November 24, 2002

November 24th, 2002

Today, I had my first prenatal appointment. It was just with the nurse to get some preliminary information, but she gave me all these baby and pregnancy magazines, whic I loved. I was a little distressed to find out I've gained 8 pounds over the last year. It's not good to be heavier than you want to be at the beginning of the pregnancy. I saw Dr. Turke in the hall, and he said next time I come we'll do an ultrasound. Yeah!! I'll get to see you!

Appointment 1 : Weeks 4 5/7 : Weight 149 1/2

November 18, 2002

November 18th, 2002


Today, I found out I'm pregnant with you. I am so excited!! At first, I didn't believe it. I got up after your Dad left for work and took a test. I sat on the toilet for a couple of minutes waiting even though I didn't really expect it to be positive. It's really too early for me to be testing. I haven't even missed a period yet, and I've taken so many of these things. Anyway, I sat and watched it for a couple of minutes and when nothing happened I threw it in the trash and went back to bed. Four hours later I got up and went to the bathroom and there in the trash was the test with 2 lines on it!! All be it, one of them was very faint. I didn't believe it. I must have let it sit too long. So I took another, I was buying them in bulk anyway. Of course I waited longer this time, and sure enough there appeared another faint line. You would thing this would be enough, but no I had to go buy another with the same result. All I could do was dance in place!!

My next project was to try to thing of some creative way to tell your Dad. My first thought was to find one of those tacky "Baby on Board" T-shirts. But I searched all over and couldn't find one. So I bought "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and put it in the bag with all of his stuff from the hardware store. When he got home I told him to go through the bag and make sure I got him everything he needed. He started tossing things out of the bag, "Yep, yep, yep, nope, yep. " He passed right over the book with a simple "nope". I asked "What do you think that is?". He said, "More of your baby stuff." And I said, "I'm trying to tell you I'm pregnant!" He says, "Oh, Did you scream?" Typical Gary response. See your Dad's a little nervous about this whole baby thing. He would like it if you would emerge from my body 3 years old, potty trained, and walking. You see he loves kids, but he's not crazy about babies. So the agreement is, you're mine for the first couple of years then he takes over (just kidding).

So I'm dying to tell everyone, but I want to wait until Christmas to tell our family. So I settled for everyone at work and Beth Whaley. Beth was sooooo excited!! She said she was going to start making you a quilt now. Everyone at work was relieved. I think they were getting a little tired of hearing about my cycles for the last 3 months. So anyway, I can't wait to see you, feel you, hear you!!

PS - The pic about is from a few weeks later, when I tested just to be sure I was STILL pregnant. Okay, so I'm a little neurotic!

November 10, 2002

Prologue

This blog is my journal to you, Elise. It is a conglomeration of journals I wrote, notes from your baby book, and memories sparked from photographs. I tried to keep up, but sometimes life got in the way and left holes. My goal in writing this is twofold. Firstly, so you will have this to look back on and know that your parents loved you (quite literally) from the very beginning. No matter what stage of your life you are in, this is evidence that our world revolved around you. Secondly, I wanted you to have this for when you become a parent, so that you can see how your children are the same and how they are different from you when you were growing up. I wished so much that my parents could have told me more about how I was when I was growing up. My mother did write multiple entries in my baby book, but they read more like entries in a scientific journal. The few shining entries are written by my father. His notes read more like love letters, and that's how I wanted this journal to read. Here is one of my father's entries.

"I may try to describe our daughter, but she is, in the words of both her mama and dada, "Too cute for words." Her beaming grin, with her four stubby front teeth, is irresistible, and often Daddy is forced to pick her up and "squish" her. Even the beginning of her cry is darling. The way she curls her lip and delays the first howl for 5 or 6 seconds, usually after being told, "no, no." She does understand the command and will stop whatever she was doing. She also makes writing rather difficult (as you can see). I can only hope that she remains as cuddly and "Swebe" as she is now-"

So my beautiful daughter, here is how my fairytale begins. And always know, you will forever be our princess.