Thursday, July 10, 2008

Finally an update!

Grab some popcorn - this'll be a long one ...

Wow. Okay, so I know it's been a bajillion years since I've last written anything. And I have no excuse other than that I forgot. And that I'm slightly scatterbrained. And that I've had a lot on my mind recently ...

Just when I thought that I didn't have any spare time, grad school kindly reminds me otherwise. I have no idea what I did with my afternoons and evenings before I started back to school. Did I just sit around and twiddle my thumbs? School is going well, and most of the courses have been pretty good so far, so at least it keeps me interested. But I still feel painfully out of practice when it comes to studying, doing homework, and writing papers. But so far I'm doing better in my grad classes compared to my undergrad classes. It's amazing how when you're really interested in a topic, you do better in that class :) Each semester I've gotten one A and one A-. I assume that'll be the same for the Summer semester too.

So there's that news. And there's the news of Baby Smith! Lee and I are seriously beside ourselves with excitement. We started trying around Thanksgiving '07 and on 4/26/08 at 4:30am, we saw two lines! [Happy 2nd anniversary to us! :)] I had taken about three or four pregnancy tests leading up to the 26th and they were all negative. I was getting really grumpy, especially because they don't give out those dang tests for free! I woke up early on the 26th and was on my way to the bathroom when I saw the last test sitting on my counter. I figured I couldn't get any grumpier, so I just went ahead and took it. Because it was so early in the morning and Lee was still dead asleep, I didn't want to make too much noise while I waited. I washed up, threw some clothes in the hamper, rearranged some clothes in my closet (I enjoy my OCD, thank you very much), and was on my way back to bed when I glanced down at the test. It was pretty dark in the bathroom, but there it was - the slightest bit of the 2nd line.

I ran into the bedroom and started shaking Lee to wake him up. I kept saying "It's positive! It's positive!" Lee's response (still half asleep): "You're positive about what?" Then he rolls over and goes back to sleep. So I shake him again and say "The test! The TEST is positive!" Lee's response (again, still half asleep): "But I didn't take a test." Then he rolls BACK over goes back to sleep. So I resort to (lovingly) smacking him on his arm and (politely) demanding that he get up. He finally woke up and realized what I was telling him.

We wanted to find some cute ways to tell our parents. So I found some bibs that said "I love Grandma" and "I love Grandpa" and bought two of each. I called my mom and asked if she and Dad could stop by our house that night, since Lee had some souveniers from his trip to NC that he bought for him (completely true, by the way). I tried to act all nonchalant, but I'm sure I sounded like a goofball. We stuffed Mom's "Grandma" bib into the coffee mug Lee got for her, and Dad's "Grandpa" big into a shotglass. The shotglass was from a rival school of my dad's - Lee loves to tease my Dad about that since Dad frequently says that Lee went to LSU instead of Tulane. Mom picked up on it immediately and started hugging Lee like crazy. Dad's pitching a fit (not really) about the shotglass, about how he most certainly did NOT go to Virginia Tech and that Lee should KNOW better than to get a crazy gift like that. He's holding the bib in his hand but hasn't looked at it yet. I asked what he was holding and he said "Oh it's some sweatband (?!) or something. I'm still mad about this shotglass!" We finally had him look at the bib, and he joined in the celebration.

Lee broke the news to pretty much everyone else with this story "Um, listen ... do you have a second? I need some advice. Okay, so I got this girl pregnant, and I need to know if I should tell Suze or not." He told it like a pro after the first five or so times. He even told that to one of our pastors at church (the pastor who married us!). It definitely caught him off guard, but it only took him about a nanosecond before he realized who this story was coming from. They can read Lee like a book :)

I called to set up an appointment with an OB and was told I had to wait until 5/15/08, which seemed like an absolute eternity. But that day finally came. We didn't meet with our OB then, but we met with her wonderful nurse practitioner. It took some doing but she was finally able to find the baby - it was too small for us to hear the heartbeat but we could definitely see it - a really quick flashing light. Just over a half a centimeter with a heartbeat! That blows my mind.

Overall, the first trimester was very manageable. I was nauseous a lot, but only got sick once. One of my biggest concerns was (and still is) that I got off my daily migraine prevention medicine once I got pregnant. I've read that many times, women who have migraines before they get pregnant don't have them after they get pregnant. But I'm still worried - especially since the only thing I can take is Extra Strength Tylenol, which is completely useless in my opinion (sorry Johnson and Johnson, or whoever it is that makes Tylenol, but it's true).
So far I haven't had too many bad headaches. I've gotten them more than I was hoping, but I haven't had a full-fledged migraine. The nurse practitioner prescribed some other headache medicine for me to take if I get a really bad one. Hopefully I won't have to use it, but it's nice to have if I do.

Our second appointment was on 6/9/08. Lee was out of town, helping his sister and her family move from Milton, FL to Fresno, CA. I knew I didn't want to go to the appointment by myself, especially if something went wrong, so I invited my mom to come with me. She seemed really tickled to be able to go. I got to meet my OB at this appointment, and she seems really nice. She wasn't able to hear the heartbeat with the little Doppler thing, so she had to do an ultrasound (score!). And again, it took a while to find it, but all of a sudden there was a baby on the monitor! A little alien-ish, but a baby nonetheless! It was really incredible. And it only took a few seconds before the baby started shaking its little arm buds and little leg buds. This is definitely his father's child. And we heard the heartbeat! A healthy 160 bpm! We got some really neat ultrasound pictures from that appointment. Although I wish Lee could have been there, it was really special to have my mom with me.

(And yes, I keep calling the baby a "he". Lee's called the baby a "he" from the moment we found out I was pregnant and it's rubbed off on me. Even though we say "he", more often than not, we call the baby GB, short for Gorilla Baby. I married into a BIG-baby-having family, so I have no doubt that this baby will continue the tradition. Lee jokes - though I use that word loosely as it's not funny at ALL - that the baby will be 18 pounds at birth. 16 pounds of head and 2 pounds of body. Poor kid.)

I'm slowly growing out of my clothes, which is a bit of a bummer since there's not a huge market for tall maternity clothes. Old Navy has been helpful, but not as much as I was hoping. I showed my pooch to Lee a few weeks ago and he said he didn't notice any difference. Now that means that either he thinks that I look like I *always* have a pooch or that he just can't see the bulge that I can. Let's hope it's the second one. :)

We had our third appointment on 7/9/08, again with the nurse practitioner, so Lee has yet to meet our OB. We were hoping for another ultrasound, but unfortunately (not really) she could find the heartbeat with the Doppler thing. There was all of this static noise at first and she said that was the baby moving around. Apparently he wouldn't be still for her to hear the heartbeat (again, such his father's child). My sister said it perfectly - "like trying to stab a grape with a fork!" :) Finally the nurse practitioner found it and it sounded great - 140 bpm!

We find out where it's a girl GB or a boy GB on 8/6/08! Can. Not. Wait!

2 comments:

Jess said...

Dude, that is quite the update. :) And it's about dang time. :)

I can't believe you took the test at 4:30 am. That's crazy. But first pee of the morning is the best time. And I told Eric I was in labor (I thought maybe) that early in the morning, and he was too out of it to understand either. Sleepy men.

I love you guys and I'm so excited for you guys! And I can not wait to find out if this giant baby is a girl or boy. My guess is girl - I picture it that way in my head. (It's really just because I always went into my u/s hoping to hear "girl" and had no such luck). It really doesn't matter either way though. Boys are fun (busy, crazy, loud, farting, sweating, hyper, but fun). :)

Anonymous said...

Your blog is terrific. I'm hoping for a boy - I'd truly hate to see a girl with Lee's head. We Love You - Butch and TJ