Now Everyone Knows!

To tell Chris' extended family and our Alabama friends, we planned a big birthday bash for Chris in Birmingham. We rented out a private room at Firebirds Restaurant.  About 25 of Chris' family members (uncles, cousins) and friends came to the party.

Chris' dad made a slide show of Chris' life and at the end of the slide show was a picture of Chris' parents holding him up when he was a baby. They were giving him back to God.  Then immediately following that picture was the picture of Chris and I in our announcement tee shirts. 

Chris and his best friends with their significant others!

The news took a minute to sink in and then a wave of congratulations filled the room!  We were so thankful to be able to tell everyone at once! 

Next up, our Atlanta are party.  We had our wonderful friends from North Metro Church and a few of Chris' friends from college over the house for pizza and cake.  We showed the slide show and got some memorable reactions.  I believe I heard, "shut up", "no way", "what?", "Oh! Congrats"....just to name a few.  My favorite reaction was Stephanie! She kept calling me "sneaky", and she reviewed everything I had said for the last 7 weeks to see if I had tipped them off!

Unfortunately, I didn't get pics of these reactions because I was enjoying being in the moment. :)  But we did enjoying some yummy cake afterwards!

I'm so glad the news is out now.  It was a hard secret to keep for 7 weeks!!

Please join us in praying for a healthy baby!! :)

Complications and Joy

After telling the family, I went to my first OBGYN appointment. She told me that my due date was pushed back to Feb. 19 because of the size of the baby.  This concerned me because I wondered if it wasn't growing as it should.  She ordered another sonogram to verify. 

 Dr. T. also told me that because of my condition with PCOS, I was not out of the woods yet.  45% of women with PCOS have miscarriages. Even though I had seen the heart beat and the baby had grown, there were still high risks.  This was upsetting, but I know that God is in control!

During my 3rd sonogram, I was able to hear the baby's heart beat for the first time! Also, the baby looked more like a baby, dinosaur head and all!  My own little gummy bear! :)  I could see the arms and the belly!  So excited!!  She confirmed that my due date was indeed, Feb. 19.  Putting me at 8 weeks pregnant when I thought I was 9 weeks pregnant.  I'm just so blessed that God's given me this miracle!

The baby is right side up. See the tiny arms!  The head looks like a T-rex!

Telling the family: Part 2

After Chris' immediate family, we decided to Skype my brother to let him and his family know about the pregnancy.  We wanted to tell everyone in person, so Skype was the next best thing.  I don't know if my brother is just extra smart...but he got the tee-shirts right away.  Parker and Caidlea (8 and 7) argued over whether they wanted the baby to be a boy or a girl. They loved the fact that they were going to have more cousins!

Next up, my dad and step mom.  This one was tricky b/c my dad has been commuting back and forth from Alabama to Texas. We had to catch him while he was in Alabama, and we only had about a 12 hour window to meet up with him to tell him.  We got in late on Friday night. After a short visit discussing life, we told them that we had them a gift.  Inside the bag was an Alabama baby bottle and baby booties. At first, Kathy was laughing because she is an Auburn fan and was wondering why I was getting her these things.  Then after about 30 seconds, my dad looked at Chris and asked if I was pregnant.  It was awesome because we captured that moment on film!  They were super excited for us!

After telling my dad, we spent the night in Florence and then dropped my dad off at the airport. On the way back to Atlanta, we stopped by to tell my mom. For her gift, we purchased a photo album labelled grand kids (she LOVES pictures). Inside the album, we put a picture of our sonogram. We told her it was an early birthday present. She opened the present, said she loved the album, looked at the picture, and was about to put the present back in the bag. Finally, I said, "Mom, I don't think you are getting it". I asked her what the picture in the album was. She hadn't paid any attention to it. I told her that the picture was my sonogram and we were pregnant! Her expression was priceless!!

Hearing the news! Utter shock!

Look at those toes! So excited!

Telling the family: Part 1

First up, Chris' parents. They had just come to visit us at our new home the weekend before, and we had kept this gigantic secret the whole time they were here in Atlanta. So they were in for a shock!

Chris came up with the idea to have us make tee shirts to announce our pregnancy.  We waited to the last min. to make them. They literally had just finished cooling when we put them on.  Originally, we wanted to tell Chris' parents and his sister's family all together. But unfortunately, his sister wasn't able to come over to the house until later. 

 

As Chris' parents were finishing up breakfast, Chris and I came downstairs and revealed our tee shirts.  It took them a minute to read and fully understand.  Chris' mom had to read the shirt aloud before it clicked with his dad.  They both had a what?? expression and then sheer excitement!  Chris' mom got up to hug us while Chris' dad stepped away to shed a few tears of joy.  I really give them a lot of credit b/c right after we told them we were pregnant we headed to a family reunion. They did an awesome job keeping the secret!

Next up, Chris' sister and family. We waited until the 4th of July weekend was coming to an end. We told them we wanted to get a family photo.  As Chris' dad was taking photos, Chris and I revealed our shirts.  This was awesome b/c Sidney, Cambria's husband, kept his eyes on the camera saying cheese...while Cambria glanced at our shirts and said, "what!?".  Finally, Sidney looked over and put it together.  Their faces were classic! 

Sidney explained that because we were pregnant the girls, Ayleiah and Leionna, would see an end to their gravy train for Mia and PawPaw.  He is so funny!  He even told Ayleiah she better get all her "baby airplane rides" from Uncle Chris while she can because after our baby comes she will be moved from first class, Delta to coach, Jamaican Air!  We just laughed and laughed! 

 Finally, Ayleiah (4 years old) give me some sage advice. She told me that babies hurt, and I better make sure I have a doctor, some small diapers, a bottle, and some toys.  She listed for me everything she thought I needed. We told them they had to keep this a secret.  Ayleiah said..."oh, I know what a secret is".  In fact, a few days later Cambria called to tell us that Ayleiah told a stranger that she had a secret but couldn't tell her what it was.  Too funny!

The Not Knowing...

So we continued to see the fertility specialist. She did blood work on me about every 3 days to make sure my hormones were rising. She found that I was not producing enough progesterone.  Therefore, I had to take progesterone pills (this is the hormone that makes you feel queasy).  Thank goodness I was going through this during the summer months!!

After 2 ultrasounds at 6 weeks, then 7 weeks, we found out the due date was Feb. 15.  My hormones were going up so they released me from the fertility specialist to the regular OBGYN. My doctor at ACRM, Dr. Hasty, assured me that it was OK to start telling people since we had seen the baby double in size and seen the heartbeat increase.

At 8 weeks, we cleared our schedule and made way to start telling the family!

The Beginning of our Miracle...

After over a year of trying to conceive, God showed his favor on us by blessing us with a baby. Since being diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), I was told conceiving would be very difficult. We went to specialists at ACRM (Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine). They altered my diet and gave me medicine to help my body regulate my hormones. However, the next step would have been fertility drugs. Thank goodness we didn't have to go there! After finding out that I had lost my job, I told Chris I thought we should put a hold on trying to start a family. Chris disagreed. Of course, being the submissive wife that I am :), I agreed to keep trying. Well good thing we did, because we now have a gummy bear growing in my tummy!

Because of PCOS I wasn't able to recognize when I was ovulating. So I would randomly take pregnancy tests. On June 7th, I decided to take a test. It appeared to be negative just like all the others. I was I about to throw it in the trash when I noticed a faint positive sign emerging. I immediately called downstairs to Chris. He, busy on the computer, did not want to leave what he was doing. He asked if it could wait 2 min. I said..no, I don't think this can wait. He came upstairs and looked at the test in under several different lights. AND concluded that it was there but extremely faint.

So we decided to sleep on it and take another test in the morning. Only problem was...we didn't have another test. Chris and I went down to the Kroger at 11:30 at night to pick up another test -- one that would state pregnant or not pregnant (thank heavens for Clear Blue).

The next morning...I took the test and....it said pregnant! Chris' first comment was classic, "For unto us a Child is Born". He was just trying to show off that scripture knowledge! I immediately went in for blood work to confirm. After the confirmation, we realized that due to my PCOS, there was a 45% chance that I would miscarry. So we decided to keep our pregnancy a secret (this was super hard!).

More to come later...