This weekend the furniture was to be delivered so naturally the room should be painted first. Rob spent his day off prepping and painting Hailey's room. It looks beautiful! We went with a neutral color to avoid the overload of pink explosion. The furniture was delivered and I couldn't be happier with our decision.

Let the decorating begin!

Another Ultrasound

23 Weeks 1 Day
I love ultrasounds! We had an ultrasound this morning to focus in on her heart. With Rob's heart problems and my brother's the doctor thought it would be best to check her heart to make sure it was developing properly. It was a short visit but it was still wonderful to see her again. She is getting so big! They once again confirmed it is a girl, which is always reassuring. Once again, she kept her hand by her face for most of the time. We will not have the results back until our next appointment but the tech said everything looked fine to her.

He finally felt a kick...

22 Weeks 4 days...

Our little jumping bean was doing what she does best, kicking me. I was determined to make Rob feel those soccer kicks. We were laying on the floor watching tv and I had him place his hand right where she had been kicking. Normally, she would stop kicking but today she decided to let her Daddy get a feel. She gave a good strong kick and Rob looked at me funny and took his hand away. He looked at me with the most serious face and asked if I had gas. After a good chuckle I informed him that was not gas, it was his little girl! We were both thrilled!! He quickly placed his hand back but she had already went back to sleep.

Dr. Appt

18 weeks...

So I haven't been able to figure out the video so you will just have to come over to watch it.

We went to the doctor this morning for our "big" ultrasound. They confirmed it was a girl and all looks wonderful!

Rob and I were both amazed at how much she has grown since our last pictures. She is still a little peanut weighing in at about 8oz.

4d Ultrasound

More stories and videos to follow...For now here are some pics of the 4d ultrasound we had on August 7, 2009. Rob and my parents were all there for our wonderful 45 minute session.

Squirming Around...

She was playing with her ears..

Here is our little one covering her face...

August 7, 2009- 4d Ultrasound Update

I have looked over this post a few times and I really don't know what to write. I am a little stumped but I know I have some anxious readers. So here is what you get for pressuring me to write this and post it quickly...

The day we have been anticipating arrived but our little one apparently had the wrong date marked on her calendar because she did not want to reveal herself to us. She made sure to be very polite and keep her legs crossed.





Friday, August 7, 2009, Rob and I hopped into my parent's car and headed off to St. Pete for our appointment. The room had a very calming atmosphere with the lights dimmed and music playing softly behind the small sectional couch. Everyone sat down and I had the honor of being perched on the tall examining chair where we all had a view of a large flat panel television which displayed the beautiful images. At first, the little one had a terrible case of the hiccups, her entire little body leaped with every one. After settling down, she showed us how she loves to play with her ears and rub her face. Eventually, my orange juice kicked in and she decided she was going to kick and kick! You know she is going to make an excellent soccer player! After all the warnings we received prior to the ultrasound about the baby looking like an alien and being able to see all her bones, we were very surprised to see she was a little chunker. She had a small amount of meat on her bones with a little pooch for a belly. It was a wonderful 45 minutes! Although, she insisted on her legs being crossed the entire time! Thankfully, the ultrasound tech offered for us to come back in a week and get another view to make sure her guess of "girl" was correct. We are all thinking pink and looking forward to this Friday, August 14 to see if she reveals herself for at least a brief moment.

Doctor Visit

My routine 2nd trimester visit was today. It was a brief visit but I was excited to hear the heartbeat again. The last few visits have been with a certified nurse midwife which I thought I would enjoy more than a doctor for a number of reasons including the thought of a closer relationship than a doctor would offer. Today I opted to visit with the doctor and was pleasantly surprised. She was warm, caring, listened to all my concerns and even took the time to describe everything she was doing and I should be doing during the pregnancy. I have made my decision to try and stick with her through the rest of my appointments and ideally she will deliver the baby. It will be hard to truly choose who will deliver since it is a large practice and it will all depend on who is on-call that day. Well back to the actual appointment, she used a doppler to find the baby's beautiful heartbeat. My heart wanted to steal the show and cover-up the baby's heartbeat but the baby eventually won and it was about 138 bpm. The doctor also released me back to lifting weights at the gym. (I immediately text my trainer when I left and said he needs to tone up my flabby legs and floppy arms!) She was also satisfied with my weight gain and even offered me the ability to gain a little more. I believe I will still continue on my path of healthy eating with the occasional sweets for right now. I figure I will make up for it once the third trimester kicks in!

I also opted to take the second round of genetic testing at my next appointment since it will just include a more detailed ultrasound and some more blood work. My next appointment will be August 24 but that is truly an eternity when it comes to determining the gender so we have decided to have the 4d ultrasound this Friday! We have invited our parents to come enjoy the experience with us and we all are very excited. I am going to take votes before the ultrasound to see what everyone will guess: girl or boy?!

Girl or boy we know they will be a little soccer player. Last Thursday, July 30, 2009, I was sitting at work and felt a thump. Instinct made me immediately look down at my belly and think, woah, was that a kick?! A sat very still in hopes of feeling it again but apparently he/she was playing shy. Later that evening I was lying on the couch and Zoe cuddled up to my belly right near the baby and sure enough there was that thump again. It was amazing! Feeling him/her this early makes me sure they will be the next Mia Hamm or Landon Donovan!

Bedtime Memories

Bedtime has always been a source of adventure for my mind. Growing up my sister was forced to share a bedroom with the little sister she always wanted. I think it really was an excuse to torture someone younger. Being the younger sister, I received the short end of the stick when it came time for deciding who gets the much more awesome, bug free, top bunk. There never really were spiders but every night at bedtime my sister would instill in my young mind that there were millions of spiders on the bottom bunk that were going to get me. When I asked to come up to the top bunk for my safety, I was quickly denied. Over and over again. Karma came back and bit her, literally. While I laid awake fearing for my life from the 8 legged creatures, she would be fast asleep and within no time her little arm would flop over the rail and be dangling there for me to welcome with my sharp young teeth. It was my only defense to the spider talking bully.

The best memory from bedtime will always be my Dad's stories. I had a massive book of every "once upon a time" story you could ever dream of and every night my dad would read me the story of my choice while adding all the best character voices. (If I was really lucky I would get two bedtime stories!) I cannot wait for our little one to get to the point where I can share the same tradition with him/her.

While on the topic of bedtime and "him/her" I must share one of the interesting additions to pregnancy: vivid dreams. Prior to the pregnancy I always considered myself as having insane dreams and wondering where in the world my mind can come up with such nonsense but I was wrong. Nothing compares to pregnancy dreams, nothing. The dreams are mostly so unbelievably bizarre that I refuse to share them for the thought someone will lock me in a mental facility. Lately there have been a number of dreams based on determining the gender of the baby, which we all know is constantly on my mind. The latest craziness involved me having a baby girl and to really show off her feminine side she had 4 whoo-haas. Yes, 4. 1 in the normal location, 2 on the left leg and 1 on the right leg. I agree it still was insane but it makes me really wonder if that is my brain trying to tell me it is a little girl or just playing tricks to make me think it is a girl so at the ultrasound it could reveal itself as a little boy. We truly cannot wait for an answer to the gender question!

Snickers Cravings

According to all doctors, internet websites, and my fancy calculator I am officially in the second trimester. I was really expecting over sized shiny balloons to fall from the ceiling and a burst of confetti but I settled for the satisfaction of knowing I made it through 1/3 of the pregnancy. As I was searching through the various websites and discovering all the new and exciting message boards I realized something unique. So far I have not had any cravings, strange or normal. I was totally looking forward to sending my husband out at a crazy hour in the morning to fetch me some off the wall concoction that most people would turn green over. Granted, I understand it is still early on but it seems everyone else has already experienced this craziness. Maybe I am the lucky one that really has no desire for this amount of craziness. I know it is something my family has been waiting for since I was about 6 years old. Now you are curious why my insane family would be waiting for such an odd memo for over 20 years.

When I was 6ish I would have these unbelievable cravings for a Snickers candy bar. I would wake up from a dead sleep, go up to my father, and it the cutest most adorable face I could muster up would say "Daddy, I want a Snickers". It was as if I was waving a magic wand that put my father in a trance and he would race around town to find any store open at that hour and buy his little girl a snickers. This of course frustrated all my older siblings and my mother but they just hadn't mastered the cute voice, eyelash batting, and the art of sticking out the bottom lip to win over a daddy's heart like I had. These Snickers cravings happened very often and they were more like a pregnancy craving, I HAD to have one. The type of candy never changed, it was always, always a Snickers. After a while of sending my Daddy out in the middle of the night, he tried to get smart and buy them and bulk and store them in the house. I would sniff them out like a hound dog. I remember his two favorite hiding spots: the top shelf of the pantry where most little girls would never reach and the second drawer in his dresser where he kept his undershirts. I don't remember when I finally grew out of the cravings but I know it continued for well past a year.

After Rob and I told my parents we were expecting we were sitting around the table chatting about various things when my father burst into a loud belly laugh. We all looked at him like he was insane until he finally caught his breath for a moment to say to Rob, "good luck". He finally clarified his wishes by adding good luck with the cravings as he had remembered the Snickers from my childhood. In preparation for this, Rob thought he would out-smart me and purchase a box of fun size snickers ice cream bars. Although I did enjoy a few, I must say Rob ate the majority of them. Now that they are gone, I have no thoughts of them returning. Mainly after seeing the lack of nutrition they can provide. They do contain protein!

A long awaited post...

Oh look, it's another overdue update. I will try and wrap this up pretty quickly seeing as though my fingers no longer want to type updates anymore. Jeez, you would think I was trying to take care of a million kids.

Monday, July 13, Rob and I woke up nice and early to eagerly go to our appointment at TGH for our nuchal screening test. This is the ultrasound that focuses on the back of the neck and other physical features of the baby to see the risk of downs. I was a little hesitant to go to the appointment after reading more about the high risk of a false positive. (In this case, a positive refers to the high risk of ds.) We checked in and before my bum could reach the soft coushin of the waiting room chair they had called us back. With a quick squirt of the warm jelly for the ultrasound and we were off. I swear the tech's main purpose was to push all of the jelly-like goo into my belly button so the rest of the day I would feel like my belly button was leaking. Don't worry, my belly button does not leak...I hope. Anywhoodle....as the tech is performing the ultrasound we are getting some really great pics of the little one. In order for the tech to get a good measurement she must make the baby jump which she does so by hitting the ultrasound wand against the pile of goo which splatters across my belly. Of course, I did not mind seeing as I was highly entertained by watching the baby. As she was nearing the end of the test, I asked if she would be so kind to look a little further south. She willingly looked and received a great view of what appears to be a GIRL! Ok, so she was only about 75%-80% sure but it was still a glimmer of hope that we may know the sex of the baby! After the u/s we spoke with the high risk doctor who stated the baby is looking great and it does not look like there is a risk of ds. What a great day! She was so pleased with the progress of everything that she cancelled my appointment for the following week and put me back down as a regular patient and no longer high risk. (I was only high risk for one appointment.) After a quick poke for some bloodwork we were on our way. Here is one of our pictures from this visit. Yes, Rob pointed out she is smoking but I am choosing to ignore that. Once you see it you will not be able to ignore it either. Oh, and for the record I am taking that 75-80 percent chance of it being a girl and refering to the baby as a her from now on. Rob seems to disagree with this decision but that's his choice. His reasoning is what if it turns out to be a boy and we called it a girl this whole time. I tried explaining she will never know but he does not want to jump on the train.

Since that appointment, I finished up my Summer semester of classes and I am officially on summer break! Yesss! My Mom and I also hit up the outlets for some shopping. We went with the mindset that we will buy neutrals. WRONG! Besides the fact that the stores do not sell neutral anymore, we went slightly pink crazy. The sales were amazing and we couldn't pass it up! So we are really hoping this little bundle turns out to be a girl!

I found a coupon for a 4d ultrasound so I set up an appointment for August 7. I hope they will have a good view and tell us for sure if our little one will be a girl or boy. The waiting is awful! I also have another appointment at the doctor on August 4 for just a check up and my 2nd trimester bloodwork and then August 24 will be the big ultrasound at the doctor to determine, once again, the sex and count all fingers toes, etc..

The name debate still continues on and still continues to go nowhere. I think we are both pretty set on Hailey but cannot figure out the perfect middle name. Some of the contenders for middle names are Jayde, Rose (the only problem with Rose is the fact that if you say Hailey Rose Smith the "se" in Rose tends to slur with the "S" in Smith. Minor, I know but it is still an issue.) There are a million other names that sound nice with Hailey but just don't fit exactly to this baby. Hmm...Maybe we will focus a little harder once we know for sure the sex so we can really know if this will be the name. Maybe. Ok, that's all you get for today.

10 weeks 3 days

I will do my best to post today. I am exhausted but the little dragon does not want to let me sleep. Oh, Dragon you ask? Long story but basically the lovely ladies at work have named the embryo El Drag'un Fuego. For all those who failed miserably at basic Spanish the translation is The Fire Dragon. Speaking of previous statements, you are probably wondering why I called it an embryo. This is because I only have 2 more days of the little dragon being an embryo. On Sunday he/she officially turns into a fetus!!!

So yesterday I went to the genetic counselor to discuss the family history. It was a very imformative session where she explained the chromosone breakdown of James' down syndrome. My Mom has always told us his version of DS is not genetic but it was interesting to know how and why. The counselor also advised me that since somewhere towards the top of my Father's family tree include Jewish relatives from Austria that I should get some testing done to see if I am a carrier of the diseases that come with that. However; after discussing this with my parents I learned they were tested and neither one of them are carriers. (Well, since my mother's line was strict Catholics it tends to rule that out right there.)

After discussion, Rob and I decided to take the DS test in 2 weeks and get the bloodwork done for the crazy Austrian Jewish diseases. On the positive side of this- there is a good chance we will learn the sex of the fetus at that ultrasound. Plus, we get another ultrasound! I really hope our little dragon decides to reveal his/her little body parts so we can start buying pink or blue.

Speaking of the sex of Dragon....I think we have a strong contender for a little boy name- Joshua Robert Smith. The girl names seem to change on a weekly basis but I still think the strong leader of the pack is still Hailey. I have always loved Jayden Rose for a girl but it seems to be holding on to second place. I love the meaning behind the name: Jay is my father's middle name and Rose is the first part of my Mother's name and my Grandmother's middle name. I think it is a perfect combo. However; once we said Hailey things changed. For a middle name for Hailey we are thinking Rose or Marie. (Marie is my middle name and Rob's Grandmother's middle name.) Our last place option is Sophia. I truly love the name but I for some reason do not see my child having the name of Sophia. I picture a little girl with long dark hair and I don't know why but I just don't picture our little girl with dark hair. Who knows.

So as I mentioned I am quite tired and rambling on.

The one last thing I wanted to mention is the events this week in history:
The deaths of some major celebs: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson.
The returning of my good friend, neighbor, and brother from another mother: Chris Richardson who has served our country in AFG and is finally returned home today.
Ethan went rock climbing with his Daddy and he loved it!
Zoe and Tommy are quite obsessed with checking out the baby's room and sniffing the diapers.

The next week is packed with my birthday celebrations. We will be going to The Melting Pot and then going to Orlando next week. Birthday fun and lots of relaxing sleep without alarm clocks!

9 weeks 4 days

According to my doctor, I am 9 weeks 4 days. Yes, I know I have neglected the blog world thus far so I guess I have some catching up to do....

So this pregnancy has been full of doctor visits, not due to anything bad, well except my insurance. Long story short I am on my third, and final, doctor. The first was no longer covered under my insurance, the second was not my ideal doctor, and the third is so far wonderful. With the swarm of appointments comes lots of ultrasounds! Here is a list of milestones we saw with u/s pics:

Doctor #1: (6 Weeks)We saw the heartbeat! It was just a little tiny bean on the screen with a beating heart! It was beating at 116bpm. One of the most amazing moments!

Doctor #2: (6.5 weeks)Saw hb again and flippers! My mom was able to experience this appointment with me and the baby made sure to give Grandma a quick flipper wave!

Doctor #3: (9 weeks) We saw amazing growth! Our little bean is now forming beautifully! He/She had arms, legs, fingers, toes, and a strong 176bpm heartbeat! Oh, and we HEARD the heartbeat! Once I figure out how to get it on here I will post the video! Here is the latest picture:

For the most part the nausea has subsided and the hunger has kicked in full force. I am trying to eat small meals but it seems like the small meals need to happen very often. I have not had any real cravings yet. There are things that sound good but nothing that I am dying for. I am enjoying that for right now. I am having some random food adversions. My biggest disgusts are peanut butter, vanilla extract, garlic, chicken, and most of all spaghetti sauce.

Last weekend we went to visit Grandpa Ben at the FL National Cemetery with Grandma and afterwards we hit the local Olive Garden. I decided to order the tour of italy which includes lasanga. Big mistake! My Dad sat across from me and he thought it was quite amusing. I didn't lose my dinner but the lasagna did not look anywhere near appetizing. Disaster was avoided by boxing up the food and bringing it home for Rob to eat.

Well all this speaking of food has left a rumble in my stomach which I must feed. I will try to keep everyone updated on the status of everything as the time comes.

6 Weeks!

Comments...

To my surprise blogger does not notify me in any way of comments on here. So today I happened to see I had comments dating back to my first post. So please don't feel bad I never responded to any of them.

Once I return to this blog I will make sure to look at comments more often :)

Hopefully soon!

Rambling...

I was going to delete this blog but I decided against it. I decided it was an important few weeks in my life and I would like to remember the reactions, thoughts, and feelings that were shared. I do thank everyone for their love and support through the rough time. We were doing much better this week and had a positive outlook until Wednesday. At the end of soccer practice we were walking to the car when one of the players came up and gave me a big hug with tears in her eyes and said, "I am really sorry."

Anywhoodle....we look forward to the near future where we can share the news again. So for now I will leave the blog empty until I become a hungry monster.

I'm a monster!

I figured I would post the food I have eaten in the past few hours for your enjoyment.

For dinner I had...

-Hamburger (minus the bun)
-side of whole wheat penne pasta with a little bit of fat free cheese
-6 pieces of corn on the cob (No, that is not a typo...it really was 6!)
-3 girl scout cookies (that is what I get for supporting the girl scouts!)

It was not the most healthy of choices but it happens. So that was dinner and it is now 9;30pm. Let me fill you in on the post-dinner snacks that has lead up to now.

-Individual size bag of raisins, almonds, cranberries
-An entire can of green beans
-1 more girl scout cookie (Someone take these out of the house!!)
-A fruit cup
-3 glasses of 75% water and 25% cranberry juice

Oh my is that a million calories for dinner or what? Oh, and I must mention that I am not full but amused. I hope you are just as amused at my monster abilities.

4 Weeks + 4 Days

39,761. That is the number of trips to the bathroom I have made today alone. I am feeling extra bloated today. I decided to skip the gym again, partly because I forgot my sneakers at home, but mainly because I just wasn't up for it. I sat on the sofa and looked down and was quite shocked. I know I will probably say that quite often throughout the next 9 months but here is the start of it.
The first appointment is still 2 weeks away. I am trying to avoid sharing it with the facebook world and all of my friends until that date. However; I so just want to shout it out to everyone. Will I be able to hold out for that long?
Rob and I discussed some more names last night. This is going to be tough! Good thing we have a long time to think about it!

Names

Yes, I know you are probably thinking I am crazy. I have not even seen the doctor yet and I am buying diapers. My thought behind this is every week I am going to buy a pack of diapers. I will switch it up with sizes and brands. Then by the time the baby comes I will have a nice stock pile. If I happen to not like a brand, I will return it to the only store that will take absolutely everything back: Wal-Mart. Of course, that is if they are not opened.

In other news we were doing even more early planning and thinking of names. This is going to be difficult! Things will probably change a thousand times before we actually sign the birth certificate but here is what we are thinking now...

Boys: Joshua Robert (Robert obviously coming from Rob)

Jacob (No reference. Nice name.)

(we like William but will not torture our child by naming him Will Smith!)

Girls: Hailey Marie (The middle name comes from Rob's grandmothers middle name...as well as mine.)

Jayden Rose (This is a combo name. The Jay in Jayden is from my father's middle name and Rose stems from my grandmothers middle name and the first part of my mother's name.)

There are plenty more but for right now I have to run...

More Reveals

Saturday went well. I was making announcements to our soccer team and was reminded about an announcement. The announcement was about the girls being selected to play at Raymond James stadium. Before I could get the words out about the game, one of the parents jumped in and said, "you are going to have a baby! No? Oh ok, I was just kidding". Rob and I both looked at eachother and stated well yes, but that is not the announcement we were thinking of. Lots of smiles and hugs and of course a room filled with young baby sitters.

Today we went to visit with the inlaws. It was Patti's birthday Saturday so we decided to take her and Bill out for lunch. During lunch we handed Patti a purse with the same style picture frame as I had given my parents. She was quite confused at first and thought she had the wrong bag. She asked "who is grandma?" Well she eventually caught on and they were both thrilled.

We started to conquer the "storage room". This has been the room where we tend to throw anything and everything in there. We never knew what to do what the room so it just continued to collect junk. After about 5 trashbags we are starting to get there. I actually still had a moving box in the closet! It is still a work in progress but will eventually become the baby's room.

After a long and exhausting day it is time for a nap.

The Reveal

We purchased a picture frame that said "I love my Grandpa" and wrapped it up. As I mentioned earlier, I could not hold it in any longer and had to tell my parents. This weekend is slam packed for both Rob and me so I said I was going to do it tonight. Well, since Rob had to work I was on my own. I got to dinner and said 'Rob wanted to be here but he had to work so I will give it to you." Well my mom opened it and was quite clueless. She said "oh, that's cute" to which my reply was, "you are not getting it". She screamed and immediately started hugging me with more screams. My Dad, who was sitting across the table and completely out of the loop, stated "is it what I think it is?" My mom and I both shook our heads yes. It was a moment of shock for everyone and then it was lots of happiness. It went well.
After the typical questions were answered the news had to be spread. My mother called my grandmother to inform her. She sounded quite excited as well.
As I drove back home with my parents following behind I decided to call my sister. She answered and all I said was "Hi Aunt Michele". It seemed to pass by her and then she came back after a moment and said "Wait a minute....AUNT? What?" Plenty of screams and happiness there as well! I must add that I am still texting her back and forth now about all fun baby stuff.
When we finally arrived back to my house I got out of the car and saw my Dad was on the phone with a big grin. I knew he was sharing the news with someone. The story was great! He text messaged his sister (Aunt Arlene) "Julie's having a baby". She immediately called him back and yelled at him for making her almost get in an accident since she was driving.

The news is spreading so very fast! It is such a relieft to know the secret is out! Time to relax and enjoy the adventure! Tomorrow I will spread the news to the soccer team and Sunday we will share with Rob's family. I am off to make Rob some dinner....Good Night all!

The Big Day

I have decided today is the day. Not just any day, but the day I break the news to my family. I am sure there will be a hesitation from everyone. The economy is not in the best of positions right now and the biggest fear from my family: school. They fear I will not finish school. I know what it means to have a degree and I know what I want to do with my life and that is teach. I still have the incredible hunger to finish school and have a career to provide for myself and my family. For now, things have changed, my life is leading me down a different path this path also involves me going to school. I know it will be a challenging, I understand that, but we are up for task. We will do what it takes to make this situation the best one possible. They say there is never a good time to have a child and it is not something you can wait until you are financially stable or whatever. It is true. Think about each moment in your life. There really has never been a time in most of our lives where we can say we were in the perfect place to raise a family. There are always bumps in the road but that is what makes us stronger. I was raised with the belief that everything happens for a reason. We may not know right now what the reason is but I am excited to learn.
So stay tuned to learn about the reactions of different people, the (grand)parents mostly. I also plan on using this as my updates to everyone on the progress of me and the family. Oh, goodness what an exciting venture we are on!

The Stick

It was Tuesday (March 9, 2009) and I wasn't feeling too well. I had some of the typical early symptoms but I waived it off as nothing. My lovely coworker, Alyse, looked at me and said the magic words. Back-up! I must mention who knew first. My dogs. I know it sounds crazy but for about a week and half they insisted on never leaving my side. They both would fight over cuddling up and scratching at my stomach. This is not like them at all. Ok, back to the work story...I told her she was crazy and went on with my day. At 3:30 I followed my routine and changed into my gym clothes for a 4:15 workout with my dad. As I was leaving Alyse threatened, in a kind way of course, that I was not to return to work the next day unless I had peed on a stick. While driving home I felt quite tired decided to pass on going to the gym for a good nap. Before I could even hit the pillow of the couch I was sleeping. When I finally woke up Alyse's voice was replaying in my head especially after the unusual nap. So I ran down to the store and picked up a test to please her and now ease my own wandering mind. After setting the box in the bathroom for the next morning I decided it was time for bed.

I woke the next morning to "The Stick". Well sure enough I opened it up and read the instructions and followed them precisely. I sat it down and continued my morning routine to get ready for work. I looked at the clock at the desired time had passed. I glanced over to The Stick and there was a plus sign. Surely, a plus must mean negative, right? I scrambled through the trash to find the instructions again with the hopes that the real world does not use common math symbols. Obviously I was wrong. Ok, so that is one test. How accurate is that? I went to a sleeping Rob, who was aware of the dilemma, and explained the plus sign. He, thankfully, was quite....thrilled. (I hesitated to find a word to fit the emotion. I still do not think I nailed it.) We both agreed we would not say a word until we knew for sure.

On my way to work I called my Doc and made an appointment, which I must add is not until March 31! I spoke to Nichol the rest of the way to work and it helped the nerves. It was about lunch time when I called Rob to say hi, when he informed me how many people he shared the news with. He is so giddy and excited. Anyway, this story is getting quite long so I will speed it up. Throughout the next few days I continued to take all the tests I purchased and each one came back with the same result so I am finally agreeing with The Stick.