A veiw of pregnancy from a first timer

I found out I was pregnant on September 19th 2012. I was a week late for my period, and while that wasn't completely abnormal something was just a little off. Shawn had made some remarks about my boobs looking bigger but I thought I was just putting on weight. The scale didn't support that but what else could it be? My breasts were also super painful which has never been a symptom of my period and so just to rule it out I picked up a pregnancy test. I took the test while Shawn was at work. It turned positive after about 1 minute. Uh-oh! I took a picture and sent it to Shawn saying that we have a problem. He was overjoyed and said he cried he was so happy. The next day I took 2 more tests and both came back positive before the timer went off. The next week brought exhaustion I never knew possible! On my days off I couldn't get out of bed and all I wanted to do is sleep. The next week brought nausea. Horrible awful! And I don't know why they call it morning sickness. The joy of it is constant and stays with you day and night. I called some women's clinics and picked one to make an appointment. October 16th would be our first baby check up. I started on prenatal vitamins and read up on eating healthy for baby. I started having some low cramping on the left side. Never having gone thru this, it was terrifying. I read from other moms that it was normal. I started eating A LOT of crackers, as it was sometimes the only thing that would settle my stomach. We went to our first appointment and were very happy with Dr. Tan. He was great at answering questions and putting us at ease. To my delight I found out that pregnancy tea is encouraged and that an occasional Dr pepper won't hurt my baby. We had our first ultrasound. We were surprised to see the baby looking like a baby and not a lizard! It was all wiggles and looked to be dancing. The baby's heart was beating fast and the doctor assured us it was normal and very healthy. He said the uterine wall looked good and was the right size, amniotic sac looked healthy and good, the baby was "plugged in right" meaning the umbilical cord was healthy and where it should be, the yolk looked good and would probably be gone on the next ultrasound (in the ultrasound picture it looks like a thought bubble), he said the baby also looked very healthy and was an inch long. He told us I would not be able to feel the baby till about December as I was only 9 weeks along. He gave me a due date of 23 May 2013 (Thursday). He printed off our baby photos and had us make an appointment for 6 November for our next check up that would include blood work.
The all day sickness continues to get worse (Dr Tan said it will start to go away around week 12). The cramping comes and goes. And I'm still very tired. As I lay in bed last night I couldn't help but think, a parasite is an organism that lives off a host. It usually drains the host of nutrients and makes them sick (vomiting and diarrhea-which I have), makes them tired and run down. I caught it from my husband so it's basically a parasite I caught from an STD. This creature will continue to grow until it can survive on it's own-ish then my body will say "I have had enough you little loafer! Consider yourself evicted!" Then in the most painful way my body can come up with it will kick the kid out. It will push the 7ish pound pumpkin thru a 10ish cm opening. The baby will come out red, wrinkly, covered in goo and screaming! And they tell me I will want to pull this to me and feed it and cuddle it and I will call this creature that made me feel awful for 9 months "cute" and "precious". This makes no since to me now. Then I will take it home and get no sleep for months and be even more exhausted and I will love this more than anything...I need some help understanding this. Who came up with this?
Right now I am laying in bed nauseous and tired and unable to get comfortable. The bump is already starting to show at 2 1/2 months. I have to admit though, seeing the baby move was exciting. Being responsible for growing a whole new person from scratch is overwhelming and knowing that whether or not it is healthy and safe is all on me is more than enough reason to stay in bed for 9 months! I am very much looking forward to watching my belly grow and December will be fun. I will feel baby kick, they will be able to hear sound and the best part is we find out if it's a boy or girl. For now I think I'll just take a nap. Dr Tan said take them when I can now because that will be a thing of the past when baby arrives. :)

First baby photos

My flaws are fabulous! -Dove

our wedding photos

Our wedding and honeymoon

Our wedding

 

*married on Friday 13 of July 2012 at County Clerk’s Office

*Dr. Lewis and Danielle were witnesses and Leslie took pictures

*We all wore our zoo uniforms and I had a Margaret feather bouquet that still had poo on it and tied with blue vet wrap

*For dinner the 2 of us went to Tahoe Joe’s

*Our left over boxes said bride and groom

*We rented the movie Life as We Know It and drank cheap champagne

*That night we made our own wedding cake, pineapple upside down cake

*The officiant said “Do you Michelle, take Tom…I mean Shawn” Who’s Tom?

*When she told us to exchange rings we were already wearing them and so we were quick trying to take them off and trade them. Shawn couldn’t get mine off J

*We saved the bottle of wine we had with dinner and wrote the date on it so we can find the same bottle on one of our anniversaries and buy it and have the same wine as our wedding

*we knew we were going to get our license at lunch and then elope on our way to Oregon on the 101. After checking prices we decided it would be better to spend the $21 and get married at the clerk’s office. They closed at 4pm so we had to leave work at 330 to be on time. I asked Dr Lewis to be best man and grabbed Danielle and Leslie from the back of peccary and away we went.

 

Buying Rings

 

*We checked the mall on Thursday July 12 after work and found a band that Shawn liked but I was looking for a plain band and couldn’t find one I liked. We had no money to spend but knew we wanted to be married before Shawn left to start his job. I went through my jewelry box and pulled out everything I didn’t wear or have sentimental value and we took it to Fresno Coin Gallery to pawn it so we could get married. We were thinking we would be able to get $250 and we would just buy $40 bands and get better when we could afford it. We ended up getting $550. We went into the show room and found my ring. Small low set princess cut diamond set in 14k white gold. That night after work we went to JCP and got Shawn’s ring. He put it on as we were walking out of the store J

 

Honeymoon

 

*We decided that since we were going to Oregon to look for a place to live and go to the zoo we would make that our honeymoon and we would drive the 101 there and the 5 back.

*We stayed at Super 8 motel in Gresham OR. It was $65 a night and we had a AAA discount making it $55 a night. We got what we paid for. The room smelled of cigarette smoke, the bed spread had some holes, the couch looked like it lost a knife fight, there were what looked like blood spots on the carpet, there were brown stains on the side of the tub and cigarette burns in the sheets. However, the staff was over the top nice.

*The zoo was amazing

*On the 101 we drove through a tree and saw avenue of the giants

*We went all over looking for places to live, filled out apps and checked out neighborhoods

*We saw signs saying watch for elk and elk meadow next exit. We were laughing that there were no elk. It turns out there were elk. They were just in front of the church down the street and they were huge.

*In Oregon you are not allowed to pump your own gas. This started a long conversation as to why. Shawn said it was to create jobs. I did not agree. It wasn’t creating a job it was just adding another job task to the job the gas station man already had. Shawn looked it up and it was not adding jobs to the economy, Oregon just doesn’t believe people are smart enough to pump they’re own gas without getting blown up. We laughed for miles on that one.

*I told Shawn I was brought to Oregon under false pretenses. He said it was lush and green and dense forests. That was NOT what I saw upon crossing the border. It was open fields and cows. There was no glorious gray skies and constant rain! It was sunny and blinding to my eyes. I told him I will make it rain myself and turned on the spritzer thing on the windshield wipers. I made it rain!

*We bought a 50’s music cd in Hopland, OR at a gas station. It was ok

*After the zoo we went down town Portland and went to a 3 story bookstore and then to Henry’s Tavern where we shot pool, had a couple of drinks and watched the men’s Olympic team beat Brazil in basketball. We talked for a while to the bar tender, who was very nice and he gave us tips on living in Portland. We decided when we move we will hang out there

*Shawn thought going to 4^th street pub was exciting. Beer in Oregon has higher alcohol content

*We did not want to come back to Fresno.

*Going thru Arcadia Shawn said they were known for and have very nice beaches. I heard peaches and was confused. I told him I didn’t know he liked peaches that much! He laughed and said BEACHES! We laughed hard about that one J

So handsome :)

ERRRRDER!

The last time I road a bike

We used to go for family bike rides when I was a kid. When I was 12 we were going for one of the bike rides and we were almost home. I was following my sister on the sidewalk and the fence we were next to curved around and I lost my balance and fell into it. The bike had a mind of it's own and kept going. I had splinters all over the left side of my face. It took mom a long time to get them all out with the tweezers. :( I no longer ride bikes! They are evil!!!!

Fun at the coast

Sexy!!! ;)

A bad day

Turns out I'm a hillbilly. Here's how I know...

1. I'm from Bakersfield man!
2. I LOVE bowling
3. I LOVE fishing
4. I wear mostly tank tops and flip flops
5. I like whisky
6. I believe all food is better deep fried
7. I live in a trailer and have beat up lawn chairs on my porch
8. I use the term "ya unto" to mean "do you want to" (right Jennifer)
9. I make and eat tater tot casserole
10. I eat green beans straight from a can
11. I enjoy watching a show called Hillbilly Handfishin'
12. My favorite jeans are the ones with the most holes
13. I think Jeff Foxworthy and Ron White are funny
14. All sports are better with beer
15. I secretly think it would be fun to be a truck driver
16. I have pointless tattoos that I am proud of
17. I LOVE coon hounds!!!!
18. I have a plaid couch
19. I lived on a cattle ranch as a kid in Centerville
20. Mac and Cheese is my favorite food
21. I dip fish sticks in ketchup
22. I roll hot dogs in crescent rolls and dip them in ketchup
23. I owned a pot bellied pig
24. One of my goals is to grow a giant pumpkin in my yard
25. I watch World's Dumbest and Cops for people I may know

One Bright Day

One bright day in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other
A deaf policeman heard the noise
And came and killed those two dead boys
If you don't believe this lie is true
Ask the blind man
He saw it too