Pregnancy
Your dad and I talked about babies on the first date - it's not necessarily a socially acceptable conversation topic, but we did. Maybe I should start from the beginning. This is the story of how you came to be, after all. - The Story of How We Met, Fell in Love, and Married (twice)
The month after our in-person wedding (July 31, 2021), we moved into our new house in Halethorpe (your first house - 5566 Ashbourne Rd, Halethorpe, MD 21227).
I (Mom) had surgery on August 19 to correct a congenital abnormality in my uterus. We'd found out about this because since our first wedding, we'd been allowing ourselves to get pregnant, but nothing happened. I decided to go to a doctor to find out if there was a reason - and after some imaging they told me that my uterus was almost divided in half by a wall. The surgery took the wall away, and guess what - 2 weeks later - we got pregnant! (with you)
We found out because the night of October 2 we were eating leftover spaghetti and I got SO very sick. I felt gross, nauseous, and I went to bed at 8pm. Before I went up to bed your dad made some really corny jokes and ended up putting his hand on my belly, joking that I was sick because I was pregnant. I laughed at him and said "I don't think so - but if it makes you feel any better I'll take a test when I wake up."
I woke up at 3am and somehow in my half-asleep stupor I remembered that I had an HCG stick in the bathroom. I took the pregnancy test and almost instantly two lines showed up (which means pregnant) I was in shock - and started crying happy tears. I got up, grabbed your dad out of his sleep and told him I needed him in the bathroom. He thought that one of our animals had died because I was so upset (in a good way) I dragged him into the bathroom and I could barely speak, so I just pointed to the little stick with the two lines. Your dad had never seen an HCG stick test, so he had no idea what he was looking at until he saw the instructions next to it. When it finally clicked for him, he started crying too and we hugged a lot and I took a second test just to be sure. Again - positive within seconds. We went to the lab at the doctor's office the next day to make sure. My HCG levels were so high that they said I must be 6 weeks pregnant. I told them that there was no way that was possible since I'd had surgery. The nurse on the phone said that I might need to prepare myself for twins then. That was a minor freak out for us and we're very glad that we got to start with you!
Best we can figure, you were conceived around Labor Day weekend while we were in San Diego visiting the Flinns. You can thank Uncle Reid and Aunt Sam for your existence then. You're Welcome.
Because I hadn't had a full cycle after the surgery I didn't know when my first missed day was. We were given 3 different possible due dates during the first known month of pregnancy. May 25, June 6, and finally June 3. Normally during a pregnancy you're given 3 different visuals of the baby via ultrasound. One at 12 weeks, one around 23, and then another around 32. We were very blessed because we had been in the care of the fertility clinic for the surgery, so they treated the initial few weeks as high risk - and we got to see you every week for 5 weeks. I got to see you grow when you were very very tiny.
It wasn't all rainbows and butterflies though - I was very very sick that first half - but because I'd had bariatric surgery maybe, I didn't actually throw up, just had VERY violent dry heaving all day long. I lived on pregnancy lollipops, had to constantly snack on crackers or the like - and I took unisom every night before bed. I was always exhausted, still working full time at Equinox, and it definitely took a toll on your dad for a while because we were best friends and did everything together. He missed playing board games - missed seeing me (because I would come home from work and want to go straight to bed)
Eventually - it got better and we found a good rhythm. We made time for each other, I started to feel less sick - got a little bit more energy during the second trimester, and we had a fun project working on getting things ready for you with your nursery, our baby shopping list, and the rest of the house.
Your Gamma, Aunts Dolly, Glo, Essy, Glenis, and Aimee put on a gorgeous baby shower with a lot of Mommy's friends. We were gifted so many things for you - especially books which we cherish. You are so loved, my dear.
We had a very turbulent third trimester. At the end of March - about a week after the baby shower, your Papa Wapa had a horrible head injury. We all, your Aunt Caroleen and Uncle Will, your Gamma, and Daddy and I rushed to Memphis, where he was living at the time (alone in a condo) and got him to the hospital where he had to have emergency brain surgery. He was in the hospital for a month and Mommy had to work on getting his condo ready to sell, move all his stuff to MD to be near to us, find him a place to live, and all sorts of other stuff - along with being very scared for his well-being. Gamma was an amazing help during all of this. He moved up in May, but he fell again and had to have more emergency surgery. Mommy went to the hospital herself that night because she had a panic attack and was scared for you. Thankfully you were very safe inside of her and you didn't even seem to be bothered.
Another complication is that a month before your due date you were feet down. The doctors told me to do everything I could possibly do to encourage you to flip around - so we did acupuncture, chiropractic, special stretches, heating pads, and we even did a special procedure called an external cephalic version where they gave mommy an epidural and tried to manually turn you around. Nothing worked - and they scheduled us for a C section for May 27.