In the Meantime...

We came home from our vacation, and I prepared to begin my EdS program and another school year. Wesley dealt with his emotional wife like a champ, as I had about a week of crying spells that seemed to come out of nowhere. Thankfully, though, that subsided. I began to see the doctor about every two weeks to make sure my blood sugar was under control. The good part about that was the fact that I got to see the little bean a few times on the ultrasound. Still, though, it was a secret shared by only me, Wesley, Rusty, Brutus, and Mr. Kitty (aka Fuzz). Oh, and of course, the seemingly hundreds of people who work at Fort Sanders Obgyn!

We decided to wait until I had the ultrasound and blood test that can detect chromosomal abnormalities to tell everyone our news. As I type, I am 16 weeks, and it is the night before we tell our families. We mailed announcements today to our friends and family who live outside of town. On Monday, I will send announcements to those who live in town. We wanted to be able to share the news with our extended family and friends at the same time, so hopefully, it will work!

I just had a conversation with Jill Reuschel today about us having kids. She said people always ask her if we are ever going to take the plunge. It was all I could do not to tell her. Ironically, I've had that conversation with people a lot lately. It's like they already know!

I created our announcements online and printed them off at Wal-Mart. I went to pick them up yesterday. The photo lab worker asked me the name, and I told her "Wyatt." She said, "Jenny?", which surprised me because I had never seen her before in my life. She then went on to say that another photo lab employee, who I do know, had written me a note and put it with my pictures. I thanked her and went to another aisle.

The note read, "Congrats, Jenny! That's great!" My heart sank to my toes. Don't get me wrong, that was very sweet, but I didn't want anyone, especially our parents, to find out our surprise second-hand!!! I went back to the lady that helped me and asked her if she would see Susie (the employee who knows me) anytime soon. She said she would see her the next day, so I asked her to pleeeeaaaaase tell her it is a secret. She laughed and said that Susie assumed it was and she wouldn't mention it. I hope so!

So, going back to earlier in this post, the only people who know our wonderful news are me, Wesley, Rusty, Brutus, Mr. Kitty (aka Fuzz), the seemingly hundreds of people who work at Fort Sanders Obgyn, and two Wal-Mart photo lab employees (only one of whom has been identified). I'll be so glad when this isn't a secret anymore!

Dominican Dilemma

So, we were off to a wonderful vacation, but it was hard to relax when we couldn't think of anything else but what was going on inside of my body. One of the greatest perks of an all-inclusive resort is the food! Unfortunately for me, though, I had to watch everything I put in my mouth. By mid-week I had finally let my mind ease a bit, and I had gotten pretty good at passing up the huge dessert, pasta, and bread sections. Wesley and I walked the pool that meandered around the resort every day and had underwater swimming races. (Don't ask. It was Wesley's idea. I must admit, though, we did laugh a lot.) We then flew into Atlanta and stayed a couple more days with Tammy and Wendy, which is always a good time.

Each day on our vacation we let our news sink in a little more, but we were too scared to talk about our future too much. We have so many friends who have had trouble conceiving and carrying babies, so we were cautiously optimistic that we would actually become parents. Goodness knows that anything could happen, so we still are proceeding with guarded hearts.

Worry, Worry, Worry!

On Monday, I called the doctor almost in tears because I had worried all weekend about my sugar levels. I then found out that my gynecologist, who I adored (as much as one can adore her gyno) had developed Lou Gehrig's disease and had recently retired. The receptionist assured me that there were other great doctors in that practice and that Dr. Hays recommended them all. I told her that date of my last, well, you know, and she said I was about 5 weeks. She also said that the doctors usually don't want to see patients until something like six or eight weeks. Trying to hold back sobs, I told her I had high blood sugar, was taking medications that I didn't know were safe for pregnancy, and oh, yeah, that I was leaving the country in three days!

She said to come in on Thursday morning. That worked out well because Wesley and I were scheduled to drive to Atlanta at noon to stay with Tammy and Wendy before we flew off to the Dominican Republic. I saw the Nurse Practitioner, and she did an ultrasound. Seeing that little bean was really crazy, but so very exciting. She told me to keep taking my meds and to come back as soon we returned from vacation. She also said to keep my blood sugar under tight control. I explained that it hadn't been recently, but she basically said that we can only look to the future now. March 12th, to be exact.

Complete Shock

Wesley and I have been married now for nine years, so naturally, everyone always asks us when we're going to have kids. We always smile and reply that our kids have four legs, and that's enough for now. And we truly believed that, as there has always been something going on in our lives that keeps us from saying, "Yes, the time is right for a baby." You see, because of health issues, we didn't think we could have kids without "help", and we just hadn't set aside time in our lives for the time and possible heartache that could entail.

Long story short, in July I was "off", if you get my drift. I thought, "Oh, here we go, more problems!" It didn't even occur to me at first that there may be something a brewin'. I had a pregnancy test that was 2 years out-of-date, and after a few days I just thought I would give it a try. I truly didn't believe that it would deliver the news that it did. I was in COMPLETE SHOCK! Then I thought, "OK, it's out-of-date and probably not right, anyway." Mind you, Wesley is working on a roof somewhere with Lance, so I am completely alone with this news. I went to Wal-Greens and purchased another test, and yep, it gave me the same results. It was still a couple of hours before Wesley was due to be home, so I paced and worried, paced and worried. I knew that my blood sugar levels had not been where they should, so I was freaking out, knowing that could mean major complications. So, what's the best cure for worrying? The Internet. Everything I read demanded that diabetics get blood sugars well under control months before trying to conceive. My mind was racing, and hormones were rampant, so you can imagine what an emotional mess I was. The worst part was that it was a Saturday, so I couldn't call my doctor or talk to anyone else about it.

Wesley finally came home, and was going on and on about his day. We were on the deck, and I had the test that actually said "pregnant" in my pocket. I managed to slip it onto the railing, and as he was talking, he glanced down. He said, and this is a direct quote, "Holy, Sh*%!" He looked at me in disbelief and then amazement and then a grin spilled over his face. He grabbed me in hug, and I don't think he said anything else for at least a whole minute. And so it began...