July 22, 2011...The Pregnancy is Confirmed

Today was the first big trip to the hospital.  Within minutes of peeing in a cup, the status was confirmed.  We are pregnant!  After filling out a huge stack of paperwork, and relinquishing a few viles of blood, the first visit to the obgyn was over.  Baby Foley is due around March 16th/17th.  My husband quickly realized that it could be a St. Patrick's Day baby!!

We just had to tell someone TODAY.  We were too excited to keep this to ourselves but also recognized that we really should wait until at least 10 weeks to break the news to everyone.  Therefore, we decided to tell only our parents.  What a fun few hours we had sharing the news with them!  They were all certainly excited about a new addition to the family too.  Unfortunately, we had to make them promise not to tell anyone else until around 10 weeks, which was tough to ask of them, but thankfully they understood.  It felt GREAT to share the news with those who had given life to us so many years ago.  Now the big question: How in the world are we going to keep this a secret for the rest of the summer???

Please forgive our secret for those of you who are finally reading this now. ;) 

"What to Expect When You're Expecting"

Finding out you are pregnant, yet not sharing the news with others, can be quite stressful.  We wanted to tell EVERYONE but recognized a trip to the doctor to confirm the status was important first.  So, while waiting a week for this first medical visit, I decided to begin reading the highly recommended book What to Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg & Sandee Hathaway in order to pass the time.  Socializing with our friends was going to be tough, especially when we constantly get the question about whether or not we are "trying."  I didn't think I could handle it without blowing our cover.  We had been dodging the "trying" questions for months.  It's hard to tell people you are "trying" but it's not "working."  I've realized that starting a family is an incredibly personal thing.  I think sometimes people harmlessly assume that since you are not pregnant yet, it means you don't want to be.  Anyways, having some good reading material would at least help us avoid the conversation, until at least we knew for sure.

I headed to the public library and picked up a copy of this pregnancy bible I had heard so much about.  Once I began reading about the nine month (really ten month!) journey through pregnancy, I had a variety of mixed emotions.  Morning sickness, tiredness, swollen ankles, varicose veins, 30+ weight gain, stretch marks, no caffeine, limited food, and bye-bye to that evening glass of red wine...could I even do this??  How do people work and live normal lives and do this??  I should have known what to expect; our good friends had been through it all twice, recently.  People around us everywhere were having babies.  But somehow, it became VERY REAL when it became MY BODY involved.  However, I had already made the choice to do this.  And with this, I decided that I was going to do the best damn job I possibly could at being pregnant and developing a healthy, happy baby to join our little Foley family.  Thank goodness I have a fantastic husband to help me along the way... 

To our wonderful friends and families..

This blog is dedicated to all our friends and family members who live so far from us.  We hope to keep you involved in our journey throughout the next nine months and can't wait until the day you can all help us welcome Baby Foley into this world!

When you stop "trying"...

My husband and I had been looking forward to starting a family for some time.  We have been together for nine years.  Once we were married last July 11, 2010, we decided the green light was on...go time!  So, we began the very strange emotional process of trying to get a bun cooking in the oven.  I started watching the date, marking the calendar, and almost even bought a thermometer to assist us in our attempts.  However,we failed miserably, month after month, one "not pregnant" sign after another.  It was then that we began to question our ability to even have children.  My husband swore that his skateboarding days as a youngster had "ruined" him.  And at 31, I feared I was too old.  We decided to put the whole process on hold in May and then begin to "try" again in August or September, when it would be better timing for me to take maternity leave (if it worked) as a teacher.  The relief with this decision was incredible which lead to many other emotions about whether we were even ready to be parents. 

However, soon after we stopped "trying" we received a little surprise.  The day of our one year marriage anniversary celebration dinner, I suddenly felt the need to just see...just take one more little test since there was an extra in the cupboard.  Women get that funny feeling sometimes.  And low and behold it stated "Pregnant" as you can see above.  I almost fell off the toilet, sure it was a mistake.  I then went to the local Rite Aid and purchased several more tests of different brands to prove this malfunctioning Clearblue test wrong.  It couldn't possibly be true.  To my dismay, one after another said there was a little Foley in the works!  I was in shock...not sure how to feel, nor react, but excited too.  We were pregnant!

How to tell my husband?  Since we were planning on having a special dinner out on the town that evening to celebrate our one year anniversary, I decided a fun way to tell him would be give him a little "gift."  I wrapped up two of the tests in a jewelry box and sealed it with a ribbon.  After sitting with the box for some time, I realized that I needed to give it to him the second he walked in the door from work, versus at dinner for two reasons: 1) I couldn't possibly wait any longer and, 2) I felt that he would prefer to hear this news at home versus in a restaurant downtown.  I wasn't entirely sure how he would react considering we had stopped "trying."  The funny thing is that at first he was so upset that I had gotten him a gift. (We had agreed that a fancy dinner out was our gift to each other.)  However, when he opened it up, he was shocked to see the contents, yet thrilled.  His eyes were big and his mouth dropped WIDE open.  After a very genuine hug of joy, he took the picture below with his phone so he could eventually share the story with our friends and families...

 
Here is the beginning of the nine month chronicled development of Baby Foley...