I thought it would be neat to post up some of the amazing info week to week on the baby’s development:
Week Five
Week 5 March 31, 2008
Heyyyyyy girl, call me okay! March 31, 2008
Ms. Parker… it took you FOREVER to finally return my call and woman, this is NOT the time to delay on calling me back. hehe So now you know. Big booty baby is on the way. Remember all the funny stories we used to have about that possibility way back in the day?
The Farmer Ted days. The drunk alien days. Ah yes. Well I will try my best to remember the humor in those stories when I’m trying to push out this baby in 8 months. Call me! Muah!
She becomes nana again March 31, 2008
When I was a little girl, I used to call my aunt “Nana”. Then when I was adopted and my bond with her turned from niece to daughter “nana” was dropped and replaced with Mom. Well today Nana was reborn and given new meaning when we gave my mom and grandma the news that we’re expecting. The look of shock reminded me so much of my own reaction to my two pink lines : disbelief.
She collapsed into my arms and kept saying “how far along are you! How far along are you?!” I said , “only 5 weeks but its baking!” Such happy tears. My grandma has a difficult time hearing so it took a few minutes of explaining before she understood what was going on. Then she smiled so contently and said “that is so good mija. God knows what He’s doing.”
I purchased a newborn hand mold kit and told them that they would be expected to create this keepsake end of November/early Dec.,God willing.
Nothing but proud grandma grins tonight. Ah life is good.
Having a baby : The Bad news vs The Good news March 30, 2008
Somehow I managed to forget the perfect selection of fruits and lunch box I had set aside for myself when I left home this morning. Now I’m indulging in a Jumbo HoneyBun…even now this is too sweet for me. Funny how my sweet tooth seemed to disappear more and more as I got older. This morning I found this gem of an article on a pregnancy site. I love it so I wanted to share:
Having a Baby: The Bad News…
And the Good News
by Pamela Redmond Satran
The good news: You lose 22 of that in the course of eight minutes.
The bad news: Labor seems to go on forever.
The good news: At the finish line is the prize of a lifetime!
The bad news:The baby inherited your mother-in-law’s crooked little toe.
The good news: She also inherited your mom’s red hair, your husband’s grin, and your big brown eyes.
The bad news: Months of sleepless nights.
The good news: Napping with impunity.
The bad news:Look terrible in tight pants.
The good news: Look spectacular in tight sweater..
The bad news: Sex drive drops to zero.
The good news: Love drive zooms off the charts.
The bad news: Monster poops.
The good news: Equally gargantuan smiles of relief.
The bad news: Gorgeous baby clothes that get worn only once before they’re outgrown.
The good news: Lots of adorable photographs of baby in an endless parade of outfits.
The bad news: No time for yourself.
The good news: Never lonely.
The bad news: Missing all the great new restaurants, books, and movies.
The good news: The money you save by also missing all the duds.
The bad news:Your life is turned upside down. The good news: You feel like the luckiest woman in the world.
EPS today : creamy cm w/ very faint pink tint.
What to expect when you’re expecting March 29, 2008
The book everyone says is a “must have” is now in my possession. Jennifer gave me her copy this afternoon so I could start obsessing over everything “pregnant” in my life. I flipped through the pages and it reminds me of science books in high school with lots of comparison charts and an abundance of data to absorb. This should keep my brain entertained the next 8 months.Today I came super close to giving into my yearning for curly fries from Jack-n-da-crack, but instead did the right thing and ordered a hearty turkey bacon sandwich from Quiznos – plus those yummy jalapeno chips that I’ll eat until heartburn kicks in and convinces me otherwise. The book said that this week I may start producing extra saliva, but that hasn’t started happening although looking at the other half of my sandwich is stimulating it this very moment.
While I ventured out of the house today for some exercise and found myself getting a wee bit dizzy at Borders. Rather than risk it, I grabbed the only pregnancy magazine I could find and sat down in quiet corner for a while. How strange that a store that easily carries a million books has only ONE lonely pregnancy magazine. Aren’t babies conceived everyday?! I chuckled knowing that I wasn’t flipping through this mag simply because I was curious about its contents, but this time it was because I will soon be living them. At least I pray that I will be. Minus the morning sickness. I can totally live without that.
My curiosity takes me to yet another store, this time searching for a cute “Surprise! You’re going to be a grandma!” gift for my mom and also my grandma. Alrighty…Hallmark, you have let me down. You DO make those kinds of cards don’t you? Because this is likely the 4th store in the past two days that I’ve visited and nowhere did I find such a card. Hmm..maybe its time I start writing for them and banking millions off my creative side. This was the closest thing I found that was not a “babyshower” or “congrats on your new arrival” card.
My mom would think it was some inside joke Ray was playing on her instead of thinking “wow,they’re pregnant!” haha
Did I buy this? No. I prefer to make my mom cry so I will keep searching for something mushy. And I mean that in the most loving way, not mean spirited! 
One thing that was I almost forgot to blog about was my conversation with the nurse today. She asked me for my name and birthday to validate who I was before releasing more info and asks me “you had the IUI on Tuesday right?” I said, “No. And this is the second time you all have confused me with someone of the same name. Are you sure you’re not mixing up our records?” She verifies again and finds my chart and states “Um, the last time you saw Dr. Vaughn was on 3.26.06 is this correct?” I confirmed that to be true and reiterated that I was in the office for the first time since then this past Wednesday….3.26.08. Yes, exactly two years from the day we did our IUI we got our bfp.
How is that for irony?
Second Beta! March 28, 2008
The worrying begins. At approximately 8:45 am I wake up, go tinkle and see some faint pink spotting on the toilet paper. Please God protect our baby. I post on the peach and immediately everyone reassures me its perfectly normal. I know plenty of women who experience this and go on to have healthy babies but when its you going through it you can’t help but worry.
I try and remind myself the baby is trying to burrow in for a good 8 more months and that can explain the spotting. Stick baby stick!
Yesterday we almost got into a car accident when someone pulled in front of my coworker as we were returning with our lunch. My uterus immediately cramped. I was so angry that fool almost caused harm to our baby! Motherly instincts have already kicked in.
I head into Austin to the CPL again and leave another sample and return home after the nurse advised me to take it easy and stay off my feet. No physical activities including exercise, sex or lifting heavy objects until 4 full days of no spotting has passed. I spend the day trying to work, chat and think of the million things that are going to change in my body the next 8 months. And I wait for the phone call.
My second beta results are in: HCG 1933, progesterone 46.8
Its more than doubled! I am really pregnant!!!
and here is my first belly pic. I can’t wait to see the progress!
My first full day as a mom-to-be March 27, 2008
I woke up this morning getting ready for work and just stared at myself in the mirror for a while. Wow. I’m pregnant. What will change first? My boobs, my belly, my moods? Other than being completely exhausted already I really only pray that I don’t get morning sickness. That would really totally bite. But more than anything I pray for a happy and healthy baby.
At the office I can barely concentrate and keep my eyes open. I’m yawning constantly and very thirsty. I did something that really was out of the ordinary. I drank OJ. Yes, I’m 33 yrs old and I despise orange juice, pulp or no pulp. Apparently this baby is going to change my mind because I craved it and drank it so easily. So weird. By 5pm I’m literally falling asleep at my desk. The hour long commute home was easy but once I hit the sofa my brain was still working a mile a minute. It took me over an hour to finally fall asleep. During that time I wondered how my mom is going to react to the news and my inlaws. They are going to be so floored and excited. I can’t wait to tell them! We did tell a few very close friends already, specifically those who’ve known of our journey all along. Everyone is in happy disbelief over it, just as we are.
Tomorrow morning I go in for a second beta and hope for doubling which would mean 1200-1300 hcg levels. Here’s a chart that’s supposed to help me track progress. I’ll be 33 days past ovulation if I did indeed O on cd14 as I suspect I did. Go figure after yrs of charting the month I got pregnant I have no relevant data!
My life forever changed March 26, 2008
This morning at 5:30 am my life changed forever. After a very exhaustive journey towards expanding our family I finally saw something I accepted may never occur = two pink beautiful lines.
I think time stopped the moment those lines appeared. 
I was ready to toss yet another pregnancy test in the trash and wait once more, but God has other plans! Apparently I am more than 4 days late for a reason. The feeling was nothing more than pure shock. I am PREGNANT? No. Is that real? No. Wait it’s really there! The lines appeared instantly, no need to wait 3 minutes for the results. I am pregnant. WOW.
I immediately jumped into the shower and ran out the door after I kissed Ray goodbye and waited patiently for my RE office to open so I could get bloodwork done. Next I spoke with my manager to tell her of my news and inform her that I was taking the day off. She took one look at the photo of my bfp and said “oh honey, you are very pregnant!” Wow. Before I left the office I uploaded my beautiful bfp to share with my peaches. They were just as equally shocked as I was and I have over 65 heartfelt congratulations and tear jerking responses from the women whom I have come to love and lean on for yrs and yrs. There is no doubt I will print those replies out so our baby will know just how long we’ve awaited this day.
As I left for the drive to the RE office pregnant brain snuck up on me. I couldn’t follow the simplest directions to the office which is conveniently located off Mopac. After getting my paperwork I drove to CPL to leave my sample and then walked around many different shops passing time. Meanwhile Ray had gotten off work today at 1pm and had no clue any of this was going on. I started texting him to keep track of his location. I wanted to sneak home and surprise him but how?
I arrived at Michael’s and decided to put together a shadow box keepsake of our little miracle. I carefully selected a set of pewter baby molds, opaque background with baby footprints, a verse that fit Ray’s faith regarding this journey so very perfectly and last but not least, the golden ticket..ok pee stick but still, its a beauty to me.
Instead of setting up a dinner at a bistro, I went home and waited for Ray. He walks in wondering why I was home early and I said I had a migraine. Ok little white lie! He immediately notices the gift bag on the loveseat but doesn’t inquire about it. Personally, I can’t take it anymore so I tell him I have a present for him. Together we sit on the couch and he reads the card. It makes no mention of a baby, but I did underline key words that will make sense in retrospect once he realizes the news. Before he’s done reading the card he’s in tears. I quickly look away so as not to give him a clue about what’s going on. He reaches into the bag, can feel its a picture frame and says oh so ironically,
“Is it a picture of us?!!”
Heh. Well honey yes it is, but I say nothing and let him proceed. He pulls the frame out of the tissue paper, flips it over and what seemed like an eternity to put two and two together. He looks at me with disbelief and says “Really? Really?!!!” His eyes well up with tears and he hugs me so tightly , kisses my neck and tells me he loves me over and over. Of course I start to sob. It’s still all so very surreal. God is so good.
After a few moments he gets up, looks at the frame again and starts to happily hop around the living room saying “There’s gonna be a baby in the house! Princess, there’s gonna be a baby in the house!” He sits on the floor, fidgets and grins like crazy and repeats the happy dance. Ah, I waited for that moment for so so long and it was so worth it! I”ll never forget it.
Well, here is the miracle. I”m still in awe. We know what a blessing and miracle this is. Praise God.
My first set of beta’s are promising:
HCG -598 ; Progesterone 41
Lets pray for 48 hour doubling!
And for those who are curious about my EPS:
major blubbering a week before bfp
all normal PMS signs gone (sore boobs, sore back)
tmi – gassy (oh the joy!)
no bloating of the abdomen
spotting on cd26 (very very light pink/brown cm – one tissue wipe)
that’s it! I felt SO very “normal” and still do, minus the missing AF.
Current weight :120lbs
