20 Weeks

At 20 weeks, I had a routine doctor's visit where the wrath of a pregnant lady came out to her OB because he does not have the H1N1 vaccine. However, I did get the vaccine a few days later from my primary physician. What is wrong with this picture? My regular doctor had it, but my OB did not??!!! Seriously!! Maybe it's the hormones, but that seems ridiculous to me. I know there is much debate about the safety blah blah of the vaccine...but in my research on the topic, I feel that the chances of my getting the flu itself is very high as I have students coughing, snotting, and wiping germs all over my desks and in my direct contact. Thinking about getting the flu in my 3rd trimester when I am more likely to get pneumonia and not be able to breathe....isn't a chance I want to take. And on that note, it is every person's personal choice to get the vaccine or to not get it. Let's all respect each other's opinions.

It's a Girl!

We had our ultrasound at 17 weeks and were very nervous that they wouldn't be able to tell the sex of the baby. Even though I practically read for a living, I misread the instructions about drinking the liquid beforehand, so I didn't start drinking early enough. As you may already know, my bladder is the size of a pea as it is, so pregnancy has already been hard on me. So, in the span of about 25 minutes, I drank 2 bottles of water and some Pepsi. Several people told me to drink some caffeine beforehand so it would move around. The first thing she looked for when we got in the room was whether we were looking at a girl or a boy. Baby DeVore fully cooperated as we got a clear view of the particular needed area. The radiographer said, "I see girl parts!" We were thrilled!!!!! Even though Jonathan kept insisting it was a girl, I had convinced myself that it wasn't. We were both actually hoping for a girl! She said everything looked normal on the ultrasound, and then the texts and phone calls started going out immediately! I saw bows, lace, dresses, polka dots, future shopping trips, and late nights with advice in my near and distant future. Jonathan is more nervous about the boys in her life than anything else. I told him that we've got a few years before we have to worry about that!

The First 12 Weeks

Those first 12 weeks seem like a blur now...morning sickness isn't even an accurate term! I was sick ALL day. I couldn't even take a shower in my bathroom because the lack of ventilation would cause me to throw up. I had to use Jonathan's shower! Brushing my teeth also made me gag & sometimes throw up. I honestly don't know how I made it through an entire school day for those weeks. One night Jonathan came home to find Wiley wide open with me lying on the couch. The only words I could utter were "grilled cheese". Even though he was tired from football practice, he diligently made me a grilled cheese. Several minutes later he woke me up to tell me it was done, to which I replied, "I don't think I want it." Then I was back asleep! He was a little disappointed, but he never fussed.
In those first few weeks, my diet consisted of bland carbohydrates and milk. I about broke the bank because I was going to the grocery just about every day to buy something that "sounded good". I still have a full box of Ginger Snaps if anyone is interested, which brings me to the helpful advice that everyone gave me. I tried EVERYTHING!!!
1. Eat a cracker before you get out of bed=Erika threw up for the first time
2. Eat ginger snaps=ugh...they taste nasty
3. If it "sounds" good, eat it=one bite later, I was finished
If someone suggested it, I tried it! Sleep, sleep, and sleep along with lots of prayer was the only thing that brought me out of it.

We're Pregnant!

Jonathan and I found out we were pregnant in July on a night when our air had gone out and we were miserable from suffocation! We were skeptical of the first digital test's answer of "Pregnant" and decided to go buy 2 more tests, which were later also positive. I remember we laid in bed that night talking about how excited we were and then on to how worried we were about everything. We decided not to tell anyone except our parents until after our 8 week visit to the doctor. As you can see, they were really surprised and excited!