Wednesday, January 2, 2008

The New Year

Happy New Year!

This entire pregnancy it has seemed that the time when our little one would come was forever away. I guess partly because it was occurring in the next year. Well that year is now here. Jackson will be here this year!! It is incredibly exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. I mean I have never cared for a newborn before. Being the youngest in my family, I never was around babies. Sure one summer I worked at a daycare but I watched the 2 year olds. Give me a toddler and I am good- I can be the fun aunt who plays games and watches cartoons. But a mom to an infant?? I have never done that before.

So what is truth about pregnancy: Well first it does crazy things to the entire digestive process. From start to finish, it is all different. You get tired a lot faster and earlier than before. Course when you do fall asleep you will wake up throughout the night to pee or just cause. I am lucky if I can manage to sleep in one morning a week. Otherwise I am up at 7 am ready to go. You pee all day without ever really going. Your temper is cut into a 1/10 of what is was before. Someone looks at you the wrong way or you take something the wrong way and you are madder than a hornet. But I will say that if you want to do it, you can do it. Course ask me that again when I am in the middle of labor before the epidural and who knows what I might say.

Second Trimester

Beginning in week 14, I felt great! And luckily this has continued up till this point. The second trimester is largely quiet compared to the all the changes in the first trimester. Sure you start to show and you switch your wardrobe over to stretch and elastic clothes with large non-formfitting tops. There are two very exciting things that happen in the second trimester. One happened on December 12, we found out we are having a little boy! While the picture was slighty grainy, I can already say he is very handsome. The second is that on December 11, I felt the baby. For weeks, I had been analyzing very twinge that occurred south of my neck and north of my knees. But on that night, I felt the bubble pop. That is the best way I can describe those first kicks is that a bubble has just popped under your skin. Now I can sit back and watch my stomach jump.

First Trimester

The first trimester was filled with nausea, night sickness, pure exhausation and nerves. I started with nausea in my 6 week of pregnancy. Nothing too bad, just an aversion to certain foods and a need to eat about every 2 hours. I no longer wanted sodas, sweets, any tomato sauce, fried foods or onions.

I have decided that my night sickness was mostly brought on by myself drinking Propel water. I thought it was great cause it had B6 which is supposed to help nausea and it was flavored which brought an end to the boringness of water. After 2 1/2 weeks of getting sick daily, the thought occurred to me to stop drinking it. From then on, the sickness was spotty and I could usually tie it to a particular food.

There was a time (during the 2 1/2 weeks of hell) that I thought I couldn't do this a second time and our child would have to be an only child. No one prepares you for how hard those first few months can be. How draining it can be to feel gross every day all day. How tired you are and you are completely devoid of energy. But then as you round the corner into your second trimester these things start to fade and so does your memories of all of the times you hung out with your toilet. Your energy level returns and you feel normal despite the fact something very not normal is happening in your uterus.

The Beginning

So I decided that I should start blogging about our latest adventure before my memories of it fade away. Course, the best place to start is the beginning. Jason and I were married on Sept 23, 2006. Our original plan was to start trying for kids fairly quickly, but I can say that neither of us were ready. So we just lived our lives going to work and doing things that are harder to do with kids like vacations and partying. In February, our world changed rather quickly as we decided to move from one end of Atlanta to the other. On April 02, we closed on our new home and everything before this house seems like a blur. We both feel that this is the house that we will stay in for years to come. In July, we both decided that we were ready for the next chapter in our lives. Kids.

On August 15, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning on my own (which should have been a clue). I quietly went into the bathroom and took a pregnancy test. Course for the 3 minutes you have to wait seems like an eternity. When I came back and looked there it was- 2 pink lines. Not wanting to wake Jason up at 5 in the am. I proceeded to save the test and go to work. On my way home, I stopped and bought more tests (for good measure of course) and bought an Auburn pacifer and bib to give to Jason. When he got home, I gave him his present and the look on his face was pure excitement.

This began our adventure into parenthood. Little did we know what the next 9 months (ok they really lie to you cause it is 10 months) would hold for us.