The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

It has been an interesting past week for us in the Harris household. It started with me going to YW camp to do crafts with all the girls. That went great and I even was proud of all my walking and lifting to stay in shape during pregnancy.

Then I had a doctor's appointment on Friday that did not go quite as planned. The good: We are indeed having a baby girl (as was confirmed multiple times for us over the weekend), she is healthy and the right size for the 20 week point, all looks good on that front. The bad: the tech notices that baby girls hand is waving around way lower than it should be in my cervix. The ugly: The doctor comes in and confirms that I have an incompetent cervix (a term Chris keeps laughing at. Yes, my cervix is incompetent, honey.) I am told to go straight to the hospital where there will be a doctor waiting to further examine me and decide how bad it is.

The good: My sister had the same thing so I called her right away for some advice and explanations. The bad: The doctor says the membranes that line the cervix and help keep the baby in have slid all the way down to the opening of the cervix and if I had let it go for probably even a few more days, the membranes would have slid out or burst and I would have gone into labor. More good: they caught this in time, baby girl is still in my belly, they say I am a good candidate for a cerclage (stitches to close the top of my cervix and hold the baby in). The ugly: I get to stay in the hospital tilted backwards to let the membranes slide back, I get to experience a spinal (like an epidural but with complete numbing power), I get to be stitched up and put on complete bed rest for at least a week until I have a check up on Friday and they decide how i'm doing.

The good: Everything went really well, I have amazing family members and friends who have been taking great care of me, since they caught this in time I may have some limited mobility soon. The bad, let's face it, and the ugly: My poor students have a sub all week and maybe longer, in fact maybe for the rest of the year, I probably won't be able to take my trip to California this summer like planned, I can no longer try to be active to keep off as much of the oncoming baby weight as possible, I cannot follow through on the big plans I had to organize, clean, and put back together my house including the nursery.

Looking on the bright side: I cannot describe how grateful Chris and I are that we still have this baby girl growing healthy and strong and for the technology around us that saved her. I am forever grateful for a husband who stayed with me the whole time in the hospital and was positive and attentive and very loving. I have family who has offered to jump on a plane to come help me at any time. Especially my mom who has already volunteered herself to organize and paint my nursery and anything else in my house. And for a loving Heavenly Father who answered all our desperate prayers. I will take all the bad and the ugly to meet this girl in late summer. Let's hope this is all the drama she has to offer for a while.

Let the Shopping Begin!

We went back to our ultra sound lady for a redo on the gender check for our baby today. We were hoping to get better than 85% sure like last time! Let's just say Chris's comment was, "I guess I need some more guns now." You guessed it, we are in fact having a GIRL! We are so excited!

The 3 lines you look for with a girl.

Head on the left laying with body to the right.

The 4D ones looked a little strange but cool to see more details.

I have been waiting to buy anything until we knew the gender, so as soon as we found out we went straight to a baby store and bought a few cute girl outfits! I think my excitement in the store made Chris a little nervous, but he is the one who threw in a couple extra things so I think it is him that will be the spoiler here! (The onesies were in a pack together.)

I have been getting bugged to add a picture of myself. I am holding my shirt back to show off my bump a little. Ignore the hair and outfit. I just got back from playing volleyball. (I am about 18 weeks.)

This was from a few weeks ago in a dressing room. I hope I'm not the only one who has stuffed clothes inside the outfit to see how it will look with a big pregnant tummy. I thought I looked pretty funny so I threw this in. Obviously I don't know anything about cameras and how to make the flash go away.

We now need to think about the perfect name for our little girl and get going on all the fun baby gear and nursery decorating! Bring it on!

My Not So Big, Big Reveal

I don't know why exactly, but I have been putting off telling my class about my pregnancy. On Friday, I finally decided to tell them since other kids from church and friends' kids already knew and were saying things to me in the hall. I wanted them to hear it from me.

What do I know? Half my class already knew! Mostly my girls. I had NO idea they knew and found out they had heard me talking to the teacher next door but had promised each other they wouldn't say anything to anyone. One of them is a twin and didn't even tell her sister.

I have to tell you, I love this class! Their comments were hilarious! These are some of my favorites:

"We heard you talking to Mrs. Tyson about it...but then you were still so skinny that we thought we were wrong. But then you wore that blue dress last week and we saw your tummy!" Note to self: don't wear the blue dress until I want to look really pregnant.

"Are you leaving? Because in kindergarten my teacher had a baby and got fired and didn't come back so we had really mean substitutes for the rest of the year." I guess mom's who stay home got "fired" in kids' eyes. :)

In the most serious tone, "Mrs. Harris? Does your husband know?" I assured her he did.

"I think you should name the baby, Baby Harris!" How clever.

"I think you should name the baby Rose Danielle instead of Danielle Rose!"

"Mrs Harris, do you want bottles, or a skirt, or bibs, or blankets, or a dress?" After telling her she didn't need to buy the baby anything, "I already made up my mind in my head, and I have my own money, so you might as well just tell me what you want."

From a boy, "Mrs. Harris, are you allergic to flowers?" So cute!

I told them that I have been eating during the day because the baby makes my tummy hurt if I don't. One boy chimed in, "Yeah, and if you don't, the baby could DIE!" I feel more like I am going to die if I don't eat my little snacks, not the baby.

Now when they see me eating in class they say, "Oh, the baby's hungry again!"

"My mom is pregnant too! But she is fat already."

"I saw a picture of my mom when she was pregnant with me and she was huge! She didn't look very good, no offense." Is this what my kids will say about me in second grade?! Ouch!

One of my boys didn't say a word but after about 10 minutes of my class being excited about the news, he proceeded to throw his arms over his ears with his head down. I don't think he liked the pregnancy talk. His mom later told me he does this when people hug too. Affectionate kid.

Anyway, they had me cracking up pretty good and I didn't want to forget their comments.

For your enjoyment I will share what I found on my desk this morning from a student. I had told them that when I do start getting fat they couldn't say anything. I believe this was in response to that.

If you can't read it it says, "Dear Mrs. Harris, You are very skinny not fat even graycie says so."

(Gracie is a 4th grader she bikes home with).

I'm going to frame this someday.

85%

I had been thinking over the past while of all the cute ways I could blog the gender of our baby since I knew we were finding out today. However 85% seems to be a frustrating, not quite sure enough number for Chris and I today! It's hard to get excited when there is a chance the gender will change. Maybe that's what we get for going in at 16 weeks. Luckily we get to go back for free in 2 weeks to check again which will still be 2 weeks earlier than my doctor's office.

So, without further ado...We were told by our ultra sound lady that she is 85% sure we are having a... GIRL!

I'll let you know in 2 weeks if that is still the case. :) It was still fun to go and see our baby moving around. Next time "it" needs to listen to it's parents and stop crossing those legs (which on any other day was so stinkin' cute) or to get that cord out from between said legs. The tech said that the femur bones are pretty long... which is just such a shock considering the daddy is a mere 6'4". All looks good, it just seems the baby is creating drama already. Hmmm, it must be a girl! I know I promised a picture but I'm tired and will have to post it later.

It Is What It Is

I have been awful at posting, I know. I have lots of excuses-most of them lame. I've just decided lately, that it is what it is. Here are a few examples:

-I have not been that tired with the pregnancy, but very lazy! Hence, the no posting, no inviting friends over for dinner (because I'm not cooking so much lately -lazy again, and it makes me throw up-literally), I don't want to clean, but do because I have to, Chris has taken over laundry, I don't walk around the classroom while reading chapter books but sit on my stool, and it took me a month of having ugly half chipped toenail polish to redo them.

-I can't wait for my baby bump but I have this idea in my head that I'm not supposed to start showing until I'm closer to 5 months because it's my first. Well, this is not happening as planned. I am now the proud owner of some belly chub that likes to stick out a bit after I eat and when I sit. After much embarrassment and dismay I have to say, "It is what it is."

-I have girls camp coming up mid April and am in charge of the crafts for the stake. I am actually really looking forward to doing the crafts with the girls but not much about the fact that I will not be in a room to do them, but in a screened in porch area...in Florida...while 5 months pregnant. Cross your fingers for me for cool weather! Again, it's okay, it is what it is!

I'm not whining, just coming to grips with some things which is fine because there are so many awesome things too. My pregnancy is going really good! No problems or weird things (if you can call pregnancy side effects normal). My class at school is phenomenal even with some of my crazy boys, my husband is still treating me like a queen and I'm hoping this will happen with every pregnancy, not just the first, and I have awesome friends and family who love me despite my recent laziness.

What I am most excited about is that I made an appointment for next Wednesday to find out the gender of the baby! I will be 16 weeks, so I should be far enough along to tell. I am going to a 3D/4D place that was having a Wednesday "bump day" special for the month of March and is about half the price of everywhere else. Chris and I both are excited to know so we can start saying "he" or "she" (and so I can start decorating the nursery!) I promise I will add a picture with that post. The laziness just keeps coming into play and I don't feel like downloading pictures at the moment-sorry! At least you know I will post again in less than a week!

Baby on Board

Thanks so much for all the congratulations! We are beyond excited about our coming baby! It has been a long, long, long road for us and we still feel like it's a bit of a dream. Although, the nausea helps brings things into focus a bit. :)

I am just over 8 weeks along and our projected due date is Sept. 2nd. Since my birthday is on the 8th, I am thinking this is going to be a great early birthday present. (I am thinking positively that I won't be having this baby ON my birthday. No late babies please!) This date works perfect for school since I won't have to leave a class mid-year and the year will end before I get too uncomfortable.

I feel lucky that I have only lost my lunch once so far and have moments of feeling pretty good. On a whole though, I am feeling pretty disgusting but can function. My best friends as of late have been: yogurt, oatmeal, applesauce, Honey Nut Cheerios, Ritz crackers, and Preggie Pop Drops (amazing candies that have something in them to settle the stomach.)

Chris has been the perfect husband of a pregnant lady. He has been cleaning, not complaining about my bland dinners, or lack of any dinner made, has been comforting, loving, and everything else. Plus he is as giddy as I am! We are now just praying that everything continues to go well. I will try not to be annoying with posts, but no real promises here. We are too happy to rein it in too much. Oh, and Audra, I will post a picture of me as soon as there is something to see!

An Order To All Things

First Comes Love

Then Comes Marriage

Then Comes Baby in a Baby Carriage!