Wednesday, September 28, 2011

My 1st OB appointment

On September 19th I had my first appointment at the Birthing Center.  I had to take off a half day from work, because they only schedule the 1st OB appointments at times during the day.  I guess because the first one takes a little time.

I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork first.  After that, I was shown how to take my own blood pressure, weigh myself, and how to test my urine.  The nurse said that pregnant women aren't sick, so they feel like we can do these things ourselves.  They even give us our charts and we fill in the numbers.

After that I went in an exam room and the nurse asked me a bunch of questions.  Then, a midwife came in and she asked a bunch of questions.  Then she gave me a short pelvic exam.  I was 8 weeks pregnant at the time, and I was told that my uterus was measuring the right size.  She also felt my pelvic bones to see if they were large enough to have a baby the natural way.  Good news: She said they were!  I'm small and I have really small bones, so I was worried about that.  Then I got to get dressed, and they drew a bunch of blood for tests.  Apparently, it is a state law that they test pregnant women for syphilis... among other things.  They had to take about 5...maybe 6 vials of  my blood.  I'm supposed to hear back about the blood results (fingers crossed about the syphilis! ha.)

Next appointment is scheduled for October 17th...which should be an exciting appointment, since we'll be able to hear the baby's heartbeat!


   

Friday, September 23, 2011

How we found out...and told our families

It actually all started when my wonderful mother-in-law was visiting our house one evening.  She had just dropped by and in our conversation, I mentioned (and she already knew) that Jesse and I were trying to conceive.  As she was leaving, she gave me a hug and she reached down and touched my stomach.  She said, "Bless your little womb."   It was odd to me...not that she did that....but that I remember feeling the blessing.  It's strange to try to put it into words, but after that moment, I just somehow  "knew" that I was pregnant.

Not long after that I was a few days late, so I stopped at the Dollar General to pick up a pregnancy test.  The only option cost only a dollar! I didn't know if I could trust a one dollar pregnancy test...but I bought it anyway.  At this point, I was fairly sure that I was pregnant anyway.  There were other physical reasons that I won't mention here, but I was pretty sure that strange things were happening to my body.  This was on a Friday after school.  

I waited on Jesse to get home from work and then I took the test....waited three minutes....and saw 2 pink lines.   Jesse and I were really happy and we hugged....then we ate some chili and went to the Winfield/Hurricane football game...where it was hard not to tell anyone!

The next day, Saturday, we were going to a birthday party for Jesse's sister's daughter (our niece), Carly, at FMC Sportsman's Club.  At the end of the festivities....Jesse said "OK, everyone, Erin has something to say."  I was so shocked that I paused for a second...and started to say something....and everyone was looking at me.....and then Jesse spit out, "Yeah, she's pregnant!"    Everyone cheered!



The next day was Sunday.  Every Sunday we go to my parent's house for dinner after church.  So, we knew it was a good opportunity to tell them.  I'm an only child, so this is their first grand-baby.  I knew they were going to be so excited.  So, I took the pregnancy test (wrapped it in plastic wrap, ew.), put it in a box with tissue paper, and wrapped it up like a present.   It was close to my parents anniversary, so we told them we had a gift for them for their anniversary.  As my mom was opening it, Jesse says, "If you need help figuring it out, I can help you with it."  He was trying to throw her off.   She opens it.  Looks at it.   Says "What is this, a flash drive?"   HAHAHA!  Then she says, "Or, is this something you pee on?"  I said, "Well, I already peed on it."  And it was about then that she started freaking out!   She almost immediately called my Aunt Jo to tell her.  I told them that we were trying to keep it a secret for awhile, but they couldn't help it.  I think they called all their family and friends and told them after we left.
USB flash drive 1

We still haven't told "the world" although more and more people approach me and ask about it every day.  I'm not sure how I'm going to make the announcement yet.  Anyone have any suggestions?


Thursday, September 22, 2011

We Have Exciting News!

We found out just a few short weeks ago that we will be welcoming a new addition to the Crouch household in 2012!  Jesse and I are very excited, of course...but in all honesty, it doesn't quite feel real yet.  Don't get me wrong, the morning sickness feels real...but the baby growing inside of me, doesn't feel so real yet.  I am having a hard time imagining what life will be like after this.

I plan to use this blog as a place to share information with friends and family about how the pregnancy is progressing.  I also hope to use it as a kind of journal, to document my thoughts and feelings throughout the pregnancy.  

At this point, I am almost 9 weeks pregnant, so I need to catch everyone up on the last few weeks!  I will do that in the next post.