New Additions...

The last time I wrote, it was our first wedding anniversary. It was a sweet day full of memories and reflections. At the time that I wrote the last post, I had no idea that later that day, we would welcome our greatest gift. We found out that evening that we were going to be parents! What a year!!
Obviously, we waited and hoped for the appropriate amount of time before we began to slowly spill the beans. It was hard not to sing with excitement from the rooftops. We were beside ourselves with joy. I will always remember that moment. It was sweet and pure. We shed some tears and shared some hugs of thanksgiving, joy and promise. Then, we went out for dinner and I could hardly eat my food. Gotta love the nausea that comes along with carrying a baby in the womb!
So far, I haven't had much "morning" (all-the-time) sickness which is a blessing. Despite a nagging cold thanks to the amount of snot that is circulating my classroom, I've been feeling great. It is such an amazing and miraculous thing to be pregnant. It didn't hit me truly until we had our first ultrasound last month. I just felt bloated and tired. Those symptoms could be explained by a number of ailments - like Kindergarten Teacher. However, when we saw the little one moving around in there on the grainy screen, I knew bloated was too easy a diagnosis. There he/she was cruising around and stretching out. It brought tears to our eyes. I feel so honored to be this baby's parent and I haven't even met him/her. She/he is a miracle that we are thankful for every second. And I can't wait until I can - with relative certainty - use one pronoun when discussing our child!
As this is my first child, I am sometimes wracked with fear and uncertainty. Like - what have we done? How will I know what to do? Isn't the whole labor thing going to be really painful? Can I handle it? Am I getting enough sleep? Am I eating too much or too little or the wrong things? It's a lot of responsibility and he/she isn't even in our hot little hands yet. But, as my first doctor said "Women have been having babies since the beginning of time." Her declaration didn't really help me in my first visit but I can see her wisdom now. As an aside, she's no longer my doctor because she'll be on sabbatical from Jan - June and we're due on April 21st. Additionally, the above comment didn't really earn her any points to be sure.
Right now, we're just waiting and watching my belly expand daily. That's amazing in and of itself. We've been touched by all the well wishes we've received from around the world. We feel well supported in this new adventure. Thanks to all. We'll keep you updated.
xo,
k