Huge Catch Up

The last couple of weeks we've been talking about how we desperately need to provide an update here, but it seems we move on.
We had 2 amazing baby showers last week. We are unbelievably lucky to have such caring and generous sets of friends and family. Our first shower was in Eastern Oregon at the farm. It was such fun to see many people I hadn't seen since our wedding reception and some even longer ago. Mom, Cindy and Friday really went above and beyond to prepare great treats and invite people who were genuinely excited to be part of wishing us well!
After returning from E.O., my friend at school hosted a shower at her house on Wednesday. Philip attended and Mom and Cindy surprised us. They came all the way from Hermiston just for the shower and evening. We were shocked and felt so loved and blessed. The school shower was also lovely. I really felt like I work at one of the best places for me in the world. Everyone there was also so genuinely supportive and made us really feel cared for. Several retired teachers and others who no longer work at Blackwell also attended to wish us well. Again, we are incredibly blessed and lucky! Our family room is just full of gifts and slightly used donated items that we can't wait to put to use. We began working on getting it all put away this weekend and will finish over the next week.
I am on a bi-weekly doctor appointment schedule now. I go to UW on Mondays and Thursdays for a check up and to have a Non-Stress Test. The nurse rests a monitor on my belly and they measure the baby's heartbeat and my contractions for a 20 minute period. All looks great and he's within normal range. I've been having a few contractions, but they are consistent with each appointment and don't hurt (in fact, I can't really feel most of them) so they are of no concern. The doctor said I'm just one of those who starts preparing early and since there is no other signs of pre-term labor he has absolutely no concern. Today he did suggest that I work up until the Holiday break and then call it quits. I think I'll be prepared to slow down by then.
Our house appears to be the only house in the neighborhood without Christmas lights up. I think we'll put together something simple outside this weekend and get a tree up. We don't want to do the extensive thing with the lights because Philip will have to do it himself and we have other priorities right now. I think we'll find a big star or something to place above the garage.
'Tis the season!

The way a weekend should be

We've had such a relaxing weekend! It has been so nice to start really getting baby stuff put together and put away. This morning we had our usual routine of going to Panera Bread for breakfast then taking Juan to Marymoor Park for a nice long walk. It was a gorgeous morning and there were so many more dog owners out and about. Juan was really cracking us up as he ran about the whole off-leash park like he owned the place. This morning we actually took an extra lap, but we were only able to do this because of the Honey Buckets placed in convenient locations throughout the park.
This week has been a bit nuts as I've been preparing and starting school conferences. Friday, I had 9 conferences back to back and Monday I'll have 10 back to back. I'll finish up Tuesday with 6 more. This also includes teaching students from 9-noon each day.
Wednesday we'll head out for the farm for Thanksgiving. We are all looking forward to that as we haven't taken a trek there for quite some time. It doesn't look like we'll be going there for Christmas because starting the first week in December I have biweekly appointments. We received disappointing news Friday that I'll probably have to go to Seattle for both appointments each week because the local clinic can't perform the tests we need. It is just a stress test, and they do them, but somehow, don't want to have to bother with the communication piece between the 2 clinics. I'm hoping this doesn't mean I have to have a substitute 2 half days each week for the duration. I've been feeling so great and school has been going well, so it would be a bummer to have to start taking time off before it is truly necessary.
I'm going to continue the day of clean up and organization around here and prepare for the short days and short week around the corner.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is Philip's birthday. We've just returned from a lovely dinner out to celebrate. On our doorstep, we found a large box full of the cutest newborn baby clothes from our friend in Nevada! Again, we feel so fortunate to have so many people who are willing to pass along and share their things with us. We were both in awe as we looked at how tiny he will be as a newborn.
As I am typing I am getting a nice constant kick right in the ribs. That would make sense as it is usually around the time I settle down for the evening that our little guy wakes up and starts moving around.
The week began with a trip to the doctor on Monday. All looks great. I measure 29 cm. from top of the uterus to the pelvis and it is a "perfect match" as the doctor described. We're in the 29 1/2 week and the measurement should match the week at this point. Everything looks great and we seem to be right on schedule. We plan for 2 weeks to relax and then the bi-weekly appointments begin at the beginning of December. That'll be how it will go until the due date since we fit in that high risk category and need to be carefully monitored. Fortunately, I only have to drive to the UW Medical Center in Seattle for one appointment each week and the other can be in the Issaquah clinic.
This weekend Philip will be putting a finishing coat of blue paint in the baby's room and we'll finally get the crib put together. We're really going to start focusing on getting the place set up for a baby. Next week we head south to the farm for Thanksgiving and are looking forward to catching up with everyone there!
Philip says his 34th year is bound to be the best yet!

Sleep - An increasingly rare commodity

The last couple of weeks Ghee and I have been getting less and less sleep each for some reason or the other. For Ghee its mostly been the baby moving around. For me its mostly been Ghee moving around :-) just kidding, some random reasons. The latest one was last night and was mostly a wild goose chase involving our baby's Uncle Paul and some fellow Eastern Oregonians. It's one for the story books for sure.

"Wow! You look huge now!"

Well, it is no longer a question whether I'm actually pregnant. Over the last few weeks, I've gone from hearing comments like, "You're not even showing at all" to "Wow! You're gonna be huge by January". Somehow over the last weekend my belly size doubled. I was a bit of a shock to everyone when I showed up at school Monday.

Things didn't slow down much this week as I am continuing to get ready for the end of the grading period. I know everyone will be asking at conferences about the transition and who will be taking over. I'm not sure I'm ready to reveal it yet and, more than that, I don't want the focus to be on me when it should be on the kids and their progress. I have a great deal of confidence in my long-term substitute and I know she'll be fabulous, but I just love my job and want to be in the game until I go on leave.

Today Philip and I really started prepping the baby's room. One of our very generous neighbors gave us several items to add to our collection of hand-me-downs. They did such an amazing job of cleaning everything up and we it really put us in the mood to get things ready around here. We have a lot of the necessities now thanks to friends, neighbors and family members. The baby's room is going to be painted blue tomorrow and tonight Philip trimmed a wall-sized world map to put on the wall. It was about a foot too big, so he trimmed 6 inches from the top and bottom, so we'll just have to teach our son that there is a North and South pole!

He's been moving around so much lately--especially at night. We can actually see him moving arms and legs about which has been exciting--except when I'm trying to sleep.

Monday morning I head to the doctor again. Starting in early December I'll have bi-weekly appointments.

YIKES! It's been over a month

We've had quite a bit of news over the last month, but somehow blogging about all of it has not been a priority. We'll try to catch you up.
Last week was about as chaotic as life gets at the Cherian house. Philip was gone to Leavenworth for an Amazon leadership training for the whole work week. Ghee was prepping for report cards and conferences and school. Poor Juan was a neglected little doggie. Of course, the week continued to be crazy as we moved into the weekend. We started and finished our childbirthing classes. We chose to take the cram session--Saturday and Sunday from 10am-4pm. It actually ended up being 10am-5pm! Although, we found it extremely beneficial and learned so much, by the end of the second day we were drained. We took the course at UW Medical Center which is where we'll be having the baby. A tour of the birthing center was part of the process so we got to see the rooms where it'll all take place and then the post-partum rooms where we'll spend a couple days when it's all over. Other than a couple graphic videos, the class was pretty clinical. We were slightly disappointed that there was little opportunity to connect with other classmates, but we liked the instructor.
After a long day of classes, we attended an Amazon dinner party at a friend of Philip's. We couldn't believe that the party didn't even start until 8pm and when we arrived at 8:30, we were some of the first to get there. By the time we left at 11, things were really just getting going. Pregnancy has exhausted us both and we can't believe what a couple of party poopers we'll be once the baby is born.

No news is good news

Everything is running smoothly in the Cherian house. I had a doctor appointment today and learned that all is well. I am at 24 weeks and 6 days and my belly measures 25 centimeters. According to the doctor that is "perfect" as it should be at one centimeter per week right now.

The little guy has continued to move about quite a bit--especially when I'm not moving about. He is particularly busy at night. Although, it continues to be mostly flutters I have felt a couple more solid, clear movements.
We had visitors over the weekend which brought some much needed excitement to our house. My mom, sister (Cindy), 2 nieces (Reed and Tegan) and a nephew (Rian) all came to hang out with us and see Seattle. We enjoyed a trip to NW Trek to see the bison, elk, bears, etc. and dined at the Spaghetti Factor in downtown Seattle. Our house just seemed warmer and cozier with all those bodies here and kids just liven things up so much! Juan was going a bit nutty by the end of the weekend as he isn't used to the noise or running around. It was good practice.

We are slowly working on getting the baby's room set up, knowing that we have some time. My brother and his wife (Randy and Char) gave us a crib that originally belonged to my sister for her kids. So, our baby will be the 5th family baby to sleep in this crib. We've had some challenges getting it put together as all the pieces are still making their way up here from the farm, but I think after we make one more trip to the hardware store it should all fit together. We are delighted to accept donations from others who have older children that don't use certain items any longer. That'll help everyone save money, space and remain green conscious so we don't have to go out and buy new stuff.
My students remain excited and supportive. Those with younger siblings love to share baby stories and a few of them have been sharing lists of boy names. It has been so much fun sharing this with them!
Another long day today means that I'm exhausted and heading to bed shortly.

Oh, honey...March? I don't think so.

I'm on a bit of an emotional high right now. I shared the news with my students yesterday and it was one of the sweetest, most genuine things I have ever experienced. They are just way too stinkin' cute--and excited!
I'd been debating when to share for a while, but it is becoming pretty necessary that I wear maternity clothes and really let things show. I put together a notice to share with parents and copied it onto light blue paper. Then I put 3 games of 'hangman' on the ActivBoard. The first one said "I have big news". The second one said "It will be here in January". The first one they nearly got 'hanged' so I gave them a hint on the second one--the last word is a month. After the second, I turned to the next page. It read _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ! Immediately after turning to that page one of the girls called out, "Mrs. Cherian is going to have a baby!!" without guessing any letters. The kids started squealing and hugging one another. One boy asked me, "So, does that mean that you are actually pregnant now or that you are getting pregnant in January?" The student beside him said, "You know, it takes nine months to grow in there."
The girls were immediately delighted. Finally, someone asked if it was a boy or girl and I told them "I'm sending their parents a note today and I copied it on...." and they saw the blue paper. This is when the boys went crazy with excitement. They stood up and danced, and gave each other high five.
After processing the moment, a few had some questions. They wanted to know if I'd be their teacher any longer after January and who would be my replacement. I told them they'd be in good hands, but we're still sorting out a lot of that. One girl became quite upsetand was very emotional. After we had dispersed a bit, she came back up to me and said, "Mrs. Cherian, if I tell you that I love you and that your my favorite teacher ever will you keep him in there until March so that you can stay our teacher." What a sweet girl! I responded by asking her, "March? The school year doesn't end until June." Which led to her quick reply, "Yeah, but there is no way you can keep him in there that long." Awwww!
At the end of the day as kids were heading out, another boy came up to me very seriously. He said, "I just want you to know. If your baby goes to school here, my baby sister who is just one will be in first grade when he is in kindergarten and I will totally tell her to watch over him and protect her."
You know, I have just the greatest job in the world. I am so lucky that I get to work with such a compassionate, caring, exciting group of individuals every day! It's funny how it is said that teachers change lives. There are few days I feel I've changed a life, but every day I feel like I've had an experience with a child that has changed mine. Today that was all put into perspective.

Hard work = Positive outcome

Had a check-in with Dr. Brown Tuesday. He has been incredibly flexible in allowing me to go in for visits in the afternoon and not requiring me to go mid-morning when the other diabetics have to go. Both of us actually enjoyed the time for a calm check-in without the rush of 25 other patients. In fact, for a change I was the only one in the waiting room. I had to leave school about 40 minutes early and, luckily, I have an amazingly accomodating teammate who took my kids for the last part of the day. It is such a relief to work in such a supportive environment!
Everything looks great according to the doc. Blood sugars are within the range he'd like to see. He really appreciates that I adjust and monitor everything on my own--apparently not the norm. We measured the belly which is also in range. My blood pressure has been low, so we've been staying on top of that, too. Because everything looks right on track he actually gave me permission to schedule my next appointment a whole month out! He said that is about the length of time between non-diabetic patient appointments! Of course, this was with the idea that if anything changes of if I have any questions, concerns, etc. I can't hesitate to call or get in there. Understood.
Next scheduled appointment: October 21st!

Hello there Mr. Cherian - you're very tiny and cute

I know that thus far I have pretty much taken a back seat in terms of actually contributing posts for our blog, but today is a good day as any to change that.

Today we found out that we're having a boy. Yep a boy. For some strange reason I had made an initial guess and thought that it might be a girl but I'm pleasantly surprised that its a boy. I think Ghee had a feeling all along that it was going to be a boy but she wasn't going to play my guessing game. Looks like I'm going to have a little buddy to play with. As soon as I heard the words "Its a boy" I had a flurry of images of building legos, soccer, rough housing, flying rc airplanes, building tree-forts, riding bikes and all those other things that boys and their dads like to do.

I'm going to have to make mention of the amazing advances in technology that Ghee and I witnessed first hand today. Today was our full anatomy scan at the UW Medical Center and it was really state of the art. They used a PHILIPS HD11 ultrasound machine which is in reality a small supercomputer on wheels and measured practically all possible key indicators of health. It was truly a miracle of modern science and medicine being demonstrated to us.

They measured the baby's kidneys, adrenal glands, checked his spine, measure arms, legs, brain, heart. The detail that this machine provides is amazing. My jaw just dropped at how thorough they are at the UW. Of course we are also really fortunate to have I think the best doctor in this region Dr. Zane Brown. He is one of those doctors who reassures you by just talking to you. There's something to be said about exuding confidence and he sure does do that.

Coming back to the baby, Ghee had a great idea yesterday and it was about names for a boy. We were pretty much set on Abigail if it was a girl but since that is now not the case we were in a quandary. Well at least from the time we went from the scan to the doctors room. We had not thought as hard about boy names as we did about girl names and we have a couple of ideas but none were as concrete as our girl ideas. But as of yesterday I think we've got two likely contenders. Both are names we like. One is an old biblical name and one is a newer variation of an old biblical name. I'm not telling what they both are yet but I guess Ghee and I have a lot of thinking to do over the next 4.5 months.

Based on how many times he was twisting and turning in his mommy's womb, I think he's going to be like Ghee. Excited and full of energy and always moving around. That's the first impression I got of him. His profile is pretty cute and we saw his nose, lips and he even had his mouth open for us while we were observing him. I'll post the pictures as soon as I get them scanned.

No news is good news here

We realize that we've been a bit laxed in updating our blog. Ghee is back at work and we've had busy weekends lately.
School is back in session. It has been a bit exhausting and I'm finding that I miss the luxury of frequent naps during the week. The beginning of the year really takes a lot out of me each year, but this year it has been particularly tiring.
As I settle in with the new class, I can't help but think about the year as a whole and how it will go. I've met with my principal to start sorting through what the year will look like for my class--mostly after January. We decided it is best to wait until after I meet all the parents next week at Curriculum Night to make the announcement to them and the students. Of course, I've been fretting over what to wear to cover the tiny watermelon that is developing across my waist. Last week, by the end of each day I was unbuttoning my pants or loosening drawstrings. Yikes! I may be warm, but Thursday night for the presentation I will definitely be wearing a jacket of sorts.
One thing I have sorted out is my long term replacement. I called a friend who used to teach 3rd grade at my school. I felt the biggest sense of relief when she accepted (without hesitation) the opportunity to come back for the rest of the year. It is so good to know that the kiddos will be in such good hands and I hope that will bring parents the same sense of relief it has brought me.
This week it is on my list to check with HR regarding time off. From my own deduction, it appears that I can take the rest of the year if I combine all my sick leave and short term disability. We'll see what they say! My principal jokingly says he expects I'll take the Sarah Palin maternity leave and be back in 2 days. Ha!
Both Philip and I are gearing up for Tuesday when we go in for the anatomy scan we thought was supposed to happen 3 weeks ago. We'll get to see how things are coming along and we'll find out the sex of the baby. That'll be a big day and the day of our next update!

Wind blown from sails

Oh my goodness! We were sooo excited today to go to the doctor to have the 18 week ultrasound where we'd find out whether we'd be parents of a boy or girl. Uh...didn't happen. I was so confused when we arrived at Radiology and they informed us that we didn't have an appointment with them. Then, when we went upstairs we realized that we'd never been scheduled for an ultrasound today. For some reason there were several errors in scheduling and we were mistakenly scheduled for a second "ultra-com" which was unnecessary. As we went in to see Dr. Brown it was all clarified as he explained to us that we just can't have an 18 week ultrasound when we're only 16 weeks along. I guess I had heard "ultra" when scheduling the last appointment and I knew that the next ultrasound was the biggie so I got overly excited and made some assumptions. Nevertheless, we did hear the heartbeat again and the diabetes educator told us we have "quite a little squirmer".
Everything looks great still. We will be heading back to the doctor on September 9th for the real appointment we thought was today. That will be week 19 and by then we should be able to tell 'boy or girl' with more confidence.
Other news on our end--we had a black bear in our backyard this morning. At about 4am we woke up to some banging around in the backyard. He was attempting to get into our yard waste bucket! Pretty exciting stuff.

In the Groove now

We are well into trimester 2 now. I feel pretty good and seem to have a bit more energy. Feeling tired does seem to be my biggest hurdle, though and I still need afternoon naps. I'm hoping in the next week or so I'll get that burst of energy I hear some women get in the second trimester.
I'm ready to get a belly. I feel like my clothes are just getting awkwardly tight and I still don't have that bump that identifies me as pregnant. Of course, I know that once it appears I'll quickly get sick of the maternity clothes, too.
The last week has been busy with finalizing everything for the sale of our house. We will be so relieved to have that monkey off our back! It closes next week and we're looking forward to only paying one mortgage and to possibly being able to afford to get a bbq--something we've sorely missed this summer.
This week we are bird sitting for a friend from school. That has been a fun and interesting experience. We like to see it as our little test for Juan to see how he handles it when something else has our attention--something fragile that we won't let him near! He's done fine and only whimpers a little when we talk to the bird in a 'Juan' voice.
We received a baby gift this week which was a treat. Some of our friends brought back the sweetest set of booties from China Town in San Francisco. They are unbelievably cute! Philip had never seen booties before and said he thought they just wore socks. We've begun collecting a few items we think we'll find useful when baby comes along. We pilfered an outside toy chest from school to put balls in on the patio. Our neighbors have started offering the toys and clothes their 4 and 5 year olds no longer need.
Tonight we're wishing Philip's mom a happy birthday before heading off to bed early again. A week from today we'll have news as to whether she can expect a granddaughter or grandson.

GREAT news!

We got really good news at the doctor appointment yesterday. When I inquired about scheduling all the future appointments, Dr. Brown shared that he thinks I just need to come in once a month! This was shocking news as we'd both been led to believe that I'd be there once a week in the mornings. I was also relieved to hear that I can (and did) schedule these appointments late afternoons rather than at 9:30am. Whew! I am feeling much relief about the school year.
This is all the result of my blood sugar control being right where we'd like to see it. I must admit that this has been tough and requires much monitoring. I have stepped it up from 6-8 finger pokes/day to more like 12-15. I also have been continuing to wear the sensor even post study. It seems to be a very helpful tool for maintenance.
It has helped to be on summer schedule because I can really watch what I eat and spend time cooking good meals. I've hit a few Farmer's Markets for fresh stuff and it has been fun spending extra time in the kitchen making sure I know what goes into everything. I even got a food processor which I may some day use to make our own baby food.
Tomorrow is our 3 year anniversary and we'll be celebrating at a 'fancy' place in the city. Looking forward to that!

Ending the First Trimester

This week finishes up our first trimester. With that, we've opened the blog to all and started to be more liberal with telling people. Ghee's been feeling good and continues to enjoy the vacation with occasional afternoon naps. This week we spoke to the diabetes nurse at Dr. Brown's office to start setting the schedule for the school year. There will have to be some decisions made. From what she suggested, we'll have appointments every-other week until the 32nd week. Starting the 32nd week we'll have bi-weekly appointments. One will be the blood sugar monitoring and the other will be a stress test. It looks like the 32nd week falls around the first part of December. I'm already working on scheduling the every-other week appointments for first thing (well, 8am) Monday mornings because they don't have afternoon appointments for their diabetes patients. I have to admit I am a tad nervous about how the year will go.
Instead of camping, Philip headed to the farm with me. We visited family and participated in harvest activities. Unfortunately, we missed Friday and the kids by only a few minutes, but had the chance to hang out with Sydney and Blair quite a bit which was so much fun. We had to rush back on Sunday because one of our sprinkler pipes burst in the backyard. Again, we are feeling so lucky to be in a neighborhood where people look out for one another. Fortunately, they had turned off the water and even cleaned up a bit. We are not looking forward to our next water bill!
Lastly, we are excited this week that someone has finally placed an offer on our 'old' house. We have our fingers crossed that all of this will work out and find it rather ironic that it might go to a young couple with the man working in the tech field and the woman just got a new job as a teacher in LWSD. It does have a little bit of 'meant to be' to it.

Thwarted Weekend Plans

Philip has been preparing for an exciting weekend adventure--to go backpacking/camping in the Enchantments near Leavenworth. We'd prepared his pack with dehydrated food, a one man tent and a lightweight sleeping bag. This afternoon he received news that one of his co-campers has a case of shingles. This caused some debate in our house...to go or not to go. The internet tells us that the only way you can get it is from direct contact with the individual who has it. As Ghee is not going on the trip, we figured there'd be no direct contact. Then we call UW to confirm. The nurse practically laughed us off the phone at the idea that he'd even consider going. She very confidently said "I absolutely would not support this idea and I don't think you should risk exposure". Thus, Philip's weekend plans have changed.
It looks like he'll be joining Ghee on an adventure to the farm. Ghee had planned on leaving tomorrow morning, but will wait until he can leave in the early afternoon. He'll just be trading one adventure for another as a trip to E.O. is always just that!

Do you see the resemblance?

Today both of us (well, all three of us) headed back to UW for the second Ultrasound. We are now at 11 weeks and 3 days. This one was a bit different as Ghee had to go in with a FULL bladder because the extra pressure would sort of shove everything to a "seeable" place. The baby's heart beat was at 148-considering that the healthy range is about 100-180 we were happy to be average! We could identify a head, arms, and legs quite easily. The next one of these will be week 18 when we can really see things.

After the ultrasound in radiology (and a happy trip to the bathroom) we headed up to see Dr. Brown. He said that everything looks great. We made a quick adjustment with the pump and he said I get to go back in 2 weeks. The clinic wasn't nearly as busy this morning so it was nice to get in and out quite quickly.

The blood draws have been a bit of a hassle. Some reason 2 times in a row I get 'stuck' with a slapper. I actually complained to her today and told her that she did exactly what the last person did that I suspect caused a bruise to cover my arm for over a week. You know, the ones that take 2 fingers and aggressively slap your forearm to somehow make the veins more apparent. I'm sorry, but I know from relatively frequent experience of blood draws that this is totally unnecessary and just causes pain and bruising. In fact, I wouldn't doubt if my veins actually run and hide from the slappers. That's why they both had to poke me twice. Sheesh.

Other than just feeling down right tired in the afternoons, I've been doing good. It is nice to be on summer break so that I can enjoy a few minute nap each afternoon. That's a luxury I know most pregnant women don't get, but I am fully taking advantage of it. In fact, it's about that time now...

Mini Me

We love our new neighborhood and had the best plan for sharing our news with our neighbors. Since we moved in we've been enjoying (perhaps too much) outfitting our lifesize cardboard cutout of Dr. Evil as various characters and placing him in the window of our bonus room which the neighbors can clearly see from their stairwell. Dr. Evil has masqueraded as a Native American in full headdress, a man headed to the beach with shades, hat and towel and other bi-weekly changes in image. We decided this week we'd spread baby notices by placing a Raggedy Ann doll on Dr. Evil's shoulder and have him wear a huge sign that reads "We're Having a Baby". We must admit that a portion of the fun was found in Philip figuring out how to create a bubble lettered "W" that they'd be able to see from that distance. We set it up in the morning and then had to leave for a few hours. We couldn't wait to get back home to see if they'd seen it. Of course, they did see it and we were giddy to share our excitement. Although, we had to pull the blinds in the bonus room (which we are now referring to as the playroom) because of the heat Dr. Evil is still proudly displaying the colorful sign.
No doctor appointments this week which gives me a chance to complete errands and get everything organized around here.

Philip found a Babar poster for the baby's room that is so sweet. Unfortunately, I took it in to get it framed and it is not a standard poster size and they wanted $150 to frame it. We're working on alternatives there for sure.

What's up Doc?

As the diabetic thing has been a concern, we have done much to prepare and give ourselves the best chance for a normal pregancy. We began last year with pre-pregnancy counseling so that we knew that we were good to go. Then when it was confirmed we immediately made an appointment to see Dr. Zane Brown at the UW Pregnancy clinic who we both think is one of the most fabulous men on earth! He answers all of our questions and connects us with diabetes pregnancy experts (besides himself), nutritionists, social workers, 24 hour nursing staff, etc. We have felt like we've had amazing care!
Our first appointment was between 7 and 8 weeks. We had an ultrasound where we saw the heart beating and got word from the resident that everything looks great so far. We even got to bring home our first photo--what a 5 mm cutie! At the appointment, we learned that I will be going in weekly or bi-weekly to check in regarding my blood sugars, make adjustments to my pump and see that everything is going along okay. This, of course, gets me a little concerned about the coming school year and the appointments are mornings only--in Seattle, but my teammates have provided great comfort that we'll make it work. We also learned that our due date will be during the 39th week instead of the typical 40th week. As the doctor says, "they are just keeping warm after that anyhow".
I've had one appointment since where I had some tests to check blood pressure--actually quite low--and look over my blood sugar readings. I got a thumbs up to go 3 weeks until the next appointment as things look so fantastic. I was sent home with several pages to keep a log of food, blood sugars, etc. and books about what to expect along the way. It is great to have so much confidence in those who will be caring for us!

Starting to tell...

Now that things have settled from the school year, we've returned from our Eastern Oregon camping trip and we've started to share our "secret" with others we plan on regularly updating our 'pregnancy blog' (as it has been deemed).
Our camping adventure to Wallowa Lake with Cindy, Jason, Reed, Rian, Bob and Carol was a blast. It was so much fun spending time in the relaxing outdoors and Philip love the opportunity to catch a couple fish from Bird's boat. I enjoyed some bonding experiences with Cindy, Reed and Rian. I was delighted to see that so much was as I remembered from my own childhood--deer in the park, great trails to bike around and the paddleboats! I was surprised by how well I slept in the tent and I actually avoided feeling the nausea which has kept me up most nights at home.
Before taking off, we shared the news with my parents. We can tell they are nervous about the whole diabetic thing, but excited! We also stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's in Helix on our way back. When Philip told Grandpa that "we're having a kid", Grandma quickly chided him and responded with "you're not having a Goat. It's a BABY!". Then Grandpa reminded us that we're the last ones--all six of his grandkids now will have given him great-grandkids. It was so much fun sharing the news with them as they responded with incredible pride and joy. As we recieved a tour of her hallway of photos of grandkids, Philip shared with her that ours will 'look a little different'. As he did this she quickly said, "Don't worry. They'll still be welcome here!"--Good to know!
The sharing of the joyous news continued as we attempted to have Kuper tell Friday. We'd been playing in the kiddie pool with him and sent him in to tell her that "Ghee's having a baby." Shortly after he entered the house he came running out hollering to use, "Mommy says 'her is NOT a baby'." The second attempt was successful with a little help from mom who was in the house with them. Randy and Paul got the news quickly as they were heading to town. Both of them admitted surprise that their children did not act as birth control for us. Randy could hardly speak and expressed just a giddy laugh.
Before returning home, we stopped by to see Char and kids. We had been looking forward to sharing this news with her as we know she's been anticipating this for a while and is constantly inquiring on when it will happen. After missing her earlier in the week, we were glad she was home, but shocked that she already knew. Randy had phoned her on his way to town. She offered us baby gear to take back, but we had a car full of camping gear--and Juan!
Upon our return, we called India to start spreading the news. They had just left church where they'd apparently been praying for such a gift from God. This is their first grandchild (and niece/nephew) so the overjoy was easily apparent through the phone. We started receiving advice from Philip's mom regarding pregnancy, etc. and are looking forward to sharing the updates with them.

Home Alone

It's been a week already since we've known. We are waiting to hear back from Dr. Brown's office and get in to see him to really start telling people. We have had many discussions about how to break the news to everyone. Keeping it a secret has been our biggest challenge.
Our second biggest challenge has been selling our old house. Today we met with the new realtor and put together a solid plan. We now have new carpet, new paint and this week a handyman is coming by to lay molding throughout the upstairs. Funny how we lived with all of that the way it was for nearly 4 years. We feel confident with the new realtor and look forward to him meeting his goal of selling the place within 30 days.
As he wants to get it back on the market tomorrow, I had to spend a good 3 hours there this afternoon really getting it cleaned up. We had the best painters and carpet guys, but the place still ended up needing a thorough cleaning. Of course, it didn't help that with the new paint job I had to take a break about every 20 minutes to avoid over-inhaling of the fumes. The cleaning took forever, too, because I was hesitant to use all the regular products that I might also inhale. Imagine how clean the shower got with nearly an hour of scrubbing with baking soda and vinegar.
I'm sure you are wondering why I would have to do this when I have a wonderful husband who is immensely concerned about these issues. Well, inconveniently enough, he's on a business trip to the East coast for an entire week. He left this afternoon and will be returning Friday evening. We signed papers with the agent this morning and I put him on a plane directly after. It has been a nutty weekend. We'll see how I do!

Confirmation received

Fortunately we were able to get in to see Dr. Diddee at the UW clinic this evening. She confirmed our suspicions with a "Congratulations!" On our way out the nurse shared "It'll be cute. Good combination." We accepted the doctor's advice: start pre-natal vitamins immediately, stop the caffeine intake (which was done as soon as we suspected), wash veggies well, cook meat well, and don't tell anyone until the end of the first tri-mester. That means we have 7 weeks until we can officially spread the word. This is gonna be tough for us.

Yesterday was one of the happiest days I've had so far but I didnt actually know that until today when we got the confirmation. This is a big responsibility and we are going to do the best we can to be the best we can.

We've got a bun in the oven

Well, our new adventure begins! We started this blog as we were heading out on our Indian Adventure and we are now picking it up again as we are starting a new journey. We've been 'considering' this for a while now, somewhat thinking about waiting until Ghee's participation in the diabetic study ended in July, but also thinking that it was really time for us to get the show on the road. A couple things happened along the way that pushed us forward. One: we moved to a new neighborhood with the sweetest kids in the universe and everyday we share and talk about the cute things they say or do and then return home (next door) to this feeling that it would be really great to have that in our own home. Two: We have started ordering groceries from Amazon Fresh. What an absolute treat! They have so much to offer and we just love it; however, we found that one of the first things we looked for on the webpage was to check to see if they have diapers. I think we're ready.
So, Ghee did have some 'instincts' telling her that there was something in the oven, but nothing as blatant as what occured last night when we went to dinner at Mediterranean Kitchen--which was another sign as it had been a craving all day. As we arrived we had to squeeze past a pregnant woman to get to the counter to put our names down. It was a half an hour wait, so we walked across the street and around the block. When we returned, the wait continued so we began playing a game: "How many pregnant women do you see at this restaurant?" This is not a game we often play, but we had noticed an outstanding number of protruding bellies. 1..2..3..4..5..6...in the time we were waiting there (at this restaurant with a crowd of maybe 30 people) we spotted SIX pregnant women. We could not believe this. On our way home last night, we picked up a 2 pack of pregnancy tests at the pharmacy and gave it a try. Of course, with the excitement Ghee didn't follow the directions and we received an 'invalid' result, so this afternoon we headed back to Walgreens. We actually made the discovery at our 'old house'--in the laundry room. Ghee called to Philip, "I need to show you something. I think you better come in here." And, in he headed to find a giddy, blubbering Ghee. The rest is history.

In conclusion, All in all, As you can see...

We're back! After a lengthy return flight that left much to be desired, we are now back in the states. Our first adventure to India together proved to be a great success and we find ourselves missing the people--and the warmth!--of India. Getting off the plane with temperatures of 39deg. F was a bit of a shock considering it was nearly 80deg where we were only 24 hours ago.
Considering that we slept very little on the return trip, we can't wait to get home to relax before heading to E.O. to pick up Juan and see the other side of the family. We've been hearing that maybe Juan didn't fare as well as we did over the last couple weeks, so we are anxious to get back to check in with him and to begin sharing stories with everyone.
Thanks for following along with our tale.

Between You and Me

Our second reception was in Madras today. Like mentioned previously, I had already met nearly everyone in attendance. It was held at the church because the house was in no condition for a party, although the floors are clean and plans have been settled for getting it painted early next week. Pratap was hesitant to serve as the M.C., but did a very nice job of introducing us. Philip and I both spoke, although, I am quite sure that he was the only one who understood what I said--which was essentially thanks for welcoming me. Most of the people at today's reception were related to Philip on his mom's side. I met Philip's uncle at the reception and had not met him previously. Each side of the family is quite different, and he definitely fits in on his mom's rather sober side. He pulled me aside during the reception and share a "secret" that I am not supposed to share with anyone. I was quite uncomfortable when he took me aside, until I learned what he had to share....sorry, I can't tell! There were many cousins there, so it was nice to see people our own age and get ideas for what to do in India. That comes, of course, as we're getting ready to leave.
We are packing our bags and preparing for our return already and can't believe how the time has flown by. I am most looking forward to sharing stories, sleeping in my own bed and--for some odd reason--a Red Robin hamburger.