Thoughts On Pregnancy and Baby Drebby

Baby Drebby? Our friends wisely decided one night over dinner that we should call our baby a fun mish mash of our names during the pregnancy so that we wouldn't say "it" all the time. Hence, Drea + Robby = Baby Drebby! How fun, right!?

I have been having lots of thoughts and experiencing lots of symptoms throughout my pregnancy so far, and since I am already at the half way point (20-weeks), I just wanted to take a minute to write them down. Woah, there is just something about seeing that now in writing... "throughout my pregnancy"... Thank you Lord, I feel so humbled and in awe by what this means. I can't even begin to describe it... and I guess that's my point and the main reason why I wanted to jot some of my many thoughts down. Even though right now I am thinking about these things non-stop, I know I am bound to forget them. So thanks for indulging me as I just mentally process and strive to keep some memories. I wanted to share some pictures of my "bump" and of the baby throughout the post as well.

This was in early October, at 14 weeks.

Rob pretty much knew from the day we got married, that he wanted to start a family. I have always wanted one too, but I was not in such a hurry! We decided we wanted to start to try to have a baby in December of 2012. I always had a feeling that getting pregnant would not just "happen" for us, and thought that it was something that would take this particular overachieving, Type A planner some time. Through a season of about 19 months, Rob and I tried, waited, trusted, waited and trusted some more, that God's timing in this would be perfect. And it honestly has been. And I don't say this lightly, as if waiting was easy, and as if trusting God was easy. We grew a lot through the season of waiting, growth can be so hard, and growth can be really painful, but the result can be so beautiful. I don't mean the result of pregnancy, I mean the result of greater trust in the Lord, and the gratefulness I feel to have grown closer to God and to Rob through this season.

One day this past July, I just couldn't shake this odd feeling all day, I was hungry and felt like I could faint at any moment. The next morning I took a pregnancy test and saw the faintest 2nd line. *GASP* Was I really pregnant!? I didn't tell Rob right away, because I wanted to test it one more time, but also because I knew we were going to The Smith the next day to celebrate a new job opportunity I received. Since The Smith has a photo booth, I thought it would be perfect to tell him the big news then, if it really was true! Lo and behold test number 2 came back with two lines and this time the second one was a little darker. I was so excited to get to tell him that night at dinner, and I love that we got to capture that moment!

A hallmark of early pregnancy is morning sickness, fortunately I didn't experience this at all. I was nauseous, and had some real food aversions, but thankfully I never got sick. I was also, oh soooo tired. For a few weeks there, it was like clockwork, around 3pm every day I just felt an exhaustion like I have never felt before. I would get home and take a mini-power nap for like 15-20 minutes and that would help until about 8pm/ 8:30pm, and then it was lights out for me whether I wanted it to be or not. I couldn't stand the taste of cooked chicken, the smell of fresh broccoli, and for some reason, the only thing I really wanted to eat was breakfast food. It's not that I craved it, it's that breakfast food was the only thing I could imagine eating and enjoying. Rob said, "That's my baby!", since breakfast food is his absolute favorite. I love that!

This was from our 16-Week check up, and Baby Drebby is sucking it's thumb!

Have you ever heard of Pregnancy Brain? I thought that was just a myth or legend... but it has been TOO TRUE for me. Before I even knew I was pregnant, I sent some new shoes I ordered to Crystal in Miami instead of to myself! I kept wondering, why my shoes for work hadn't arrived yet? Ha! By the time we put two and two together I knew I was expecting, and was shocked by how instantaneous it was for my brain to stop functioning in the way I had been used to for the last 29 years! Although Crystal was sad to see the shoes go, we both thought it was hilarious.

We decided pretty much off the bat that we wanted to be surprised and not find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I love people's reactions when I tell them this. They are either like, "Awesome!", or they are like, "You're crazy!" Ha! There seems to be no middle ground on this one. We are excited about getting to be surprised. It does add a dilemma because now we have to think of not one, but two names, and that my friends, is no small task! Also, we obviously have to stay neutral in the color scheme, but I have to admit that I actually tend to prefer the neutrals, which is something I didn't realize would be the case. So far, I am not getting any feeling as to whether we are having a boy or a girl, what do you think?

Around the 14 week mark, I started to crave milk all of the sudden, and now at week 20, that craving is still going strong. I have never been a big milk drinker, unless it was in a bowl of cereal, or mixed with chocolate or something! Now there will be times where I am about to fall asleep, the lights are out, good night kisses have been given, and I have to get up because I cannot fall asleep until I have a small glass of cold milk. A couple of nights ago I woke up at 2am wanting milk, so it can be intense. We have gone from buying half a gallon of milk which would get us through about a week and a half, to buying a gallon of milk which lasts exactly a week. Rob thinks we may need to start getting two gallons soon.

In this picture, I'm about 18 weeks pregnant.

Around the 18 week mark, I think I started to feel the baby kick for the first time! Even though it was very subtle and sporadic, I mentioned it to Rob. I told him I thought it might be too early for him to feel it too but he put his hand on my bump and we sat there for a second, and *thump* he got to feel one too! I know it's just a matter of time before I start feeling the baby move more and more. The past few days whenever I feel Baby Drebby, it makes me think of popcorn popping!

Doctor's visits have been exciting, and nerve-wracking all at the same time. Almost every doctor's visit is accompanied with tests, especially at the beginning. We had to get used to the fact early on that after our fun appointments, we'd have to wait for a week or two for the results of any tests we took. Now I totally understand why people always answer, "a healthy baby", when asked what they hope they are having. We know and trust that God loves Baby Drebby abundantly more than we ever could and He has a plan for his or her life. So a big prayer request for us, is that we would continue to trust, not have any anxiety about tests, and that we would just be able to really enjoy each visit we have with the doctor, especially when we get to see the baby on the monitor! As you saw in the picture from the 16-week check up, we even got to see the baby sucking it's thumb! How sweet!!

We got a close up of the baby's foot at our 20-Week check up! Oh my word, so cute, right?

The full profile view from our 20-Week check up

My last thought for now is that Nesting Mode is a REAL THING. Rob and I have diligently been going from one room to the next in our apartment deep cleaning. We have cleaned all the way from the floor boards to the windowsills to the shelves! We're making piles for things we can give away and things we can sell and ultimately we are getting our place organized. You thought I was organized before, well now it is hyper-mode organized. You should see how pretty our pantry closet is now!! We already have so much more room for Baby Drebby's needs! It's kind of sad how excited closet organization gets me! It really is so important in a NYC sized apartment, any extra space is GOLD! After registering for Baby Drebby, we realized how precious each new empty shelf really is!

Me at 20 weeks!

Friends, thanks so much for reading through this lengthy blog post of mine! Thanks for surrounding me and Robby with so much love, prayers and support as well! Keep 'em coming!