End of Summer!
We just finished our last session of summer camp. It went so quickly and I can't even believe I'm 22 weeks along now!!! An amazing thing happened this past week at camp. I wrote a journal about it and thought I'd just put it up here too.
So here we are in the middle of our last session of summer camp. Last night at supper I headed down to the dining hall with Bounce (camp director) at the regular time. So then all of this happened in the same instant... we walked into the dining hall and all 200 of the girls were singing "Rock a Bye Baby." I thought,"What are they doing?" and then I looked over and saw my mom standing in front of the stage taking my picture and I thought, "What?!?" and then my sister(who is working at another camp 20 minutes from here, so I haven't seen her in weeks)jumped out from behind a corner and yelled, "Surprise Andi!" and I thought," WHAT THE HELL?!??!?" and then I saw a crew of staff on the stage and baby decorations all over and then someone said, "This is all for you! Get up on the stage!" So I stumbled up on the stage in front of the WHOLE camp (200 girls and 65 staff!) and then a parade of my staff members came walking in carrying baby presents! I was so shocked, I didn't know whether to laugh hysterically or sob uncontrollably.
But here I was up on stage with all these little girls cheering, "Open it! Open it!" and I knew I had to give them a good show, so I held up each gift and ripped them open while they all cheered and clapped and said, "OOOOHHHH!!!" at each cute little thing. I kept saying "Thank you!" and "Oh my gosh! I can't believe this!" probably to the point of sounding ridiculous. Then the campers started chanting, "The big one! The big one!" because there was one huge gift in front of me. Seriously, it came up to my waist! I was scared to open it because I didn't know what it could be or who would have been able to buy me something so big and I didn't want to cry in front of everyone. But the girls were cheering so I took a deep breath and tore it open.
Holy.
Cow.
It was the travel system/stroller that Chris and I had registered for. All the staff who were on the stage with me rushed over and group hugged me and laughed and someone said, "We did it for you! All of us! It's from all of us!" I don't know how I could even hear that over the roar of children cheering in the dining hall.
Later someone told me that they'd all chipped in a few dollars and then voted on several of our registry items to get for us. They had decided from the beginning that they wanted to get one of the big ticket items, but when they realized they had more than enough for the stroller, they got the humidifier, a first aid kit, and this Mommy bear that sounds like my heartbeat to the baby. The kitchen staff gave me flowers, special extra cheesy macaroni and cheese (my FAVORITE food ever) and a low-sugar cake! My mom and sister had also added another vase of flowers, several cute onesies, a crocheted blanket, picture frame, storage box for cloth diapers, books, toys, and even a nursing nightgown.
I can't believe this. I am still in total shock. Every group of campers had also made me big cards that they all signed and wrote little notes and poems to Wilder, Chris, and me. I feel so humbled by the sheer volume of love and joy my son has already brought to the world.
Ok. Now I'm crying again! Just thinking about it brings back so many emotions!
This amazing experience has just reminded me how incredibly lucky I am to have the job I have. How many people can say they had a surprise baby shower with 200 little girls singing and cheering? These kids and this staff love me and are so genuinely excited for Wilder to be here and I don't know how to receive so much love in one giant tidal wave like that! It's mind blowing and I am so grateful.
I know that this pregnancy isn't really just "mine" and while I struggled with that a bit at the beginning of the summer, I have grown to be open and accepting that literally hundreds of amazing young women are sharing this experience with me. Even though Wilder is our little boy, there will always be bits of him that belong to his amazing camp family! My little buddy is so lucky and so loved and his mama is so blissed out right now it's unreal! |
It's a BOY!
We had our big anatomy ultrasound yesterday and found out some important stuff. First, Baby looks perfect and healthy from what they can see on the ultrasound! YAY! And second, we could see that Baby is a little boy!
I can't believe I am going to have a SON. Wow! We got some great pictures from the ultrasound which I will scan soon and post here. We also got a video of the procedure! I've posted it in 4 parts on YouTube. You can go to that site and search my username, which is matachini or you can try and follow this link: Baby Wilder Lennon York
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14.5 weeks
Time is flying by! Today at our monthly appointment, Chris and I were able to hear Baby's heartbeat! It was 150 bpm, which is just perfect and made us both feel relived and thrilled. I was particularly pleased when my little punk rocker kicked the microphone and startled the doctor as we were listening to the little heartbeat. Go, Baby, go!
My blood pressure was great 133 over 66 (yesterday when I took it at home it was 115 over 73). I've lost another 2 pounds, which now puts me almost 10 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. I was a little surprised that I've lost more weight because I've been really hungry and eating a snack or two between every meal. The nurse told me not to worry about it. She said as long as Baby is growing and thriving, that many overweight mothers lose a little weight throughout their pregnancies and gain some right at the end. I have read the same thing and heard it elsewhere, but it feels strange to have it happening to me when I know that I'm totally eating and making good food choices.
We go back on July 14 for the ultrasound to find out if Baby York is a boy or a girl! We'll get to bring home several still photos of the ultrasound as well as a DVD of the whole thing! I can't wait to know if my little buddy is going to be Wilder Lane or Mairi Noel!!!!
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