Our first doctor's appointment was set for November 5th, meaning we wouldn't know if we were officially pregnant until then. Granted, we knew we were pregnant, at least I was showing all of the signs of being pregnant, but I was so worried that it was just something I was making up in my head. I had wanted this for so long, to be a mommy, that the thought of it actually happening was unreal to me. Sadly, at that appointment they made me pee in a cup and drew some blood, but by the time we left, it was still not official because they hadn't run any tests yet.
My morning sickness, exhaustion, and pregnancy brain were all running at full force. I had no idea it felt so horrible to be pregnant! Everyone I knew who had had babies made it seem like a cake walk.... (ooh, cake sounds good now.) My coworkers however did not hold anything back in regards to painting the picture for how horrible their pregnancies were. They told me I would probably feel like this my entire pregnancy. From the throwing up to experiencing a double dragon (multiple times mind you) I was afraid that they were right. There were points in my first trimester where I swore our baby was trying to kill me. I know that sounds dramatic, but that is how I felt. I remember crying that to Michael in our car one day, that the baby was trying to kill me and I couldn't make it through this pregnancy thing. He just laughed at me and it helped me realize how silly I was being. We were also able to talk through the changing dynamics in our relationship and it brought us closer together. I heart my husband.
At our next appointment, it was confirmed that we were pregnant! YAY! Due to some system glitch, the nurse thought I was only 8 weeks along when I was really 11. The thought of adding an additional 3 weeks to my morning sickness was not okay with me. That appointment was not a good one -- she fought with me and was upset that I couldn't remember when my last period was (enter pregnancy brain here) even though we had filled out all of that info before. She came across really nasty which was not something I was excited about. Thankfully though, she used an actual chart and realized I was right about being 11 weeks. I am thankful that we had the misunderstanding because we got to have an ultrasound out of it, which is not normal. The first time we saw our little baby, Michael and I cried. There he/she was! Doing flips and not holding still for a picture. It was such a tender moment and we finally realized that I was in fact growing a human inside of me.
I became a blessing hog. I was so worried I was doing something wrong or not doing enough for our baby, so I would ask Michael for a blessing often. If the thought popped in my head, I would ask. I am so grateful that I have a priesthood holder in my home and that we were able to bond over the special blessings that took place. I don't think I could have made it through that first part without Michael or those blessings.
Things slowly started to get better in regards to the morning sickness. I wasn't able to take prenatal vitamins because I would throw them up immediately, so I took Flinstone Gummy Vitamins instead. I couldn't drink water either, so lemonade became my new best friend. Cereal was also the only thing I could keep down, so I actually had some food in my system. Slowly we were able to find things that worked for us and were comforted to know our baby was growing and getting what he/she needed, even if I was not.
The second trimester seemed to sneak up on us quickly and I am so grateful it did. My sisters told me how great the second trimester was compared to the first, but I couldn't believe them because it was too scary to hope for. But, I am glad to say that they are right. I was still throwing up, but not daily and I was getting my energy back. We had another appointment on Christmas Eve where we heard the heartbeat again. It was a strong heartbeat, 160 beats per minute! Who knew that weird wa-wa, wa-wa sounds would be music to our ears. We sent texts out to everyone in the family about how well the baby was doing and that we would find out the gender in two days. The clinic where we are seeing our midwife allows you to do an early gender check between 16-19 weeks. Normally you have your first ultrasound at 20 weeks where they check the baby for development and find out the sex.
As we drove to the appointment, we both said that we would be happy with either, even though I was rooting for a boy because I felt that was what we were having. We went inside and heard the heart beat first and the tech did some looking and announced that we were having a girl! My immediate response was, "Are you sure? We are still kind of early right, like it could still be a boy?" The tech responded that we were in fact having a girl. I just felt like a bad mom for thinking it was a boy when it was in fact our baby girl growing inside of me. I turned to Michael and saw pure joy on his face. He had secretly wanted a girl the entire time, but had never said anything about it. That was all of the reassurance I needed to know that we could be parents to a girl, even if I was scared. Again, seeing our baby, with her perfect little nose, arms, hands, fingers, legs, and toes was such a tender moment. I cleaned up and we left with some adorable pictures of our baby GIRL!
We called all of our family and they were ecstatic. Our baby girl will be the first girl on the Vineyard side to be born and only the 5th on the Davis side. To say the least, she is going to be spoiled, but mostly by her dad. I have never seen Michael so excited before, our baby is so lucky to have him as a father.
Oh, and as for a name... that is an interesting story. Before I was even married, I knew that I wanted to have a daughter, one daughter mind you, and her name would be Nese Marie after Nese Capron from Merced and Marie after Callie since that is her middle name. When Michael and I got married, his sister's middle name is Marie as well, so I just knew it was meant to be. I was hellbent on our children being named what we would call them, there wouldn't be an official name on the birth certificate and then a different name that they went by. I may be a bit bitter that growing up when the teachers would take roll, they would call Catherine Davis and I would have to explain that I went by Catie, and it was Katie with a C, not a K. Because of this, I lost the battle of having our first daughter being named Nese, because she would have to correct people on how to pronounce her name all of the time. Some people think Nese is like the word niece, which it totally isn't but whatever. I am hoping that somehow, one of my daughters will be named Nese. That being said, we are going to name our daughter Olivia Catherine Vineyard and we already love her so much. I have been feeling tons better and have not thrown up in like 2 weeks, which is a huge deal. I have even been able to do some pregnancy work outs which help tons. Yay!
