Good Morning! It's almost Friday and that's the only thing getting me through today. So in an effort to remember how everything went down I wanted to give you the short story of how we found out we were expecting and some general highlights of the baby's progress and how I've been feeling these past 15 weeks, so here it goes:
Week 6: It was Memorial Day (May 28th, 2012) we had friends in town that weekend hanging out and lots of adult beverages had been flowing. All weekend I had felt a little off, but didn't think that much of it. In preparation for a family cook out I was making potato salad and had just cracked open a Bud Light Lime. I said to Ashby "you know maybe I should go take test, I'd feel better knowing if I was pregnant before hanging out with family", he agreed and so we went upstairs and took the test. Since you have to wait an ungodly 3 minutes I left the bathroom to wait it out, while Ashby chose to stare at the stick. About a minute later he had a huge grin on his face, it was positive, I was teary eyed. I then handed him my beer since I wouldn't be needing it anymore. About an hour later we headed to my mother-in-law's house for the cookout, with the strategic plan that I would drink sparkling water in my tervis tumbler to make everyone think I was drinking for the night! All night long I had a cheesy grin on my face and was sort of day dreaming the entire time we were there. I still didn't believe I was pregnant, so on the way home we stopped for another pregnancy test and ice cream, round two of the test confirmed once again I was pregnant.
The next day I went to work, and at lunch went to Patient First for a blood test, just to confirm what the other two pregnancy tests suggested. The doctor kindly informed me that yes, I in fact was pregnant. I made an appointment to see my OBGYN for the following two weeks. They don't see you until you are 8 weeks along.
Cinco de Mayo- We believe right around the time of conception. TMI is the name of the game my friends.
Weeks 7 and 8: These weeks were long, just waiting to see the doctor and to finally confirm for the 4th time that it was true, I was pregnant. Ashby was out of town one of these weekends for a bachelor party and I took full advantage by eating caprese salad, so much that an aversion formed for basil and balsamic vinegar. These two weeks I felt super bloated and sometimes nauseous but never got sick, thank god!
On June 14, 2012 we finally had our first appointment where we got to see the little baby. It was hilarious to see all the men in the doctors office, sort of looking lost and just following their baby mama's lead and where to go, what to do and what to say, Ashby included. As we entered the ultra sound room, the technician holds up a rather large wand and explains that since the baby is so little this won't be a typical ultra sound, in my head I'm thinking "fantastic, this should be fun". We looked at the screen, she told us our due date was January 24th, 2013,and she explained, where the head was, and the little circles where the baby's limbs, and that the flickering dot was the heartbeat. I had tears in my eyes, I think Ashby probably did too. As I was readjusting myself to go see the actual doctor, Ashby and I decided that the baby looked like a squirrel and so that is what we decided to call it from then on out! We ended up seeing a nurse practitioner who was my Aunt Marfi re-incarnated, she went through everything- no deli meat, no soft cheeses, all the do's and don'ts for working out and medicine, when we left our brains were very tired.
Baby Walton aka Squirrel
That weekend was father's day weekend (June 17th) and we had traveled to Northern Virginia for the wedding of Ashby's fraternity big brother. We had devised a plan to tell our families the news that weekend, and throughout the entire wedding festivities all I could think about was surprising everybody. We got to my parents house bright and early on Sunday for breakfast. I walked in and immediately gave my dad his Father's day present, a white polo shirt. He gave me the obligatory hug, "thanks Lindsey, you're the best daughter ever", then I handed him a card, it read something along the lines of "Dad, we know you have everything, and we finally found the one thing you don't have. Congratulations you're going to be a Grandad". Tears ensued, my Mom had no idea what the card said and started yelling "Oh My God, are you pregnant", we all shook our heads and then she started crying. It was a cry fest for a minute. We later called my sister, who I non-nonchalantly told and then she lost it in another crying session for a hot second. Everyone was so excited, but we weren't finished telling everyone.
Dancing at the wedding. (Photograph by Marirosa)
Weeks 10 and 11: The Friday we left for the beach (July 6th) we had another doctors appointment where we were able to listen to the baby's heartbeat. It took a couple minutes for the technician to hear it, apparently Squirrel was higher up that day. Once we heard it, it was an amazing sound! The baby's heart beat was 173 beats/min. The old wives tale is that if the heartbeat is above 140 it's a girl. At the time, I had convinced myself we were having a girl.
We were at Sunset Beach with Ashby's family for the week. It was so great to see everyone, and share our news with extended family. I didn't miss alcohol until this point, all I wanted was a cold beer. Don't worry I restrained myself and sipped mocktails all week. I also ate copious amounts of ice cream from Calabash Creamery while were.
On the deck at the beach house
So if you're still reading then you must really love me, that or you're just super bored and procrastinating, either way thanks for reading. We are so grateful for the wonderful love and support our family and friends have given us, Baby Walton is going to be one lucky kid with you fine people in his/her life!
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