First we had each other, then we had you, and then we had everything!

EMMY NOW HAS HER VERY OWN BLOG AT: WWW.EMMALINEELIZABETHANDERSON.BLOGSPOT.COM! I may occasionally post to this one, but for the most part, everything will now be going on Emmy's blog. Stop by and see us and watch her grow!

Ever since my hospital stay in week 26, my doctor has been keeping an incredibly close watch on my blood pressure. I’ve been going to the doctor twice each week and having an ultrasound done weekly and doing fetal monitoring at each appointment to make sure that Emmy isn’t under any stress (Lord knows Mommy has enough for the both of us!) along with being on bed rest when I’m at home but my blood pressure is still out of control and at my appointment on June 17, the ultrasound revealed compromised cord flow to Emmy which means she isn’t getting the blood and oxygen that she needs. The fetal monitoring showed that she wasn’t as active as she should be either and my urine analysis showed that I had over 18,000 units of protein in my urine compared with just over 1200 three weeks ago. All of that, combined with the fact that I had gained almost 10 pounds in less than a week because of fluid retention, led the doctors to diagnose me with preeclampsia (something we had feared would develop from day one) and since the environment outside of my body was less harsh for Emmy than the one I was currently creating for her, the doctors decided to fly me to Little Rock to UAMS Medical Center. I certainly never expected to experience my first helicopter ride like this!

I delivered Emmy via emergency C-section on June 18, 2009 at 3:20 p.m. She weighed in at a whopping 2 pounds 1 ounce and was 14 and ½ inches long. The C-section was a very strange experience! I couldn’t feel any pain thanks to a spinal block (which I was terrified to death of getting but then felt really stupid when it didn’t hurt!) but it’s kind of scary when the doctors are pulling on your stomach so vigorously that your upper body is rocking back and forth on the table. Of course, I couldn’t see anything thanks to that lovely blue curtain in my way but Tony was giving me a play-by-play from the view he had. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to be able to see anything either but he kept cheating and looking over the curtain anyway. It was kind of funny because I had a doctor standing at my head alongside Tony and every time Tony would stand up to see what they were doing to me, the doctor would look over at him with a look on his face that said, “Oh no! Please don’t let that dude faint! I sure wish he would sit back down!”

Emmy was breathing on her own at delivery and scored 8 out of 10 on the tests that they perform on each newborn to evaluate how well they’re doing (better than some full term babies), but the effort that it was taking for her to breathe on her own was making her too tired so they went ahead and put her on a ventilator to help her conserve energy, but by the beginning of the next week, she was breathing on her own again and has been doing just great ever since!

It is so strange how quickly everything happened. I went in for what I thought was a routine doctor’s appointment, thinking I still had 11 more weeks to wait for Emmy to make her appearance in my life and the next day, I have this little baby that I can’t even hold in my arms yet. I’m a Momma now but yet I don’t feel like a Momma because I can’t hold her and change her diaper and feed her. I can’t be a Momma to her yet. I just have to pray to God and ask Him to keep His loving arms wrapped around her until I can hold her in mine. And I know that He will. Lord, thank you so much for our precious baby girl!

I had never had heartburn a day in my life but have watched my father struggle with it for years due to damage that he did to his esophagus from years of chewing Copenhagen since he could walk and I know that it can be miserable. I had never had heartburn, that is, until this week and I think I just made up for all those years that I didn’t have it because my chest feels like it’s on fire and it feels like I’ve eaten a meal big enough for 5 people and all the extra food is lodged in my esophagus with nowhere else to go. Not my idea of a good time! I feel like I could burst into flames at any moment so here’s a word to the wise: Don’t stand too close to the pregnant lady with a bottle half-full of Tums!

Week 27 finds my blood pressure still way too high so I’m still on bed rest. I’ve had to make 3 trips to the doctor so far this week and am not supposed to be doing anything around the house except lie on the couch and go to the bathroom (which I’m doing more and more of these days since Emmy’s new favorite spot in the womb is on my bladder). And since I’m not supposed to do any housework and my mother thinks it’s a mortal sin not to vacuum your carpet everyday of your life, she’s been coming over and doing my housework for me. To some people this would be their dream come true but to me, it’s a nightmare. No one can clean my house like I can and I don’t exactly like the fact that my mother is touching my husband’s dirty underwear. To top it all off, I’ve started to get the worst headaches EVER because of my blood pressure so all I want to do is sit in the dark with an ice pack on my head. Not working would be so much more fun if it were my idea and not someone else’s and I were on a beach in Mexico instead of the couch watching my mother clean!

I have been under a lot of extra stress the last few days and haven’t been feeling very well. At work Wednesday morning I started experiencing the symptoms of an inner ear infection so off to the doctor I went and sure enough, they told me that I had an inner ear infection. I was so dizzy that it made my stomach upset and that made me throw up for the first time in my entire pregnancy—at 6 months pregnant!

I thought I should let my OB/GYN know what was going on and when I called them, they wanted to see me too, so off to the doctor I went again! Only things got a little more interesting when I got to my OB/GYN’s office—I ended up staying in the hospital for 2 nights because my blood pressure was through the roof and they couldn’t get it to come down. What a nightmare! I was admitted to the hospital through Triage (basically the Emergency Room where women come when they think they are in labor) and had to lie on a what felt like a cardboard bed for 5 hours on an empty stomach with a chick in labor beside me who had 4 people in her less-than-soundproof-curtain-wall room, one of which was eating McDonald’s and kept proclaiming loudly just how fantastic her French fries were, all the while my stomach feels like it’s going to eat a whole through my abdomen it’s growling so wildly. Let’s just say I was NOT having good time. When they finally realized that my blood pressure wasn’t going to go down on its own, they put me in a hospital room and told me to get comfy. After what felt like a week (but was actually just 2 nights and 3 days) I got to come home but was ordered to bed rest. The only good thing that came out of the hospital stay was getting to hear Emmy on the fetal monitor getting hiccups (so cute!) and a shot of Demerol (NIIIICE!).

My office schedules two annual weeks worth of vacation time every May and October and this week was my annual May vacation. Since the clock is ticking on time that Tony and I get to spend together just him and I before Emmy makes her grand entrance into our lives, I decided to surprise Tony with a night in Branson in a quaint little cabin with all the comforts of home (and some comforts that we don’t have at home like a jacuzzi and a double-head rain forest shower). Tony and I try and make it to Branson at least a couple of times a year and the trip normally includes a couple of days of roller coaster riding at Silver Dollar City but since that was obviously out of the question this trip, we decided just to take it easy in our cozy little cabin. We got Olive Garden take-out and had a feast in our beautifully appointed kitchen and I was asleep by 10:30. How’s that for romance?






I have been seeing little Emmalines everywhere these days! I recently learned that Emmaline is a family name not only on my side of the family, but on Tony’s, too! I originally picked the name Emmaline from one of my all-time favorite movies when I was about 14 years old. In “Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel”, there is a character that is a pupil in the class that Anne teaches named Emmaline and as soon as I heard that name, I fell in love with it. My Granny told me some time later that had been my Great Grandma Rouse’s first name as well. And Tony just found out a few weeks ago that his Great-Great Grandma’s name was Emmaline, too! And as Tony and I were watching the movie “The Blue Lagoon” the other day (which I hadn’t watched in AGES), guess what Brooke Shields’ name is in the move? You guessed it: Emmaline!

Marilyn Monroe once said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. I beg to differ: I think naps are a girl’s best friend. (At least a 6-months-pregnant girl’s best friend) Maybe it’s because I’ve been super busy the last couple of weeks, or maybe it’s because it’s taking more and more energy to support my ever-expanding belly, but a nap during my lunch break is quickly becoming my favorite pastime. We have this fabulous reclining massage chair at the office in the therapy room and if eat my lunch really fast and turn out all the lights, I can easily get in a peaceful, hour-long slumber before I have to start my afternoon. Who needs diamonds when I can sleep for an extra hour every day?

One VERY exciting thing happened this week: Tony finally got to feel Emmy move! I’ve been feeling her for weeks now but lately she’s been kicking harder and harder and while I was lying on the couch the other night, I put Tony’s hand on my belly but at first Emmy wasn’t kicking hard enough for Tony to feel her and then all of a sudden, she kicked me harder than she’s ever kicked me before! It was almost like she was telling Tony, “See Daddy? I really am in here and Mommy’s not just getting super fat!” Tony’s face was priceless! His eyes got big and the sappiest grin spread across his face. It was so precious! He’s already the World’s Greatest Daddy!

When I had the ultrasound at 19 weeks that determined that Emmy is a girl, the doctor wanted me to also undergo a third, move diagnostic ultrasound so they could get a better look at her heart and abdominal organs. They assured me that there was nothing that they saw in the ultrasound at 19 weeks that made them think there were any problems or concerns, but because of all of my pre-existing medical conditions that could affect her development, it’s better to be safe than sorry so off to the hospital we went—again. Accompanied by my mom and dad, henceforth known as Nana and Papa, we got another glimpse into Emmy’s fascinating little world. One of the first things we got to see was something that assured me that she’s going to be at least a little like her mother—she was sucking her thumb! (Not that I do that now, but my mother was terrified that I was going to start Kindergarten with my thumb in my mouth!) And from what I could tell, she has my toes, too! Her nose is still a toss-up, my mom thinks she’ll have my nose, I think she’ll have Tony’s precious little nose.

One thing was definitely determined this morning, though: Tony can stop secretly thinking that there’s a chance she’s really a boy. She is, without a doubt, all girl! Ever since we started telling people that we found out we’re having a girl, all we’ve heard are stories from women who were told they were having little girls, only to get a surprise in the delivery room! These stories left Tony wondering if he might be getting a little boy after all. But after this morning, those thoughts can finally be put to rest. She’ll just have to be a little girl who wears camo and shoots guns with her Daddy and Papa!

I’ve started picking out things for Emmy’s nursery now that we know for sure that she’s a girl. Actually, that’s a lie: I had things picked out even before we knew that she was a girl. What kind of self-respecting woman would I be if I hadn’t already decided on a color scheme and picked out the bedding before we even knew the sex? I’ve always liked brown and pink together and luckily that color scheme is all the rage these days so it’s not hard to find things that I like. Actually I’m running into the opposite problem: I’m finding too many things that I like! From clothes to bedding to strollers, it’s hard to narrow things down and just pick out the necessities when everything is just so darned cute! I’m convinced that by the time Emmy gets here, I’m going to be running around hungry and naked because I’ve spent every last penny I have to make sure she’s outfitted in bows and lace until she’s 55!

In case anyone is interested in taking a peek, I’ve started registries at both Target.com and BabiesRUs.com. My friend Casey tells me that they are both way too skimpy and I still have a lot to add to them but I don’t think I’m doing too bad so far. Pretty much everything except Emmy’s bedding is on my Target registry. When I saw the bedding from BabiesRUs, I fell in love with it so rather than settle for something from Target that I wasn’t as crazy about, I just started two different registries. It’s kind of overwhelming when I think about everything that she’s going to need. I know there are a hundred things that I’m not putting on the list, so if any of you experienced mommys out there have any suggestions for things that we simply cannot live without, leave me a comment. All advice is appreciated, seeing as how I really have no clue as to what I’m doing! Now all we have to do is start getting her room ready. With all the trouble I’m having picking out things to put on my registries, how on earth will I ever pick paint colors?!?

This week I’m realizing that there’s a method to Mother Nature’s pregnancy madness. The whole pregnancy process and all the craziness that comes with it truly does prepare you for motherhood. Let me explain: First, there are the sleepless nights. You can set your watch by my bladder each night. Exactly every 2 hours I’m going downstairs to pee. I just can’t hold it any longer than that. And when Emmy is born I’ll be waking up about every 2 hours to feed her. Coincidence? I think not! This past week or so, as Emmy’s kicks get stronger, I’m feeling her kick me every morning about 30 minutes before I want to get out of bed. I’m afraid I’ve been blessed (or cursed?) with yet another morning person in my life. She’s already just like her Daddy! And speaking of her Daddy, I’m so tired by the time I get home from work each day that I barely have enough energy to fix myself something to eat and take a shower, let alone pay any attention to my poor, neglected husband. I think this is Mother Nature’s way of preparing him to take a back seat in the attention department for the next several months while we adjust to life with Emmy.

And Tony won’t be the only one getting less attention when Emmy gets here. So will my appearance. And I think my crazy hair is trying to prepare me for the less glamorous phase I’ll be going through in a few months. My naturally curly hair has always been so easy for me to control and deal with but for the last week or so, it’s been out of control. It’s like it’s twice as thick as it used to be so it wants to stick out everywhere (which it normally does to a certain extent anyway but this is out of hand!) and I think the texture is changing, too. It’s not quite as curly as it was and I have some weird cowlick thing going on where part of it wants to go in a very unflattering direction all the time. My hair stylist warned me this might happen but I didn’t want to listen to her. Thank God I don’t look like an idiot in a baseball cap! (And too bad I can’t wear them to work!)

So it’s true what they say: You truly are a parent from the moment of conception and all this craziness I’m going through now is only preparing me to be a better Mommy to Emmy when she gets here. At least that’s what I have to keep telling myself in order to keep from pulling out all of my now-out-of-control hair!

As I was quietly sitting on the couch the other morning, I felt the absolute most awesome feeling I’ve ever felt before in my entire life: Emmy kicked me! For the last several weeks I’ve been feeling the “butterflies” in my belly, but they’re more subtle and don’t seem very deliberate. But this time was totally different, much stronger and noticeable like she was trying to get my attention or something. She kicked me 3 times right in a row in the same spot and I could just imagine her in there doing some sort of little dance move. I sat there in awe for a few seconds before I busted out bawling and then I called Tony to tell him what had just happened. He can’t wait until he can feel her kicking too. This mommy business just keeps getting more and more real to me everyday. It started with a positive pregnancy test and then we saw her on the first ultrasound and I heard her little heartbeat. Then my belly began to grow and I started to feel those first little movements and we found out that she’s a girl and now I’m feeling her move around more and more everyday. Before I know it, I’ll be looking into her precious little face and holding her in my arms. I can’t wait until I can stop dreaming about what her laugh will sound like and what color eyes she has and whether she’ll have curly hair like mine or if she’s got Tony’s cute little nose. This is the most incredible thing I’ve ever experienced in my entire life and while it hasn’t always been easy or fun so far, I know as soon as I see Emmy for the first time, all of it will have been worth it. I never knew I could love someone so much that I haven’t even met yet!

It turns out I do have maternal instincts after all: IT’S A GIRL!!! I’ve had this gut feeling (pun intended) since the moment I found out I was pregnant that I was having a little girl and it turns out, I was right! On Good Friday we went for our second ultrasound (we being myself, Tony and my parents and my sister in Phoenix via speakerphone on my cell) and there’s no mistaking that Little Miss Emmaline Elizabeth (a.k.a. Emmy) is on her way! After the ultrasound Tony said to me, “You know, they could be wrong. It could be a little boy.” To which I replied, “I hope for his sake that it’s not a boy because if it is, he’s got a very unfortunate situation going on below the belt.” Tony didn’t think that was very funny. Tony (like all men) was hoping for a little boy but now that a few days have passed, he’s excited about little Emmy. He sent me a text message yesterday morning that said “I can’t even stop thinking about Emmy for 5 minutes.” She’s already got daddy wrapped around her little finger!

When you're only 5'3", there's not a whole lot of room for baby to go in there and you end up looking like you're about 7 or 8 months pregnant instead of the 5 months that you really are. I can't imagine what I'm gonna look like by the time this kid makes its grand entrance into the world! I'm not complaining though; this is the first time in my life I don't have to suck my stomach in when I wear tight shirts (and they're all tight these days!). Bring on the baby belly!

Well things just keep getting more and more interesting here in preggo land! I have been going to weekly doctor appointments (most women are just seen monthly at his point) so that they can keep a close eye on my blood pressure (which has been elevated since day one) and after upping the dosage on both my blood pressure medication and my thyroid medication, things still aren’t satisfactory with all the people in the little white coats. I am terrified that I’m going to develop preeclampsia (pregnancy induced hypertension normally accompanied by excess fluid retention). And I’m sure all the worrying is having a wonderful effect on my already too-high blood pressure. With everything going on in my high-risk pregnancy, it would be very easy for me to fall into a rut of feeling sorry for myself. It would be easy for me to sit around asking God why all these things have to be happening to me and my baby, but as a Christian I have faith that everything happens for a reason and it’s all a part of God’s great plan.

Although I can’t be certain that I’m right, I do have a couple of theories as to why my pregnancy has been so difficult. Theory #1: God is trying to control the population through my health problems, as I am probably not going to try for baby number two after all the hurdles I’ve have to jump this time around. Or, Theory #2 (my personal favorite): All of the trouble I’m going through to bring this baby into the world is going to make for a wonderful guilt trip I can put on the kid when they’re about 16 years old and they’re driving me crazy either because they want to do something and I won’t let them or because I want them to do something and they won’t. I can just hear the words coming out of my mouth now: “Do you have any idea what I went through to bring you into this world?!? The least you could do is show some respect to your poor, selfless mother who sacrificed so much to get you here!” Oh yeah, all this could really come in handy later!

For three weeks now, I’ve been waiting on the energy burst that everyone keeps telling me to expect now that I’m in my 2nd trimester. I’m beginning to think that they are all full of crap. I just seem to be getting increasingly tired as the days pass. I don’t have the energy to clean my house, cook a decent meal, get out of bed in the morning…wait a minute, I didn’t have the energy to do those things before I got pregnant! But seriously, just as I was beginning to think that I’d been lied to by all the mommies that I’ve talked to, I got a phone call from my doctor’s nurse today telling me that my thyroid levels are low and that my medication needs to be adjusted (I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism-under active thyroid-in 2001). Often times, just like with my diabetes, pregnancy can affect how your body responds and reacts to different medical conditions. So hopefully after they adjust my medication, I will start enjoying that as-yet elusive energy burst everyone keeps raving about!

I’ve always heard people talk about weird pregnancy cravings but until recently hadn’t really experienced them for myself. When my mother was pregnant with my sister, all she wanted to eat was 2 bacon sandwiches every morning and watermelon. Watermelon all the time. The only problem was she was pregnant in the winter. I can just imagine my poor dad trying to track down watermelon in December. Luckily, the things that I’ve been craving have been more readily available. All I’ve wanted to eat for the last week or so has been Flaming Hot Cheetos (which I never had any desire to try until about 3 weeks ago) and chocolate ice cream. And yes, I eat them together. I’ve never actually dipped the Cheetos in the ice cream though. I went on and on about how wonderfully delicious I thought the Flaming Hot Cheetos were to my mom, so she thought she’d buy a bag and see what all the fuss was about. She ended up giving her bag to me and said she thought they were disgusting. For normal pregnant ladies, pregnancy cravings may not be that big of a deal, but when you’re diabetic and crave things like ice cream, they can be a big pain the rear-end. Why can’t I crave things like broccoli and carrots? I’ve read that you crave the things that your baby needs. Maybe my child is going to grow up to work for Ben & Jerry’s in their product development department where they will invent the world’s first jalapeño flavored ice cream.

Something else I’ve started experiencing this week is unwanted belly touching. It just freaks me out. At least this early in the game, anyway. Maybe it’s just my motherly instinct to try and somehow protect my baby. Who knows, but it’s driving me crazy! I’ve even swatted my mom’s hand away from my belly. It just seems like such an invasion of privacy and my personal space. People automatically assume that it’s okay to reach out and touch it. Like my belly is a completely different entity that I have no say over or something. I can understand people wanting to touch my belly when you can start to feel the baby kick from the outside, assuming of course that I specifically ask you if you want to feel it. But for now, the only people touching my belly are me, Tony (technically he is the cause of it, I guess he’s entitled to a feel now and then) and my doctor. Give me another couple of months and we’ll revisit this subject to see if I’ve changed my mind. Until then, HANDS OFF THE BUMP!

Since I’ve never experienced this before, I’m not positive if what I was feeling was actually the baby moving or just gas (although I should be an expert at gas pains by now) but I’m fairly certain that yesterday evening as I was sitting at my desk at work I felt that first little fluttering in my belly. It happened so quickly, I almost didn’t realize it but it felt so foreign and new it almost has to be the baby. I’ve certainly never experienced gas like that before anyway! I have always heard women compare those first flutterings to a butterfly’s wings gently beating against the inside of your stomach, and as far as I could tell, that’s just about right. I probably won’t be able to feel anything on a regular basis for a few more weeks though. But after that, look out! There will be a party in my uterus 24/7!

I’ve been having A LOT of trouble sleeping ever since I found out I was pregnant. I just can’t seem to get comfortable, no matter what position I lie in. And just as Tony was threatening to banish me to the futon, I purchased a body pillow at Wal-Mart. And last night for the first time in weeks, I managed to get a decent night’s sleep. But my dog, Bubby, is not a big fan of my new body pillow. It leaves him even less room in the bed. His space in the bed has been getting increasingly smaller with my expanding mid-section (he likes to sleep curled up by my belly when I lie on my side) and last night, out of sheer frustration, he crawled on top of the body pillow and fell asleep there because I’d left him no room anywhere else. By the time this pregnancy is over with, I have a feeling Tony and Bubby are going to be sleeping together on the futon while I take up the entire bed between my assortment of pillows and my belly!

I know in my last blog I swore that I would not post any belly pics under any circumstances but that was before I realized how absolutely WONDERFUL maternity clothes can be. In normal non-maternity clothes, I just look like a gal who needs to stop eating so much. But in maternity clothes, you can actually tell that I’m pregnant now because the clothes actually fit! It’s been so liberating for me to be able to wear form fitting clothing for the first time in my life and not feel like I’m about to pass out because I’m holding my stomach in. It’s so wonderful to be able to embrace my new shape and not be self-conscious about how I look. On the contrary, I feel more confident than I ever have before. Swimsuit season, here I come (they make some adorable maternity suits)! Although I’ll spare everyone the visual torture and keep those pictures to myself!

Finally the 2nd trimester has arrived! Hopefully the debilitating fatigue will disappear as quickly as the 1st trimester did. I think I may actually be able to feel those first precious 2nd trimester energy bursts: as evidenced by my (finally!) clean house. I am no longer ashamed to have my mother come to visit me.

My appetite is picking up, which is very bad news for my diabetic diet restrictions. Now instead of eating one chicken sandwich on whole grain low carb bread, I’d much rather eat two. I’d kill someone for an entire bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos with a side of Oreo cookies. But I have to keep telling myself that it’s for the safety of the baby that I stay away from things like that, even when I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because I’ve just had a dream about an ice cream sundae.

Which brings up another strange pregnancy side effect: crazy dreams. Last night I had a dream that Tony and I were…. ummm…. how do put this?....getting romantic and I kept getting irritated because he had his face painted like the lead singer from Kiss and his make-up kept rubbing off on me every time he would kiss me. And then I had a dream that we were at some sort of craft fair and this man was there performing marriage ceremonies. Apparently Tony and I weren’t married yet but in my dream I knew I was pregnant (that probably occurred in the Gene Simmons make-up dream) and I kept trying to get Tony to marry me but he wouldn’t do it! I’ve always been one to have some pretty off-the-wall dreams, but nothing holds a candle to pregnant dreams!

I took my first official belly photo yesterday, and although I won’t be posting it anywhere anytime soon (don’t even look for it!) it’s interesting to see how my body is changing. I can’t wait until people can glance at me and immediately tell I’m pregnant and not just look at me and assume I went a little overboard at the buffet. I’ve always been thankful that I get to wear scrubs to work and I’m even more thankful now for their forgiving silhouettes, but I’m quickly outgrowing the clothes that I can wear outside of work. Even my stretchy capri pants have almost hit their stretch capacity so I’ve decided that this weekend I will buy my first batch of maternity clothes. There is a consignment sale in Rogers this weekend so hopefully I can find something cheap and cute that will fit my ever-burgeoning belly.

As my first trimester draws to a close, I thought I'd pass along some of the valuable tidbits I've learned over the last several weeks:

1. Starting at about the 8 week mark, your pregnancy alter-ego starts to show up at very unexpected and inopportune times—and she is not nice.

2. Your significant other will start to worry if the sweet little woman he fell in love with is ever coming back.

3. You will start to pray (for the sake of your relationship and your sanity) that she will come back someday.

4. Prissy girls be warned: You WILL break wind in front of other people, whether it’s your significant other, your co-workers, or everyone in the produce aisle at Wal-Mart. You have two choices: You can either cough really loudly or you can swear that you just saw a wild, rabid duck running by.

5. At some point in time, you will go to bed at 7:45 p.m. and you will love it.

6. You will frequently be seen by others with a blank look on your face because you’ve just forgotten what the heck you were right in the middle of doing.

7. Being able to say, “Oh yeah? You try growing a human and see if you feel like (insert here: cooking supper, doing laundry, vacuuming the carpet, sweeping the floor, cleaning the bathroom, being romantic, and basically anything else you need an excuse to get out of) never gets old!

I can't wait to see what I learn in the second trimester!

I just began the last week in my first trimester and I think I’m more worn out than ever. I was exhausted before I even managed to get out of bed yesterday! My poor little dirty house just keeps getting more and more piled up by the day. My dog, Bubby used to come into the bathroom with me every night when I’d take my shower and lie on the bath mat in front of the tub while I took my shower but these days, he has to lie in front of the sink because all of the laundry that I can’t seem to get caught up on is spilling out of the hamper and onto the floor, leaving no room for the little guy and I can’t exactly blame him for not wanting to get cozy on someone’s dirty underwear! I actually went to sleep at 7:45 last night and didn’t wake up until 6:30 this morning. It was fantastic! I think I’ll do the same thing tonight. I’m hoping that my energy level picks up soon, otherwise we’re going to have to buy a new couch because I’m quickly making a permanent indention of my butt in the one we have now! Who knew manufacturing a human could be such hard work?!?

This has been a really tough week for me. If Tony were reading this, he’d just laugh and say, “Honey, they’ve all been tough for me lately, living with your crazy hormones!” He told me the other day that if he didn’t know better, he’d think I was on drugs. Remember those commercials on television telling parents about the warning signs of drug use in their children that described how your child may become really moody or sleep more than usual? Yup! That’s me! Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a rehab for pregnancy, unless you count getting your tubes tied. And I have had ZERO motivation lately. I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning and when I get to work, I just sort of sit in a fog most of the day because I can’t gather my thoughts enough to accomplish much. And then when I get home at night, all I want to do is throw some supper together real fast so I can shower and go to bed. Even writing this, just now, I sort of zoned out for several minutes before I remembered that I was in the middle of something and started typing again. It’s been so hard for me to concentrate. Sometimes women develop Gestational Diabetes during pregnancy. I wonder if maybe I’m the first documented case of Gestational Attention Deficit Disorder!

I recently read that the baby has fingernails now. Maybe that explains my blinding back pain: the little booger is trying to claw its way out through my spine! Pregnancy just got a lot less fun in week 12. Stay tuned for week 13, hopefully things will look up by then, but even if they do look up, I probably couldn’t focus on them anyway, what with all my pregnancy-induced vision changes. :-)

My mind has finally been put at ease and the weeks of torture that Tony has endured thus far haven’t been in vain: I’m not losing my mind, there is indeed a human being growing inside of me and now we have the pictures to prove it! For the longest time, I was wondering if those two pregnancy tests were right after all. Since I have yet to have morning sickness (Thank you, Jesus!) and until yesterday hadn’t had my pregnancy confirmed through ultrasound, I was beginning to wonder if there was anything in my belly or if it was all just in my head. It’s tough when you first get pregnant and the only signs you’re exhibiting just make it look like you’re turning into a fat mean woman! But now I have proof that there has been a reason for my crazy mood swings and bloated belly, and I’m not losing my mind after all. I’m just rapidly losing my waistline!

This is baby's first official photo, taken on ultrasound February 10, 2009 at 11 weeks pregnant. The baby is upside down with its little butt facing up. If you look really hard, you can see little legs and an arm. Love at first sight!

Today I had my first ultrasound! Leading up to this morning, I was excited, anxious and down-right scared in equal measure. I couldn’t wait to hear the heartbeat for the first time and I was in desperate need of reassurance that the baby was okay and developing just like it should be. Tony, my Mom, and my Dad all accompanied me to the Dr.’s office and after almost an hour wait, they finally called my name and Tony and I were ushered into the ultrasound room. First, Dr. Bailey lit into me about how important it is to get my diabetes under control (like I didn’t already know that!) and asked Tony if I was lying about my eating habits or if I really was being a good girl and eating like I should be. Tony, being the wonderful hubby that he is, told Dr. Bailey I was doing a good job and conveniently forgot to mention the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup filled brownie I had eaten on Saturday that had sent my blood sugar through the roof (Tony threw them out!). Dr. Bailey then pulled out the little Doppler machine that detects the baby’s heartbeat. He explained to us before he began that at 11 weeks, there is a 20 to 30 percent chance that we won’t be able to hear the baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler. But I was so excited about the prospect of hearing the little boom, boom, boom coming from inside me that I was only half listening to his explanation. If I would have been giving the doctor my full attention, maybe I wouldn’t have been so distressed when I didn’t hear anything when he put the cold wand to my belly. For weeks now, all I could seem to think about was how much better I was going to feel when I heard that wonderful sound of a little beating heart. So you can imagine how freaked out I was when I didn’t hear anything. Nada, zilch, zippo, not even the slightest gurgle. Dr. Bailey tried to reassure me that it was nothing to worry about, but I wasn’t having any of it. Just as I was imagining the worst, Dr. Bailey started to perform the ultrasound. I immediately saw the perfect outline of a little tiny human, complete with little arms and legs flailing around everywhere. Tony couldn’t believe that the baby was moving around so much already. He also couldn’t believe that I can’t feel it moving around inside of me yet. That’s when Dr. Bailey explained to us that the baby is only an inch and a half long and far too small to feel yet, but with all that activity, he’s sure that the baby is destined to be a fantastic athlete!

With our eyes glued to the grainy screen, Tony and I got our first glimpse of the life that we created together. I can’t even begin to explain what it felt like to see that tiny little human being moving around inside me. It suddenly makes everything very real. No more abstract thoughts about baby. Everything is finally concrete. I am a mommy. There is a life growing inside of me that was created by the love that Tony and I have for each other. I am so thankful to God for giving us this wonderful gift and I feel like a giant weight has been lifted off my shoulders now that I know everything is okay. My first reaction to seeing the ultrasound was pretty much exactly the same as my reaction to the positive pregnancy tests: lots of happy crying followed by giggling. It was funny to watch the screen every time that I laughed because the baby would disappear for second until I stopped giggling, like my laughter was squishing the little guy or something. So now every time that I laugh, I immediately feel guilty for squishing the baby. No more Adam Sandler movies for me until after the baby is born!

Dr. Bailey also told me that with women who have type 2 diabetes, there is an increased risk of still birth during the last two weeks of pregnancy. For that reason, he is going to induce my labor on Wednesday, August 19th, exactly 2 weeks before my due date. Let the countdown begin! Only 6 months and 4 days until we get to meet our baby! Roberta Flack sang a song called, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” that begins: The first time ever I saw your face, I thought the sun rose in your eyes. I can’t seem to get that song out of my head today. I am already incomprehensibly in love with you baby and I haven’t even met you yet.

Well, it’s official. I am now a human pin cushion. I found out Friday that I can no longer control my diabetes with oral medication alone (which is what I have done since I was diagnosed in 2004) and I am now totally insulin dependent. That means that between checking my blood sugar and giving myself insulin injections I have to stick myself with a needle a minimum of 11 times everyday. Good thing I’m not afraid of needles or I’d be in serious trouble! I am also on a super-restricted diet of no more than 30 grams of carbohydrates per meal and no more than 5 grams of carbohydrates per snack. That may not mean much to most of you reading this, but for me, it sucks! Case in point: My favorite place to eat is The Olive Garden. To stay under my 30 grams of carbohydrates per meal there, I could walk through the door, eat 1 bread stick (27 grams of carbohydrates) and walk right back out again. I guess that puts an end to me and Tony running to grab a bite to eat on Saturday afternoons, because that’s literally all I could eat—a bite. My doctor doesn’t even want me to eat fruit—too many carbs! This is just crazy! Where on earth is all of my already-in-short-supply energy supposed to come from? I can just picture the baby inside of me, almost comatose, because it’s not getting enough carbs to even have the energy the take a stroll around the womb. When the baby is born, it’s going to refuse my breast and immediately pick up a phone and order a pizza just so it can get some carbohydrates in its system! The good news in all of this madness is the possibility that after the baby is born and I am finished nursing, I may be able to completely stop all medications. Here’s hoping! Until then, for some reason I can’t seem to stop humming Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”.

Bless Tony’s little heart. He’s been such a trooper through my roller coaster ride of emotions these past few weeks. To give you an idea of how bad it’s been, he said to me last night, “Wow, honey! It’s been almost 2 whole hours since you’ve gotten mad at me!” The tiniest things seem to set me off. Case in point: Tony was making garlic buttered shrimp the other night (I know, I know, I should be shot for getting mad when my husband is in the kitchen cooking, saving my too-tired behind from doing it) and he used all of the margarine we had left. The following night I got a crazy craving for garlic toast and when I went to make it, there was no margarine left so I launched into a tirade about how he put an empty container back in the fridge and now I couldn’t make the garlic toast I thought I was going to die without! Then when he pointed out that we still had real stick butter in the fridge, I proceeded to gripe at him some more for not using that instead of all of the margarine we had because it was a pain in the butt to have to melt the stick butter in a bowl when I could have just spread the margarine all nice and neat on my toast and been done with it! The poor guy just couldn’t win. So after I cooled off for a few minutes, I melted the stick butter in a bowl and used it on my garlic toast and apologized to my wonderful husband for hurting his feelings when he was just trying to do me a favor and make us a wonderful meal so I wouldn’t have to cook. I even let him have a piece of my toast, which is astonishing considering that I didn’t even share food before I got pregnant. So to all the husbands out there who have dealt or will deal with their wife’s crazy pregnancy attitude: Hang in there, pray that we return to normal some day, remember we love you, and remember that we didn’t get this crazy all by ourselves: You had something to do with it too! Oh, and when we offer you a piece of garlic toast as a peace offering, just take it and smile, thank God you survived another killer mood swing, and begin the countdown to the next meltdown. Take heart, in a few months it will have been worth it. At least that’s what we have to tell ourselves each day to avoid divorce court! I LOVE YOU, TONY!!!

It never ceases to amaze me how many strange things happen to your body when you’re pregnant. Things that you would never imagine are related to pregnancy. One especially perplexing side effect: the over production of saliva. Yesterday morning at church, I honestly thought I was going to drool on my hymnal as I was leading the congregation in song. And this morning at work as I was educating a new patient on the importance of chiropractic care, I had to swallow more times than I can count just so I wouldn’t spit on the poor girl! Maybe my over zealous drooling is Mother Nature’s way of making up for the fact that I haven’t had any morning sickness. She’s just gotta sock it to ya some way or another!

I know this woman who has 9 children and she's 37 years old (I think she must be related to the Duggars). Every time I see her, besides having a new child, she has several less brain cells. Very absent minded and scatter brained. She can't ever find her checkbook or her car keys. I wonder how often she misplaces a child or two. I even came up with a name for her unfortunate condition: Baby Brain. I'm convinced that the more subsequent children you have, the worse off you become. I have always been very worried that someday I would turn out just like her. I have done everything in my power to conserve my precious little brain cells. I don't drink or do anything else that would potentially put the little things in harm's way. I thought I was doing fine--until yesterday. That's when I discovered that I too, am suffering from Baby Brain. It occurred to me as I was driving home last night. I was supposed to go to my parent's house to pick up my dog after work. They are my own personal Doggy Daycare. If you think I spoil my dog, just wait 'til you see how spoiled my child is going to be! Anyway, I was driving along, listening to the new Mercy Me song on the radio and low and behold, I realize I'm turning into my own driveway! I forgot my furry little son! If I can forget him, it terrifies me to think what will happen the first time I take my baby to Wal-Mart! And to make matters worse, as I was driving to work today, I reached for something in my purse in the seat beside me, and my purse wasn't there! I had to turn around and go back to my house to get it. In the past 24 hours, I have forgotten 2 out of the 3 most important things in my life. Tony better stick to me like glue the next time we leave the house!

It's amazing how as the weeks pass, I become increasingly unable (or unwilling) to tolerate people's bull. Normally, I consider myself a mild mannered, conflict avoiding, peace making, people pleaser. But lately, I could honestly care less what people think of me and I have become increasingly inclined to tell it exactly like it is. For example: Tony was complaining about a guy that he knows, telling me how dumb the guy is and what a big pain in the rear-end he is. Pre-pregnancy, I would have responded with something like, "Now honey, don't you think that's a bit mean? I'm sure he can't possibly be that bad." But non-filtered Amber replied instead, "WHAT A STUPID MORON!" Another example: Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and I understand that many offices observe this holiday and close for the day. Our office doesn't. We never have. And it always amazes me when we get patients who call our office and when I answer the phone, they ask, "Are you open today?" Normally, I would sweetly reply, "Sure, we're open today. What time would you like to come in and see us?" But not the Non-Filtered Amber! She replies, "No, we're closed today. I just like to come up here on my days off and answer the phone for the fun of it." True story! I actually said that to someone on the phone this morning. I'm telling you, I was not prepared for these hormones (and I don't think the poor people around me were, either!).

Another wonderful side effect of pregnancy is sounding like a lumberjack in your sleep. I have always snored occasionally if I lie on my back but as Tony puts it, I had a "princess snore". Very light and dainty. Not anymore! He says I sound like a chainsaw and he has to wake me up during the night to tell me to roll over, all the while praying that he falls back to sleep before I start the chainsaw again! Maybe the filter that controlled the things that come out of my mouth was stored in my nose and now that it's gone, there's nothing to stop the snoring. Let's hope that the filter returns before Tony collapses of exhaustion and I lose my job for being rude to our patients!

I had my first prenatal appointment this morning. It was really kind of strange because they didn't even confirm my pregnancy. Instead of filling me with excitement and anticipation, they pretty much just scared the Buh-Jesus out of me. The nurse basically said that I'm going to have to completely change the way I've been managing my diabetes or I could put the baby at serious risk. And right after she told me this, then they decide to take my blood pressure! And I bet you can guess what happened next! Yep, they put me on blood pressure medication! It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you might get a little worked up when someone tells you that you're a horrible mother already and you're slowly killing your baby unless you completely change your life! Talk about scare tactics! So I took my happy (okay, I was markedly less than happy) self to Sam's Club and bought all the healthy stuff I could find: A case of low sodium V8 juice, (although I barely had the strength to lift it into the cart after they took 6 vials of blood out of my arm), boneless skinless chicken breasts, dried fruit, mixed nuts. I even had a salad at lunch. And for someone who has been terrified of putting anything green in her mouth her entire life, that's quite a feat! But I figure that my baby is the best possible reason on this earth to start taking better care of myself. I owe it to them to be the healthiest I could possible be. After all, I want to be around when my child has their first child. So as of today, I'm turning over a new leaf: a big, green piece of lettuce! :-)

I have been eating non-stop since before I even knew I was pregnant. At first I was just blaming the holiday season but now that I know I have an "excuse", I've been eating even more. I know that the baby needs a few extra calories because of all the growth and development that's going on right now but I've been getting a bit carried away. I weighed myself the day I found out I was pregnant and have been weighing myself weekly since then. I was a bit nervous to step on the scales this week because I just knew I had gained at least 5 pounds since my last trip to the scales. But to my extreme surprise, I had only gained .2 pounds. Yes, that's POINT 2 pounds. Which begs the questions: Just where in the heck is all that food going anyway? Am I going to give birth to a 14 pound baby? Pregnancy just keeps getting more interesting everyday! :-) But seriously, I am going to have to be careful about my weight. Not because of vanity, mind you. I'm a proud little fluffy girl! But I also have type 2 diabetes so I'm more prone to gain extra weight anyway and even though I joked about it just a second ago, I really don't want a 14 pound baby. So to try and head off ridiculous weight gain at the pass, Tony and I purchased an elliptical machine yesterday at Wal-Mart. I use it while we watch our "Friends" DVDs. They're about 20 minutes long so it makes it perfect to exercise for the length of one entire episode. At least that's my goal. Last night I only made it 15 minutes, though. I told Tony the idea is to not gain an obscene amount of weight, not kill me! :-)

Tony is mystified at the idea of looking at baby stuff this early in the pregnancy. We went to Target on Saturday and he just couldn't understand why we kept looking at the baby stuff. He said to me, "Isn't this why we have a baby shower? So people will get us all this stuff and we won't have to?" To which I answered, "Yes honey, but we have to register for this stuff so people will know what to buy us." And he shot back, "What does register mean?" Clearly he has a lot to learn! :-) And for those of you wondering, no I'm not crazy and I haven't started registering for baby stuff yet. I just get a kick out of looking at all those precious little outfits knowing that someday something tiny enough to actually fit into that stuff will come out of my body. Crazy!

My 5th week of pregnancy saw the introduction of killer mood swings and extreme exhaustion. I have also been eating everything in sight. I've had quite the short fuse this week and Tony is trying his best to just stay out of my way. Poor guy! I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping at night. I've been waking up with quite a bit of low back pain and I just can't seem to get comfortable. Thank God I work for a chiropractor! Chiropractic care during pregnancy has been proven to lessen back pain throughout pregnancy and it helps shorten the duration and severity of labor pain as well. Plus, it will help get me back in tip-top shape after the baby is born, too. God bless chiropractic care! Even though Tony thinks I am a little crazy, our baby's first doctor's appointment will take place with Dr. Chandler when she gives the baby their very first adjustment. She lives very close to the hospital where I will give birth so hopefully the baby will be adjusted just hours after their birth so their little nervous system will have the best possible start!

I am looking forward to my first prenatal appointment on January 13th, even though I won't actually see the doctor until around my 10th or 11th week of pregnancy. At this first appointment, I will have a lot of preliminary blood work done. Then when I see the doctor, I'll have my first ultrasound and we will get to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! I can't wait! Even though I know that the little booger is in there (and 2 First Response pregnancy tests know too), it will still take a load off my mind to have it confirmed by a professional. :-)

I found out on New Year's Eve that one of my dearest friends, Jessica, is also pregnant with her first child and our due dates will be within days of each other. We are so excited to get to share this experience together!

Well, it's beginning to sink in that Tony and I are actually bringing another little life into this world. As far as symptoms I've been having, so far I've been really lucky. I've just been really tired and hungry all the time. :-) And this is hunger like I've never felt hunger before. Normally hunger pains start out slowly and then gradually get worse until your tummy starts to growl. I normally don't eat breakfast until around 10 a.m., but now as soon as I wake up every morning, my stomach is growling like I haven't eaten for days and it feels like there's this little Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner in my tummy sucking every little piece of sustenance out of my belly as soon as it hits my stomach so that I'm in a constant state of hunger. And I've been light-headed, too. Like I'm a human bobble-head doll. Very strange! Another weird thing is that I haven't gained any weight yet but my stomach is so bloated. Early pregnancy signs, at least what I've experienced so far, are like PMS on steroids!

I think this whole daddy business is sinking in with Tony, too. Already he's more protective of me than usual. And he's been putting his hand on my belly at night when we sit down to talk about our day with each other. He woke me up the other morning whispering in my ear, "I love you so much." If anyone of you reading this knows my husband, you'll know how out of character that is for him. Not that he's not a naturally tender man, he's just been a lot more vocal about it lately. Maybe he's just afraid of my mood swings! :-) All jokes aside, he's going to be a wonderful father and I can't wait to watch him with our child, playing and cuddling. I couldn't ask for a more wonderful husband and I am thankful to God everyday that I have such a wonderful partner!

I am about to embark on the most exciting adventure of my life. At exactly 11:01 a.m. on December 26, 2008, I found out that I am expecting my first child. My husband Tony and I have been married since July 7, 2007 but until recently hadn't been trying to start our little family. But we've been hearing our biological clocks ticking fairly loudly in our ears and decided that it was high time to create a new little Anderson! We couldn't be more excited and happy. When I saw those 2 little lines on the pregnancy test, I immediately started to cry. Then I picked up the phone and called my sister, Angie, who lives in Phoenix. Since she wouldn't get the news in person like everyone else in the family, I thought it was only fair that I tell her first! :-) She can't wait to be an aunt for the first time! It's all starting to sink in that I'm actually going to be a mommy. By this time next year, I'll have a newborn! Unbelievable! Well, ready or not, here it comes! My only prayer is that God gives Tony and I the wisdom and courage to bring up our child in the ways of the Lord and that our baby always knows, from the moment we lay eyes on them for the first time, that it will always be loved, no matter what.

This is footage taken when Tony saw my pregnancy test results. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a baby bib that said "I love Daddy" on it. That's what he's holding in his hand in the video. And the squeaking you hear in the background is our dog, Bubby, playing with one of his toys. He's going to be such a good big brother! :-)

This video was taken when Tony and I broke the news to my parents that they were about to become first-time grandparents. They had been waiting for this day for a long time! My dad caught on right away but it took a little longer for the news to sink in with my mom!