I decided to handmake and handstamp little greeting cards.
Caesar was in on the surprise too.
My brother was visiting my parents in Florida when they found out and all Lorriane could say was "I can't believe it".
Mike gave in and told his mom before we sent out the cards- WEAK!!!!
So not everyone gets pregnant on the first try, or the second, or the third. Mike and I actually had a somewhat difficult time getting pregnant. We had a miscarriage in October of 2005 which was very difficult to deal with. Finally, my friend Stephanie recommended a book to me called Taking Charge of Your Fertility (She got pregnant too and is due in July 2006!). Apparently it's the "bible" of fertility and it explains all sorts of amazing things that I had no clue about via the Fertility Awareness Method. I highly reccommend it! It takes a little bit of time to understand, but it has been a godsend, especially because whatever I learned worked, and we got pregnant while I was still "learning the ropes".
I took a preganacy test on June 15, 2005 and sure enough it was positive. The first thing to enter my mind was- CRIPES- is next year a Leap Year???!!! I knew that if it was, our baby would find some way to arrive on February 29th, but fortunatly the Leap Year was in 2004 (I think).
Our "due date" is officially February 24th, 2006. Whether or not that turns out to be the day is yet to be seen.
Morning Sickness
Things were pretty "typical", you know- the nausea, the vomiting, the food aversions, the food craving, the sleepiness, the moodiness, etc. Basically everything that everyone tells you that you will experience. Now the SEVERITY of these "side effects" was a different story. My "nausea" which I refer to as my Morning, Noon and Night Sickness started pretty early on- about week 5. It was one of those In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb things. My suffering was pretty much 24/7 queasiness- like being really, really seasick. Every so often I would actully throw up, where that happened was all about availability (and thankfully never at work or in public). Fortunately my nausea tapered off and was pretty much gone around week 13. The morning sickness would still rears it's ugly head now and then, it's something I'm just had to "ride out."
Food Aversions
The food issue was by far the worst. I am the ULTIMATE carnivore- there's nothing I love more than steak (normally). My disdain started around week 5 when my friend "nausea" stopped by. Since then I had to leave the house when Mike cooked steak, or I had to put up a "blinder" when we ate together- like in Elementary School when you took a test to keep the other kids from looking at your paper. My favorite foods were: potato skins (actually any form of potato), tomatoes, french toast, orange juice, peanut butter crackers (or just plain peanuts), Special K, salad from the "flippy salad" place in King of Prussia Mall, Krispy treats (Mike is now a pro at making them), fat free Pringles, and lemonade. Foods I don't like are: rye bread, steak, chicken (if it's little pieces it's sometimes ok) and as always milk, mayo, raisins and bananas. ICK!
Ultrasounds
We found out on October 3 that we were having a girl! Check out the Ultrasound pics in the Baby Updates. We were lucky to have an ultrasound at 8 weeks, 20 weeks and 31 weeks. She was moving around being a typical wiggly baby. Since around 22 weeks we would feel her kick- and boy did she like to kick when I was trying to sleep! It was very strange because her little feet were WAAY over on my right side almost by by hip. Around 31 weeks she moved head down and was a wiggly girl ever since. She bruised my rib pretty bad, but then it was the pressure that keept me up all night! It would get stronger every day and I felt sometimes like a little alien was moving around in there.
The Name Game
Picking out a name was so easy for us. We had a lot of time to think about it, so that may have helped. The boy name we picked out was Nicholas Anthony or Nicholas Michael. Nick was Mike's grandfather who passed away several years ago. He was a fighter pilot during WWII and operated the machine gun in the bubble on the planes. Anthony is Mike's middle name and Michael is obviously Mike's first name. Since this baby is going to be a girl, we will put Nick on hold for maybe another baby. The girl name we have decided on is Lilly Anna. Lilly is somewhat inspired from the Lily of the Valley that my grandmother has in her garden. It all stemmed from the day my mom was born and my grandfather brought a Lily of the Valley plant to the hospital. Anna is Mike's Great-Grandmother who passed away in 2004 at 103 years old!! Anna was Nick's mom and she was a wonderful Italian woman who came to the US in the early 1900s.
Baby Registries
Around 5 months we started to compile a list of stuff we need. We had a Baby Registry at Babies R Us and at Pottery Barn Kids. There's so much gear to make things easier, more convenient, etc, but it was quite overwhelming. A lot different than when my mom had me (and TRUST me- I heard that a million times!) Mike and I tried our hardest to find the safest, best and most practical products for our little one. It's true what they say- every parent just wants the best for their child. The things we liked the most were: Bathing- the Safer Bather, Carrying- The Ultimate Baby Wrap, Entertaining- Fisher Price Take Along Ocean Swing, Travel- Graco Quattro Travel System and we also got the Maclaren Quest Stroller, Keeping Warm- Bundle Me and Bundle Me Lite for the car seat and thermal receiving blankets for swaddling, Sleeping- Sassy Inclined Sleep Positioner, Sony Baby Monitor and Bedtime with the Beatles CD.
Labor and Delivery
I was past due and in a lot of discomfort so my doctor sheduled me to be induced on March 6. The hospital was booked full for induction and scheduled c-sections so unless I went into labor, Lilly was going to be born on a Monday. Luckily that didn't happen. On Friday March 3, mom-mom Lorraine (who flew up from Florida a few days earlier) forced me to go to Babies R Us and AC Moore and walk around, we also got pepperoni pizza for dinner that night and just as I was getting in bed for the night I felt and heard a pop! Sure enough- my water broke- at 11:15pm, so we called the hospital and they said to come right to the ER. Of course we hit every single red light on the way but we still got there pretty fast and my contrations were fast and strong (I had NO contractions until after my water broke despite the fact that I had been dialated 3cm and effaced 80% for almost 3 weeks). We had quite the laugh about the water still gushing out of me during the whole car ride and labor, so I'll spare the icky details! I got wheeled up to the L&D floor and they hooked me up to all the monitors, I got the epidural around 2:30am and rested until 5:30am when they said to start pushing. I was totally out of it and had no idea what time it was or how I was progressing (I was scared that they would tell me I still had a long ways to go) so when Lilly popped out and I was half asleep I pretty much went into shock! I was kind of sad that I didn't get to see it because I had my eyes closed, and I certainly didn't feel anything different, but Mike was going crazy and then I started screaming! It was so amazing, and it was really easy (at least compared to what I THOUGHT it was going to be like).
Lilly decided to join the party on Saturday March 4, 2006 at 7:50am. She was 6 lbs and 10 oz and 19.5 in long.
Lilly's Birthday
Nursery Planning
Baby Showers
A View of the Inside
The Pee Test
Back To Lilly's Home Page
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