{baby making}

As most of my really close friends will know, I was born to help people and born to be a mother.  God would not have given me such big and beautiful hips if motherhood was not in His plan!  I have been ready to start having babies since the day that David and I got married!  As for David, not so much.  So, last April, David decided that he was ready to start trying....not just practicing....to have a baby.  Little did David know, I am a Fertile Myrtle!  It would not take us years or months to get pregnant, it took one, very calculated, day!  For me, this was beyond exciting, I had been praying and wishing for that day for a long time.

I took several at home tests, all different brands, and they were all positive.  For our anniversary last year, David and I went camping on Cape Lookout National Seashore; that is where I showed him all the positive tests.  Needless to say, he was stunned.  He didn't really show much emotion either way.  (Which made me nervous, of course!)  David had been under the impression that it would take months to conceive a child.  :) Oops!  Not so much honey! 

[David reading to the belly!]

Thus began the journey of pregnancy!  First the ravenous hunger began.  So intense.  There were some days at work where I would eat my breakfast, my lunch and all of my snacks before 10AM!  I could not get enough food in my body!  Once the hungry beast phase passed, then began the 'bloating' phase.  I was starting to gain a little weight and it only looked like I was bloated!  My pants were all getting a little tight but I wasn't big enough to rate maternity pants yet.  I secretly would unbutton my pants at work while sitting at my desk and pray that I remembered to button them back when I got up!  After my belly began to grow, other body parts followed suit....my feet and my boobs! 

David and I took a 'baby-moon' to the west coast; we drove from San Francisco to Seattle!  During this trip, we had to go to a Ross so that I could buy bigger tennis shoes to hike in, because in only a few days my feet had outgrown my current shoes!  After that growth I began to have muffin top of the bra!  How embarrassing!  David and I had to go to a Target so that I could buy a bra that was 2 times bigger than what I was.  I literally went from having apples to having cantaloupes! 

Enough about that!  I was getting along fine and decided that my medical care would be handled by the Naval Hospital aboard Camp Lejeune.  This was the best thing that could have ever happened.  After a few visits with various midwives, I found the one.  R.M. (as I will call her for now) was the one for me.  I was having some "southern issues" and went in for some tests.  After being poked, felt up and swabbed, RM came in and said, verbatim, "Your vagina is trying to grow bread!".  I died laughing, tears in my eyes, I knew she was the one for me.  Who knew that a simple yeast infection (common during pregnancy) would be the thing to bring me the best midwife ever.  From then on we would text, all times of the day if I needed and grew the best patient/provider relationship that I could have ever dreamed of.

Pregnancy was good for me, physically, medically and emotionally.  I enjoyed myself and can't wait until the next round! 

Stay tuned for the next blog entry.... L&D!  Ah!  So rough, yet so worth it!



"I prayed for this Child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him".  -- 1 Samuel 1:27