The Dream

It’s official. I’ve started blogging. I told myself that I might take it up when we had babies, because I really wanted to keep up with the little details and I am not the scrapbooking type. Anyway, the time is NOW, because Zach and I are expecting our first baby this November.

I know! That is a hard idea to wrap your minds around. Or maybe it’s just a hard idea for US to wrap OUR minds around. This was not unplanned. We had decided that we would stop protecting and see what happened, but not “try”. Well, apparently we are fertile, because after 3 months here we are!

It’s really a funny story. You would have thought that we were underage teenagers who had to walk into our parent’s house to tell them the horrible news with the way we reacted. I found out on a Sunday and kept it from Zach for the day. Sunday evening I put a hamburger bun in the oven and set the timer. When it went off, Zach checked and got the “gist”. We were okay for a little while with the idea, but we slowly but surely started to spin out of control as to the idea of what we had done and how it would affect our “me” centered lives.

What can I say… I enjoy going to school and extending my titles with regards to my professional career, we like going out weekly for drinks, we love to buy things, and we love expensive toys. (especially Zach – who has multiple hobbies – all of which cost money!) We were so afraid that so many of these things would evaporate, but we have finally come to the conclusion that it doesn’t have to. While things might change, I am sure that we will be able to juggle our fun stuff with this new fun little blessing as well.

Now let’s talk about how this blog will progress in the coming months. Let’s just say that I am the type of person that is right to the point. I don’t candy coat things unless it has to do with my 20 precious kindergarten students, so I don’t intend on candy coating this blog either. My goals during these pregnancy months are to make note of the little things; those things which most likely will be forgotten after a while. If you are easily offended, you might want to refrain from reading. Not that I am going to try to offend you. I am just going to write it like I experience it so that I have the memory later of how it was. Heck I bet there will be actually very little that would be considered “risqué” in my blog posts, however I had to throw in the disclaimer just in case.

Below is a picture of me at 8 weeks. My life has changed already and I know that the craziness / best is yet to come!

I have experienced 10 days of nausea. Not just nausea; pure hell. These days start with my two feet hitting the floor and then sprinting to the bathroom to throw up some form of florescent bile. I have tried so many remedies. Let me name a few. Each night I go to bed with a wide variety of ammunition on my night stand. Some things that are included are 2 dramamines, 1 perscription Zofran (which is a nausea pill for cancer patients), 2 tums, 1 Prescription Phenegrin, a piece of Ginger Gum, a ziplock bag of saltine crackers, a bottle of water, and my Sea Band bracelets that I wear on my wrists to block nausea. Now don’t freak out. I never eat all this stuff. I promise I am not pumping this little one with all that junk. I just have it for emotional reasons I think. Maybe it makes me feel more prepared for the hell I will endure as I wake up.

My routine at this point is to eat a high protein snack at bed like peanut butter toast so that my belly has food in it for a longer period of time. Then, I set my alarm for 5:00 am and I put on my sea band bracelets. They work, I am telling you. They hold down pressure points on my wrists and it keeps me from getting sick for a period of time. Anyway, back to the routine. I go back to sleep and wake up at 6. I attempt to cram saltines down my throat even before I lift my head off the pillow to avoid the empty stomach situation that usually results in throwing up every morning. After keeping my bracelets on for a while in the morning, I take two Dramamines and force breakfast down. Then I am able to take my bracelets off around 10 and am usually fine for the rest of the day. This was a science and I worked hard to figure out how my body could best combat morning sickness or all day sickness as it is sometimes.

The last two days have been wonderful. I attribute it all to the routine I have in place. Who knows though, it could all be in my head!

I am proud that I seem to have found a routine that eases my nausea and allows me to function in my everyday life which I love so much. How am I supposed to continue running, teach 20 fully involved 5 year olds, and finish the last part of my graduate career if I can’t keep the nausea at bay? If you do not know me, let me tell you that I am an extremely hard worker and a very determined person. I tend to set my mind to something and do not rest until I have accomplished it. This is how I handled my nausea or “tried” to. Don’t get me wrong, I know that I have little to no control over whether my body gets sick or not. But I am not the type to stand around and let it happen without at least trying to figure out how to fix it. Anyway, for now it is good. Hopefully I will report no changes in the next blog. J

There are a few other things that have rocked my world here lately. Basically really this whole deal has already rocked the world as Zach and I know it. Suddenly my selection of drinks includes Gerber Baby Pear Juice for constipation and boring ole’ water. I am like a medicine cabinet – Vitamin E capsules, B12 capsules, and prenatal vitamins every night. My shower routine has been changed drastically too. After showering, I rub Vitamin E all over my boobs and belly to avoid stretch marks (or attempt to do so). My vocabulary is also increasing - I have learned new words like Milk of Magnesia and Peri-colace. All very interesting and funny huh? Don’t worry, I see the humor. I really see humor in all things. Life is just one big joke, right?

A few other things I want to take note of include some of Zach’s unforgettable comments. I call them heartless, but he calls them bad jokes. Seriously, I agree that these comments are exactly his personality and are quite hilarious.

“Just think, only 8 more months of this.” - Zach as I hover over the toilet and expel my stomach contents.

“After this is over, it’ll just scream all the time.” - Zach again as I toss my cookies

“Are you showing yet?” – Zach when we were just 6.5 weeks

“I’m nervous about our dr. visit today. We are finding out the sex of the baby, right?” - Zach on the way to our 8 week appointment

“Babies aren’t born with teeth?!” -Zach in complete and total seriousness

“It’s just part of it.” - Zach as I lay curled up in a ball sicker than a dog.

And one more classic - - Picture this –

“I got an outfit for the baby today” – Me getting in the car after running into Old Navy.

I pull it out and it is a set of three onesies. One is off white with a little brown giraffe on it. The other is brown and off white striped. The other is off white with tons of simple little brown giraffes on it. It also came with matching pants.

“Let’s see it.” - Zach as I pull it out of the bag.

“Um.. that’s not for a boy.” - Zach

“Yes it is. It’s more for a boy then a girl, but with a big pink bow it could be for a girl too.” - Me

“Boys don’t wear giraffes unless they are gay.” - Zach

“Yes they do. And your little boy will be wearing giraffes.” - Me

“Fine. I’ll just tell everyone that all those giraffes on his shirt are the number of giraffes he dreamt that he killed last night.” - Zach

I am sure that I will have a ton more to add to the list as time goes by. They are really quite hilarious through my view point for sure.

This concludes my first blog post. I can’t wait to write another soon.