A Little Christmas Magic

It sure did fly by, but this Christmas was truly wonderful! I can't put my finger on what specifically made it so special, however, I think a combination of factors helped out. Besides enjoying the time with our families, it was fun to imagine how different and exciting all future Christmases will be once Baby P is here. I remember how much magic and anticipation surrounded Christmas as a child and I am so excited for my baby to experience that. I also think Christmas break was exciting because I officially started my 2nd trimester and as all the books and websites have said would happen, I am feeling SOOOOOOO much better. No more constant state of queasiness and no more pure exhaustion. I'm starting to feel like my old self again. Also, this year, Santa gave me the gift of a tiny little baby bump (another fun 2nd trimester milestone)! Only noticeable to myself and possibly people who know me well and if I'm wearing a tight top....but a baby bump nonetheless :)

Here are a couple pictures from this Christmas:

Andy went into a banana pudding coma (which is a whole other story...)

 And Baby P got a little something from each family!

Appointments, coming out of the closet, and raging hormones - oh my!

Goodness, its been a couple weeks. Well, can you blame me? Since the last entry we've been through Thanksgiving, preparing for Christmas, and work has been absolutely silly for both of us. So, lets update shall we?

We had our second appointment last week. It went wonderfully. I was so super nervous for no reason I could put my finger on. Blood work? Nope, we've already discussed my lack of fear of needles (except the epi of course). I suppose I was just nervous that I would hear something was wrong with the baby. And supposedly, I'll feel this way every time. I feel like it will get better when I can feel kicking but right now its tough when I don't feel the baby nor do I look pregnant. But I digress. This time there was no ultrasound but he used the doppler to find the heart beat and that was very cool. First he found mine and I was thinking "yeah yeah, I know my blood is pumping, lets move on", and then he honed in on one much more rapid than my own.....I'M IN LOVE ALREADY!!! Afterwards, I was told that based on the strong heart beat and the fact that the machine can only pick it up after 10 weeks (in which I thought I still had a few days), that I have a 95-98% chance of walking away with a baby at this pint. YAY!! So, based on these odds, we decided it was appropriate timing to start telling the world. Thus, leading to the 2nd piece of this post's title:

Coming out of the closet. There's not really a whole lot to tell here. We've enjoyed telling all our friends and are so excited for all the love and support we are surrounded by. It means the world to us.

And as for the last part of this post's title, I believe it pretty much explains itself. For those of you who know me well, or even just a little, you know I am one of the least confrontational people. I prefer peace and finding common ground. Or atleast I used to. Something has snapped and my tolerance for stupidity has gone out the window. Now these people (HEB cashier, various customer service reps, etc.) really know how I feel. I of course blame it on pregnancy hormones. Or perhaps my husband finally rubbed off on me :p.

One last thing to mention - Christmas cards. They take on a whole new meaning now. I've always loved receiving those cards containing various family pictures, but always felt too cheesy to do this just for us and the fur-babies. However, this year, since our news is out now, I thought it would be fun to create our first....here it is:

One last thing - we get to find out gender in just 5 weeks from now!!! Any guesses? The odds are pretty good that you'll get it right ;-)

Houston, we have a baby.

What an exciting day!!! Today we went to our first appointment! This experience was so incredible I can't even begin to describe it. After the nurse asked a few questions about my history (not nearly as many as I had prepared myself for), the Dr. came in and we jumped right into the fun stuff - the ultrasound and listening to the heart beat! Everything looks great, the heart beat is steady, and it turns out that based on the baby's measurements, I'm 5-7 days less far along than previously thought. This puts our new due date at.....

Drum roll please....

July 7th!!!

That's right ladies and gents. Should this date prove to be accurate, no longer will we be celebrating our anniversary through an intimate dinner reservation for two, but rather with a parade of little munchkins celebrating Baby P's birthday :-)

So without further ado, here are some pictures of the ultrasound. He/she looks like a little seahorse right now :-) The top pic is definitely the best. The 2nd and 3rd are distorted by the Dr. trying to take measurements. The 4th is really zoomed out but at the bottom you can see the measurement of the heart beat.

Also, at the bottom I posted a video Brent captured of the heart beat! There is a lot of background noise, but if you turn your volume up high enough, you'll definitely hear it.

Spreading the News - Part II

Alright - so now the Piercey's know, and all Brent's worries of them finding out via facebook or other such means can abate :) His parents came in this past Friday afternoon. We had plans to pour everyone a drink and deliver the news via a toast. However, before we could even get to this point, Brigitte commented on how well a couple kids would fit in the back seat of Brent's new truck. It was just too easy :) And of course this was followed up by "good thing that's going to happen in 7-8 months". Brigitte was completely ecstatic and Tony displayed the "all knowing smile" that B mentioned in his previous post. Because the method of news delivery went off course, I did not capture a picture of the moment like Brent had with my parents. However, here is one we took shortly after.

The next day, Lauren arrived and we told her the same way we told Jeremy, by giving her the frame I had made displaying "To Aunt Lauren, From Baby Piercey". 

Sunday, we all went to the Texans game and had great seats! The top was open to the stadium and the weather was beautiful.  Although, I could have enjoyed it better without the migraine, but whatever.

Lets see - current pregnancy symptoms. I pee a lot. Now its out there, so what. For those of you who know me well, I peed a lot pre-pregnancy so now, its on. Sometimes worse than others but I definitely am not making it through the night. No "morning sickness" in the sense that I haven't lost my cookies yet, but I do have rather frequent moments of "oh, that doesn't feel right". And starting just the last couple of days I'm starting to have food aversions. And not an aversion to just one or even a couple things....no, I pretty much can't stand the thought of eating anything I already ate in the previous couple of days. Awesome. Still tired despite a consistent 8-9 hours of sleep per day.

Oh, and the strangest symptom: everything makes me cry, particularly music. At first it was understandable songs such as "Who are you when I'm not looking" by Blake Shelton. But now songs such as the Glee a cappella remix of "Teenage Dream" and then even  "Kids" by MGMT??? What. the. heck. Ah, pregnancy hormones.

Its also been an absolutely crazy week at work. Not in the sense that the work load has been tough, but that there have been some surprising/crazy/exciting new developments. But alas, I can not divulge these details just yet. Stay tuned :)

Spreading the News

Whew! Finally a minute to sit down and talk about last weekend! Keep in mind through all my "spread the news" stories that this is the first baby for both our families....very exciting!

Last Thursday we found out we were pregnant. It was Halloween weekend and we had plenty of fun activities planned here in Houston. After this fun little piece of news, we dropped it all and made a last minute trip to Austin. First up, my mom and dad!! We hadn't been at my parent's house too long when I just couldn't wait any longer. As planned, I approached my mom and asked her to feel a peculiar bump on my belly (as a massage therapist, she is used to people doing this and did not think twice when I did). After stating that she could not feel anything, I said "well, then we'll just have to give it another 8 months to grow". She was SO caught of guard and SO ecstatic! My dad said he had me figured out as soon as I asked her to put her hand on my belly. Brent caught a couple shots of the moment (and the 3rd is at lunch right after all this).

Later that evening, my brother and his girlfriend came over for dinner and that's when I broke the news to him. When deciding how to tell our loved ones, we couldn't decide if we would rather deliver the news verbally or by handing them something symbolic of a baby. Because of this, we decided to do it verbally with our parents and through a gift to our siblings. So, I spent my Friday afternoon making these for Jeremy and Lauren:

And here is a picture of my brother's reaction when handed his baby frame :)

The next day my Aunt and Grandma (who I am making a GREAT-Grandma for the first time) came over for a visit. We had been planning to tell all extended family at Thanksgiving, but once I saw them, I just could not keep it in! I asked them if they had noticed Brent's new truck outside and Brent casually mentioned how well the car seat would fit. They didn't really get it so he tacked on "in 8 months" and they went crazy :)

Last for our crazy-fast trip to Austin, we just had to tell our close friends, Ryan and Audrey. There was a very good chance we wouldn't see them until Christmas or even after the New Year, so we needed to take advantage of having them in person. (Also, we think its their turn  : p ). Anyways, we told them by taking out my new camera to "show off" and told them to check out this awesome picture I had taken. It was the picture of two pregnancy sticks, both with the word "Pregnant" displayed. Their reaction was the same as everyone else, surprise and excitement.

After returning to work on Monday it was driving me CRAZY that my best AND fellow-pregnant friend did not know yet. The plan was to wait until the weekend after next (since Brent's family will be in town this weekend), but after some email exchanges with her, it was apparent that we were going to have to just pop in on them one night. So surprise surprise, I chose that night. Hannah was the least surprised. While she was crazy excited, she was the only one that had begun to figure me out. Call it pregnant-women's intuition if you want. Afterwards, the 4 of us had dinner together and had fun planning our babies' wedding :)

Next up, the Piercey's!!! I am so excited!!!!! They are going to FLIP out!!

Baby P - you are probably going to be the most spoiled baby ever, and that is not an exaggeration. You are already so loved and you have barely reached the size of a blueberry. Which brings me to my last picture. Since I am 6 weeks tomorrow, I took my first belly pic...here it is! I hate to say it, but I doubt the slight bump is actually Baby P, but more likely a product of the 10 pounds I've gained since the beginning of the year. *sigh* already 10 pounds above where I want to be and pregnancy weight hasn't even started! oh well, I won't even care come 8 months from now :)

The suspense is killing me!

What a whirlwind weekend.... For pregnant people, we sure do move around a lot it seems. Timing is everything for sure. We've now told Chrissie's closest family, as well as my best friend, and Chrissie's best friend. The hardest thing about telling people is having to hold off on telling the most important people (short of my wife of course). My family has been planning on coming in to town for months this weekend, and I have to wait until they get here! You know my mom and sister are going to flip out. I see it already! And my dad... That all knowing grin on his face will be priceless.

Its amazing letting people know about Chrissie and my surprise. Its funny because at this phase it is such a secret thing. My co workers, friends, customers... None of them know that my life is about to take a major change, and its going to affect all of them in different ways.

I think it's now (5 days in) starting to become more real. Chrissie is tired, but pushing through. I have always cooked healthy dinners, but now its getting kicked into overdrive (Organic milk with no hormones or drugs, free range chickens, whole wheat everything) to make sure my wife and baby stay super healthy, not to mention, picking up the slack so Chrissie can relax. She is still kicking ass (Laundry, dishes, etc) but I'm trying to be the gopher for the [now] unimportant things..

Anyways, having Ryan, Audrey, Hannah, and Aaron in the know is great. Their support through this will be critical, and frankly, giving Audrey a reason to push on Ryan is an added benefit (sorry buddy :) ). Also, Hannah and Chrissie going through this together is priceless. I know that it will tie our families together forever. Telling Chrissie's family was a great experience. There wouldn't be another chance for 2 weeks, and Chrissie would have burst waiting to tell her mom, grandmother, and aunt! The support structure my wife will have around her through this is going to be incredible.

But as the title suggests, I'm counting the days to tell my Mom, Dad, and Sister. I'm SO ready to have them involved in this experience. Their love and support has been with me for so long, its a weird gap right now.. but I know telling them in person is the right choice. The Blue Label on the rocks will be oh so sweet on the tongue! Mom, Chrissie, and Lauren are going to go wild together all weekend. Dad and I will be babied out, guaranteed.

The book I'm reading outlines this whole process to a T. You'd think 6 billion some odd people have gone through this before! What's going to happen next? The excitement is awesome! So much to come...

Oh the dreams

One thing that is a definite for all pregnant women is the dreams. Vivid, crazy, and constant.

Mine started last night.

But mine was not about an actual baby, which further confirms that the reality of an actual baby has not hit yet. Nor has it with Brent. No, this one was themed around the epidural. This has always been my biggest fear about prenancy. I KNOW I will want one, but it scares the living hell out of me. Its not the needle. I've been getting allergy shots for over three years, I had to get over any needle fear a long time ago. No. Its a HUGE needle going into my SPINE. My husband knows better than anyone else that if you get within a foot of my spine, I WILL kick you. I guess you could say I'm spine-aphobic? So the thought of a needle the size of a high heel going into my spine gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Several times since she has been pregnant, Hannah says she has heard there is a such thing as a non-spinal epidural. I have yet to look into this, but that sounds fantastic. Anyways, in my dream I was about to get the epidural and I asked the dr. about this so-called non-spinal epidural. He nonchalantly said "oh yeah, there's that too, here it is" and it was the size of a regular needle and I thought that's wonderful!! But then I started asking him questions about its effectiveness with pain management and if there are any known side effects or dangers to the baby....he had no clue!!! He even thought it might make my whole body numb, but wasn't sure. So, I was left to pick whether I got the horse-needle in my spine or the tiny needle that my dr. basically had no clue how to use. Then the dream ended.

Weird. I'm sure there are many more pregnancy dreams to come as it is THE ONLY THING I THINK ABOUT....so be prepared friends, family.

One day I hope to meet baby P in my dreams. Until then, I will continue on the faith that he/she is there, growing in my belly.

It Hit Me (I think?)

This past weekend was amazing. We traveled to Austin to spread the wondeful news to my family and our dear friends, Ryan and Audrey. I will post with details and pictures later.

However, throughout the whole weekend, I had this constant doubt/fear in my mind that none of it was real (6 pregnancy sticks don't lie, or do they?). I didn't feel pregnant and this wasn't something we had mentally prepared for yet.

I think this is all changing now. Normally, I only get 6-7 hours of sleep a night. For the last week, however, I have been averaging 8-9 hours. I didn't think much of this until this morning when, despite getting tons more sleep, I still woke up feeling like I had been hit by a ton of bricks. And not like the feeling you get when you're getting sick. No. This is different. All I want to do is sleep. (PS - no caffeine allowed!!!!)

Baby P - You are already making me exhausted, but I know this will be worth it and that you are worth it. I can't wait to meet you and I love you already!

A Husband's milestone, a Father's begining

So, its crazy to think that we have a child growing in Chrissie. I almost don't know how to react.

As I wake up, prepared to jet off on a sudden and rather uncommon business trip, Chrissie says "Watch your eyes" as she turns on the light. Confused (as I usually am in the morning), she shoves a plastic thing in my face. The words "pregnant" make sense in my mind about the time I remember what she was going to do in this morning ("One week late. Not uncommon for her, but we should be
sure").

Now, as I excitedly plan ways to deceive our neighbors and tell our parents, I wonder what to do next? The easy part is how to research it. I can google (or Bing) it, buy books, whatever. I do that every day ("Baby Engineering, a consultants guide") The hard part is preparing to be a dad. What should I be excited about, or ready for? I have some fantastic role models, and lots of help. When its all said and done, if I do half the job my dad did, I think my kid will be OK.

In the end, its an exciting time. I know that when the doctors visits start and the house bedroom redesigns happen, it will become much more real that my life is going to drastically change. I can only imagine how the drive to support your family becomes number one in your mind as a husband and father. How will it affect my decisions and directions?

Time will tell. For now, all I know is I love my wife, and I love my poppy seed sized baby. I think that's enough :)

The time is here!

It happened! I'm pregnant. We're pregnant. From here on out, it is no longer about us. There is a third, and he/she will change our lives forever.

Towards the end of September, Brent and I decided the whole birth control thing was for the birds and though we were not actively trying to get pregnant, precautions were thrown out the window. As fate would have it, 5 weeks later (today!), here I am 4 pregnancy sticks and each one confirms...we are pregnant!

Now the fun begins. So much to learn, prepare for, suffer through, but most of all, be extremely excited for!!!

Thank goodness my bestie is already 16 weeks along with her first, or I would be so completely lost. (and although no one will believe me, she had no influence on me. OK, maybe a little)

I'm rambling and my thoughts are completely disconnected, but give a pregnant girl a break...I've only known this for 12 hours!!!!

Anyways, next step is spreading the wonderful news! Who to tell, how to tell, when to tell. All the big questions at the moment. Brent's family will be coming into town next weekend and even though I will only be 6 weeks along which is very early, I don't think we'll be able to keep it in until Thanksgiving (the next time we would see them)....so the creativity starts!! And since we won't see my family until Thanksgiving either, we're thinking of making a surprise visit to Austin this coming weekend. I will make sure to update with how that goes!!

Quick funny story - there is one person who already knows. One of our neighbors we're close to has a brother who works at my pharmacy. And wouldn't you know it, he was the one working when I went to pick up my prenatal vitamins. Congratulations on being the first of anyone to know Michael. Now keep your mouth shut!!!

I will leave you all with this picture :) Although, by the time I allow anyone to read this blog, you will most likely have more exciting ultrasound pics to look at. And despite my honest attempt at blogging over a year ago in which I gave up after 2 posts, I do believe I will have more to post about now ;)