Yesterday was our OB orientation session! We got there at 8:30, and they brought me back to the scale (ugh!) and then took my blood pressure. Next we went into the appointment room to set our first OB appointment. I got to sit in a big comfy chair where my feet couldn’t touch the floor. Typical occurance for me!  My first appointment is Monday, January 14^th at 8:00. They told me this appointment will include a full exam and PAP smear, Oh, joy...

Next we went to a conference room with all the other women who just found out they’re pregnant. I couldn’t believe how many of them there were! Apparently they hold these sessions every week, so I was definitely surprised by the number! An RN talked to us first, explained the " OB experience" to us, detailing everything that we’d encounter during our prenatal care. It was very informative and it felt good to know that someone has a “plan” for us! We filled out a lot of paperwork about our medical histories, and then we listened to a presentation given by a nutrition counselor. It was a real eye-opener! Not only do I need to evaluate what I’m eating, but I need to make sure I’m balancing it according to the new food pyramid. I think I have my work cut out for me! Seriously, though, I will do whatever I need to do to ensure this pregnancy is healthy and happy!

So we feel a little more prepared for these big changes coming up in our lives! It keeps feeling more and more real for me, which is great! I truly can’t wait to see how the next several months unfold for us.

I’ll be back with an update after my appointment on Monday!

I’m starting to feel more and more pregnant as the days go by! I have been dealing with a lot of nausea, but fortunately only gotten sick once. If this is the worse I have to deal with, I’d be happy, but my hunch is that the morning sickness is just getting started. And it’s not just in the morning, by the way… Tomorrow I will be 7 weeks, so we have a long road to still travel! No big deal, though. The thrill of being pregnant is still outweighing any discomfort I am feeling.

Since I last wrote, I’ve told a few more people about our pregnancy. On Thursday, I had lunch with Dawn and Cynthia, and then I went to EBS. I worked there for so many years, and I loved the time I spent there, so I like to go back and visit these friends. Of course, I could hardly contain my news, and once I told one person, world spread through the office like wild fire! I was overwhelmed by the warmth and excitement our news was met with! It feels great to know I have such a strong network of friends here in Ohio . This baby will be so lucky to have people all over the country loving him or her!

Otherwise, I’ve just been trying to get things done at home. I inquired today about substitute teaching in some local school districts. Since we’re moving in April, I really can’t apply for a “real” teaching position, so I’ve decided that subbing will be a good way to keep my feet wet while we wait to move to Texas . Hopefully I can start working soon!

I’m off to work on your baby blanket now, little one. I started crocheting a mint green blanket the day after I found out I was pregnant with you. Slowly but surely, I’ll get it finished. Daddy is watching the Ohio State Buckeyes football game right now. He’s hoping they win the championship title. He told me he hopes you like football, but if you don’t, it’s OK. You can be whatever you want to be, Appleseed! Limitless possibilities await you!

I’ll be back on Wednesday with an update. We have our “group appointment” in the perinatal center, where we’ll meet with the nurse and any other couples ready to start their prenatal care. We’re excited about learning more about our pregnancy and hopefully get some of our questions answered. We’ll let you know what we find out!

Well, we had our first ultrasound today! It went great! We were able to see the baby, as well as the yolk sac. The most exciting part came when we saw the fast flickering of the heart beat on the screen! The technician tried to pick up the audio of the heart beating, but said it was still too early. She was able to measure it, though, and it came in at a strong 136 beats per minute! How exciting and incredible to see that heart beat! I instantly felt more calm and relaxed about this pregnancy, knowing that our baby is alive and healthy so far. The technician measured from crown to rump and determined I am 6w3d, which sounds about right according to our calculations. We got the all-important print out of our first baby picture, which you can see in the photo album. What a great experience this was!! 

After the ultrasound, James and I went upstairs to the perinatal center. We spoke with the receptionist, who had us fill out paperwork and put blood work in the system for me. She told me a nurse will call me to set up my first appointment, which will be a group meeting with other newly pregnant women. We will fill out forms, have questions answered, and set up our next appointments, which I think will be neat since we’ll meet other expectant parents at around the same point in their pregnancies.

Next we went downstairs to the lab to have my blood drawn. To my surprise, they handed me a cup to pee in! I asked what it was for, and the technician said they needed to do a pregnancy test. I was shocked, since my pregnancy had already been confirmed through blood and I had just seen the baby on ultrasound. Plus, I had just used the restroom! I squeezed a bit out anyway to keep them happy!  The tech drew six big vials of blood, which was pretty excruciating since he had the tourniquet way too tight on my arm. I’ve never seen my skin turn so purple! It was over quick enough, though, and we headed out of the hospital with baby picture in hand.

We went and got some Chinese food for lunch, thanks to a craving of mine. Then we headed home. I got a call from the perinatal nurse this afternoon, letting me know my pregnancy test was, in fact, positive (duh!) and also telling me my appointment will be Wednesday, January 9 at 8:30. I’m really excited to attend this appointment and get the ball rolling on my prenatal care. James will come with me, since two sets of ears are better than one when it comes to this sort of information!

Otherwise, I feel pretty good. I’ve had very little nausea so far, with only one bout of throwing up this past Monday morning. I have a little cramping going on, but that is mostly uterine stretching beginning to occur. I’m a little tired, but I have been trying to get as much rest as possible. To be honest, I feel energized by this pregnancy, and plan to keep a positive attitude so I’ll hopefully continue to feel great!

Well, bed time for me, so I’ll talk to you soon. Goodnight, little Appleseed!

Well, here I am, 6 weeks pregnant and still feel as though I’m dreaming! I feel so blessed to be expecting my first child and I can’t wait to see what this journey brings. I think I am still in shock because I never expected to get pregnant this quickly. I truly felt there was a long road ahead of James and I, since I was diagnosed with an under active thyroid and uterine fibroids this past year. I’ve always worked very hard to take care of myself, so these were scary things to find out about my body, but I also knew they were beyond my control. When James and I started trying to conceive in October 2007, we took things slowly and hoped for the best. I never expected to be pregnant before the year was through! For me, my pregnancy reaffirms my belief that God listens to our prayers and answers with results beyond belief and measure!

Alright, enough with the heavy back story…on to the good stuff! I decided to start this journal because James and I thought it was important to document this monumental journey in our lives, not only for ourselves, but for our baby, and our family and friends. We hope that you enjoy reading our journal, and offer suggestions and advice wherever you can. If there is one thing I’ve learned so far, it’s that we’re taking a journey into the unknown. A fantastic unknown, but an unknown nonetheless! The support of our loved ones means more to James and me than we can ever express! 

All of that being said, I bet you’re wondering how we arrived at such a joyous place in our lives. James and I decided that the timing was perfect in our lives to start the “next chapter”, so to speak. I earned my Master’s degree last month, and James will earn his Master’s this coming March. This was a goal we set out to attain for ourselves before we started a family. The logical step for us with our approaching graduations was to start trying! We are both so eager and excited to be parents, so we were thrilled to have reached this milestone in our marriage. Aside from the timing being right, James and I both felt in our hearts that we were ready for a child. I look at James and I am overwhelmed by the feeling of how lucky I am to get to carry his child!

My plan is to recap the last few weeks, as we went from BFP (big fat positive) to today. Then, I will update regularly with single journal entries. I must warn you, though: hold on tight, because it was a whirlwind of a ride! Most people find out they’re pregnant and relax and take it easy, but not me! The holiday season was upon us and there was so much to do! Rest assured, though…I took very good care of myself and our baby along the way!

Friday, December 14

I woke up early this morning, since I had a 7:00 doctor’s appointment. This was my last day teaching preschool at FPS, so I needed to go to the doctor beforehand. I was exhausted when the alarm went off, and I rolled over and asked James if he thought I should take a pregnancy test. We both had a gut feeling that I was pregnant, but I was nervous about testing. James told me to go ahead and test, and that the timing would be good since I could then request a blood test at the doctor to confirm if it was positive. That logic worked for me, so I trotted off to the bathroom with a “pee stick” in hand. I asked James to stay in bed because I didn’t want him to experience the disappointment of a negative test. I did my business, and watched intently as the urine moved across the test stick. There was instantly a second pink line, but I told myself that it could be an evaporation line. The line got darker, so I bolted to the foot of the bed and said, “James, I think I have two lines!” James was out of bed before I got all the words out of my mouth. We ran to the bathroom and watched together as the line got darker. We laughed and hugged and giggled and cried! We were PREGNANT! It was just such an amazing feeling! Then I remembered my doctor’s appointment so I rushed into the shower. When I came out, of course I looked at the test again and the line was even darker.

My doctor was excited to hear our news, and he ordered a blood test to confirm. He told me that his nurse would call me later with the result. Paranoid Lauren made him write her cell # in big red numbers across the top of her file, just to be sure she got the call while teaching! I left to head to the preschool with a bounce in my step.

The nurse called around 9:30 and confirmed our pregnancy. It was so exciting to hear her say “You’re pregnant”. Something about those words just made everything seem so much more real. I called James right away to share the good news.

That night, we went to sleep dreaming of our future and our blessed pregnancy!

Saturday, December 15

We woke up early this morning for my graduation. I had earned my Masters and licensure in Early Childhood Education and Early Intervention Specialist from the University of Dayton . It was snowing outside, so we got an early start for the ceremony. The graduation was beautiful, but my mind kept drifting to the little life inside me. I thought about how our lives would change in less that a year and how much this baby would change us for the better. I couldn’t help but tear up, and I’m sure I looked crazy to the people sitting around me! Oh well, I’m pregnant and I’ll cry if I want too!

After the ceremony, we came straight home because of the snow. James gave me some beautiful teaching books. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive husband. He supports me in everything I do, and I strive to do the same for him. Looking at James, I feel 100% confident that he will be an excellent father. I can’t wait to see him in action!

We spent the rest of the day packing and preparing for our vacation that we had booked nearly a year ago. I got the “ok” to go from my doctor, so we were very excited to get away for a little while!

Sunday, December 16

We took an early morning flight to Miami to meet Jen and Anthony a day before our cruise. Once we finally arrived at the hotel, we could contain ourselves no longer: We spilled our good news! Jen and Anthony were excited, and it felt so good to tell people that we’re close to. Something about sharing our pregnancy warms my heart and makes me feel so good! We had a nice day in Miami , walking around downtown and eating a nice dinner. I crashed hard that night once I hit the bed. This pregnancy business takes a lot out of you!

Monday, December 17 – Friday, December 21

We boarded Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas for a cruise to the Bahamas and Key West . This trip was sentimental for James and me because we had taken the same cruise over three years prior for our honeymoon! There was something so sweet about taking this trip again, only this time as expectant parents. We had a great time with each other and Jen and Anthony! We ate good food, relaxed and truly enjoyed ourselves. It was just what we needed to recharge from our busy lives and celebrate our pregnancy!

We bought a beautiful cross in a shop in Nassau. It has the bible verse “Footprints in the Sand” on it, and we thought it was a perfect memento for our baby, since this would be their first “vacation”. We plan to hang the cross in the nursery. 

As the week came to a close, we headed back to Dayton well rested, tanned and ready for the holidays!

Saturday, December 22

This day was spent rushing around like a mad woman trying to finish last-minute Christmas shopping and odds and ends before heading to NY for a week. We got everything done in plenty of time, thankfully!

I told Jenny about our pregnancy this day as well. Since I wasn’t going to see her in NY, I wanted to make sure she knew our good news with the rest of the family. She was excited and happy, and of course had lots of great advice since she was pregnant not that long ago with our sweet nephew, Liam. 

Sunday, December 23 – Sunday, December 30

We arrived in Poughkeepsie and met my parents at the diner Austin works at. I love the diner, and especially Matzo Ball soup! The original plan was to wait for Christmas morning to share the news with our families, but that plan went out the window when we saw my parents. There was no way we could wait! We told Mom and Dad by giving them picture frames. Mom’s said “#1 Grandma” and Dad’s said “Grandpa & Me”. Mom got it right away, and the tears started flowing. Dad was funny because he looked at the frame, looked at me, grinned and then got it! He was happy once he realized. His reaction was priceless and touching, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it! Austin came over to the table and we told him. He was surprised and excited! And I got the warm heart feeling again from telling loved ones! 

We went home and called James’ family, who were surprised and happy about the news as well. It felt so good to share the excitement with those we love!

The next day, Christmas Eve, we told Lindsey and Kevin. Lindsey said she had a feeling, which proves our “twin vibe” is still alive and kickin’! Linds put in her request for a niece, since she already has four nephews, and I told her time will tell, since James and I are not planning to find out the gender before birth. We’ll see if the suspense drives me batty!

All in all, we had a great visit to NY, seeing close friends, relaxing and spending time with family. The holidays were more special for us this year because we knew what the coming year held for us. Can you believe come Christmas next year we’ll have a four month old baby?! Amazing! 

Monday, December 31

Tonight was New Year’s Eve! I’ve never been more excited to ring in a new year as I was today. We went to a party at a friend’s house and were excited to tell our group of Dayton friends. Everyone was excited, as this will be the first baby in the group. Unfortunately, we will be in Texas when the baby is born, so this will give everyone another reason to come visit! We rang in the New Year surrounded by friends and James and I can’t wait to see what this year brings us!

I’ll be back on Wednesday with an update, since that will be our first ultrasound! We are so excited about this milestone, but I am also nervous. I hope and pray that our baby is healthy and that we can see a heart beat . I know it’s early, but I will feel such relief at seeing that major sign of life. I’ll keep you posted! Until then…

  Happy New Year! 2008 is going to be a great year for all of us!