21 week checkup

Since my last appt I scheduled some things to get done. Happily, I have gotten 2 out of 3 done. I got signed up for a Bradley Method Class. It starts in February and I am super excited about that.

I also checked with HR and they told me that if my dr gives me a note, then they will abide by whatever he says. Hopefully on Monday at my next appt I can explain that when I stand at the counter, my belly hits the counter making me feel nauseous and that I am getting varicose veins all over my legs. I'm a hot mess right now. Let me tell you!

We haven't taken any hospital tours, so we are still "undecided". It's still between Mtn View and Centennial. I was trying to get a promotion to a different banking center, but since it doesn't look like I'm gonna get it, Summerlin has been ruled out, though I wasn't too stoked to go there in the first place.

I would like to announce that we are pretty set on Lucas Bronson Graf for BG's name. The last couple days we have been excited about it and it's pretty much stuck. Now, if we can continue liking it for a few more months!

Touchy Feely

For a few weeks now I've been able to feel BG kicking and hitting. Jason has been so anxious waiting to feel him. When I sit on the couch as I am now with the laptop resting on my belly, watching tv, I usually feel him. However, Jason is in the other room playing on his computer. So, while we're in bed trying to fall asleep, he rests his hand on my belly.

At first I thought that because he has pressure on him he moves, maybe we need to put pressure on my belly to make him squirm around. However, today I started thinking, when you are trying to move around in a confined space, you kick and hit a few things. If your confined space becomes even more confined, you won't be able to squirm nearly as much and it may not be felt cause your movements are smaller.

While sitting in sacrament today, Jason had his right arm around me and his left hand on my belly. He was putting quite a bit of pressure on my belly and I told him my theory. So, he just kind of rested his hand on my belly with little to no pressure. The first speaker was done talking and then our Bishop got up and played Still, Still, Still on the piano. He is a fantastic pianist and I thoroughly enjoy his playing. About half way through the song, there was such a huge kick in the lower part of my abdomen that I kind of jumped. I looked at Jason and he looked at me and he said, "Was that him?" I told him it was and he was so excited! We had one of those moments where everything around us stopped and it was just us enjoying this little moment we had. It was so perfect!

It was so exciting to see him get so excited about it. He finally got to feel his little man kick. I wish it could've happened on Christmas, but I still feel like it was a great Christmas present, brought a little late. As he conducted the closing song, he was on the stand smiling so big and non-stop! I love my baby daddy. We've truly had a blessed season.

Warning to pregnant chicks: Dogs + you = No Good

There are many things that I should've been taught as a child or young woman that I never learned til my mid to late twenties. Easy, simple things. Such as, you're supposed to have a period every month whether you like it or not, cause it can cause fertility issues later in your life. Also, I never knew girls were to wipe front to back. I know that sounds silly, and I never got any infections, but I found out why and it totally makes sense.

I had several different dogs growing up of different breeds. One dog that sticks out most is the chow we owned. She was a sweet fluffy thing. I loved her so much! Even though she did eat the hand off of my favorite Barbie. However, when I was about 13-14, I would keep finding the crotch chewed out of my panties. Totally weird, but my mom told me that dogs are attracted to menstrual-ness. We always had girl dogs and I found it weird, but whatever. They eat poop too, so whatever.

Well, as a pregnant chick, I'm here to advise my other pregnant friends that are around dogs, they are attracted to your pregnant hormones! I attended a family get together on Christmas Eve. Jason and I walked in and Chuy smelled Jason for a few seconds, then went straight to my crotch. I pushed him away and tried to get to a seat where he would leave me alone asap. I found a chair but the silly dog thought that was an invitation for him to mount me. HA HA HA Great. I kept having to push him off and finally Jason and my dad distracted him and he left me alone. Well, I had left my brand new coat, that I was supposed to get for Christmas but couldn't wait, on the dining chair in the front room. My step mom's cousin came into the room where we were asking who left their coat on a dining room. I told her I did. She then told me that Chuy peed on my coat. Again, great. So, now my coat I've worn twice needs to be dry cleaned. Merry Christmas.

Energy Surge

There seems to be more sleep in my days now that school is over. The extra sleep might be the reason for the little bursts of energy I get, or it may be the 2nd trimester perks. Either way, I'm hoping to take advantage of the surges I get so I can get stuff taken care of!

Call Me Careless

A few weeks back I went with my banking center to the Suncoast for a Bowling Tournament against Wells Fargo. It was a whole fundraiser thing that both banks participate in every year.

I bowled.

While closing up shop tonight, one of the newer girls told me not to squat down and lock stuff until I know how my body works, cause once I have a bigger belly, it could be really bad and I could miscarry.

... (me thinking, do I really need to be careful while I squat? All the pregnancy books I've been reading say that it's great exercise. I yell at Jason all the time for lifting with his back instead of knees, I try not to squat too much cause sometimes I get dizzy, and second of all... am I really that out of tune with my body???)

"I think I'll be ok."
"No, really. You don't want to miscarry cause you twisted wrong or fell."
"Ya, I know. Equilibrium's change and standing too fast can make me dizzy. I went bowling a week or so ago and most everyone was laughing at how horrible I was. But, I didn't miscarry."
"OMG! You went bowling?! Are you crazy? You could have had a miscarriage!"
"From bowling?"
"Yes! My aunt was playing badminton with me when I was 5 yrs old and she had a miscarriage."
"Wow... how are bowling and badminton the same thing? Badminton you are running back and forth, jumping up and down, reaching high, low and far. Bowling, you throw a ball down an alley."
"She reached up like this then grabbed her stomach. She then had a miscarriage."
"That's why I didn't play volleyball after I found out. Cause it wasn't in my daily routine. But thanks for being so concerned."

Does anyone else find this convo a little silly? Maybe Extreme Bowling is a little dangerous while bowling.

Birthing Classes

Couple of questions:

1. Are they necessary?
2. Which classes do you think are good?
3. Where did you take them?

Baby Developements

I was reading my email today about the baby's growth this week. His hair is starting to grow, his senses are beginning to fine tune, which means... He can start hearing us!

The moment I told Jason he started talking to BG, telling him how much we love him and are so excited to have him come be part of our family.

More exciting news:
-He weighs over half a pound.
-He is about the size of an heirloom tomato.

There's no way...

There's no way my baby is going to be able to be shy. Saturday and Sunday he was moving around all day! Now, I've hardly felt him move the last few days. I think he heard me talking to everyone about him moving around, and trying to get his dad to feel him move, so now he thinks he can hide behind my bladder and not move at all! Maybe he's already training to be a professional Hide and Seeker.

On a different note... I'm half way through my pregnancy! It already feels like it's been 9 months. I guess when you find out as soon as the stick can turn (+), you are bound to have a looo...ng pregnancy. No worries though. There are plenty of things I need to do before the little rascal gets here. Find a name for him is one of them. Get his room ready is another. With winter break here now, I will have more free time to focus on our house. That will be good. Nesting... here I come!

Rahpunzel, Rahpunzel...

My hair feels amazing!! It's so soft. It looks like it's getting longer and shinier. I can't stop brushing it and playing with it.

Not to sound too full of myself, but before I was pregnant I didn't think my smell could get any better than it already was. And, it did! I didn't think my hair could get any softer, thicker or prettier, but it did!

Maybe 2nd trimester isn't as bad as I thought.

appt today

i had another appointment today with the dr. we got to see BG. he wasn't very active, but you can really see his spine details now.

everything is still going very well.

i asked the dr about the scoliosis and how it would effect me. he was joking with me that i won't be able to get an epidural, but when i looked traumatized and told him i was already nervous by not getting an experienced anesthesiologist that may get the wrong part of my back and i am very much considering no drugs, he turned the laughter off quick. lol

he said it's up to me, and since i may not have time to get an epidural, we'll wait til the big show is about to start and then we'll decide. i'm ok with that.

things i really need to work on this month is:

• deciding where to deliver
• getting signed up for different classes (birthing, breastfeeding, etc)
• talk to human resources and find out my pregnancy rights since i am not allowed to split up my break to have a few moments of sitting through out the day

Showing

My friend at work, who is also pregnant (3 weeks further along than me), is this cute round thing. When we went bowling on Saturday, I wanted to use her as my bowling ball. LOL

I have been trying to show off anything. Or shape my belly into a more round thing instead of the chubby thing it is/was. Jason says he can tell that I am redistributing, meaning that he can see the weight go from one part of my body to my belly and he can tell that it's getting a rounder look, but I can't. I can tell that my favorite pants aren't beginning to fit.

I just want to look like I am pregnant. lol Is that too much to ask?! I just started my 5th month, and I don't look any different. I am guessing some of my regulars that know I'm pregnant may see differences, like Jason, but the others that I know and they kind of know me, will be like:

Customer: Where's that tall glass a water that's always here? Where's she been?
Co-worker: Oh, she's on maternity leave.
Customer: She was pregnant?!

I can just see it now. I will "blow up like a balloon" on my 8th month. I will look pregnant for a month. Won't that be great. Ya, just great.

Inspiration

Last night I told Jason I was going to sit in the baby's room and try to get some inspiration. He just laughed and told me that by sitting in the cluttered room, that is not baby ready yet, may not give me the inspiration I want. All I was wanting was maybe a name, how to decorate the room, etc. Stuff that will make him feel welcomed to this new world.

I only spent about an hour, maybe two, in the room. During that time, I didn't get any inspiration.

However, I went to Jo-Ann's with my mom to get some material for a quilt she's working on for a friend. It was pretty busy, and I thought we were done, but right as we were about to leave, I saw some AWESOME Superman material. Superman is Jason's favorite superhero. So, I thought it would be fun to have a Superman themed room for the kid. It will be able to grow with him.

The crib accessories will be this Superman material I got, the curtain will be red with a huge Superman "S" in the middle. Then, my mom is going to paint a 5x4 ish painting of Superman busting through the wall. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I can't wait til it is all done and put together.

I also was trying to think of names that might go with Superman. Since his name on Krypton was Kal El, I was thinking, Kalvin, Kelvin, or something along those lines. I was then thinking of other superhero names and started pairing them.

Kelvin Parker Graf (Superman and Spiderman)
Kelvin Wayne Graf (Superman and Batman)
Kalvin Duke (Superman and Duke Nukem)

There were plenty that I came up with. Jason likes Kelvin more than Kalvin. We're still not sold on the name though. Though it's a cute idea and we want it to work, we still don't feel like any of these are supposed to be BG's name.

Thus, the name search still continues...

I love Broccoli!

Broccoli has become my staple food. I get the big bag of cut broccoli from Costco and eat from it the whole week!

Two nights ago, baked potatoes, broccoli, cheese.
Last night, steamed broccoli with lotsa butter. Well, not like my mom would put on, but it was pretty darn good.
Lunch today, Panda Express Beef and Broccoli.
For dinner, I want steamed broccoli again.

Which leads me to... Is this a craving? Or do I just want something that tastes heavenly??

Movement

A few weeks ago, I moved my pant waist from where it was to under my belly. It felt more comfortable that way, but then, for a few minutes I felt little flutter like things going up and down my belly. I thought it might be the baby moving, but because it was so early in my pregnancy, I didn't want to get over anxious and claim it was and then have it be gas.

Shortly thereafter, I had another little incident where I thought I felt him moving.

Thanksgiving Day, we woke up at Jason's dad's house in New Harmony. It's a little south of Cedar. Tammy has a tradition of waking up and eating Turkey. However, this year, since everyone was supposed to be going to Wes and Donna's, we had cereal for breakfast. I had a bowl and considered another, but then decided not to. I also thought of having a glass of juice, but then again, decided not to.

In between Mesquite and Moapa I had Jason searching the car for food cause the kid was hungry! The only time I feel queasy is when the kid is trying to let me know he's hungry. So, I remembered there was a fortune cookie in the car. I had Jason searching for it and that barely tied us over til Moapa. We then got some sustenance for the little bugger.

When we got home, there was still much to do. Make funeral potatoes, mashed potatoes, deep fry the turkey, clean/straighten up the house, etc. I kept telling everyone I needed to eat something, but I never stopped to eat. As I was standing in front of the dining table, organizing it, I felt a big ol' kick or jab in my belly. I knew then I had to eat something cause he was getting pissed. LOL

Now, as I sit here, catching up on past blogs, I can feel that little boy swimming laps inside. Maybe he felt a little left out from the tickle war that happened a few moments ago, but I know we will be tickling this little guy as much as possible, til he trains himself not to be ticklish (like his daddy did).

Boy oh, boy oh, boy

Jason and I had a girl name picked out. We have joked about and played with different boy names, but just couldn't find one that we agreed on. Some that I really like is Henry, Johan, Cameron and Ammon. Jason was stuck on Jaeger (I think, I hope, he was just messin with me though).

On the drive back from Jason's dad's on Thursday we had threw around a few more boy names. Jason came up with Ezra. I like it, but I don't like it. It's been tough trying to find a middle name for Ezra ____ Graf. I was trying to come up with other names and thought of Ethan.

Jason has also been stuck on Allen as a middle name and I like Bradley as a middle name.

This morning Jason called me and asked how I like Samuel Ezra Graf. I told him again, I don't love it, but I don't hate it. A little later in the day I called him and asked how he liked Ethan Allen Graf. But then... Ya, Ethan Allen was already taken by the great furniture maker himself. HA HA HA Jason had a really good laugh about that one.

I think we may go into the hospital with about 5 names. Once we see the little guy, we may be able to fit one to him that we may not have loved before, but after seeing him may fit him perfectly.

If you feel inspired, please leave a name suggestion.

Turkey Surprise

Most of the family was planning on coming to dinner at our house. None of them knew what was in store, except Carla - Jason told her that she wouldn't want to miss dinner, cause there would be a surprise like none else. She and Russ weren't able to make it though.

Bobby and Brittany arrived, followed shortly later by Jenny, Alonzo, Mike and Katie. (Mom had been there since 8ish getting the baked turkey ready.) We hung out and chatted for a while, then we were finally able to eat! As soon as we were done eating, I wanted to break into dessert. That's how I roll. LOL

However, right before dessert, Jason brought out the prize envelope. Everyone had to pick a piece of spaghetti, and whose ever straw was the longest, got to open the envelope and share the news. Bobby was the winner. He stared at the picture for quite a few seconds, then told us, It's a BOY!

Everyone seemed pretty excited that they got to find out with us. And, I think they were all pretty happy about the results. Jason and I took a few minutes to call/text family that wasn't present to share the news. This is probably one of the best Thanksgiving's I've had in years.

to fill you in...

When we decided to have Thanksgiving at our house, I told Jason we should find out then what the baby is, instead of having 2 holiday, possibly 3, at our house over the next month. Jason told me no, we should still do as we planned.

Plan: Go to Dr appt on Dec 6th, have Dr write down gender and place in envelope, have a holiday party that weekend or next, open envelope with all our friends and family around.

Saturday, Jason called me and told me I was right and that we should do it on Thanksgiving. He wanted me to see when the earliest was that we could get an ultrasound to determine the sex, and where we could go. I checked online and within a few moments I was talking with Brynn at Miracle in Progress. She told me that around 11am she would know if there was a 3pm available that day. Otherwise, we could schedule it for Monday. Monday wouldn't have been a problem, but Jason had to work and with his crazy schedule, it wouldn't have been guaranteed that he'd be off in time.

Luckily, the 3pm cancelled and we were fit in! Jason was running a little behind and he had to meet me there. Unluckily, the baby was not cooperative. Poking, prodding, caffeine, sugar, giggling... nothing would get this baby to uncross it's legs - which leads me to think he'll be the best at "crack-the-egg". After about 10 minutes we conceded that the baby was just not gonna budge. A rescan was scheduled for Monday.

Monday, I asked Heavenly Father to talk with our baby and make them be cooperative at our appt. When we got to Miracle in Progress, they took us back and we got started. The baby was not awake, nor was BG in a position to tell is it was a He or She. Finally, after some prodding and cool water, the baby woke up and started being cooperative. She found the result fairly quickly and Jason and I sat there staring at each other, not the screen. We took our results home and Jason hid them cause he knew I would be too tempted to peak.

We had our results, and now we just had to wait for Thanksgiving to open them!

I'm not saying... I'm just saying...

I've neglected you for a good reason. Before I get too in depth, I will fill you in more after Thanksgiving.

In a spur of the moment convo the other day, I have decided to have Thanksgiving at our house. I've been super busy and super tired. I love you all and hope you have a great Happy Thanksgiving!

Relax... it's Martinelli's Sparkling Cider

I had put some Sparkling Cider in the fridge the other day. Though it would be nice to have a little bubbly.

After a long Saturday at work, and Jason finally getting home, I busted it open, went at it, then took a nap.

So, S. O. G double O D Good.

(Also, you can almost tell that my body is changing from the cute little blob I was before, and has started to redistribute the weight from some parts of my body to my cute belly. Still a nice layer of chub, but in a few more weeks, it will be more round.)

Pain in the Back

My back is killing me! I don't know if it was from standing all day or what. By the time I got to my friend Jenn's, my lower back was killing me. I kept trying to sit up straight or stand up straight, but it just wasn't helping.

Does anyone know about pregnancy and scoliosis? At the next appt I'm going to ask the Dr about it, but that's still a couple weeks away.

What's new in the 2?

The second trimester has started and I feel more pregnant now than I did the whole first trimester!

If I slow down for just a moment, I fall asleep.

Every 2 hours this kid is screaming for food.

The slightest pressure on my belly makes me nauseous.

Even sometimes driving, the motion makes me queasy.

As Jason pointed out, at least I am not being jipped from "pregnancy".

Due Date

I was talking with my dad after the appointment on Monday and we got to talking about days in May. His wife's mother's birthday is May 13th. My great grandma whom I love and adore was born on the 14th. Jenny was born on the 20th. Mike on the 28th. Great Grandma TJ was born the 1st. Tyler, Jason's brother, the 2nd. Not to mention quite a few friends who were born in May.

I'm kind of nervous about May 13th because it falls on a Friday. *sigh* I don't hate Friday the 13th, but it's not my favorite. Dad calls me his flower child cause I love rainbows, flowers, butterflies and everything happy. He told me that weird holidays/dates could be my family theme. lol

He said, "Your kids are gonna say, my parents were married on Leap Day and I was born on Friday the 13th."

Then I started thinking of other fun things, like their cousin and grandma were born on April Fool's. Uncle Bobby was almost born on New Year's. Uncle Mikey was almost born on Memorial Day. Grandpa Bob was almost born on Thanksgiving.

We could try to make a tradition out of unusual dates and holidays.

2nd Trimester has started...

And there is so much to tell!!!

First of all, yesterday and last night. We had stake conference this past weekend. I was fighting with Jason about going to the Saturday adult session. I wanted to be supportive of him singing, but I didn't want to sit in the chapel for so long. I figured I knew what all the talks were going to be about and I told him, and I quote, "Jason, by the time my kid is old enough to worry about porn, I will have attended many more meetings with talks about porn."

He then leaned down and told BG, "Please kick mom and tell her it's important for her to go." I was also pretty bummed about the whole not "feeling" pregnant and wanted to really focus on maybe feeling flutters.

Later last night, Jason was on one couch, I was on the other doing homework, and my belly just wasn't feeling good. I moved the waistline of my pants to below my belly instead of on top. As soon as I started to focus on homework again, I felt a little flutter in my intestine/uterine area. For a few moments, I just sat on the couch concentrating on the feeling. Was it gas? Was it bowels moving? Was it indeed flutters? It didn't move from side to side like most gas bubbles. And, usually when my bowels move it's more of a cramping. So, I think I felt some flutters for the first time!!!

This morning I was feeling pretty good. I was thinking that maybe it was flutters, and I have been trying to focus on feeling them again. I went to work and then picked up Jason so we could go to our 2nd appointment. The front desk clerk was able to bill my insurance for the full term of the pregnancy and the only thing I owe is $370. I was stoked that it was so low, but I definitely wasn't prepared for another bill of $92 a month for the next 4 months. I asked if we could try my HSA card and see if it will approve the trans. After 5 seconds, I was jumping up and down cause it took it! So, bill paid. Of course we'll still have all the hospital fees and whatnot, but wherever I can save money in our pockets, I'm gonna.

Dr Swainston has an ultrasound machine in the exam room. And, we got to see BG again. <3>

Also at my appointment, I went over questions I've accrued this month.

1. Can I have eggnog? At first, Dr Swainston just laughed at me but, then he realized I was for real. I told him that I got an email with 9 things you shouldn't drink while pregnant and the only one that I was concerned about was the eggnog. After much conversation, he told me that I'm ok to have eggnog as long as it isn't spiked.

2. Up until when can I travel? Short answer, up until about 7 months unless I'm high risk. But as long as I'm taking care of myself and baby, 7 months is probably the limit.

3. When are we able to find out the sex? He said at my next appt, which is December 6 (Chrystal's bday). If we're unable to do it then, we should be able to do it shortly after that at one of my other appts.

4. What's the deal with the weight gain? I don't think I've gained any, but I haven't lost any either. How much am I supposed to gain and when will I start looking pregnant? My chart says I haven't had any weight change. Dr Swainston isn't worried about it though. He said that depending on how I eat, I may come out of this thing ahead. Meaning, as long as I watch what I eat, and eat proportionately, I could lose weight during my pregnancy. (*This also explains my shopping trip later.)

5. My boob has been vibrating off and on all day. Is that normal? Doc said, "write this down, cause she has come up with 2 questions I've never been asked before. 1 was the eggnog, this is number 2." HA HA HA I love making things interesting. However, he agreed with Jason saying that I've got a little muscle twitch or something. Fine. I'm not worried about it. It's more annoying than painful.

My Shopping Trip - I wanted to go to Motherhood Maternity and see what they had maternity clothes wise. I also wanted to get some belly bands. When we got there, they didn't have any XXL clothes. The regular sizes only went to XL. The plus sizes started at 1X. For those of you not really getting it, that's like going from a 16 to a 20. I grabbed a 2X and it was ginormous! I grabbed a 1X and it was still a little big. I then grabbed a cute jean skirt, size XL, and tried it on. It fit perfectly!

I was stoked, yet shocked, at how I haven't gained any weight, but I've gone down a size and a half. I could only think that when you are working out and doing weight training, you lose inches, but not weight. Such is my pregnancy. I have been losing inches in some places, but having it "tone up" somewhere else. A button up shirt I bought a few years ago use to bow on me. I have about 2 inches of space to move around! My pants are getting bigger in the legs, but the waistline is still where it was months ago. Who knew that pregnancy could be a great weight loss program?! LOL

Hair

For years I've heard that when you get pregnant, your hormones will change many things about you physically. One was that I was hoping would change is my hair. I love it's fullness and thickness (most of the time), but I have this annoying thing going on where the top of my head, the hair is straight. The underneath is very curly and tends to turn into ringlets when prompted.

Today while getting ready for church, I noticed that around the temples, my hair was very wavy. =) Ihope that it will spread to the top of my head and I will be a curly headed girl all over instead of only partially.

How come I'm not showing?!

I've been having a rough time today. I still have yet to yacked. I'm thankful to not have to endure that part of pregnancy, but it's one of the main symptoms that I think helps a woman understand that she's pregnant. We had our first appointment and got to hear BG's heartbeat, and we saw BG's little heart beating a million times a minute, but my brain is still telling me it could have been a tape that they played.

I blame most of the doubt on my previous doctors. They have chiselled the thought in my head that "if you don't feel pregnant, you're not". So, aside from being really hungry sometimes and gagging at horrendous smells, which mind you are all things that non pregnant woman do, I don't feel pregnant, so therefore I feel like I'm not.

Jason chatted with BG for about 20 minutes today trying to get them to move. Didn't happen. Furthermore, I see a lot of my friends, and their pics that they post, who are only a few weeks further along than me, and they're all showing! I know I was not a toothpick and so it will probably take longer for me to show, but I haven't gained any weight either.

I know Isound paranoid and am getting high anxiety. (At least I'm having the same emotions my books tell me I should be having at this point.) I just wish that I would start feeling flutters, or showing or anything!

Next appointment is Monday. Hopefully I will gt some answers from the Doc.

Weight Gain

I'm nearly done with my first trimester, and I have not gained any weight. From what I've been reading, that's good!

First Emotional Breakdown

I woke up this morning, quite a few times, trying to get outta bed and finally got out when I needed to. While getting dressed and ready for work, BG made it very clear that she was hungry. I told her we would stop for a bagel at Einstein's on the way to work. So, I had some milk to hold her over.

I got to Einstein's ordered my bagel, grabbed my chocolate milk and went to pay. I opened my purse and there was no wallet. I had left it on the couch at home. S.O.A.B.! I asked the cashier to wait just a second, maybe I had some cash in the car. I went and checked and had only change. I ran back inside and told the cashier I was terribly sorry and that I wasn't going to be able to get it.

As I got back in my car, I broke down crying. I drove across the street to work and after composing myself, I walked in. I made some velveeta shells and cheese that I had there and started crying again cause I felt like I let my kid down. Instead of a Florentine Bagel with chocolate milk, they're getting shells and cheese and water. Not such a healthy breakfast.

I felt so silly for being such a cry baby about such a small situation. BG doesn't know what we have for breakfast. Let alone lunch and dinner. And, this was only one day out of how many?! I doubt she's gonna remember that I jipped her out of a good breakfast.

Baby Talk

For Halloween this year, Jason and I came up with a couples costume that was ever so fitting. Since we've got a bun in the oven, I was an oven with a bun in it, and Jason was the Baker/Bun Maker. Our outfit was quite a hit. Those that know were stoked about the outfits, and those that didn't know were totally stoked by the reality of it.

How we decided on our costume was pretty funny. Wednesday, my day off, I was looking at couples costumes online. I asked Jason if he wanted to be a plug and socket. Nope. I ran a few things by him and he wasn't too keen on any of them. Then, I saw the Bun in the Oven costume and text him a message saying, "Bring a dishwasher box home for my costume." As I pushed "send", I received a message from him saying, "Let's be a Bun in the Oven and a Baker". Very rarely does that happen, and since it did, it was easy to decide that that would be our costume.



However, the reason for this particular post is not to brag about my awesome costume, but to brag about my awesome siblings.



While sitting on the couch, Uncle Bobby walks over and yells at the baby, "Hi Baby! Hope you're having a good day! Love you!"



Later, I was out in the garage hanging out, and up rolls Uncle Mikey. Who spoke more to the bun in the oven instead of the actual baby (hey, it still counts) and told him, "Hey! Baby! I'm gonna be the best F-ing uncle you've ever had."



My family fills me with such joy. BG is coming to a great family and we are so blessed to have BG entering our family.

Heart Beat

For those that haven't been to our house, we have 2 full size couches in our living room that make an L shape. They aren't a sectional wrap around kind of thing. Just two couches. One I usually lay on cause it's right under the A/C vent and we all know how I feel about being cold (it's a must). Which leaves Jason laying on the other couch.

I tend to roll off the couch and snuggle up to him, hug him and kiss him. Well, last night, Jason rolled off his couch to come snuggle up to me. And after some kisses and hugs, he just laid his head on mybelly staring at me. It was kind of awkward. I had to ask, "are you enjoying the view?" However, after a few minutes he says, "I can hear lots of stuff going on, but I think it's just your food moving around or gas."

He's so stinkin cute.

I went to the Walgreen's next to work after work today and got a stethoscope. So, when we started our jaunt around town tonight, when he got in the car, there it was. His very own stethoscope. He was so excited he didn't know what to do. He first listened to his heartbeat, breathing, belly. Then, since I was driving, when we were stopped at lights or something, he wanted to hear my heart and breathing and belly. He loved playing with it all night long. We haven't had the time to just sit and try to hear the baby cause it's been a hectic week, but hopefully we'll find some baby hearbeat listening time in the next couple days. If anything, we still have 6ish months to listen.

Those raging hormones

This last week has been a BEAST! I would love to say that it's all the hormones, but I would be lying.

I was not getting enough sleep. Pregnant women are supposed to sleep more than usual, and my schedule last week was not allowing for any extra sleep anywhere. I hardly went to bed before midnight any night. Not to mention me stressing out Friday and Saturday by having some weird, blood colored vaginal fluid. So you could only imagine how exhausted I was by today. I had asked Jason before church to have our Home Teacher come over after church to give me a blessing.

Jason kept reassuring me that I was going to be fine, that I wasn't miscarrying. I told him that I knew I would be fine in that aspect, but that I need a blessing to help me calm down. To keep me from stressing out and being a hot mess cause I was running on hardly any sleep. And, when I don't get much sleep, I get very cry baby-ish. But, I got to have tears of joy today.

I thought about how blessed I am to have the life I do. My husband is great. He is the perfect match for me. And, we have this wonderful blessing that we made together growing inside me. That right there could get most girls with a soul crying. However, I didn't stop there. I had to think about the ever supportive friends and family I have. I may not see them everyday or talk to all of them everyday, but sho nuff, I know they love me and would be at my beckon call if I needed them for anything.

Knowing how very blessed I am caused me to be an emotional wreck. I talked to my dad later today and while explaining how I'm doing he said, "well sis, if that's the only reason you're crying, it seems like a pretty good one."

If you are reading this, you are one of the people that I feel so blessed to have in my life. Thank you for being in my life.

Had to go shopping today...

Last night I tossed and turned more than usual. My boobs haven't been too sensitive lately, but last night, every time I turned from one side to the other, my boobs were killing me.

So, I went to Target and got a sports bra. I'm excited to see if it helps in my slumbers.

Kumquat with Fingernails!

Juno is one of my more favorite, more recent movies made about pregnancy. One of the more informative parts about the movie is the knowledge about fingernails. We know babies have fingernails, but when do they start to grow? My latest email told me they start growing around this time (10 weeks). The fingers and toes aren't webbed anymore. =) And, BG is the size of a Kumquat (pictues above).

I'm also so excited to find out that flutters start around this time too. "They" say that first time mother's don't know or can't feel flutters til about 20ish weeks. You can sure bet your bottom dollar that while I lay watching tv or doing homework, I will be intent on trying to feel them.

Cell Phone for BG

Uncle Brian told me, "Write down when you say you will give him a cell phone. That way, when they are a different age, you can look back at this and punch yourself in the eye."

Jason and I have talked quite extensively about children. How to raise them. How not to raise them. These convos came up even before we were engaged. And, of course, cell phones were a topic we went over.

However, I just asked him to remind me what we decided and he said he had no clue. LOL

What I remember is that we didn't see a need for a cell phone until at least teenage years. 14-16 preferrably. AND, it will be a "kids" phone. Meaning, it will belong to the kids. How often do all of the kids in the family go out on the same night? And we will decide who gets it based off of who's going where, with whom and when they'll be back. If one kid is going to a house for the night and they're parents have phones, no need for that kid to take the phone. If a kid is going on a date with a few other couples, that kid will most likely be taking the cell phone. 1. for emergencies, or 2. to call and let us know they'll be late or for us to call and find out where they are.

BG's first rock concert

Aside from being implanted in my body, BG has been going everywhere with us via ultrasound pic's. The other day we went to check out some RC Willey stuff and BG helped us decide on stuff. The funniest thing was when we were in the crib section.

I showed BG their options and asked which they preferred. They responded with, "I don't care where I sleep, just turn this music off." HA HA HA HA The kid hates Kid bop. That makes mommy so proud.

Jason's littlest brother, Brian, is in a band called The Forget Me Nows. They have been in this competition, Fight for Fame, at E-strings in Henderson. The competition started with 88 bands and they've been weeding bands out over the last few months. The final 6 bands played tonight. We of course showed up to support the band and because they are an awesome group. Jason brought the US of BG and showed EVERYONE! Even brand new people he met that night he showed our grape size BG to.

Some of the bands were a bit much for me. Luckily I think it's still too soon for BG to be affected by loud noise.

A Dream is a wish your heart makes...

Then again maybe not. My dreams haven't been this crazy in I don't know how long!

Sunday afternoon as I was napping, I had a dream that mom and I were chasing a huge rat around her house, and then it turned on us! After we got the rat taken care of, a turkey started attacking me.

Last night, I had a dream that I was wanted by "authorities" and Phillip Banks, yes, Will Smith's uncle, let me come stay at his place. Authorities found out he was hiding me in his house and he packed me up with the family and we all became fugitives.

I don't think they mean anything, but I think they're freaking hilarious.

APPOINTMENT!!!

The appointment went really well. Except for sitting in an uncomfortable gown for an uncomfortable amount of time. However, we saw the heartbeat. It was pretty fast as expected. Dr Swainston said it was a good strong heartbeat. That made mommy and daddy happy.

After hearing and seeing the heartbeat, we got to see Baby Graf's, "BG" for short, cue little self. We got to see BG clearly on a few shots, but the pics we got to take home look more like Ernie from Sesame Street than a little baby. Either way, it was confirmed that we are pregnant. No doubts any more. I wish it would have lasted a little longer. I wasn't nearly as emotional as I thought I would be.

BG is 2.4 cm long. Her due date is May 13, just as we suspected. I am trying not to call BG "it" because she isn't and it, she's a little baby. This is why I have nicknamed her BG. Furthermore, I don't know if it's a boy or girl, so I will be interchanging the pronouns when I feel like it until we know for sure if it's a boy or girl.

Here is some of the swag we got from our appointment.

The dr gave us a little starter bag filled with similac bottles, prenatals, new mommy books, breastfeeding pamphlets and hospital info.

Aside from all the other tests performed in the exam room, I also had to do some blood tests. I have learned that you're only to keep the gauze on for about 5-10 minutes after it's placed on. Usually when I remove it, where the tape was is a light pink, however, this is what happened this time...

I'm not sure why it did this. Maybe cause my skin is more tender, maybe cause my hormones are crazy. I have no clue. Maybe it's cause they used my right arm when the left is generally the arm of choice. Hopefully it won't happen again. I would be so embarrassed to look like a chubby pregnant crack head.

New nickname

I have many nicknames for Jason. Chuchu and Sancho are regular pet names he doesn't care for. Honey Bear and my husband are regulars he doesn't mind too much. Though other ones pop up here and there, he generally hates them. LOL I guess hate is pretty strong, but he'd much rather be called Jason than anything. He tells me, "I like my name".

However, he's become very fond of his most recent regular addition which is "baby daddy".

First Appointment Excitement

You all will think I'm a nutcase, but I'm sure you've thought it at least once in the time we've known each other. I'm having a really hard time believing that I am pregnant. I have wanted to be pregnant for so long, and have been trying for so long that I can't believe it's finally happening.


August was supposed to be our last month of trying while on Clomid. It was our fifth month, and usually after the fifth month, they talk about different options for trying. After all the testing and whatnot over the last 4 and a half months nothing was working. However, this month, Jason and I tried every "trick" in the book, making sure that we weren't doing it halfway. One trick every month wasn't working, so we figured all the tricks should work. My attitude then became, we've tried everything this round, and if it doesn't work, then I'm ok with giving up for a while.

For months I kept track of what days I started my cycle, what days I ovulated, what days I started, etc. I was thinking that if I took a test towards the end of our trip to Denver, it would only be a few days early. I was still expecting the negative result, but the sooner I knew, the sooner I could go on with life.


I was having some symptoms, but like always, I was making excuses for it. The peeing a lot was due to the UTI I was feeling coming on. The hunger feeling was me being on a crazy vaca diet. The nausea and sick feeling while on the plane and 4D ride were cause I'm old and not as stomach strong as I used to be.

Furthermore, I have a terrible fear that I am like Terri on Glee. She wanted a baby so bad that she made up symptoms and then she wasn't. Wouldn't that be terrible going to the dr and there's no baby?!

My appointment on Monday, I think, will put everything into perspective. Once I hear that little heartbeat going, and maybe see that little grape size nugget in there, it will become real for me instead of a delusion.

My favorite bean

I have always loved chili, taco casserole, and salads that I get to throw kidney beans on. They are such a delicious little bean. I am now able to add another reason to loving them. This week my baby is the size of a kidney bean. Isn't that exciting?!


What I also love about this week (week 8) is that the baby is already showing some of daddy's characteristics. I know, you're probably thinking, How do I know? The baby is too small to tell that.


Wrong! The baby has webbed toes and hands. Jason has webbed toes. =) Yes, the baby will grow out of the webbing, but it's fun thinking that right now it's like his daddy. And, telling Jason this, though he knows the baby will grow out of it, he was pretty stoked.


I love reading about the baby's developements, but it's more fun to see Jason's reaction to the baby's latest developements. After reading updates for this week, he said, "Really?! That's all happening this week?"


What I never knew is that the first few months is when the baby develops and forms. The rest of the pregnancy is making sure it continues to grows normally. There may be more developements, but the brain, liver, lungs, eyes, arms, legs, etc are all already growing. I use to think that the baby acquires all their organs and functions throughout the pregnancy. Now I realize how important the first few months of pregnancy are and how you as the mom have to be on top of your diet and exercise. This baby relies on me for everything! What a huge responsibility.

"Daddy, I'm hungry."

So, about an hour ago, I sat in my office chair next to Jason. I asked what he wanted to do for dinner and he said we'd think on it. After watching this weeks episode of Glee on Hulu and facebooking and other doddling, I became very bored and hungry. So, in my best ventriloquist voice, "Baby Graf" said to daddy, "Daddy, I'm hungry. Please get mommy something to eat."

He logged off his computer and we are on our way to eat!

Feeling girly

Yesterday I went to get a pedicure to keep me feeling girly. It's my small little luxury. Well, as I was nearing my pedicure end, I decided to get my nails done too. I didn't want anything crazy, just some white tips to make my hands feel pretty.

I left the nail saloon feeling good.

The next day, today, I showed up at work and I got chewed out for getting nails. "Pregnant girls can't get their nails done."

Pregnant girls also shouldn't lift things and shouldn't get their hair done (except for cuts and trims) and shouldn't stand by microwaves and, and, and!

I think that if I went to the nail saloon to purposely sniff and get high on the fumes and chemicals in there, yes, I shouldn't go cause too much may cause a problem. However, I didn't see and issue with being there an hour.

I talked with the baby daddy, and he and I both feel, it's not life threatening to me or the baby to get my nails done. Once I go to the dr, I will ask him how he feels. IF he says to stop going, then I will find out why and go from there.

However, the only thing I want people to yell at me for while I'm pregnant is my soda intake. I have been pretty cautious about it, but I'm human and week. I love how those tiny wonderful bubbles feel on my tongue. I am dehydrated every other day. So, yell at me to drink more water or skip the soda.

I'm so hungry!!!

This has been a rough week. I'm not peeing as much through the night, but when I wake up, I am starving! If I get something too sugary first thing in the morning, I get a little uneasy. The other morning, I had a bunch of green grapes and I couldn't finish them cause my stomach was starting to fuss. Anyone know if it's the grapes? Or just me?

Anyway, I find that yogurt and granola have been pretty satisfying with lots of water and a prenatal pill. I am trying to snack more and have smaller meals. Isn't that what they teach us is a healthy diet? lol I'm not gaining any weight, which I like cause I'm not supposed to just yet.

I am getting real antsy for my first appointment. I can't wait to hear that little heartbeat. A week and a half. *sigh*

Quilts

One of the fabric stores by my work is closing, so I picked up some material there for a steal. I found 3 fabrics that looked great together. I was going to make a yellow brick baby quilt out of it, but once I got it home, I decided to do a block quilt. It's a little bigger than a normal baby blanket, but it will provide room for growth.

Since I don't know if it will be boy or girl, or both, I'm gonna make a little girlie one too. I already have pink, purple and brown butterfly and polka dot material. So excited!

Nausea or hunger?

Yesterday, I was not feeling it. I got home from church and made Chicken Toast, minus the toast, plus a pita. I got through the first half of the pita that had tomatoes and was loving it! However, half way through the next half, with only cheese and chicken, I started feeling a little stomach sickness. I didn't think much of it, but after a few hours and trying to think of dinner options, I was getting a little nauseous. I ended up having a candy bar, crab chowder and water and feeling better.

Today was a different story though. Jason washed some green grapes for me to eat as my breakfast on the way to work. After eating what was probably 35 grapes, my stomach asked me to quit cause it didn't want anymore. Now, I'm not sure if I ate too many, or if it was just that I had so many grapes. I had some Chef Boyardi Raviolo for lunch, just a snack with some water and it made me feel a little better.

I'm curious to see if this is the morning sickness coming out? Or just my belly acting up.

Yacking

So, I still haven't yacked. However, things that make me gag:

• People who come to my teller window with their hands covered in blood
• People who hand me a wad of cash to sort out and I have to remove their pocket lint (this is not Jason.)
• Chicken bones (but those made me gag before)
• People who don't bathe and I have to call over my supervisor to help them before I yack on them
• People who work at the fast food restaurants surrounding work and come in smelling deep fried

Wow. After reading this, it sounds like the work is my biggest problem. The only thing non work related is something I've had an issue with for years, so it doesn't even really count. lol

Wowza!

So, I still haven't had any "sickness". Morning or otherwise. However, one of my regulars, who is not the cleanliest, brought in another wad of $5 bills. I thought way too much about the money, and the lint that was attached to it and started gagging.

I think when Jenny, my sister, lost her sense of smell however many years ago, all the smelling capabilities came to me. I have always told everyone I have a pregnant lady's sense of smell. I didn't think that when I got pregnant it would get better, cause I already thought it was superb! I was wrong.

I can smell EVERYTHING! Regular customers who didn't smell before, now smell of something. Not sure what, but some of them are not friendly. And, it's not just bad smells. One of the girls I work with use to work at Victoria's Secret, and though the perfume she wears smells pretty, she wears so much of it I have a hard time breathing. I have a little fan at work to keep me cool, and sometimes it doesn't help when I have smelly customers (good or bad) and the air blows it right on me. I even face the fan away, or turn it off in a non-chalant kind of way, and sometimes it doesn't help. I, for the most part, can control my gag reflex, and there has only been one incident so far where I had to have someone else process the transaction cause I couldn't handle the smell.

Other than my Superman Sense of Smell, my boobs are the only other complaint. My nipples looked bruised the other day! Kid you not, they were purpley red. Don't know if that is normal, but it sure is making me feel weird. They are normal colored again, but maybe it's just the type of bra I'm wearing?? I don't know.

I still pee a lot. However, now that the urinary tract infection is gone, I don't dread it. In fact, it gives me a few seconds out of my day to sit and relax, kind of. lol

What is wrong with my skin?!

Since the week before finding out I was pregnant, I have been getting spouts of dehydration. Probably cause I don't drink as much water as I should. However, does that really warrant my dry skin? Every time I get out of the shower, I feel like my skin is drier than the mojave desert in July!
I take a shower in warm water, and then I bathe in lotion. Books tell me it's normal, but sheesh... This could get a little pricey if I am going to be using this much lotion! Any ideas?

It's been one week...

It's been a week since we found out our lives are going to be completely different for the rest of our lives.

The idea is finally sinking in. All week I've been doubtful about the results, still thinking they were false. Yes, I kept thinking that while we were in Denver visiting friends, who are on the HCG diet, I kept thinking they snuck in our room, stabbed me with one of the needles and snuck out. LOL

Yes, I know, I'm a bit neurotic. But, it's still so incredible that something we've wanted for what seems like forever, and have tried to get forever, is finally happening.

• We've decided to make a few changes around the house. Mainly organizing, simplifying, and "nesting".
• I made a baby blanket with my mom today. It's not totally finished, but it's about half done.
• Over the last few months I've been avoiding sugar. We're not as great of friends as we used to be. So, I've stocked up on healthy treats.
• I have some prenatal pills that I'm taking that I bought over-the-counter. My body isn't rejecting them like they did before which is very nice.

Saturdays Results

Baby is cooking well. They wanted to see 3 times as much HCG as the last resutls, which was 264, and the results from Saturday are 1010. Nearly 4 times as much!

I also have a urinary tract infection (UTI). But, getting a Rx for that, so hopefully I won't be so cranky.

5th Week

Ouch. That whole breast sensitivity is kicking in. I've heard it can get real bad. Not looking forward to that.

I also got an email telling me that the baby is the size of a sesame seed and it's brain is forming.

2nd Round of Bloodwork

I went and did my second round of bloodwork today. Monday seems so far away to get the results!

Telling Family

When I called my dad to break the news, he was with my brothers. I had him put me on speaker phone, and once we got it working, I asked them how they felt about being uncles and a grandpa because in 9 months, that's what they were going to be. They of course teased me and asked if I was buying a kid. I told them no that I was pregnant. They then asked who the father was. So I told them it was this guy Jason. I will have to introduce them at the next holiday party we have. lol I think they are all excited.


Not 5 minutes after hanging up with them, my stepmother called. She is elated!


As we were on our way to the party store, Jason left a voicemail for his dad saying, "Hey Grandpa, call me back when you get this. Love ya."


I also told him he should text Tyler. So, we've covered out-of-towners and 90% of my family. It was now time to get out the tricks and tells Jason's moms, littlest brother, sister and my mom.


We thought of a few different things. But we came up with getting little pink and blue balloon bouquets, and setting them on the front door step of each house with a little note, then driving away and texting.


As we were making our way across the valley, we came up with a few ideas for writing inside the cards. Jason thought of a knock knock joke and with some fine tuning, we came up with:


Knock. Knock.
(Who's there?)
Expecting.
(Expecting who?)
Expecting Baby Graf in May 2011!!!


The only downside was that when we stopped by each house, no one was home. LOL


However, Carla arrived home shortly after we left. She called Jason so excited that she is going to be an auntie.

Brian and Gi got home from work and were really excited for us.


I ended up calling my mom. My family is real weird. We call each other for some of the most random things, or to tell jokes or for no reason at all. So, I called to tell her the hilarious "joke" that Jason told me. She was pretty mellow about it, but she was also in the middle of a relief society function. I do know that she is so excited to have a grand baby.

Friday morning I got a text from Jason saying that his mom knows. I am really excited for Jason to be a dad, but I'm nearly just as excited for his mom to have another grand baby. I finally motivated myself to get up, the fatigue is really kicking in, when my phone rang. I picked it up and it was his mom. I loved that she said, "Hi Jessica, it's grandma." She told me that her and June were out pretty late and as they were pulling in the drive way she saw the balloons. Then she saw they were blue and pink and said, "June! Look! Blue and pink balloons! Jason and Jessica!!!"

I'm so excited for all the joy this baby is already bringing to our families.

Bloodwork

On Wednesday, when I called Sue, my nurse, to tell her the test was positive, I got the other nurse on duty, Cheryl (since Sue is off on Wednesdays. Something I learned many months ago after calling her and not getting responses back til Thursday or getting calls from Cheryl.)

Cheryl had me come in as soon as I could on Wednesday to run the Progesterone and HCG tests. Making sure the levels are good. I got a call from Sue on Thursday saying my progesterone is at 53.5 which is great cause they like to see it above 10. Woot! My HCG was at 264. This is kinda low, but they like it to triple every few days, so she wanted me to get more bloodwork done on Saturday. Let's pray the levels go up.

As for symptoms, I have few. The pills I was/am on always tend to make me gag and feel nauseous, so that's nothing new. I did have the "pressure" cramps. They have subsided for the most part. My nipples are real sensitive, but my boobs don't ache like everyone says they should. Lucky me!

I'm stoked to know the baby is a size of a poppy seed. I'll try to keep everyone as up to date as I can. This is the first grnadbaby on the Claessens side, and on the Graf side, it will be the second grandbaby for some, and the first "Graf" grandbaby for others. I know there are a lot of excited family out there. Friends too.

Telling Jason

This always seems to be the first exciting thing for expecting moms. How to tell the soon to be expecting dad.

I wanted to tell Jason in a special way. I wanted him to remember this forever. Not that he wouldn't remember becoming a dad, but finding out your life will never be the same after this news, I wanted it to be special.

Many ideas ran through my head. Making dinner and presenting "dessert" as the positive stick. Kinda sounded gross though. Then, I thought about getting baby clothes and putting them in the washer and when we were getting ready to go to bed that night, I'd ask him to switch the "clothes" over. I didn't want to buy too many clothes of the wrong sex. I also thought about filling the spare/baby room closet with diapers over the next few weeks, but who knows if he would pay that much attention to that closet.

I went with getting him a little present.

Before I say more about the present, let me tell you how our week had been. Monday, we had a little birthday celebration for Jason. We were in Denver for his birthday so we didn't get to celebrate with our other friends and family. Monday afternoon, Jason was helping tidy up the house and was taking our suitcases out to the garage when he heard lots of little boys playing outside the garage. He opened the garage door to find 4 little neighbor boys. 3 from down the street who attend our church and one from the opposite direction. Jason being the wonderful patient guy he is explained that they need to ask permission before getting into the Jeep.

After 20 minutes of Jason "putting away the suitcases", I went out to the garage to see what the issue was. I was filled in on the current situation. After Jason had said goodbye and we thought the kids would resort to one of their houses, Jason finds them getting into OUR backyard. He explains again that they need to ask permission to go in our backyard. They then ride their scooters through our front yard, start turning on the water, coming in and out of the house like they own the place. I was running out of patience. Jason went out and explained to the boys that they needed to go home since it was getting late and he needed to help me with other chores before his little party.

After what we thought was the end, I hear the water turn and I am out the door before Jason can get there. I did not explain. I let them know that "they need to listen to our rules when they are at our house. We have been very nice to them and if they want us to continue being nice, they need to listen to us. Otherwise, they will not be allowed to come over, ever. Do you understand?" That was the end of that.

Jason's present
I went to Babies R Us and found two cute little outfits. One in boy colors that said "Daddy's best friend" and a little girl one that said, "Daddy adores me." I want to teach the kids sign language for many reasons, Jason too, so I then went to Borders and got The Everything Book on Baby Sign Language. I found a little organization box, or something like that, put the book in, put the outfits in just right so when he opened the box he would see what they said, and then I put the positive pregnancy test on top. (Don't worry, I didn't pee all over the stick and I'm gonna wash the clothes before the munchkin wears it.) I set the box with a little gold bow on top of the coffee table just before Jason arrived home.

He walked in, gave me a hug and a kiss. And as we were hugging I casually told him that a little person dropped that box off for him while he was gone. He looked perplexed and I think he thought tons of different things, mainly, what have those little boys down the street gotten me?!

When he opened it, he still seemed a little perplexed. So, I told him, "Ya, they said they'd be back in 9 months." And then, there it was.

Jason: Are you serious?
Jess: yes.
Jason: For real?
Jess: Yes, Jason. It's for real.

I won't go into how gushy it was, but I loved watching his reaction. I wanted to surprise our families, but I had gone to see Jenny earlier that day, and I can't be around her more than 5 minutes without sharing whatever juicy gossip I have. So, I told Jason to call her since he was dying to share it with someone. Thank you Jenny. You truly are an amazing sister.

History

Jason and I have been married for 2 and a half years. Since our wedding day, we have not tried to prevent pregnancy.
About 6 months into our marriage, I was concerned that we still hadn't conceived and started going to different specialists, i.e. endocrinologists, ob-gyn's, etc. I was asking work to help me out. I was the Executive Secretary for a credit union here in Vegas. It was pretty stressful at times and I asked if I could be demoted to a lower position, such as a teller. I live in North Las Vegas and I had to travel out to Henderson everyday for work. I spent 11 hours out of my day on work.
They were unwilling to work with me so I quit and started working for a more nationally known bank as a part time teller. It is a lot less stress and a lot less hours.
I had a Dr put me on Metformin for my irregularity and diabetic symptoms in March of 09. I lost 30 lbs and was stoked that my girl parts were working on their own, most of the time. I kept thinking we would get pregnant soon, but it didn't happen.
I got a new OB-GYN Dr at the end of '10 and he kept wanting to put me on Clomid. I have heard lots of crazy stories about Clomid, so I kept telling him I wanted to find a different way to get pregnant, and if those didn't work, then we'd try Clomid. Well, none of those other ways worked, so I started Clomid in April. My June, I was wore out by all the poking, prodding, and pee stick testing.
I was emotionally drained cause here it was 3 months gone by and I still wasn't pregnant. I talked to the nurse and she told me, some people get pregnant the first month, some the fifth. The average is the third cycle. Being that I was at the end of the third cycle and realizing I was less than average, I started giving up on getting pregnant. It's definitely not as easy as my 12 yr old self thought it was, have sex, 9 months later you have a baby.
I told my husband, our families and friends that if I didn't get pregnant this month, I was gonna call it quits for a while. I'll be getting my Associate in Accounting in May '11, and I will be turning 30 in April, and I had lots of plans to do lots of things. Jason and I were going to take a Bahama Cruise for my 30th birthday. Already have it paid for and everything.
However, Friday, September 3, I took a test and it was negative. I was pretty bummed after taking so many tests and always having them negative. Then, on Tuesday, I still hadn't had any sign of my cycle coming. I had been having some discomfort in my pelvis, but didn't think much of it. I called my nurse to find out what she thought, and she said, "Take a test tomorrow morning. If it's positive, call me and we will have you do blood work. If it's negative, call me when you start."
From the books I've read and seen, I knew that the 18th day after ovulation was your "key" day. If you are a basal body temperature person, if you have a high temp on the 18th day, you can be pretty sure, you're pregnant.
Wednesday, September 8 (Day 17 after ovulation)
Jason got up for work, I got up with him then went back to bed. I had the day off but had some errands to run with a friend, so I knew I needed to get up and going. I took the test and there was a faint blue (+) sign. After all the research and work I've put in to "reproduction" knowledge, I knew you couldn't get a false positive. Unless you had just had a miscarriage, just delivered or were on the HCG diet. So, being that none of those applied, it took me a while to let it sink in.
However, it has sunk in and I am so stoked to be pregnant. I have always wanted to be a mom. And, I think I am more excited for my wonderful husband to get the chance to be a great dad than I am for myself to be a great mom.