I cannot believe it has been three months since my last post! I guess you could say I have been a little busy. Hunter is now one years old- which I still have a hard time figuring out where the year has gone by. I will give some highlights of the last three months if I can remember them :) I will also tell you all about his first birthday in another post. But right now, I want to tell you about the BIGGEST surprise of my life...
A picture is worth a thousand words right, so here you go...
Yes, that is exactly what you think it is. I took that test on August 16 and finally passed this time. I have heard at least a million times that "You will get pregnant after you adopt." I got so tired of hearing it and just wanted to punch someone in the face (not really, I don't usually punch people :)) Noel and I started trying to start our family in 2007. In the later part of 2008, I started seeing a fertility specialist. Lots of hormones and one surgery later, still no baby. The doctors wanted to proceed with more fertility treatments, but after a year of that, we said no more. So in August of 2009, we decided to follow our hearts and God's leading and start the adoption process. I am pretty sure you all know how that turned out :) Fast forward to this August. One day, I casually told Noel that I thought I was a couple of days late so I would probably take a pregnancy test that week sometime. He said okay and we didn't give it much more thought. I honestly couldn't remember when I should have started because I stopped keeping track of that so long ago. Also I have been soooooooo...busy with Hunter, work, and my photography that a lot slips my mind these days. The next morning I got up to get ready for work. I remembered that we might have some pregnancy tests in the cabinet from several years ago. So I dug through the cabinet and dusted off the box. I checked the expiration date and found they were still good for four more months. I am sure you know what comes next...I saw that two blue lines appeared very quickly and then I though to myself "oh, it's negative, no big deal" and threw it away. I have seen so many negative tests that I didn't even really think one could ever be positive. I started getting ready for work when I realized that I didn't know what those two little blue lines meant. I guess I thought one was supposed to make a plus sign or something. So I pulled the test out of the trash and got the box. I took one look and literally said "Holy Cow!" I started at it in disbelief for a minute and then just chuckled and said "well, okay God." I started getting ready for work because I didn't know what else to do and then realized that I should probably tell Noel. He was still asleep so I woke him up and asked him to come look at something in the bathroom. He staggered half awake and I pointed to the counter. He looked at it and said "well, okay...congratulations." It was so funny because he was so calm and had the cutest sleepy smile on his face. So we looked at each other and hugged. I obviously had a blank stare on my face and he said, "ummmm....shouldn't you call your doctor?' Yes! That is a good idea. I was so totally in shock I couldn't even think of what to do next. So we both called into work, got dressed, and took Hunter to daycare. Hunter's teachers looked at us so funny because we were obviously not dressed for work and we never drop him off together. I know I looked like a deer in the headlights. I can only imagine what they thought.
To make a long and frustrating story short, I called my doctor's office who said that I didn't need to come in because all they would have me do was take a urine test. I tried to explain my unique situation and that I was told if I ever conceived that I would need supplemental hormones right away. The blood work they ordered would have taken almost a week to get the results and I knew I couldn't wait that long. So I called the fertility clinic that I had been to three years ago. God bless the Fertility Center of San Antonio. I spoke to a nurse right away who told me to come in and I didn't even need an appointment. They did blood work to confirm the pregnancy and check my hormone levels. They also gave me the prescription I needed and called with the results that afternoon. I am so thankful for them! I am going to see this doctor through my first trimester and then transfer over to my regular OB/GYN. I will get an appointment and sonogram every two weeks at first and then we will work on weaning off the hormones.
My due date so far is April 15, 2013 which is three days after my birthday. How fun is that?!?! I am currently 9 weeks and 1 day. I do have a baby bump and have been feeling pretty good. The fatigue and nausea is just now hitting me, but so far it isn't bad. I can mostly just deal with it. The fun part is that I get hungry every three hours and get to have lots of snacks. I can already tell I am going to be a pregnant woman who has cravings. So far, Noel has only had to go to Whataburger at 11 PM once. I won't make that a habit and am trying to eat healthy, but what fun is being pregnant unless you can have a little fun with it, right?
So we feel soooo blessed. I am still in shock a little bit daily and I look at my growing belly and realize I have to slow down and rest more. As soon as I realized I was pregnant, I did some quick math and found that Hunter and his little brother or sister will only be 19 months apart. That is less of a gap than we were planning on, but I don't mind. I will take what God gives me and be happy--maybe VERY tired, but happy.
Here is our little peanut at about 7 1/2 weeks. I will have another sonogram on Monday.
It was so cool to see the baby, my baby, and see the little flicker that is the heart beat. Noel and I decided that at this stage, the baby looks like a gummy bear.
One of the most fun parts of being pregnant so far, was telling people. Long, long, long ago I imagined what that would be like and how I would share the news. Now since absolutely NO ONE was expecting this, it made it really fun. Here are some of my favorite reactions:
My Mom:
I called her and asked her if she was ready for her sixth grandchild. There was a long pause and she finally said "are you pregnant?" "ya" I replied. This was followed by another long pause. Now repeat her question and my reply about three more times. Then she finally said "Oh my God!" and just started laughing in amazement.
My brother Steven:
I told him that we decided not to have there be too much of an age gap between their twins (which are due 11/3/12) and the next kid in the family so we were gonna have a baby in April. He was super excited and we talked for a little while. He finally told me that I inspired him so much that he was going to take a nap, but decided to mow the lawn instead.
My brother Ryan:
I asked him if he thought Natalie and Brody would want another baby cousin. He asked "from where?" to which I replied "from me!" He was happy and congratulated me and then said that he thought I was calling because we were in town. Telling him I was pregnant was the last thing he thought I would say.
Noel's Mom, Dad, and Sister Jennifer:
Noel's mom loves to get new pictures of Hunter, so we decided to print a picture of the pregnancy test and put it in with a stack of Hunter's pictures. We were going to see them that weekend anyways so we waited two days to tell them. As soon as we arrived, Noel told his mom and sister to sit down at the table so they could look at the new pictures of Hunter. I had the pregnancy test picture as the fourth one in the stack. I didn't take into account that they would look at each picture SUPER slow and talk about how cute Hunter was. I thought they would never get to the surprise (maybe it was just my anticipation). So finally they pulled out the test picture and Jennifer immediately got it and said "No!" in disbelief. She looked at me and I said "yep!" Then my mother in law got it too and they were already both up on their feet, jumping up and down, clapping their hands in excitement and crying. It was so cute. Noel's Dad was sitting by me and had no idea what was going on until they finally said the word "pregnant" and then he got a huge smile on his face.
Our friends Todd and Candes:
We told Todd, Candes and their two boys that we wanted to take them out to dinner since we felt like we hadn't seem them in a while (it had been like a week). We sat down at the restaurant I told them that we lied and there was a reason we took them to dinner. I then told them that we were going to have a baby. Well, Candes smacked me on the arm and said "shut up!" "Are you serious??" And of course I replied "yes." Now repeat this about 10 times. Meanwhile Todd just stared at me like a deer in the headlights. It was priceless and so hilarious! I think this was my favorite reaction.
My Co-workers:
So I decided I needed to do something fun to announce it to my co-workers. I thought long and hard about it and decided to post this picture up outside my office with the following caption below:
The price of adopting our first child ........ $$$$
The going rate for a bale of hay.........$250
A new family photo..........$0
The look on your face when you read this and realize there are four of us in this picture........priceless!
Baby Burns due to arrive April 15th
So, I just posted this on a large piece of paper outside my door so it would be noticeable and just sat back to watch the show. It was so funny! Some were confused and thought it meant we were adopting again, but most people got it. A lot of the ladies cried, which was sweet.
So, this brings me to the end of my tale about the biggest surprise of my life. We never thought we could conceive, but I am so glad that I have a Lord who is bigger than anything and is still in the business of preforming miracles. Thank you sweet Jesus!
