A LITTLE SOMETHING WE CALL LIFE: Unforgettable Moments

Ok, so I realize these posts are kind of dragging on and some of you may be getting tired of every single post being about my pregnancy. Plus, I really don't have that many more weeks until this sweet baby girl gets here, so I need to get crackin' and just finish blogging about the pivotal moments during this pregnancy. So, I'm going to try and knock out a couple of them with this post.

November 29th, 2012: I am almost 20 weeks and up until today I have just been able to feel little "flutters" of the baby moving.This morning, however, I was sitting in the recliner, and I started to feel the baby moving but this time it was very distinct. I pulled my shirt up off of my belly, and just sat there and watched it. All of the sudden my stomach was moving!! It was the coolest, most weird, and beautiful thing all at the same time. I kind of starting tripping out a little bit! When your stomach starts moving from the inside out, it's kinda crazy! It made me feel like an alien or something, not gonna lie! Feeling flutters is one thing, but actually watching my stomach move was so different! I had never felt anything like it before.

Over the next weeks and months, I really grew to love being able to feel her move. It became comforting to know she was still alive in there and that things were going okay. I love this part of pregnancy.

I'm trying to remember the exact time frame of when Joe first felt her move. I think it was just a couple weeks later. He had been able to watch my belly moving around several times. One evening I was lying on the couch and he came over and knelt down on the floor next to me and was talking to the baby. Then he rested his head on my belly. All of the sudden she kicked him right in the head! He popped his head up and excitedly and kind of shockingly said "I felt her!!" He laid his head down again, and she kicked again. Then one more time. He was so excited, and I was so happy that he had gotten to experience it for himself!

On December 7th, we had our 20 week ultrasound and were planning to find out the gender. We were both so excited and so anxious!

In the waiting room right before we went back!! So excited!!!

After the tech did some measuring, she asked if we were wanting to know the gender. Our answer was YES!! Joe has been saying it was a girl from the beginning, and since he was right about the last baby being a boy I was leaning that same way. We had both said it didn't matter if it was a boy or a girl, we just wanted a baby. The tech said "It's a girl!!!" I started laughing and said "What?!" and Joe said "I told you!"

That night we went to dinner with Joe's family to celebrate his dad's birthday. We had told everyone that we would give him a present to open that would reveal the gender. I think by the time we got to that everyone was tired of waiting to know, but we wanted to try and make it fun.

That night and over the next few days, Joe and I experienced emotions we were not at all expecting. We both had said that we just wanted a healthy baby, but we discovered that deep down both of us were thinking about the baby boy we had lost and secretly hoping this baby was a boy. I think we thought that if this baby was a boy it would kind of help us heal a little more. That night and the next day I cried thinking about our son, and missing him. Then I would feel guilty that this baby would think we didn't want her, which totally wasn't the case. We were SO thrilled to be having a baby. I think it was just another step we needed to take in the mourning process. It only took a couple of days for it to sink in, and we were thrilled about the idea of having a baby girl.

That Sunday we had planned to Ichat with my family to share the gender with them! My sister did the sweetest thing, and threw a "Guess The Gender Party" for everyone at my parent's house! She wanted to surprise me, and wanted to make it a really fun thing for everyone. Talk about the most amazing sister ever! I don't know anyone with a kinder heart than her! She made all sorts of treats, and had everyone chose a bow tie or a tiara to put on depending on what their guess was.

These are the only pics of my family I can find, but I think most of them guessed it was a boy.

The time came for us to reveal the gender, and this was the idea I had come up with. We set the computer up on the counter, and I put my haircutting smock on to cover up my outift. It has snaps so I could easily rip it off. I told them whatever color shirt I was wearing underneath would tell them the gender. So, they put the ipad up on the mantle and everyone gathered around.

It just so happens that I have a blue shirt with snaps too, so Joe and I thought it would be funny to play a little joke on them=) So, everyone thought it was a boy and then.......