December 29, 2008
This is a day I will never forget. I decided to go ahead and take a pregnancy test first thing in the morning, although I had a feeling it was too early to tell. I knew something was different with me because I had been having quite a few stomachaches in the weeks leading up to this day. My body just felt "off", but I kept thinking it was some sort of stomach bug. But, I decided to go ahead and just see if there was a chance I could be pregnant. So, the directions for the pregnancy test say to wait 3 minutes before your results show up...it took 30 seconds and the word "Pregnant" appeared! I think at that very moment my eyes popped out of my head and I fell to the floor with my mouth hanging open. I have never been more surprised....so I took 3 more tests just to make sure! And to my astonishment, they all said the same thing! This was probably the longest day I had ever experienced as well. Reagan and I had already planned to meet for lunch, however we met at Potbelly Sandwiches and I was not about to tell him the big news there. So I kept my mouth shut with a huge grin on it throughout lunch. THEN, Reagan worked later than normal this day...till after 8pm! I was just about to go crazy because I could not keep this secret any longer! When he came home, I handed him a card stating that I had a "New Year's" card to give him. When he opened it, the cover of the card had two little baby footprints on it. He looked a little confused...so when he opened it and saw what I had written (I'M PREGNANT!), he looked at me in disbelief. He honestly did not believe me...but then I showed him the 4 pregnancy tests I'd taken! Lo and behold he was ecstatic and I've never seen a bigger smile on his face!
December 30, 2008
This is the day we told our parents! We went to each of our parents homes and gave them a "belated" Christmas gift. We told them they had to open it at the same time because it was the same thing....we had found frames that say "I love my Grandma" and "I love my Grandpa". Well, as soon as the moms opened their gifts, they knew right away and were in shock! However, the dads thought this frame was for putting a picture of our dog Molly in it! But, I think once the moms said "You're pregnant?!", they got the point!
When we shared the news with my brother, Ben, and my sister-in-law, Windy, it was on a later date. We went over to Mom and Dad's to see them and their little girl, Kylie. I was holding Kylie in the living room when I said to her (loud enough so everyone could hear), "Kylie, are you ready for a new cousin?" Ben and Windy were very excited to hear the news! It's really great having a sister-in-law who just went through a pregnancy to share all her advice with me! It's been really helpful and I'm sure I will have plenty of questions once Brooke arrives!
We also shared the big news with Reagan's sister, Melissa and her husband, Travis. Travis was not in town at the time, so we went to Panera Bread with Melissa to tell her. Reagan wrote on a piece of paper "Are you ready...to be an aunt?" She was very excited. So, we then called Travis to tell him the news on the phone. They are both so supportive and helpful! Thanks Travis for all of the baby gear you've sent our way!!
January 20, 2009
My first doctor vist. We were taken in for an ultrasound first before meeting with Dr. McDonald. When we saw our little baby on the screen, I of course began crying! I was so happy to see that there was really in fact a little baby in my belly! Of course at the time, all it looked like was a little circle with a flickering heart beat, but it was still our baby and that was the best feeling in the world.
After this doctor visit, we decided to go ahead and announce to the rest of our family and friends that we were expecting!
April 20, 2009
On this day, we drove down to the medical center to see Dr. Gei for our 20 week ultrasound. We also found out some very exciting news...it's a GIRL! I honestly was shocked...and I think the rest of our family was too. We had all been predicting that I was having a boy. But, I was in no way upset! All I cared about was having a healthy baby no matter what it was. Dr. Gei gave us lots of pictures. He even took one where Brooke is giving us a thumbs up...she's definitely going to be an Aggie! :)
This day was also very special in another way. Later in the evening, Reagan and I were watching tv when I began to feel Brooke kick. I had already felt her kicks, however Reagan had not. So, he put his hand on my belly, and after about a minute, Brooke gave a good hard kick right to his hand! He couldn't believe how well he could feel her kick! Reagan loves to put his hand on my belly now while we are just lounging around and feel all of Brooke's movements! Feeling her move and kick is one of the weirdest...yet most wonderful...feelings in the world!
The picture below is not the one of her thumbs up, but a good profile shot of little Brooke.
I have felt very blessed throughout this pregnancy. I only had a couple mornings of morning sickness and that was it! I did have an every day kind of queasiness, more so at dinner time than anything else. I never wanted to eat dinner until I was about 13 weeks along. I also had the very strong "pregnant nose". Every morning when I opened the fridge, I would gag! I could not stand the smell...I kept telling Reagan that something had gone bad in the fridge, but he didn't smell a thing. I even bought those Arm & Hammer fridge things, but that didn't work! I would have to say my strongest pregnancy symptoms have been EXTREME fatigue in the first trimester, and then absolutely terrible migraines....imagine the worst headache you've ever had, multiply it by ten. That's what I felt. I was even sent to a neurologist by my ob-gyn because even she was worried about it. But, the headaches began to slowly go away as I got further along in the pregnancy (thank God!).
On the other hand though, I have had a few illnesses during this pregnancy (not related to being pregnant) that were pretty rough. I had the flu the week of my birthday, and being pregnant, there was not a whole lot I could take! I also had a very scary, and painful, illness back in May. About an hour after eating a turkey sandwich at Panera Bread, I began to feel a little nauseous. Well, it continued to get worse as the night went on, leading up to me becoming very sick! I thought I had food poisoning. I was having extreme pain in my abdomen, so much that my whole stomach was swollen and I looked much more pregnant than I actually was! Well, this whole thing had started on a Sunday. I missed Monday and Tuesday of work, and decided to try to make it on Wednesday since I had so much work to do with it being the end of the school year. I barely made it through the day. My stomach was so swollen that I could not feel Brooke's movements. This of course made me, Reagan, and both of our parents very worried. They all decided it was time to take me to the ER. When we got there, they took me right up to the Labor & Delivery wing and put me right on to a bed. They hooked me up to some monitors and I heard the best sound in the world...Brooke's heartbeat! Everything with the baby was fine, however I was still in so much pain and very sick to my stomach. They decided to keep me overnight, which was really neat since it gave us a little preview of the rooms we would be in when Brooke arrives. They let me leave the next morning, telling me that my symptoms were probably due to food poisoning. However, I still felt extremely sick. I decided to call Dr. Stein (my tummy doctor!) and got an appointment for the next day. He came in to the office just to see me! He said it was NOT food poisoning that I was experiencing...it was in fact a stomach parasite! Yuck... So anyways, he was able to find 2 antibiotics that were safe for me to take. Two days later, I began to feel much better! We still don't know how I got the parasite...but I'm guessing I got it from one of my students at school. Oh, the joys of being an elementary school teacher!
July 2, 2009
It was time to trade in my little coupe for a family car. I was very sad to say goodbye to my cute little Altima coupe...that I only had for a year and a half. But I was very excited to know that my "new" car would soon hold our little baby girl!
My old car. Bye, bye pretty coupe! 
Hello new car! 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
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