Thursday, May 7, 2015

BabyBan: First Trimester

"Whoa! Seriously! This whole thing is 1/3 of the way over? Are you kidding me?" ... are the thoughts running through my mind. It seems like seconds ago we found out we were expecting and I'm guessing that in a few months I'll say it felt like seconds ago that we were in the first trimester. Overall, I am feeling great and BabyBan is growing strong and healthy. Here's the play-by-play...

Week 6: By far the hardest week so far. I was EXHAUSTED this week and felt sick. There was a touch of the flu going around so it's possible I caught a bug as well but I took 2-3 hour naps most of this week. I had zero desire to cook and ate leftovers for lunch 4 days in a row.
Craving: Lasagna!

Week 7: During this week we shared the news with our parents and finally had people to talk with! Cravings: Gummy, fruity candy which is funny because normally I like chocolate and savory.

Week 8: BabyBan took it's first vacation this week! As kind of a spur of the moment idea we drove to Washington DC from Friday-Tuesday and stayed with my aunt while touring the city. We biked and walked all over the city, saw museums, monuments, the White House, Arlington and enjoyed picnics in the sun. On Easter we went to a sunrise service at the Lincoln Monument and ate delicious food all week. I did pretty well for how tired I had been but snuck in naps as much as I could. By the final day I basically walked from bench to bench at the museum while Jonathan walked around looking at exhibits and reading signs.
Craving: Ice cream, everyday, all day. I also knew exactly what I wanted, one day we walked an extra mile just for tacos.

Week 9: Wednesday we drove back to Michigan (well, J drove all 12 hours while I slept, watched movies, read and snacked) for my sister's wedding. We shared the news with our siblings and the great-grandparents.
Craving: After the wedding I NEEDED spinach dip. Other that I was very smell averse this week and a lot of things set me off. I was NOT craving chicken. We took leftovers home from my sister's wedding and for some reason it was revolting and I ate almost vegetarian the rest of the week.

...also pretty much known as "before" pictures...

Week 10: On day one of week 10, we told the rest of the world about BabyBan. And then, the questions started! So before you ask, at this point we haven't decided if we're going to find out the gender, I don't know what my work situation will look like after baby and we have not talked about names yet. All in good time :) Traumatically during week 10 we trapped a skunk and it sprayed right next to my house and my husband. Lemme tell you, skunk smell is NOT pleasant for a preggo woman who already struggles with smells! Since my co-workers knew I was expecting I was able to stop hiding snack time and realized that I snack at almost exactly 10:00 and 2:30 everyday. It's a good habit to have.
Craving: Cereal (which I normally don't love) but man that Cinnamon Life is goooooooood. I found myself having cereal with milk for breakfast, as a snack, an after dinner dinner and even on the couch with my hand in the box.

Week 11: BabyBan had their first TV appearance this week! I did a quick interview promoting summer camp for WOTV4 out of Grand Rapids, you can watch the interview HERE. This week my pants started getting a little uncomfortable so I'm trying out a belly band and maternity pants (all thanks to some awesome friends from church) but only on certain days and outfits. BabyBan got their first clothes today, thanks Great Grandma VanDyke!
Craving: I wanted a doughnut for days. I don't know why I denied myself because it would NOT go away. Major thanks to HannahY who brought one in to work for me! Things I have not been able to get but would really love this week also include Chinese food (crab ragoons!) and Little Caesar's crazy bread. Yummmmmm. That may have to be our weekend plans!


Week 12: At the end of the first trimester I definitely have more energy and am eating and cooking again. I'm still wearing my normal pants but mostly unbuttoned and rubber-banded cuz BabyBan is bumping! Maternity pants, here I come! This week BabyBan is the size of a plum and we heard the heartbeat! It sounded like a butterfly beating wings really fast. Headaches have been bothering me this week as well as my sciatic nerve flaring up, hopefully that'll fade quickly.
Craving: As mentioned in week 11, Chinese food and crazy bread both of which I got on Saturday! Coffee still isn't appealing but frozen coffee drinks are awesome. I've also been enjoying jello as a snack quite a bit.

At the end of the first trimester we still haven't decided if we'll find out the gender of the baby, names or how on earth we'll fit a baby and all their stuff into our teeny tiny cottage. A few things I have learned is that I married an incredibly selfless and servant-headed man. I knew that but he's been incredibly patient cooking when the smells drove me crazy, cleaning when I couldn't leave the couch, listening when I get emotional about silly little things and offering to help however I can. I'm getting a glimpse that life is going to change but I have a feeling it's going to be good. God has been so faithful to us and I know that is one thing that won't change.

We're starting the second trimester and also summer camp season. My hope is that I can practice good self-care while serving whole-heartedly, be at peace about the transitions coming, seek and commit our future to the Lord and enjoy a fun summer bucket list with Jonathan doing some of our favorite West Michigan things. I want to savor these days and moments now.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Party of Three: Announcing BabyBan

That's right... we're expecting our first child! BabyBan is set to arrive on November 12, 2015. It's pretty crazy that this is our life but we are so excited. Since we have quite a few friends and family who are long distance I thought I'd use this blog to share the story of BabyBan and what we're going through. 

Finding Out
The day of my sister's bachelorette party I took a pregnancy test, just to see. It was negative and so I figured it'd be at least another month before we were pregnant. 10 days later I was still late so I decided to take another one. I spent the whole weekend with my mom and sister at a wedding shower and it was so hard not to tell them what I suspected. As soon as I got home Sunday night I took a test and almost immediately it showed double lines... positive... a baby! I was shocked, excited, and started frantically running around trying to figure out how to tell J when he got home about an hour later. 


Telling Others 

Husband/ Baby Daddy 
When J got home I told him dinner was in the oven and asked him to check on it. He stirred the fries and closed the door, totally ignoring what else was in there. I told him to check again and he pulled the pretzel bun off the top shelf. I asked, "What is it?" He said, "A roll..." I asked, "Also known as..." and he just stared at me before guessing, "A pretzel roll? A bun? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" 

Grandparents
At 7 weeks we saw my parents in person for another wedding shower. I really wanted to tell them in person but didn't know when we'd have a moment alone. While we were waiting to get into a restaurant we pulled them outside into the cold. All the cute sentences I'd planned left my mind and I stuttered and stumbled until my mom said, "Are you pregnant?!" 

At 7 weeks we skyped with J's parents in Minnesota. We told them about our weekend and then said that we had pictures taken together and asked if they'd like to see them. When they said yes we held up the first ultrasound picture of BabyBan.  

This will be the first grandbaby for both sets of grandparents and they are so, so excited! We swore them to secrecy for at least 2 weeks while we prepared to tell the rest of the world. 

BabyBan is also so blessed to have 7 great-grandparents so we got to tell them. They are so thrilled and 2 said, "I get to be a great-grandma!" We're so fortunate to have such strong family legacies and can't wait to share BabyBan with them! 

Aunts & Uncles 
Because of my sister's wedding we were able to see my family in person. Since we'd just returned from a trip to Washington, DC we told them we had brought souvenirs. With my brother watching on skype from college we had one of my sisters open a box of AUNT Jemima's pancake mix, my other sister a jar of PREGO sauce, and my about-to-be-brother-in-law opened a box of UNCLE Ben's rice. The sister with the prego sauce got it right away and started jumping around and screaming, the other 2 took quite a while to catch on! 

Skype has been a huge part of this process so after the wedding we skyped with J's brother in California and sister in North Carolina and were able to tell them, they were so excited! 



All The Rest
At 10 weeks we announced the news at work and our church small group and later on Facebook. It's been so fun to hear and see everyone's reactions. This will be the 6th small group baby in 2015, we have a lot to celebrate!

I've been so excited to tell everyone and have the secret be out but it has been fun to have this special secret just between J and I. I'm a little nervous about how life will change and how people will respond. If you've read this far remember, I'm still Abby and I still want to talk about more than this baby. Thanks for sharing our joy! 

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