It was a great feeling to hear the excitement in his voice after telling him the news and definitely made it feel more real.
Next - we had plans to meet Dan's parents, brother and sis-in-law at the Science Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. We met up with them, walked through the exhibit and waited as Dan and Ben played with the wave machine before heading to lunch. We decided to walk down to Cossetta's for lunch together after the Science Museum. After finishing our meals, Ben and Jenn gave their gift to Bruce. Then it was our turn. Bruce took his gift bag and pulled out a onesie -- with "My Grandpa Loves Me" written across the front in puff paint. He looked at it for a minute and said "Now all I need is a baby". I looked at Dan and then glanced around the table. Dan's mom, Laura looked at everyone and said "...wait, I don't get it...". At this point, I was a little worried that the news wasn't breaking itself as easily as I thought it would. Just then, I looked at Jenn and she had tears in her eyes and said "..she's..you're...she's having a...you're having a baby"!? To which I shook my head and everyone jumped up and hugs and tears were all around! It was a very fun, and unexpected announcement to share with the future Grandparents and Aunt & Uncle!
Since we wanted to be able to tell all of our family in one day, we had made plans to stop by my mom and step-dad's house for dessert that day. We headed to White Bear Lake and greeted them with the normal updates. We sat down to eat some dessert on the deck and I pulled out a card for Corrie and then a gift bag for my mom. I know it was Father's Day - but I wanted to spring the news on my mom anyway! She opened the bag, pulled out a onesie that said "My Grandma Loves Me" across the front - only she only pulled it out about an inch before she shoved it back in and shrieked, "Leah Dale (still calls me by my maiden name) you're..."!? It was too funny to me how quickly she figured it out - meanwhile, Corrie was still kind of staring, confused so I told him "we're pregnant"!
It was a pretty incredible day of FINALLY revealing our secret to our families! All of them greeted the news with such excitement that it just made us that more ecstatic about our news. Having our family to share this secret with just made it feel more real too.
1st Trimester --
It's really kind of funny how much of pregnancy is the 'hurry up and wait' game. That little home test confirmed the news for us so early on but I couldn't have my first Doctor's appointment until I was 8 weeks along. So I made the appointment and anxiously waited. We had decided that we wanted to at least wait until that appointment before we started telling anyone else (including our closest friends). Thankfully, the first appointment went smoothly - everything was perfectly routine and best of all, the Dr. confirmed our news! If that wasn't enough, we were able to hear the little one's heartbeat! At first, it was difficult for us to distinguish which heartbeat was mine and which was the baby's - but the Dr. was quickly able to point our the slightly more faint pulses of our the little miracle growing inside of me!
Before we knew it, we were through the first trimester! Technology allowed us to hear the heartbeat of our newest addition to the family and the Dr. confirmed our due date of February 2, 2011. So, we quickly spread the word to our families, friends and Church body in the next couple of weeks. Of course - we were so encouraged and overjoyed by all of the celebratory responses from everyone. Again, we just had to look at each other and realize that this was real - our news meant that we would have a little one sometime in early February!
2nd Trimester --
Our 15 week appointment went smoothly as well - and we were able to hear that little heartbeat again! It's crazy that it just doesn't get old and I just wanted to keep laying there, listening to the little being inside of me. It was pretty fun to glance over at my husband, the Father of our child - and see him just smile when we were listening to the heartbeat...
At 19 weeks, we had our first ultrasound. We had decided pretty early on that we would find out the gender of our little one when we were able. This was the day we were waiting for! Our ultrasound technician led us into a pretty dark room and I hopped up on the table. Neither one of us had ever been part of an ultrasound - so we weren't really sure what we were looking for. The technician started pointing out various body parts, including clarity around whether we were looking at the head or the stomach (both kind of roundish)... :) I was a little caught off guard when he started pointing out the legs of our baby and then said "Those are girl parts..." that was the news! It was nothing like they do in the movies, so I think I was a little unsure of whether he was positive about what he had just told us! In the almost the same breath he moved on and continued to point out other features of our baby "...and there's the kidney...". That was it - simple as can be, so I glanced at Dan and he kind of smirked and we silently came to the understanding that we would celebrate after we left that room. We called our parents on the ride home announcing excitedly "It's a girl" - and there we had it, time to buy some pink, frilly stuff for that little one!
About a week later, I finally caved and purchased my first pair of maternity pants! I was still able to wear most of my normal pants (some with the help of my BellaBand) but some of my dress pants were getting a little more uncomfortable than others.
We decided to partake in a newer tradition (and it is real - not just an excuse to travel...well maybe a little), so we booked our flight to San Francisco, CA. It was kind of a combo celebration for our "babymoon" and Dan's 27th birthday. We left on his birthday (September 25) and returned home the 29th. Neither of us had been to CA and it was an incredible time for us to escape the busyness of work and life at home. We took in the sites, walked around the very hilly city and took a drive down to Monaco. We couldn't have been happier with our choice and are so thankful that we were able to take that time away, just the two of us before the little one joins us.
Sometime around week 22 I started to show a little more. Of course, I had felt like I was showing for a while - but it's a little different when you're the one with the expanding stomach I suppose...
Just a few weeks ago, we had another Dr. appointment - complete with follow-up ultrasound. The first time around, Baby girl Powers was apparently resting peacefully on her backside, so they weren't able to see one part of her spine. This time she was in a different position and they were able to confirm that everything looked great! Another appointment we could be thankful for - baby was growing and healthy!
A couple of weeks ago, I started to feel like every morning when I woke up, my stomach was sticking our further and further. Dan tried to comfort me by telling me how cute the little bump looked, but I was still feeling a little like a chubby lady instead of a pregnant lady! It did help when some people started asking me if I was pregnant because they had suspected, instead of just double taking to see if I was just over-indulging! Now I'm just trying to embrace the bump and show it off as much as possible - hoping to bring clarity to any curious onlookers.
I still cannot get over the perfect ending to my second trimester -news from my best friend and college roommate of 3 years, Kristen Tenley. We met for dinner to catch up on October 13, 2010 and after about 15 minutes of catching up (probably me blabbing about nothing)....she gave me wonderful news "..so speaking of babies..."! and then that smile! I jumped up and gave her a huge hug and couldn't stop saying oh my goodness - I'm SOO happy! Even while I'm typing this, I can't help but smile and think how excited I am for her and her hubby! It couldn't be more perfect. I went home and told Dan the news and said "This is so perfect, it's just like the movies - when your best friend is pregnant at the same time..."! It's so exciting to think that just a few short months after our little girl arrives, she'll have a new best friend or maybe future boyfriend!! I know - don't worry, I'm not really planning our daughter's future yet....well trying not to. It's just so exciting to think of the play dates and memories to be made! :)
That brings us to now - week 27...officially in the 3rd trimester. Can't wait to see all of the developments, preparation and fun to come!
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