The Greatest Love of All

I can't believe my last post was announcing that we were having a little girl and now, we actually HAVE a little girl! Bailey Kathryn Dunn was born on May 10, 2010 at 3:56 pm. My life was forever changed that day. And definitely for the better! It's crazy to think what my life was like before she was in it since I now feel so complete. Erik and I cannot get enough of our new little bundle of joy. I find myself crying tears of joy on a daily basis which I'm sure is mostly due to my hormones but also because Bailey is so amazing.

IT'S A GIRL!

It's official...we're having a little girl!

I have to admitt that I've been cheating a little bit though. Since I work at the hospital now, the girls in the Ultrasound department have been nice enough to practice their skills on me a few times. So technically we kinda knew that it was a girl but as of January 4th, it's official. My OB sent us to a speicialist for this ultrasound so they can monitor our baby girl's heart. She had some concerns with a medication I had taken prior to finding out I was pregnant and just wants to play it safe. Fine by me! But Dr. King said that everything with our little sweet pea looks great and we should have nothing to be concerned about! We'll go back on February 1st for another one just to be sure.

Other than that big news, everything else has been business as usual. We had an incredible Christmas this year! I just kept thinking that it would be the last Christmas with just the two of us. Next year we'll be a family of three! I so look forward to starting new traditions and watching our little one discover new things between now and then. I just hope I can make the holidays as amazing as my parents did. I know we'll have fun trying though. And it will all be caputured on video thanks to my mom and dad who bought us a video camera for Christmas!

For my birthday this year, I was lucky enough to get a pregnancy massage. It was AMAZING! I came home and told Erik that I need one at least every month until the baby arrives. It's definitely helped with the back pain and the horrible leg cramps that I get in the middle of the night. Gotta love those joys of pregnancy! And to think, I still have SO many to look forward to!

SO BLESSED

Wow! Has it really been a month since my last update?! My apologies!

Things have been going well though. The job is great and our baby is growing, growing, growing! My doctor did change my due date to May 24th since my ultrasound measured the baby about a week behind what we orginally thought.

The most amazing thing that's happened is all the fantastic love and support we've gotten from family and friends. Here are some pictures of gifts we've already recieved...

A gift basket from my Big Sis Jamie

An adorable onesie and boots from Aunt Kasey and Aunt JoEllyn

Little Hero onesies from Aunt Ashley

I don't have a picture of it but I got the MOST AMAZING scrapbook from Mamma Frank that allows me to chronicle my pregnancy journey. The amount of time and love that went into that book literally brought me to tears. We are so blessed to have so many people that already care about our baby. Not much longer now and we'll be able to share what the sex of the baby is! The girls at work have been nice enough to sneak me back for a couple of ultrasounds so we've got a great idea (wink wink) but want to wait until our Jan. 4th appointment with our doctor for the big reveal! So hang in there....you'll know soon enough what this little one is!

So Far So Good

I successfully completed my first week back at work! I am now employed by Baptist Hospital East as a Radiology Clerk. I'll be training for about 4 weeks (thankfully!) and then I'll work 8:30-5 Monday-Friday with a weekend rotation that has yet to be determined. All the people I've met have been awesome. They are so patient in teaching me the ropes! My training should last about 4 weeks then I'll start working the alternating weekend shifts all by myself. It is A LOT to learn! But I'm getting the hang of things. I broke the news to my boss that I was pregnant too. I was SO nervous about that but she was fantastic. And she's still being nice to me so I know she wasn't faking it. She even said it would be ok for me to still go to Louisiana like we had planned! There's only a couple of things I've discovered that are drawbacks...1) Since I was "diagnosed" as being pregnant before I started work, I won't qualify for short term disability therefor I won't get paid for being on maternity leave. It'll be ok though, I think Erik and I have a plan. 2) Working at a hospital means you are CONSTANTLY around sick people. I am using Purell every 2 minutes! It's killer on nail polish and dry skin. But I figure if that's the worst of it, I'm doing OK! So as tired as I am at the end of the day, the job is GREAT!

The Word is Out...FINALLY!

As of Friday the world, or at least those on Facebook, officially know about our big news! It's such a relief to not have to keep that bottled up anymore. Thanks to all those who did though! The immediate response from our friends as been amazing! My heart feels so full and Erik and I consider ourselves truly blessed to have such incredible support. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing "you'll be a great Mom". Hands down the BEST compliment ever! I've added new songs to my playlist in honor of this great occasion. The first one is cheesy but I couldn't help myself. The words are too cute!

What led to this wide release of information you ask? Our first ultra sound also happened on Friday. Erik and I headed to our second doctor's appointment with no expectation of having one since my office doesn't do ultra sounds without a medical reason until 20 weeks. I thought I would go crazy if I didn't have one before then! We were however supposed to hear the heart beat at our visit with the doppler thingy. (Yes, that IS the technical term.) I guess I tugged at the doctor's heart just enough because she kind of faked not hearing the heart beat and ordered me to have an ultra sound done "just to be safe". I love her! I nearly jumped off the table when she told us. And basically the smile never left my face for the rest of the day. Even when I had to do my blood work! Here's a picture of what I've been calling our little gummy bear since that's how the ultra sound tech described the size of our baby right now. She also said our baby was really moving and shakin'! It's little arms were moving all around and you could see it's legs kicking up a storm! The MOST AMAZING thing I've ever experienced. Of course, I cried the whole time.

I already consider myself a religious person but even if I wasn't, there is no way you can witness an ultra sound and not believe in an amazing creator. It is LIFE CHANGING to watch your little baby moving around inside of you. Seeing the teeny tiny heart beat just reminds me of how incredible our Lord is. I am so lucky to be married to the man I love and adore, have the fantastic friends and family that I have, AND be able to bring another life into this world.

The Big Green Monster/ The Greatest Pillow EVER

I feel like our doctor’s appointment will NEVER get here! I usually can’t wait for the month of October and hope that it lasts forever but it’s a little different this year. You know it’s bad when I’m actually ok with having more blood tests done. On a more positive note, we have LOVED telling our friends and family our good news. I could drag that part out forever! Our cousins on the Duane side were SO excited for us! The kids have all started picking out names already. Caroline literally got out paper and wanted me to write down all the ones we were thinking of using. It’s funny how kids minds work…their big concern was mostly that I don’t name our baby after the kid in their class they don’t like. Jackson said he wanted to tell his whole class the next day at school-like they would care. Robert just kept looking at us like “I know how that happened!”

Fortunately, I’ve still been feeling pretty good. So tired still…slept for 12 hours last night however the night before that I didn’t sleep much at all. I loaded all the pillows up and then ending up throwing them all off. But I still don’t regret buying my huge pregnancy pillow. It’s AMAZING! It was a treat for myself since I have to sleep alone most every night while Erik is at work. (I’m great at rationalizing.) My food cravings are pretty broad. I basically want anything that doesn’t come from our kitchen. If I know that I have to fix it, it just doesn’t sound good. And not just because I’m being lazy…it literally makes me nauseous to think about the ingredients that go together. I’ve had quite a few grilled cheese sandwiches and cereal. That usually always sounds good to me. I’m usually only really sick a couple days a week which is nice. But man when those days come, they come with a vengeance! My sense of smell is fierce too. I made spaghetti last night and could still smell it in the kitchen this morning. Not a good thing. Ok next blogger goal, write about something other than pregnancy. But seriously, my pillow is incredible.

Breaking the News and Our First Doctor Visit

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I updated! Since my last entry we’ve told a few people our big news! First we told my Mom and Dad, now named Granna and Pop, and Robyn and Parker. (On September 20th) They were floored! I was pretty nervous about telling them since I felt sure that Mom and Daddy didn’t know we were trying to get pregnant. So nervous that I actually took another pregnancy test the day before just to make sure I still was! But they have been super supportive and excited! We told them by wrapping up little onsies that I made for them. Mom and Dad’s said “Kickin it with Grandma” and “Kickin it with Grandpa”. Robyn’s said “If you think I’m cute, you should see my Aunt Robyn”. I think she may be still in shock. And she KNEW we wanted to have a baby! She had also requested that we start on it now since our kid will need to be 2 years old when she gets married so it can be in the wedding. What Robyn wants, Robyn gets! On our way home from Mom and Daddy’s that night Erik couldn’t wait to tell his parents so we called them to tell them the good news. He had originally wanted to wait until after our first doctor’s visit but I think after actually getting to say the words “we’re pregnant” it’s too exciting to stop with just once! His parents were so excited!! It was raining so hard on our way home we called them again once we got in the house to make sure they heard us correctly. Again, once you’ve said it once, you just can’t help yourself from saying it again. After that Erik called his brother Richie and sister Leah who were both thrilled for us! Even after all that, it still seems surreal to me. Since my girls at Ideal Image know me so well it seemed impossible for me to keep from telling them. Especially since we see each other at least once a week and they knew we were trying to conceive…down to “the day” actually. We are a pretty tight knit group. J I avoided them as long as I could. So much so that they actually thought I was mad at them! I decided to plan a visit to the office for “lunch” (on September 23rd) so I could tell all of them at once. My friend Julie was in town from Louisiana (who by the way is also pregnant!) so we grabbed a little lunch and a dessert surprise for the girls. We had the lady at the Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen write the word BABY on a Grasshopper Pie (my fav!). I sat it on the counter once we got to the office and took off the lid. Tiffany was the first to see it and she literally jumped out of her chair! Thank goodness no one was in the office because the jumping and squeals that came next I think only dogs could hear. They are such a supportive group of friends and it was amazing to share the news with them.

We had our first doctor appointment on September 25th and everything went great. I felt like they drained all the blood from my body and rearranged my uterus but I guess that’s normal. I had a list of questions for the doctor however I was so overwhelmed and nervous I didn’t ask any of them. Fortunately, Dr. Wilson is good enough that she answered most of them without my asking. Erik went with me but I think it was less exciting than he had hoped it would be. Once we left the office he looked at me and asked “So what exactly just happened that confirmed you are pregnant?” See…surreal. As we were leaving the office we happened to run into some friends of ours. Naturally, you are trying to be sly and NOT tell anyone and then you run into friends of yours in the elevator. And let’s face it, it’s not every day that your husband accompanies you to your Gynecology visit. Plus I was so floored to see them my words were all over the place. We didn’t tell them then, but they knew. We have pretty intelligent friends. The list of people in the know is growing. It’s been great sharing the news! Tonight we are planning on telling the cousins and Aunt Peggy and Uncle Don. We are doing impromptu drive bys to say hello and tell them we’re having a baby! I’m still feeling pretty good. There’s only been a few days that I’ve felt really nauseous. But it comes with a vengeance when it does. Mostly I’m just REALLY tired. It’s weird to think that I don’t really do anything during the day but my body feels like it’s been going for 24 hours with no sleep. Naps are my best friend right now. I’m definitely looking forward to my second trimester for several reasons. Hopefully I’ll have more energy and I’ll be able to shake this anxious feeling of “Am I REALLY pregnant still?”