Darcy
and I were cautiously excited when the pregnancy test was positive.
I’ve miscarried twice and only a few months had past since the second
miscarriage. The wait until the 12 week ultrasound was terrifying. My
heart was in my throat every time I went to the bathroom for fear of
bleeding and any feeling in my stomach made me panic in anticipation of
cramps. I was a wreck. Morning sickness didn’t make me throw up but I
felt nauseous all of the time, my blood pressure which is low to begin
with dropped, and for a while I was ready for sleep by 8pm every night.
We
planned on keeping the pregnancy secret until the first ultrasound
scheduled for week 12, when the risk of miscarriage lowers
significantly. My mom suspected and asked me point-blank at 9.5 weeks,
so I caved. At 10.5 weeks we decided to leverage having a lot of the
family together for my father-in-law’s retirement party and informed my
husband’s side of the family and the kids. About a week after that I let
my friend Becka know, as I wanted her to take a pregnancy announcement
photo and have some time prior to wrap her head around the news and the
photoshoot. We got the pictures done and mailed some out to family and
close friends (put them in the post right after the ultrasound). Nothing
noteworthy about the 12 week ultrasound; baby had all its parts and we
got our first set of incomprehensible baby photos.
Once
we started hearing that our announcement pictures (as pictured above) were being received we
shared the news at work. Letting everyone know felt great and I
realized then that I had avoided everyone close to me for months for
fear of them noticing the weight gain and sickliness.
Caleb’s reaction to the idea of having a baby sibling was pretty awesome. Here are some excerpts from his initial thoughts:
-When
we told him he there was a baby in mommy's belly he dramatically
slapped his forehead and left the room. We had no idea what to make of
this. He came back a few moments later with a bundle wrapped in tissue
paper: it was his favourite stuffed frog and he said it was a present
for the baby.
-When laughing with Casey one day Caleb stopped me and said "don't laugh mommy or you'll make the baby come out."
-Whenever
anyone would ask Caleb if he's excited about the baby he’d reply "no
because babies cry all night and I won't be able to sleep." (What five
year is concerned with his sleeps six months down the road? Also he
sleeps through absolutely everything)
-Caleb
asked if the doctor cut open my stomach to take the baby pictures. No
hunny, doctors have a special machine that take pictures through the
tummy...
-Looking
at the ultrasound picture with Caleb I outlined the baby for him and he
asked: "Where's the food?" To which I replied "huh?" And he elaborated:
"If it's a picture of your stomach it should show food." Duh, of course
he would think that. I explained that the food no longer looks
recognizable and it goes to a different part of the tummy. And he said
"ooooh, it goes to the stomach in your back" (?!).
-Caleb
would tell me not to drink water because it could fall on the baby's
head. And not to drink anything hot because it could burn the baby.
-If
the baby were a boy Caleb wanted to name him George. If the baby were a
girl and she were black he wanted to name her Blackilicious. Parking
his bizarro choice of girl name, and that wow would I have some
explaining to do if I delivered a black baby: how neat is it that in
Caleb's five year old logic race is a random draw? Anyone can birth any
race. (He’s since moved on to wanting to name her Hartwheel...Hartwheel
Hartwick...this is why children are only allowed to name fish)
-On
a chilly morning as we were walking out the door Caleb said he hoped
the baby wasn’t cold because if she was I’d have to swallow a blanket.
