Baby Blog – Part 1 – The Beginning

They say change is good for the soul, that it’s inevitable, a part of life, right? Well, that is definitely true in our case! Sorry this first entry is long, but it’s been a busy couple of months (and I’ve been too lazy to start). Anyway… here goes the beginning of our story…

Back in early March, Adam and I found out we were pregnant – great news! We decided to share our news with our parents and siblings while we were in Jamaica (in April). May not have been the most direct method, but how often do you get a postcard from Jamaica announcing a new grandchild? Now our parents can say they have! I may have been a little vague with the wording, and didn’t mention when we were due, but the picture was much better than any words.

I had been having morning sickness off and on for about a month. The sickness was better while we were in Jamaica, but traveling on the Jamaican roadways was horrible. I usually don’t get car sick, but I definitely did down there! The 1 ½ hour trip to the airport was especially rough. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one in the van that needed to pull over!

The Monday after our trip, we had our first doctor appointment and sonogram. I still wasn’t feeling very good, probably dehydrated (yes Adam, you told me to drink more water). I was also extra emotional, which seemed to be the trend in the mornings. We met with Dr. Dudley and she began the sonogram. She found the baby and a good heartbeat. Good sign! Then she found a second baby. Did I mention I was already emotional? I started crying. Adam was much better and very excited. Again, everything looked great and a good heartbeat. She sent us back to the sono tech to get some better measurements of the twins. The initial machine is good for quick looks but not as advanced as their other machine.

We got back to the other room and Amy started taking measurements. She was excited because they were testing out a new machine and it has a software package to specifically measure twins. Since they hadn’t had the opportunity to use it, she was more than happy to try it out. She began taking measurements, and taking more measurements, and more measurements, and more... you get my point. Adam was sitting where he could see the screen, but I couldn’t see anything of what she was doing. FINALLY, she turned the screen and started showing us the babies. She showed us baby A, pointed out the head, heartbeat, etc – all good. Then she showed us baby B noting that with multiples they each get their own alpha notation. And then she showed us baby C. Yeah, that makes three. Again, I started bawling. And again, Adam did much better! Amy mentioned that she didn’t tell us earlier because she needed me to lay still so she could get the measurements. It seems when I bawl, I shake too much.

Okay, so that’s it… Three babies. Needless to say we were shocked and excited and happy and all that. But basically, shocked. I know I had more questions for Dr. Dudley, but they all left my head when I heard 3 babies. Because of the higher risk, they set us up with an appointment over in Peoria with Maternal-Fetal specialists. And so begins our many doctor appointments.

I called in sick that Monday. I really was sick (I came home and slept all afternoon). The next question (besides, how are we going to do this?): How do we tell our families and friends?! It’s not something you just pick up the phone and say – Hey mom and dad, we’re having a litter. Thankfully, that Friday was Mom’s birthday so we would already be going to Decatur. Done, we’ll tell them in person then. Also, I was singing with the VillageAires, a choir in Minonk. We had practice on Thursday so Adam decided to come up with me, have dinner with his folks, and announce our new news. He started by showing them pictures, announcing baby A, and then baby B, and then baby C. It’s amazing the interesting looks on a person's face as it dawns on them we mean there are really three babies in there. They were, of course, excited and surprised. Judy mentioned that she’d been lighting candles and saying prayers that we’d have another baby. Seems she lit a LOT of candles :)

Okay, one announcement down, one to go. Friday was mom’s birthday, her 50th to be exact. I figured this was a one time opportunity to see her reaction to our news. I called Brandon and asked him to tape mom’s reaction when we gave her our birthday gift. He of course wanted to know what it was, but I was evil and didn’t tell him. He tried to guess and one guess was close (a sono picture with twins). Still evil, I simply said he’d have to wait. So, I took our sono pics and printed them out and put them in a frame. (Check out dad’s blog spot to see the final product.) We walked into the restaurant and immediately gave mom her gift and said open it. Brandon started rolling tape. The footage is priceless. Check it out.

So, mom announced it to everyone else in the room and to everyone as they came in and to some people on the phone if they couldn’t make it. I have a big family, but news travels fast!

Okay, I’m going to have to finish this later, but at least I got ya started on our story. I’ll post more soon (I promise) with the rest of the story up to the present. Stay tuned… there’s more to come!