was fantastic as always.  I love the macaroni and cheese there!

From there we went to Babies R Us to finish our registry.  There are so many things to choose from but I think we did okay.  Now we just have to tackle the Wal-Mart one.

I have to take a moment to declare how much I love Jonathan.  I have no idea why I was so worried about how he would react to a girl.  Even though it wasn't exactly what he wanted, he has taken the news wonderfully.  He looks at all these 'Daddy's little girl' clothes and has started calling her by her name.  He never showed a second of disappointment.  I guess this is the kind of news that is win/win.  Regardless of what the outcome is, it still great news.

The Biggest Day of Our Lives

The biggest day of our lives is right around the corner and it kind of feels like Christmas Eve. There are so many emotions and thoughts running through both of our heads tonight. We are very excited to be finding out the sex of our child and working out the last few details for the time being. Getting to finally decide on a name, completing our registry and getting ready to wrap up the second have of this pregnancy is just an awesome feeling. Hands down the best part of tomorrow is that we have both grandmothers going with us to find. There is no better feeling than for both of us to have our mothers with us as we get the answer that we have been seeking for weeks.

Thank you Aunt Tessa!

We just want to thank Tessa for giving us the first gift for our baby.  This child will be very lucky to have her in his/her life.

Baby's 1st book!

Baby's first item

So here is the first item that has entered our house for the baby...

I bought it for the cost of shipping only through a special that one of the many pregnancy newsletters had.  It is a sling for carrying baby (as shown in picture).  This thing seems quite confusing and I don't have a baby to practice it on.  I, briefly, thought of trying to get Gracie to comply but her puppy body just isn't the right shape.  Oh well, we will figure it out when the time comes.

Also, I had a doctor's visit on the 9th.  All looks well.  I always hold my breath while my doc is looking for the heartbeat.  It is just one of those things...I can't see, hear, or feel this baby yet, so I need the reassurance that he/she is still there.  The most exciting thing that I learned on this visit was that our next ultrasound will be on October 6th and that is the day we will know if we are having a boy or a girl.  I cannot wait!

Trip to Folly Beach!

Over Labor Day weekend, we traveled with three other couples to Folly Beach, SC.  This is our 2nd year returning to this area.  I love its local vibe and how everything is walking distance away.  This is the trip that Jonathan was referring to in an earlier post.  And even though we did not have a physical baby with us this year, it was quite surreal to think that next year the two of us would be three.  Craziness...

However, here are some highlights from the trip:

The beach chased us away each day.  It is crazy how high the tides get on this coast.  Much different than the gulf.

Jonathan, Ansley, & Dustin are playing in the sand.  Ansley LOVES the sand.  Soon, she will have a playmate when we go to the beach!

Jonathan & I

The Schularick family

TJ & Kathleen

Dave & Amanda

So next year's trip will be completely different, but I can't wait to experience it!

Trip to Babies R Us

Candi and I had some time to kill yesterday before trivia so we went to walk around Babies R Us and gather some ideas of things that we would like. We started by looking at baby monitors and of course I go straight for mac daddy one with the seven inch flat screen color TV to watch my babies every move. That was shortly followed by Candi shooting me down to a black and white tube TV ....I guess we will call that a compromise.

The next stop was bottles and food storage containers which seems like it would be pretty straight forward but was any but that. So that brings up the question of what types of bottles to use and how many do you need? Daddy likes a six pack so that should be good enough for baby right? I thought that but then I saw a bottle drying rack that has spots for eight bottles so maybe baby and I jump it to a twelve pack. This is by far the most complex and confusing riddle that I have tried to figure out in years.

If that wasn't hard enough then we looked at strollers, pack and plays, swings, rockers, bouncy chairs, diaper bags, carrying devices for Carlos and diapers. There are so many different things to look at and decide on and we have only made one decision and that was on the stroller. It was the one that I blogged about earlier.

My amazing sister has offered a car seat and stroller combination that way we will have one in each vehicle without have to deal with any crazy switching when we are in a hurry. My wonderful friend Mindy has also offered up a swing that my god son used so there is another decision made.

As for the rest of it I am at a loss and so thankful that we saw that they offer a class called Gearing Up For Baby. We will be attending this class about a week before we find out if our boys name is good or if I have to start deciding on a girls name.

Even though this may be the most confusing thing that we have been through we just cant wait for the endless rewards that we will receive once this bundle of joy joins us in February.

Dreams...

Okay so I know it is a symptom of pregnancy to dream more, due to more interrupted sleep.  However, if all of my dreams are going to be like my latest one, then I do not want to dream at all! 

I dreamed that I woke up to take care of my child, but had no idea how to feed him/her.  Somehow, I had missed all the assistance in the hospital.  In my dream, I just stood there looking kind of dumbfounded at my child.

My logical side knows that this cannot happen as I am already planning on attending 2 different breastfeeding classes and I know there is no way I could go through an entire hospital stay without feeding my baby a single time.  The irrational side of me is a bit freaked out.  I think it is my unconscious concerns coming out reminding me that I have no idea what I am getting myself into.  But all I can do is take in the knowledge, and try and learn from all of the mistakes that I am sure to make.

~Candi

Getting Ready For Our First Trip With Baby In Tow

Nobody is really counting ...but maybe I am. We have roughly twenty-nine hours until we hit the road towards Folly Beach in South Carolina for the holiday weekend. I know that Candi has already taken this child all over the southeast it seems, but I am looking forward to getting away from work for a few and spending some time with the two most important people in my life and some pretty amazing friends as well. There will be more to come from this much needed get away, I just need time to be nice to us so we can hurry up and hit the road.

First Thought That I May Not Be Ready For This...

Candi and I have been looking at strollers and I think that we have decided on one!!! Well with me being me, I want to read reviews and actually touch the stroller before I give my vote of confidence. I wanted to see how easy it really was to fold it up and set it back up, not just for me but for her as well. I went to Babies R Us today after work and found the one that we had been looking and played with it for a little bit. Rolled it around, took the car seat/carrier off and folded it up. This was quite easy.....until I went to unfold it and get it back into stroller form. I then proceed to mess with this thing for another ten minutes or more and have no luck at all. Candi called me to see what I thought and all I could say is, "I think I broke it". I end up walking to the front and talking to a lady at the counter to explain my problem. She walks back over with me and shows me that there is a lock that is activated when it is folded up to keep it from opening on its own. This whole episode reminded me that I have so much more to learn. Hopefully through the rest of this learning process I will look like I am more prepared. We all got a good laugh out of this fiasco.

Picture of it folded up.

Locking latch that had me confused.

Stroller with carrier seat attached.

16 Weeks!

I am 16 weeks pregnant, so I had my grandmother take a few pictures.



This one was a little far away so I had her take another one.

You can see the baby bump if I hold my hands underneath.

To bring everything to date...

I would like to apologize in advance if I ever get behind on this. Try as I might to keep up with things such as these, I am a procrastinator at heart. However, I do promise to do my best with this blog.

On June 26, 2011, I found out the single most life changing information that one could ever learn. I am pregnant! This day did not start well...it was bad actually. Jonathan and I started the day in an argument. I can't even remember what it was about. All I remember was I got so mad, I left the house. While driving around, I was shocked at how mad I got so fast. That along with some other symptoms made me give that thought that had been in the back of my head more serious thought. Could I really be pregnant? We had been together nearly 8 years with no mishaps. Really, is this a possibility?

Once the thought came to light, I couldn't ignore it. So I went to Wal-Mart and bought a test, took it in the McDonald's bathroom, and stared in disbelief at the results. This couldn't be right...so I bought another one at CVS, and took it in the Wendy's bathroom. Guess what? Same results!

Now I had to think of how I was going to tell Jonathan. I didn't even allow myself to process what I thought about the news. I bought him a card and gave it to him. While he read it, I just sat there crying and waiting. After he read it, he just looked at me and told me everything would be okay. Even though I did not believe him, it felt good to hear. The rest of that day was a bit of a blur...

June 29, 2011 - First doctor's appointment! I needed this way more than Jonathan. I needed the confirmation, to be told that I didn't misread the tests. Jonathan was already super excited, I was more hesitant. All went well after they took a million viles of blood. They were unable to determine the due date at this appointment so they scheduled us for a confirmation ultrasound. We left there with tons of stuff to read which just served to remind me that I may not have any idea of what I am getting myself into.

July 2-4, 2011 - 1st trip with our little secret! We went to visit Joesph and Ashley in Pensacola, FL. It was fun creating mini lies to take the attention away from my lack of drinking, or why I couldn't ski or go too fast on the tube.
July 19, 2011 - This is the first day we got to see our little munchkin! We had our confirmation ultrasound on this day. They confirmed that I was about 10 weeks pregnant and set our due date at February 10, 2012!

July 22 - 24, 2011 - This is the weekend that we told our parents. I am sure Jonathan was ready for this to happen as I would not allow us to tell anyone before our parents. For my parents, I decided to give all of them gifts. I got my dad a grandpa shirt, my brother a shirt that said "I'm the cool uncle", and gave my mom a copy of the ultrasound picture in a frame. I called them all into the living room and gave them the gifts at the same time. My mom was so excited and tickled to death. My dad was a bit surprised and said he wished I had been married but I was 30 years old. My brother was the most shocked. He said I wasn't old enough (in his mind) to have a kid. My family and I told the rest of my family, mostly by telephone.
Jonathan went out with his mom for her birthday and part of her gift was the ultrasound picture. His parents were shocked as well.

July 27, 2011 - On this day, Jonathan and I met Dave and Amanda for dinner at Fabiano's. Jonathan had worked it our with the staff beforehand that a laminated picture of the ultrasound would be placed underneath the pizza so more would be revealed as slices of pizza were removed. It was a great idea, but it didn't actually work out that way. When Amanda grabbed the first piece, she saw the plastic and was a bit freaked out that there was plastic underneath our pizza. So they pulled it out and stared at it for a moment before it made sense to them what it was. The idea was great in Jonathan's head...

July 30, 2011 - This is the weekend that we told Erin, Dustin, Tessa, & Nick. We were all gathering at Erin's for a nite of swimming and food. We wanted to tell this group at the same time.

August 12, 2011 - Doctor's Appointment. All is well. The babies heartbeat was at 160. The doctor told me that we will be able to find out the sex at 22 weeks. So excited for that!

August 22, 2011 - I finally told my job that I was expecting. They took it very well and all seem to be excited for me. Now to just figure out the benefits portion...

Now this brings us to today. Jonathan and I will each be posting as the mood strikes us. Hopefully with more pictures in the future as well.

~Candi