Sharing the News

December 2, 2005
We finally started sharing the news. We wanted to tell everybody that would could in person around the holidays so all the fun started the first weekend in December. The first people we were able to tell were our friends Brooke and Brad Spindler when we went to visit them in Fishers, IN. We had a gift exchange planned with them so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to wrap the ultrasound as one of the gifts. Brooke ended up with the baby news present and she figured it out from the ultrasound right away. She was so excited that she jumped on me, while Brad sat there all confused. We spent the remainder of the weekend talking about babies. It was a lot of fun even though I filled their toilet with regurgitated Cheetos.
December 10, 2005
Jason's dad, Jon, was about to have a birthday so we decided to take him out for a day with friends and family for Bocce ball. We went to the Palazzo de Bocci in Auburn Hills with both Jon and Nancy, Saint and Sheffry(Jason's uncle and 2nd cousin), and Terri and Kris Reyburn(friends of the Kreider family). We had so much fun playing bocce while snacking on delicious appetizers. After 3 hours of bocce, we sat down at the restaurant for some pizza. We gave Jon his birthday present, which of course contained the ultrasound picture. Jon and Nancy were shocked; they had no idea we wanted children so soon.
December 23, 2005
After a long, miserable trip home for Christmas, we finally got to tell my parents. I couldn't wait. We were all about to head to bed when Jason and I told my parents that we had a small gift for them that we wanted them to open before the rest of the family came. So we sat around the kitchen table together and watched my dad open the present containing the ultrasound. As soon as he say the white paper he looked up and me with his look...he knew. My mom started screaming, then my dad shouted off the deck, "My baby is having a baby!" It was really special. They were so excited.
December 24, 2005
My sister was running late getting home. We were about to leave to head over to my auntie MaryJo's house for Christmas Eve polenta and I handed my sister our Christmas card. I said, "Take a quick peek at our Christmas photocard...its a really cute picture of the dogs." She opened the envelope so find the photocard had a picture of our ultrasound. She started crying, while John watched curiously until he finally figured out what was going on. They both gave us hugs and then we hurried off to the Momonts.
The rest of Christmas break we spent sharing our "Chrismas card" with the rest of the family and our friends. It felt so good to finally share our news with everyone.

Jumping Bean

Today was my first scheduled prenatal visit. For some odd reason, I was really nervous so I didn't sleep well. Jason came along because we were hoping that we would get to hear the baby's heart beat. Instead we got to see the little jumping bean up close and personal! :) Dr. Griffith wanted to do an ultrasound to check the baby's due date...what a great surprise! It was so amazing. The baby was jumping off the sides of my uterine wall and waving. What an active little cutie. Everything seemed to be going just perfect. The baby already seemed to be such a little person with a personality. We were so excited after the doctor's appointment that we wanted to share our excitement with our family and friends but we fought the urge. What a great day!

Thanksgiving 2005

I decided to fly to my sister's for Thanksgiving to see her and the kids, Izzy and John V. It was a decision I made before I found out I was pregnant. Now I was pregnant with morning sickness and had to try to hide it from my family. Jason was staying back in Michigan with his family so I didn't want to share the news without him there, plus we wanted to get through the first trimester before we told people so I had to suck it up and hide the nausea.

My dad, mom, Izzy, and other niece Brooke came to the airport to pick me up. The weather was horrible so my flight was delayed and the drive back to Fondy was slow. I was so excited to see everyone. Thanksgiving day we went to the Coons house...wow can Janet really put together a feast. If I wasn't sick I could have really enjoyed all the food. I quickly helped myself to some turkey and mashed potatoes and a few other side dishes so that I wouldn't draw attention to my practically empty plate. I picked at the potatoes but that was about it. No one seemed to notice though, thank goodness. The rest of the weekend went fairly smooth...no one seemed suspicious or seemed to notice my occasional visit to the bathroom in the basement. I managed to pull it off! :)

Halloween 2005

Halloween night was my first bout of morning sickness (hugh...all day sickness). I didn't even make it through trick or treating. I had been really tired the prior few weeks but Halloween night the fatigue was accompanied by nausea. Ugh! It was actually reassuring though to feel pregnant after a scare at Ben and Amy's wedding a few days earlier. We were worried we might have lost the baby, but this nausea was telling us the hormones were still supporting something. I was never so thankful for feeling like crap.

October 19, 2005

Today, I went back into the doctor's office to get by second set of blood work. Now I just had to wait until Friday to find out the status of my pregnancy. Dr. Griffith surprised me with a phone call in the evening. She was on call and had decided to look up the results from my blood work. She didn't want us to have to wait until Friday, since she knew it would be a long two days for us. What a great doctor...she surely earned our trust at that point. The results looked great. My HCG levels had more than doubled which showed the pregnancy was right on track. So we finally felt like we could relax and enjoy the pregnancy...

October 17, 2005

I called the doctor's office to share the news and figure out how we needed to proceed. This was all so new to me. I knew that I needed to get prenatal vitamins now, so the doctor's office seemed like the right place to start. I didn't have an Ob/Gyn yet so I randomly picked one over the phone from the clinic where I wanted to go...Dr. Anna Griffith! You will see that this choice was a blessing for Jason and I. She was the perfect fit for us! More to follow...

Due to the abdominal pain, Dr. Griffith asked that rather than waiting a month for my first appointment that I come to see her right away. I ended up with an ultrasound...my first glance at a ball of cells. I was definitely showing signs of pregnancy, but Dr. Griffith wanted to make sure I was progressing in the right way. She ordered blood work to see if my HCG levels were elevating as they should be. I would get blood drawn today and then again 2 days later(Wednesday). I would then call the office on Friday when Dr. Griffith was back in the office to get the results. It was the start of a long few days...

October 15, 2005

I've decided today (Nov. 17, 2006) to start an online journal (blog) to share my daughter's life with all her friends and family. This will also be a fun way for her to look back at her life as she grows up. It will also be a special way for Jason and I to remember our journey as her parents. So here is how it all begin, right from the beginning...well kinda...you can use your imagination for how it all started!!! :)

Today was not only my niece Jaelyn's first birthday, but it was the day Jason and I found out that we were going to be parents. It was a Saturday morning...I got up out of bed at 7 am because I couldn't sleep. I was feeling a lot of abdominal pain and since I was 4 days late I was anxious to know why??? So I got up and let Makinac and Molokai out to go to the bathroom and took a pregnancy test. It immediately read POSITIVE! I was shocked, was it really positive. I looked at the test to double check... it was really early maybe I was just dreaming. The past 3 months were disappointments...could this month really be different?

I had to wake Jason up!

I quietly returned to bed and laid down next to Jason. He apparently heard me and asked if everything was alright...since it was odd I was up so early on the weekend and he was aware of my cramping. I eagerly replied...I'm pregnant! Jason didn't believe me, "Are you serious?" "Yes, I took a pregnancy test and it's positive!" I said. That's when he asked, "What do we do now?"

Well this blog will tell you...

Jason and I couldn't fall back asleep so we decided to call our friends and neighbors, Mike and Marnie Schmidt, to go out for breakfast. They had just told us they were pregnant the week before. We shared our news with them but decided to not tell anybody else until we were through the first trimester.