The One With the Anniversary!

(Alternately titled: The One Post NOT Written About My Ever Expanding Uterus.)

That's right, folks, today, I shall not be discussing my pregnancy, nor my Nugget, as per my previous 876 entries. Not that it's not pretty exciting, and not that I didn't FEEL MY BABY MOVE today, but still. There's more important things to discuss. (We all caught that, though, right? My baby moved. Inside me. And I felt it. Ok.) Like I said, we aren't discussing that today.

Tonight I'm super excited because sitting on my table is a big ol' box all wrapped up and in my hubby's handwriting says, "Happy Anniversary!!" (Also, the reason he had to write on it is because there is currently one roll of wrapping paper in our house, along with about 14 gift bags. The roll of wrapping paper has snowmen all over it and says "Winter Wonderland" and the gift bags all have pictures of brides and grooms or wedding rings. He opted for the Winter Wonderland, turned backwards. I'm so proud.) Tomorrow, I'll wrap up his little box and we get to have a special day!

This is our first Anniversary and I think it's so cool. Like, it's sort of like a birthday, because it's a special day that isn't shared by everyone, but MORE special because I get to share it with Geoff! I don't know if that makes sense. But I really like knowing that tomorrow doesn't mean a whole lot to everyone else, but for us, July 26 will always mark one of the most monumental days in our lives. This year has been amazing. And I'm completely baffled by all the people who tried to tell me the first year is the hardest. If that's true, then I am going to have the best life EVER because this has already been the best year of my life. I have loved learning how to be a good wife for Geoff; loved getting to know him better. I love waking up next to him, going to sleep with him, hearing the door open when he comes home from work, cooking dinner for him, cooking dinner with him, and all the other little tiny things that make our life so happy. Has it been a perfect year? 'Course not. Have there been ways we've both screwed up, and a thousand times we could have loved each other better? 'Course. But we have kept on turning to each other, and have grown this year in ways we never thought possible. I'm so thankful for this wonderful man I have been so blessed with. He makes me feel beautiful, cherished, special and safe every day. He takes care of me, makes me smile, and makes me laugh like no one else in the world. He loves me, and he loves me well.

I'm so looking forward to setting tomorrow aside as a celebration of US, a moment to stop and look at each other and think, "How did we get so blessed?" So here's to our first anniversary! May there be many more to come :)

The One With My Funny Baby

I love my baby so much. Like seriously, because Nugget is my child and it's one of those natural things, but beyond that, I have a funny child. Nugget likes to play tricks. The making me think I'm better and then making me puke again isn't as funny as the trick this week.

Our 15 week appointment was Tuesday. For those who haven't had babies, these pre-natal appointments are booorrrrriiinnnnggg. Literally, they last 15 minutes. We sit in the office where my doctor makes comments (or jokes) about my weight. He made serious comments when I lost for the first trimester, but when I'd gained 5 pounds this time he made jokes. (Also, note to self: don't schedule weigh ins right after a vacation in which you devoured fried seafood, ice cream, AND Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake your wonderful hosts brought you home in exchange for playing with their angelic child. Let me tell you, not even close to a fair trade. We win, all around.) Then he discusses my health, asks if I have any questions, and asks if Geoff has any questions. After that, we go to listen to the heartbeat. Usually, it takes about twenty seconds. Doppler goes on my belly, we hear a loud heartbeat which is mine, scoot the doppler down, and then there it is!! Very quick, which is good for a wussy mom and dad who get really nervous during this part.

Tuesday, all is well. I lay down, he puts the doppler on. Nothing. Moves it around...nothing. Presses harder. Nothing. Up, down, left, right, jabbing my entire abdomen and below. Nothing. This goes on for 2 minutes, and we are sufficiently FREAKED OUT. Then, the doctor moves the doppler down, presses as hard as he can and says, "Oh! Found it! Right behind the pubic bone!" We listen to the semi-faint but fast beat, and he tries to get Nugget to move, but Nugget absolutely refused to budge. Which is odd, because usually he is wiggly. I thought this was funny. My kid has already found the only place at this age that he can hide and freak us out. I can't wait til August 6--that is Baby Sex Day!! Also, I'm nervous, since it's Baby, Are You Growing Normally? Day. But I'm hoping the excitement will take over and leave me no time for anxiousness.

Until next time, I'm off to eat a giant bowl of rice. Mmmm.

The One With the Baby I Miss

I'm back from an AMAZING vacation. I was perfect. A delightful combination of time with friends, and time with hubby, plus a little beach and a little city. Loved it. Sometime soon, I shall give some fun details, maybe even pictures, of the wonderfulness we had in Florida. But for today, I'm a bit pensive. I've been thinking lots about our first little baby.

I dunno, it's weird. Sometimes when I am counting Nugget's weeks and excitedly telling everyone how big he is, or what new milestones he's learning (last week, Nugget got facial expressions and begins to pee. Nice, Nugget.) But sometimes I can't help skipping ahead to see how big Baby Ward would be now; what I'd be experiencing. For some reason in my mind, Baby Ward is ALWAYS a boy. And I wonder what color hair he would have had, and if he would have been tall or short. I kind of thought that once I got pregnant again, these thoughts would subside, because now I can wonder all those same questions about a baby it looks as though I likely WILL meet. But the two are very, very separate in my mind. Getting pregnant again HAS made it much, much easier and I am so blessed to have been given this gift so soon. But...the pain of the miscarriage is still there. More than I would have expected, sometimes. It's very weird to think there was a little person that Geoff and I made, and we (on this side of eternity) will never know anything about.

One cool thing, though, was pointed out to me a few months ago by one of my blog readers (Thanks, Meredith :)) and has provided me with much encouragement. Nugget is a child created only because of the miscarriage. If we had Baby Ward, then this little person that I can't wait to meet would never exist. And I'm so excited to see this little personality come alive; to see if he will have my frizzy hair or Geoff's freckles...and all the while knowing this little one we get to meet would never have been possible without the pain we experienced first. Sometimes it's very difficult for me to look at this pregnancy with the same excitement that I know other first time pregnancy mom's are having. I still get super nervous, even though things are going great. In a few weeks at our sonogram, I already know I'm going to be freaking out. And yeah, there's no point in worrying. It doesn't change anything. Plus, things are (statistically speaking) most likely going to go wonderfully. And we definitely trust God with this baby, as we did with our first. There are just still days when it hurts, and days when I am still sad. Sometimes I wonder if I'm being overdramatic--plenty of people have miscarriages...plenty of people have had several! But then I come back to the fact that the world is broken, and that it's ok to be sad about brokenness, and death and pain. As long as there is hope...which there is, in abundance. It's just a strange journey to travel.

Anyways, I'm off to enjoy my last 2 days of vacation. Happy Saturday :)

The One With all the Hydration

Well, friends, I come to you tonight as a fully hydrated preggo. I know this because I spent the better half of my day in the hospital connected to an IV. While not the most pleasant experience of my life, I can safely say I am feeling a thousand times better than I have since getting pregnant. It's amazing the difference that it made.

I called my doctor this morning to discuss my recent sickness, and he immediately agreed that I needed a new medicine. However, he didn't want to prescribe it until I'd gone to the hospital to get checked out at Labor and Delivery and most likely get some IV fluids due to dehydration. Ok. No worries. I call my hubby and wake him up, we leave to go to Mercy Hospital. I've never been to Mercy Hospital. It. Is. Not. Fun. First off, it's in Baltimore. I don't like the city. I don't like the one way streets. I don't like honking. I don't like parking garages. But whatevs. I love my doctor. So we'll do it. Plus, I've heard wonderful things about the hospital. I get there, we go up to Labor and Delivery, and things are a little....chaotic. Some of the nurses are running around talking about someone's placenta; some are figuring out who needs epidurals; some are doing paperwork. NO ONE is helping the poor women in room 11 who has to go to the bathroom; NO ONE is putting an epidural into the woman who is 7 centimeters dilated in room 5, and for pete's sake, will someone PLEASE find Dr. Mac so they will stop asking for him on the intercom??? Anyways. My doctor had already called ahead to inform them I was coming and what to do. I get there. I get registered and the nurse says, "Oh. You're only 13 weeks. Just go down to the ER." (I'm sorry. WHAT? No, lady. Last time I went to an ER it took them 4 hours to tell me I was having a miscarriage and there's no way I'm going back unless I'm dying, or bleeding, or unconscious.) So, I, in my oh-so-pleasant-non-hydrated-vomiting state say firmly, "No. I'm not going. You can examine me here." She, equally firmly, says, "No. You have to go to the ER. Go talk to the midwife. But she's gonna tell you the same thing." So, I go to the midwife, and she says that they're dealing with a lot in labor and delivery, so if I want to be seen, I need to go to the ER. I said no, I'm going to go home if you won't see me here. She said, "You're probably dehydrated. You can't leave." I turned around, said, "Watch me." and then I left. I called my doctor on my way back to the car; he was really ticked off they tried to send me away, and called them back and apparently MUCH more firmly than me told them to see me right away. So they did. Hoorah! Turns out I was pretty severely dehydrated, and so two hours and a bag and a half of sugar water and a shot of Zofran later, I was on my way home, VERY happily hydrated and feeling a thousand times better.

Overall, though, the experience concerns me. I asked one nurse if they were understaffed today, and she said, "Oh no. It's always like this. Crazy place!" (Thanks. Big help. Can't wait til it's my turn. I'll try to use the bathroom BEFORE I come so I don't have to bother the staff with silly things like that....) But, this experience also made me appreciate my doctor even more. I think my idea might be to get a doula or a midwife to be part of my labor experience (you know, help me pee and stuff) that way I get to have the comfort of my doctor, but also the comfort of someone there looking out for the medical stuff before it's the doctor's turn and I push and stuff. Who knows. It was also interesting how much nicer everyone got after my IV. I said to Geoff, "Wow! These people are WAY nicer now!" He paused, and then as kindly as he could, but also laughing said, "Sweetie. YOU are way nicer now." So I believe perhaps my opinion at the beginning was slightly skewed. But just slightly.

For now, I'm off to drink some water. 80 ounces a day from now on! Gah.

The One With the Jokester

As my sister-in-law pointed out to me, with a combo of the silliness of me and the even more silliness of my husband, our child has little chance of being "normal." Which, to me, is super exciting. But, Nugget's first round of jokes is not something his mommy finds funny.

See, I was pretty sick for a few weeks. And then, right before 12 weeks, I started throwing up a lot less, and I embraced the 2nd trimester wonderfulness. Then, a few days later, I got sick. Well. Maybe it was just a fluke. Started to feel better....and a few days later, got sick. This time, I waited longer before I thought, "Wow, now the sickness is really over." So this time, I waited even longer. But I'm not gonna lie, Saturday morning, I said "Wow. I'm SO glad the sickness is finally done."

Good joke, Nugget.

Today, I woke up. And threw up. Then, I tried to eat some breakfast. And threw up. Prenatal vitamin? Threw up. Cup of water? Threw up. I finally had to go into work to process payroll, and ate a half a cup of ice cubes...and threw up. So I came home to sleep. This is the worst day I've had since getting pregnant. And really, I shouldn't complain, since I know at least one of my readers who was this sick (and sicker) for nearly her entire pregnancy. One day won't kill me. But I am tellin ya--I'm not doin this for long. If it's like this tomorrow, I'm calling my dr. He already gave me some anti-nausea medicine, but it makes me SO sleepy I can't even take it if I have to go to work, or do anything that requires me to move from my couch. So Ima need a nice anti-nausea AND anti-drowsiness medication. 

This is especially important since a week from today I'll be flying to Florida with my hubby! We are so freaking excited about this vacation and adventure. Back in January, we had signed up for a cruise in January 2010. However, being due in January 2010, we realized we had to cancel it. So, we decided to do the responsible thing--not plan any vacation and save our money for the little one. Then about 2 weeks ago, I started to get really sad about this plan. First, because this is the last summer we have to carelessly make vacation plans without a child to consider. It's also HOPEFULLY the last summer we will have two incomes so vacations in the future might not happen for awhile. Geoff is super sweet--even though its WAY more important to me, and he's ok with just hanging out here, he agreed we could go somewhere. With only a week to plan, my mind quickly jumped to huge ideas that would be impossible on such short notice. Then, that same day, one of my most favorite people, Heather of the Clement Crew, posted pictures of her newly designed (and beautifully done) guest room with an invitation for visitors. I'm SO excited about this for so many reasons--first, she has the cutest child I've ever seen. And I mean that. There really is no other child that is as cute as him. (I'm very much hoping I think mine is cuter when it pops out. But Liam is SO cute that it's going to be debatable.) Also, I have never gotten to meet Heather's husband, nor has Geoff, and it's going to be so fun for all of us to hang out. Also, they live really close to St. Augustine, so after a few days with them, Geoff and I are going to spend 2 nights in a romantic hotel at the beach before we come home.

The suddness of this trip did bring with it some bathing suit crisis tears (don't try on last years suits after you're pregnant. it won't work.) So we have a bunch of last minute shopping to do. But it's all worth it! Now, I just have to feel better, find something to cover me up at the ocean, and we will be good to go!

In Nugget news, he is the size of a medium shrimp. And less than 5 weeks til our sonogram, where we absolutely want to know if we are having a boy or girl! I hope Nugget cooperates so we can get a good look at some healthy organs and know for sure what gender to expect!!

Ok. Time for more napping. The end.