It's All in the Details

Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments here and on Facebook.  It is certainly an exciting time for us, and sharing it with people who showed so much love and support was so special.  Keep those prayers and good thoughts coming!

Now that the secret is out, I can spill all the details.  My official due date is March 21, 2012, making me 13 weeks tomorrow.  My 8-week ultrasound showed the due date as March 18, which made me 13 weeks on Sunday.  Because I know how things work, I think the 18th is more accurate, but because there wasn't more than a 7 day difference, we stick with the 21st.  That really doesn't matter to me, but in these early weeks I certainly have been changing weeks on Sunday instead of Wednesday.

I feel like I've known FOREVER.  I was suspicious at the beach but put off buying a test until we came home.  Ned finally said, "Are you ever going to take one?"  I can deal with disappointing myself, but I didn't want to disappoint him.  So the Monday after we get home, Avery and I set off to get one.  I'm trying to be all discreet, only to find out that Walmart locks the tests in plastic boxes now.  Ned's aunt was in the store and I was about to hyperventilate.  I was so flustered when I got home that when I took the test, I used the bathroom on the wrong side of the stick AND didn't have to go to the bathroom enough.  Avery in the bathroom with me didn't help.  I didn't realize what I had done and was kind of disappointed by my faint line.  Once Avery went to bed, I did another one and realized what I had done.  I told Ned after the first one but made sure I texted him after the 2nd to let him know things looked better.

The pee on a stick saga continued though.  I still felt like my line should have been darker, so the next day I went digital.  I of course couldn't go back to Walmart, so Avery and I went to CVS.  They don't lock their tests up, but they're right in front of the pharmacy.  Avery felt the need to greet all the pharmacy workers with waves and yells while I was trying to make my selection.  The digital went to "pregnant" right away, but I still waited two more days and one more test to call the doctor.

Things weren't much calmer for my first two appointments.  I still see a nurse practitioner more local to where I grew up, but they come here once a week.  My first appointment was the day Avery had her two-year portraits.  Avery went home with Lolli, who didn't know, and I had less than 45 minutes to make the 45 minute drive back home and to the doctor.  For my 8-week ultrasound, I scheduled it the day after we were going to see The Help because I knew my parents would have Avery.  Ned went with me and I just knew we'd see someone we knew.  It took so long to get called back and we were late leaving.  We were not at the office close to us this time, and Lolli was on the way with Avery as we were on the way home.  I envisioned passing them on the highway on the way home.

Needless to say, we told the secret to our families that night.  We put Avery in her big sister shirt and visited everyone.  The sister part threw off some at my in-laws as my brother-in-law thought we already knew it was a girl.  I think we caught everyone off guard.  At my parents, I had to get my dad in the room while Ned covered Avery's shirt with Giraffi.  Once Ned sat Avery down my mom saw it and got to yelling, and my dad had no idea what was going on.  It was nice to tell in person, since last time we initially didn't give the best news.  Avery was hiding during our first ultrasound, so we went ahead and told our families that we weren't sure what was going on.  She appeared immediately a week later.  I think that's called foreshadowing.

Our appointments have been good so far this time.  This baby was not camera shy, although we couldn't find a heartbeat yesterday with the doppler.  The same happened with Avery, but I was still nervous until he/she appeared on screen.  Baby Lankford has grown, had a heartbeat of about 155, and appeared to have the hiccups.  We tried to find out the sex, but no luck.  We will be finding out, and that will be in 8 weeks.  I even think we have names ready to go.  For Avery, our boy name was decided the night before the gender ultrasound. 

Although I feel much bigger, I've gained 3 pounds, but I'm certainly ready for maternity pants.  I'm showing much sooner this time and feeling worse than I did with Avery.  With Avery I had dry heaves each morning from weeks 8 to 17.  They rolled in at about the 5 week mark this time, and aren't always limited to the morning.  I have yet to throw up.  I feel better now that I'm back in school, which was similiar to last time.  I just feel sick all the time if I'm at home.  I think a lot has to do with a fast metabolism, and I get hungry quickly which results in nasuea.  I was given a note to snack during the day at school to help with that and also because my urine test somehow showed I needed to eat.  I was starving at the doctor's yesterday.  Most importantly, my blood pressure is good so far.  I've been off my medicine since June and am hoping to stay that way.  This is my biggest concern, although my worrying doesn't help.

I know this is long, but I want to remember all of it.  I doubt I do weekly updates, but I will update some just to have a record of how things go.  I didn't blog while pregnant with Avery and feel like I've forgotten so much.  If we go for 3, I'd like to be able to look back on this.  Again, thanks so much for your support, and prayers for this pregnant worrier will greatly be appreciated!