1.18.2011

How We Told Our Families!

I am 30 weeks! 10 more weeks to go!!! How crazy! I started writing this yesterday evening and originally wrote that my nighttime nausea and throwing up seemed to be getting much better... well, so much for that because last night was the roughest night yet I think. I was nauseous, threw up, and had some of the worst heartburn I've had yet. I couldn't even lay down. On top of that, I think I am just getting a bad cold or something. I can't sleep well in a "reclining position" so sleep was hard to come by last night.

My rib cage is also in some serious pain the last couple days. It is so weird how far apart my rib cage is right now. It's kind of funny. Right where my ribs meet my sternum is really taking a hit! I have to sit up ridiculously straight and almost arch my back to get any relief. Oh my.

But still, I am loving being pregnant with this babe... seeing and feeling him/her move all around is the coolest thing. You can even see it when you are looking at my belly on the outside. Baby O. is 3 lbs. now and between 16 and 17 inches long. Wow. My pregnancy calendar says I should be gaining about a pound a week from now until delivery. Um what? Yikes!

There are lots of things I'm writing and making note of for Baby O.'s baby book and realized I haven't shared many of them on here. So here's one of them! How we announced we were pregnant!!

Originally, we were going to wait to tell everyone about the pregnancy until 12 weeks. However, my Grandmother passed away in late July (when I was about 5 weeks along). Our entire extended family was there and we decided to break out the news then. That might sound a little strange... announcing a pregnancy at a family dinner before a funeral. But if you knew my Grandma it would make total sense. She would've been bragging to everyone that one her granddaughters announced the coming arrival of another great-grandchild on her day. It actually ended up being really special. It was a beautiful day in Kennebunkport, Maine, at one of my Grandma's favorite bed and breakfasts, and we were having a meal outside on the beautifully landscaped lawn. Kids were running around everywhere and family was catching up with each other. I eventually gathered everyone around and handed them each a special card!

I decided early on in the pregnancy this is how I wanted to share the news. I thought it would be fun. With a birthday party invitation! Here's the front of the card.

 Here's the inside!
After I handed out everyone's cards I told them that in honor of Grandma I wanted to share some special news with them. Everyone opened the cards...some people caught on right away, other people were confused for a second and didn't "get" the birthday card. There were squeals and cheers and tears, including mine. The Lord brought our Grandma home to be with Him, and sent us another addition to our family. It was special.

After arriving back from Maine, we told Jon's parents the same way. Mekonen handed his Grandma Magz the envelope, and before she opened it, she thought it was an invitation to Mekonen's Gotcha Day party. hehe. Jon's dad's reaction was really sweet as he couldn't contain his excitement. :) We went out to dinner to celebrate where I satisfied my huge craving for a big juicy cheeseburger of all things! haha.

So that is how Baby O.'s coming arrival was announced! We waited until 14 weeks to share the news outside our family. It wasn't supposed to be quite that long. We were going to tell at 12 weeks, but it ended up that I was going to see a close friend in Ohio just two weeks later. I would rather have told her in person so we decided that since we waited so long we could wait until after I told her. That ended super funny because she ended up with having to make a last minute trip about an hour away and I completely missed her! So I dropped the invitation in her mailbox and she had to find out that way! Haha. After I knew she found out, I posted to facebook, "It's a baby not a belly!" and of course, after that, the news was everywhere!

(On a completely separate note: Would you mind clicking on an article about toddlers I wrote for my blog job? "Toddlers: Training vs. Discipline."  I need to increase readership. They also like to see comments if you have any wisdom or thoughts to add! I'd really appreciate it! Thank you so much!! :) http://blog.clariity.com/newborn-and-toddler/toddlers-training-vs-discipline

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hey! (It's Heather from KidsFirst, by the way). I saw Dustin and Jessica a few weeks back and they told me you are pregnant! Congrats! So, naturally, I had to check out the blog again :) How you told your families is super cute. I'm pregnant too, and how we told our families was not so cute or clever! Anyhow, just wanted to say congrats and I'm glad you are doing well! You can check out our blog if you want to at http://thehallmemo.blogspot.com