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One of the only problems I've had during pregnancy has been back pain. Though it's not consistent throughout the day, it makes sleeping soundly through the night quite difficult. After lying in bed long after the timer on my sound machine went off, I decided I would at least be productive. Hence, here I am at 3:25am updating our blog and watching Sleepless in Seattle. Ironic, I know. (Randy bought it for me for nights such as this.)

So after taking two pregnancy tests at home, I called my doctor and set up an appointment to see what I needed to do next. But just so I wouldn't look like a fool when we went in there, I took one more test at home...it was still positive. Then came the official test at Dr. Baiza's office and you guessed it! I was four for four. Dr. Baiza obliged us with this video for my mom. (I felt like a moron for asking but he did say he's done crazier things for patients.)

Maybe it's just me but telling my mom that I was pregnant was one of the more nerve-wracking things I've done in my life. I don't know, it's once thing for just Randy and I to be in on our little secret. It's another thing entirely to start telling our family because there's a whole other set of expectations...and it means it's really going to happen.

So I told my mom that I had this hysterical YouTube video that she needed to watch and sent her Dr. Baiza's message. I waited, stomach churning, for her to download it. She started asking questions like, "Who is this guy? What's going on?" and I just shushed her. When she finally understood what was happening.....well, I don't know that I've ever heard that noise come out of her. It was a mix between screaming at the top of her lungs, with shrieks of "Becky, you're pregnant?!?", with some crying in between while jumping up and down...for at least 5 minutes. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised that the neighbors didn't come over to check on her. Really, she was that loud. That is one thing I do wish I had captured on video as my witness. Keep in mind, this is her first grandchild.

My father on the other hand.....He was driving home from work when I managed to get in touch with him. Looking back, that may not have been the best decision. I asked him if he had any plans this fall and if he thought he could come visit his newest grandchild. His reaction went pretty much like this:

"What?" "Dad, I'm pregnant" "What? YOU'RE pregnant?" "Um, yep." "You? Are pregnant?" "Yep." "Wow......Wow..... Really? You? Are pregnant? Like on purpose?" "Um, yeah" "Wow....congratulations kid....Wow.....wow...." "Dad, are you okay? Should you be driving?" "Wow...."

And for the same amount of time that my mom screamed her head off, my dad just sat there saying "wow." If you know my dad, you understand that he can hold his own in any conversation with any one. This speechless-ness was a definitely a first.

Telling all of our family was no small task. We did remark, after it was all over with, that we felt like we had just spoken to a small village. It was a bit exhausting. Among the other reactions we received:

"It's about time!", quiet tears, loud tears with joyful laughing, more shrieking, lots of enthusiastic "Congratulations!".... and my one friend screamed so loud she startled her toddler out of his chair.

Being that this is Randy's parents' seventh grandchild, they were a little more accustomed to receiving news of this sort but equally excited for us. Speaking of, grandchild #6 is due any day now. Randy's younger sister, Meg, and her husband, Chip, are expecting their second son sometime this week. It will be fun to watch our kids grow up together so close in age.

Everyone was so excited for us though which was really a blessing and made this season of our lives very special. Thanks for sharing our joy!

My eyelids are finally starting to get droopy....wish me luck.

In The Beginning

I know I promised nursery pictures this time but I figured I had to start at the beginning. So, in the beginning....It was December of 2008 when Randy finally gave me the go-ahead to stop taking my birth control pills. (He originally wanted to wait 7 years after we were married but that would have put us at 35 and 31 and I felt that was a little late for us.) To be honest, we weren't too eager about giving up our lives with each other but I was nervous about the thought of not being able to get pregnant, my 30th birthday looming, the possibility of going through the infertility process, yada yada yada. Well, I should have known better. Randy is one of four, I'm one of six, my family's got twins and triplets in the mix....no fertility problems in our DNA!

And so here we were six weeks later and I was pregnant all by mid-February. I warned Randy that I was late and to prepare himself for the possibility that I might be pregnant...he was calm and collected as usual. Meanwhile, I was terrified. I bought a few tests and took one first thing Monday morning. I don't think I slept a bit that night. Randy went to work, I got up took the test, and it was positive. I was in shock. I managed to make it through work all day with my little secret and didn't breathe a word to anyone. I wanted Randy to be the first to know and I knew calling him at work would not be the most appropriate time. So I went to Babies R Us that night and found this cute little Rockstar-looking-onesie that says "Born in 2009" and wrapped it up for him. When he opened it, he just looked at me and our conversation went like this:

"Is this for us?" (Two of our close friends were pregnant at the time.)

Me looking busy folding laundry awaiting his reaction, "Yep."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Why do you look so scared, honey?"

"Because I"m going to get big and fat and have to push a baby out of me...and I'll never get to sleep again."

"Oh sweetie, that's not true. We can sleep when we're grandparents."

So there we were standing in our kitchen together ....very scared but very excited.

The next morning I took another test with Randy as my witness...just to be sure. (Girls, if you've never taken a pregnancy test before, you need to know this: Most instructions say when you see a second line, the test is positive. Well what they don't say is how big of a line? Should it be really dark like in the picture? What if it's ever so faint? Am I imagining something that's not there? The box needs a disclaimer that says: If you're taking this for the first time, don't overanalyze the quality of the little pink line. If you see anything at all, and we mean anything, you're pregnant.)

I tried to take a picture of our there's-a-little-baby-coming omen but made a video by accident. Here's our reaction to test #2.

Here we go!

So as many of you know, my sister, Kathryn, has a blog that is a must read. She has been imploring me for months to start a blog so everyone can keep up with the upcoming changes in Randy's and I life...ie., we're having a baby. (If you want to read Kathryn's blog, which you should, click here. It's worth your time!) In case you're coming in a little late on the story, I am due October 30th, which is only 10 short weeks away. I recently found out that both my mom and aunt were actually born on their due date. What are the odds?!?! Maybe that means the 30th will actually be our big day and I won't have a Halloween baby. (I reeaaalllyy don't want our child to be born on the 31st but as long as he/she is healthy, we'll get over it.)


Those of you that know Randy, know that he loves surprises. Me on the other hand, not so much. Since we found out that I was pregnant, Randy wanted to wait to find out the sex of our baby. Me being the planning type, I wasn't so sure that I could handle that kind of anticipation. However, the more people I talked to who had been surprised at the birth, the more I was convinced that it was worth the wait. So now we're....waiting. Ten more weeks. We were told by the ultrasound tech that she did not check to see the sex of the baby so no one would know until the birth. Liar! I asked Dr. Baiza if he knew what we were having and he said he did (even though he refers to our baby as Pat). Apparently it is written in my chart somewhere. Knowing that someone else knows and we don't definitely makes the waiting harder. Just one little peak at that manila folder at my next appointment.....No, I promised Randy I wouldn't.



Some of you who don't see me every day have been asking for more pregnant-belly pictures. (Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of showing you bare belly pics...I'm fully clothed.) This was me at the beginning of August at 28 weeks.







I had an appointment yesterday and have gained 25 pounds so far which pleased Dr. Baiza. And no, I'm not going to tell you what number that actually is. Some things are confidential, you know! Baby Everette is about 2 1/2 pounds now and 15 inches long. I got the results back from my Glucose test and it was negative. Praise God! (In case you don't know, the first time I was stuck with a needle and did NOT cry, was about...oh, 2 years ago. I had to call my mom and celebrate!) For all of those you who have theories about the sex based on the baby's heart rate, it was 148 yesterday. Any thoughts??? Many people in the family think we're having a girl but I think it's just because there are boys galore on both sides. Our families are deprived in the little girl arena!

I'll take some pictures of the baby's room for next time so check back soon. Thanks for caring enough to read. :)