Happy Easter To Us!

Now if that doesn't make you go back to the question of 'which came first'?!

That's right, this brand new Mama Hen is incubating her ever first baby chick, estimated hatching on Easter Sunday! Specifically, April 4, 2010.

Though my posts are usually few and far in between, lately they have been extra sparse as, with tape to our mouths and mitts on our typing fingers, we impatiently waited out the first trimester. But once we saw our Chicken Little via sonogram last week, it was secret no more! Everyone I've ever (and never) known found out our news within a matter of hours.

This Age of Facebook made keeping things under wraps much more difficult than I'm sure it was for our parents' generation. It killed me to not be able to tell my closest family members and friends during those first few weeks. I just knew that if any of them found out the whole world would find out. Just like in this moment I know about a certain someone's pregnancy, though I am not supposed to know, except for another person (who, by the way, was also not supposed to know) decided to tell me. FYI: If you're asked to keep a secret, please honor that request! These people thought they could trust you! Needless to say, that did it for me, and our baby news became one secret I decided to keep to myself!

However, there are huge benefits to sharing such exciting, once-in-a-lifetime news with your extended family and friends on Facebook. Of course, we phoned or told in person each V.I.P. in our lives (parents, siblings, a few friends) who ought to know before your 1st grade Sunday School teacher finds out via the Internet! But after that, how. Much. Fun. is it to receive such an overwhelming response of congratulations all in one place?! Especially since we live so far away from many of my friends and family members, receiving so much support from everyone made it seem like I was at a reunion or something! It felt kind of like it does reading your wedding guest book over and over. So precious! Which reminds me, I need to copy and paste all of those well-wishes for the baby book!

Of course, nobody could be more happy about this baby than we are! I cannot wait for every milestone in this pregnancy (well, now that the worst of the morning sickness is behind me *knock on wood*) and all of the joys and fun challenges ahead with getting used to a newborn and raising our very own little person! As every expectant parent knows, this is one time that is both ultra exciting and ultra scary! Yet we have confidence that God will meet the unique needs of each day and that by Him we will become thriving parents. The result of our parenting is ultimately in His hands, as is our child.

Good intentions, good intentions! I had hoped to document in writing more of these first few weeks of pregnancy. But as alluded to above, the Big, Bad Nausea Monster came a-knocking at about week six. Even now, at almost 16 weeks, I have days where I feel better than others. But UGH! I was not a fan of pregnancy the duration of the last couple of months! You simply don't want to do anything when you feel that horrible. I went over a whole month without touching my house with a dust mop or cleaning rag. And for me to not care about a clean house meant this sickness was whipping my tail!

The first few weeks of the Crud I lived off chicken noodle soup and Sprite, though I knew my body needed more substance to get through the day (and night). So I tried incorporating more protein into my meals, chowing down lots of cottage cheese, gnawing on beef jerky, and over time scrambling more than a few dozen eggs. I also found that pasta/chicken casseroles did my tummy good, as did (and still does!) mashed potatoes. I do have to say, I miss my cold deli meat sandwiches! I frequently make grilled ham and cheese with tomato soup just so I can have shaved ham! (Besides, of course, the given yumminess factor of that entire meal!) I've tried nuking the meat to kill any possible bacteria and it's just not the same. But I know all this is for a good cause!

Just don't give me a banana, especially if it's the least bit overripe. I can't stand the smell, nor do I have any desire whatsoever to indulge. Which is actually a self-fulfilled prophesy. For more than 4 years I had been eating for breakfast a toasted English muffin spread with peanut butter (couldn't keep enough jars in the house!), a drizzle of honey, and sliced bananas over the top. In fact, I actually preferred the banana a little on the ripe side. One day, long before I got pregnant, I told Jeromy that once I'm pregnant I will probably repulse at the thought of this breakfast. Oh how true that remains! I still remember the last time I ate that for breakfast, around the time I started really feeling sick. I could barely eat a bite or two, though I fought it. I love this stuff, remember?! I think if I made that breakfast today, I could stomach everything but the sliced banana on top. Although I really don't have the desire to make or eat it at the moment. Hmm, maybe God's preparing me for a peanut-allergic child and is making it easier to wean me off my formerly beloved peanut butter. Who knows?

As for actually throwing up, I hadn't looked the Porcelain Throne in the face (except to clean it!) for years and years until week 12. I threw up 4 days that week, and then one day in week 13. What's up with that? Just when I thought the nausea was starting to taper off, WHAM! Usually I had found ways to ease the nausea if I felt like throwing up. For a while sniffing peppermint extract until I obtained a palatable calorie source seemed to work. But those days I threw up I quickly came to the realization that nothing was going to stop the floodgates this time! I think possibly I let too much time pass before eating something. Maybe I had been starting to feel overly confident that the nausea would go away by the end of the first trimester that I let my eating slide. That's my guess, anyway. Since then I've tried not being so stupid and keep snacks with me everywhere. Although I still gag/heave on my toothbrush most mornings, which is highly annoying...

At almost 16 weeks, I think I am finally beginning to show. Or at least I can't suck in as much as I used to! I think it's a combination of the growing uterus and my lack of exercise as of late. Some of that belly I'm seeing is more than likely real fat! Unfortunately, since being sick, I have happily gotten used to not working out. It's actually decreased stress in my life to not always have to be on the treadmill. The angel on my other shoulder, however, tells me I've turned into a lazy butt and that I need to at least get in some form of cardio. I am not used to becoming out of breath so quickly! And I don't like watching my buns and thighs grow along with my belly. I'm not used to this. Hopefully I will get back on the horse, but it's not looking like anytime soon. I really have become lazy! (Or maybe my priorities have shifted, I don't know.) I just don't want to become the woman who hides behind her baby, and now that everything is all about the baby, she lets herself completely go. I don't want to become her! Hear this, Blogworld: I refuse to wear Mom Jeans!!

Well, on that note :) I'll just take my place behind my adorable little peanut's first baby pictures and gush over his/her already-prominent cuteness! Of course we are biased, but even the ultrasound technician commented on how crisp and clear the images turned out. I wish they weren't copies of copies, but I could still stare at them for hours!
















I love how you can almost count the fingers on that little hand! (This sonogram was taken at 14 weeks 1 day.) We call him/her our Squirmy Worm. The baby wouldn't keep his/her arms and legs still. It would cross and uncross its legs, and even flipped over several times during the ultrasound. (Jeromy said it reminded him of how he flips over at night!) Wonder if this is a hint of what's to come! We might want to stock up on baby gates!!!

















In this image the little one appears to be sucking his/her thumb. We're not sure if that is actually the case, but we saw this a lot! It's too bad you have to retain such a full bladder during the sonogram because part of you overwhelmingly wants to be done so you can go pee, but mostly you just want to lie there and enjoy watching this miraculous life hang out inside your uterus! I had to keep restraining myself from laughing because it made the screen bounce, but it was so surreal I couldn't help it!

















I looooove this profile shot. You can see the outline of his/her tiny button nose and lips. In this picture he/she looks like it's giving the "hang ten" sign! It was so unbelievable to watch the baby move around so much and not be able to feel a thing. They say you normally start to feel movement anywhere between 18-20 weeks, though some have said they've felt it earlier.

My next appointment is on October 30, two weeks from today, at which time the doctor will schedule the next ultrasound - where we should hopefully be able to find out the sex! My brother and his wife are about a month ahead of me on their 2nd pregnancy. They found out just yesterday that they are having a BOY. So the pressure is on because Jeromy wants a boy. I'll happily take either, but I really think it's a girl. We'll see in the next few weeks!!

Thanks for sharing our joy with us! I'll go back and post the initial thoughts I typed up the day after I found out I was pregnant and how I told my husband and all that fun stuff. And hopefully I won't continue to be such a stranger on the blog now that the secret's out! You were probably wondering if all this girl is ever going to post is recipes! Well, I can't promise no more recipes since we are, after all, in midst comfort food season! But I'll also try my hardest to write about other things besides just the baby!