B is for Boy, G is for Girl

There is something about starting your day off knowing that you are going to find out big news. Nerves are going through the body, but mostly excitement. We are on the way to the gender reveal party and we are so excited. We all meet at my moms house and my mom fixes a great big breakfast and of course since this is the Sunday after Thanksgiving - she went above and beyond! But hey, we are the Keyser's, Price's and Herbert's - we like to eat! 

Robin drops off the cake and it is better than I had even thought it could be. "Baby Herbie - He or She?" I mean, come on! It does not get any better than that! Both families are there which I do not think has happened since we got married so it was nice to have everyone together. The Herbert's are super excited since this is their first and my mom is probably just as excited and it's her eighth grand kid!

The time has come to cut the cake and I am shaking like a leaf. We use the same knife that we used to cut our wedding cake, ahhh we are so cute! One slice in the cake. Nothing is indicating either way if there is blue or pink frosting in this cake. I am still shaking and Steve is standing right next to me with a big smile on his face. Next slice in, still nothing. I know have to take the piece out to find out what the frosting is. The anticipation is too much!!! The newphews are jumping up and down - they have NO idea what is going on. I pull out the cake and there it is. PINK frosting! We are having a girl!! Everyone hugs and cheers! Jacob comes up to me and says, "Andi, How do you know it's going to be a girl?" The nephews still have no idea what is going on but they are just as excited!

So there you have it .... we are having a girl. I cannot believe we are having a girl. Later that night, Steve looks at me and tells me how excited he is to be having a little girl. Daddy's little girl ... that is what she is going to be. The next morning we wake up and Steve turns and says, "How are my girls doing?" Its official. Baby Herbie is a little girl!

20 Weeks Means - WHAT WE HAVING?!

This is the appointment of ALL appointments. This is what you have been waiting for during the whole pregnancy!! So being the creative creatures we are - we decided to have a "Gender Reveal Party" also referred to, "Sex Party", "Sex Toy Party", "Sexy Party" ... The last 3 are thanks to my mom and my sisters... A Gender Reveal Party is a party where you get everyone together to find out the sex as a big happy family rather than in the hospital OR calling my favorites first to tell them the news. To do this, I decided to have a cake made with blue or pink frosting in the middle so once you cut the cake everyone finds out at the same time. I get Ashley's friend to make the cutest cake ever so now is just the moment where we get the sex into an envelope to give to Robin. So here we go.

We get to the doctors office and sign a form that we may or may not find out the sex today but we are feeling pretty positive. I have not a clue - there are no signs either way. The way this baby is moving, I could guess that we are having a monkey so I am clueless. Steve is definitely thinking girl because HEY - Herberts have girls. (To think out of all those Herbert men - Pat is the only one that can produce a boy!)

I am excited to get our name called for obvious reasons, but also to go pee. I have been holding it in and I am about to burst. I inhaled a PB and J before coming to the appointment as well so you know I washed that peanut butter down with some H2O! She calls our name and we go into the room. I am too excited to remember that I am about to pee myself so I will just wait. Maybe.

She asks if we are finding out - I tell her our major plan of finding out and she could really care less so once we got through to her that she just needs to put it in an envelope that would be just grand, we start the fun! I lay down and Steve grabs my hand ... The GOO is nice and warm - its going to be fun to see what this baby looks like. She moves the wand around the GOO which is making me REALLY have to pee.

We pretty much get to see everything but I was glad that she was telling us what we were looking at. In my head I say, "oh man - look at baby herbie's face - So Cute ..." and then she says, "This is the butt...", I will say in my head, "OH man - that's a cute hand!" and she will say, "this is a foot...." ... I say in my head, "Oh look at that belly!" she says, "this is the top of the head .." So I stopped even guessing what I was looking at.

About 45 min pass and we are looking at every craves of this thing and I am about to pee all over this chicks table so at this point I am ready to go. She kept saying, "Man - I really want to see the legs but baby is on the move and won't turn over - this get it moving!" I am not sure what that means - but apparently it means that she is now going to shake my belly and press the wand down hard over the GOO (not to mention I have about 8 bottles of GOO on me) ... so now I am really about ready to pee and at this point I would not care. She finally see's what she wants to but not for long before baby herbie moves around again. But before that, baby herbie says, "Stop bugging me bitch!" and the baby gives the doctor the finger. For real! That's my baby!!! She stops and says, "See that? yeah - thats the middle finger..." HA! Now I know for SURE this baby is mine!! After MEN AT WORK come into the room to remove the 80 extra pounds of GOO on me (not really but this chick does not even hand me anything. I have to use the toliet seat cover material that we all lay down on in a doctors office that makes more noise that construction on Colorado Blvd and is not that cottony feel like Charmin has but more like sandpaper - which at this point this shit has dried all over me, I need extra sandpaper to get it off of me ...) .... we are done.

All in all - this baby is perfect. 10 fingers, 10 toes and the most beautiful black and white picture under a sea of darkness that just consistest of lines and now arrows saying stuff like "Foot" I have ever seen.  Best appointment ever - and the best part is, I don't care if it has a penis or a  .... va...vagina. (hate that word). I just know this is MY baby and I love every little part of it!!

Now - we wait.

Look closely - Yeah - baby is flipping us off!!

FEET! 

This is the best pic! Look at her nose! 

Baby Bump!

16 weeks equals 4 months. I smarted.

Today was our 16th week checkup - Steve had meetings all morning so I went on my own. I love my doctors office - they are quick and to the point. Its like faster than a fast food joint. You pee, you get weighed, you get your blood pressure taken, questions are asked, heartbeat as heard ... THANK YOU COME AGAIN!

Everything checked out great - I have gained one pound which I am happy about! Baby Herbie's heartbeat was nice and strong.

As I am making appointmets for into next year - There is this chick that needed to do a urine sample. She goes into the bathroom as I am looking at a calendar and then all of a sudden she comes out holding her pee cup!! She was walking all around the office with it!! Finally a nurse saw her and was like, "Oh no, you need to put that in the silver cabinet in the bathroom." She still looked confused!! Awww shit, it made me laugh. What is it with urine samples?!

And here is my baby bump ....

12 week checkup ...

The 12 week appointment is already here and after I told Steve that we may or may not hear the heartbeat - he was already telling his work he would be working a half day so he could be there. We meet at home and head down to Rose. I love days like these - its fun to go to the doctors for once to see how baby herbie is shaping up. I just wish the doctors appointment weren't so far apart!

We park and start walking in - there is a smell of hot dogs in the air. Steve gets excited and says, "mmmm hot dogs!" and I immediately start searching my purse for my Preggo Pops. My stomach has still been nauseous and the smell of hot dogs is not a good thing for me to smell right now. I just hope getting out of the 1st trimester will help this go away!!

We sign in and the receptionist tells us we owe them money ... this baby is already expensive! Steve is looking at me shaking his head. He goes on to say, "I think that those pops really don't do anything - I think its all in your head. I bet I could buy you Dum-Dums and they would still work ..." Since Steve is the type of person that needs to know why or how something works - I say, "Bring it. Ask the doctor if these work ... I bet she will have my back!" He replies with, "Fine!"

My name is called - I do the urine sample thing - but this time I am more confident that I am suppose to pee in the plastic cup. I jot down my name on the cup, put it in the cubby hole, wash my hands and meet the nurse in the hall. Time for a weight check. GREAT. I get on the scale and I am closing my eyes yet I have one peeked open to see how fat I have gotten. Wait, whats this?! Down a pound! Ok! I will take it! I follow her into a room where Steve was sitting.

"Ok, I have to ask ... do those Preggo Pops even work?!" Steve decides to get this off his chest right away. "Oh yeah, are you feeling nauseous right now?" the nurse is looking at me ... "Yeah, I smelled hot dogs on the way in ... " She laughs and continues with, "Yeah - these pops have a ton of ginger in them to help settle the stomach. Another good alternative is Canada Dry Ginger Ale." I am just staring at Steve waiting for him to realize that Dum-Dums was a Dum-Dum idea!

My doctor had to go and deliver a baby so I see her back up. She asks the normal questions, asked if we had questions and decided to move on to listening to the baby's heartbeat. It sounds like something from outer space - pretty sure it was ET's family trying to get a hold of him. "Listen - you can hear it in the background ... that noise. That's the heartbeat ..." Now - many of you reading this has experienced in enjoying the sounds of your baby's heartbeat - it is the most surreal things I can think of. On one hand you think, "Wait you crazy bitch! that's MY heartbeat!" because its so weird. Then on the other hand you hear this beating and you are like, "WOW I have a human inside of me ..." Its the best thing you could ever hear in your life.

The nurse comes back in, gives me a flu shot - swipes my mouth for something (I think she is doing a DNA test to see if this baby is really mine) and sends us upstairs to get blood tests. Once that was over - we got in our car and just talked about the heartbeat the rest of the car ride home! I just cannot wait for the next appointment!

Going to the Doctor ...

Friday comes and I wake up feeling excited - This is just nuts! Our 10:45 doctors appt. cannot come any sooner ... And then it does. Steve takes the day off - must be nice to have so much vacation time - so I go and pick him up at the house. We are driving to the hospital thinking about when we are going to tell everyone. I am pretty sure we got in an argument because we did not want to tell Facebook because that guy is a prick and will just tell everyone we know.

So we walk in - hit the elevators, see another prego walk by, and walk in the office. I check in and once the receptionist says "Ultrasound" again - it starts freaking Steve out. We are really doing this!! Our name gets called - we go into the room. The nurse says, "ok - before we do this, you need to let your bladder out - so you can go to the bathroom right over there." Now at this point, I cannot remember if she said, "We need a sample" or if she just says, "Let your bladder out", so I start to panic. There are cups available in the bathroom with a black marker next to them. I think that she wanted a sample. SO - I pick up a cup, write "Herbert" on the side of it and let my bladder go. I put the pee cup in that convenient little drive up window door, wash my hands and head back to the room. I think, "man I really hope she needed a sample."

She tells me I have to strip down waist below and that she will be right back. I look at Steve, "Wait - I thought this was like the movies where they put goo on your tummy and do it that way?!" Steve shrugges his shoulders - "I don't know!" The nurse comes back in and off course I have to have to keep moving my ass to the end of the table - Oh no? that is still not far enough? Well shit! you want my whole body off this table?! keep scooting?! How far do you want me to go?! Anyway - after my lower half of my body is off the table, she tells us we can look at the TV monitor above us and Steve and I are not saying much. He grabs my hand and we are still looking at a black TV that is trying to get a signal so its still in the white snow phase. We finally see a big circle. Then we see a small circle. She explains that the small circle is the baby. She is marking things like, "this is the yolk sack", "This is the head", "This is the butt" ... and the whole time, Steve and I did not say a word. (sidebar - I have NO idea what a yolk sack is ...). She says that the due date would be around April 2nd but that the doctor will decide for sure. Steve makes a joke, "Looks like there is a warm front moving in!" the nurse did not find it funny and tells us that the "Doppler system" came from ultrasounds first and that the weather people stole it from them. Yikes. She then proceeds to say, "Lets see if there is just one in here..." Yes. Please do. she is silent for 5 minutes just staring at the screen. Really lady?! You are going to be silent for more than 30 seconds after that comment?! "Nope - just one." Both Steve and I blow a sigh of relief! She printed us out a picture and then it was time to meet our doctor. Our baby is the size of a raspberry.

As we are waiting for the doctor I am just staring at this image. I mean, it could be a picture of a disaster sight after a hurricane for all I know - you cannot tell that its a baby, but - I just smile at it. The doctor walks in and its like its just another day at the office for her. For us, this is a life changing event  ....  She goes through her schpeel ...
"Do you suffer from, Asthma? Diabetes? Thyroid problems? High blood pressure? Seizures?" It started feeling like the pepto commercial ... "Suffer from an upset stomach like - nausea, heartburn, diarrhea, and indigestion?!" She gives us more of a set due date of April 2nd. Steve says, "Oh man! Opening day?!" Steve and his jokes .... Anyway - when we are done, she walks over to the front desk and has the receptionist schedule 3 appointments for the rest of the year .... as she is walking away, "Make your appointments for your 12 week, your 16 week and your 21st week!!" I look at the receptionist .... "You know those dates for me, right?!"

So here we go .... baby Herbie is on it's way!

I need a Doctor, Call me a Doctor ....

Well we got through the weekend without grabbing everyone and saying, "Holy shit! I am knocked up!" Now it is time I find a doctor. I do not even know what a baby doctor is called. I keep calling them an OBGYN - so I had a hard time searching for the appropriate doctor. I called my primary care to have them give me a referral and even on their answering service I said, "A doctor that deals with babies." Come to find out - Obstetrician. That is the noun I was looking for. We also had to pick out a hospital that would work for us as well - and since Rose Medical Center is down the street and since Michael, Elijah and Marcus were born there - I picked that one. Once I got a name and number from my primary doctor - it was game on!

I am in my car - getting ready to go to lunch with Caleb - and I make the call. As its ringing, I start thinking, "what do I say? What am I doing?! I wonder how far along I am? God - What is for lunch, I am starving!" and as I am thinking these things, the receptionist answers ... "Metropolitan OBGYN, call I help you?" I went blank. Why was I calling them again?! "Um ... Yes ... I need to ... Um ... make and appointment ... Um ... I peed on a stick and it told me I was pregnant..." So now that this chick thinks I am 16, we are off to a great start!
Lady: "When was the first day of your last period?"
Me: "June 27th"
Lady: "Oh ... Ok, well we need to get you in this week, looks like you are about 8 weeks so we need to get you in for an ultrasound...."
Me: "Ultra .... what?"
Lady: "Yeah, an ultrasound ... how does Friday at 1045am work?"
Me: "Ultra .... huh?"
Lady: "Listen I know you must be scared of what your parents must think ... Wait, you do have your drivers license, correct? You can drive over here?"
Me: "8 weeks??"
Lady: "Ok, I just need to know if you can skip 5th period that day to come see us ... I will put you down for 10:45 ... See you then!"
CLICK
Me: "So ... ultrasound and 8 weeks?"

Ok - so it did not happen exactly that way - but might as well have because I was shocked. I am already 8 weeks?! I mean, come on Andrea, do simple math.... 8 weeks is about right. But I thought baby math was different from regular math ... whatever. All I know is - here we go!

Getting Step 2 checked off felt great!

Denial is not just a river ...

Today is the day that I peed on a stick. I have not been feeling well for the past couple of weeks and Steve is convinced that I am prego. I started not feeling well about a week ago - nausea, barely eating, and if I did my inner child would take over and I would take 2 bites and say, "Done!" I am very tired as well, taking naps all the time, which I rarely do,  - But I have been blaming the hot weather on my laziness!! I have been in complete denial about the whole thing, any time Steve says, "dude, your prego!!" I just take more sips of my vodka soda and say, "Yeah ... well your stupid!" Its not that I am not excited to find out - but once you know, its like .... You KNOW. Then its like one big wave of questions ... "How come your not drinking? Why you not hungry? Why you so tired? What is your favorite color?" ... questions that I am not going to be able to answer because I am a terrible liar! And my friends can read me like a book. But nonetheless - We have to find out. Its time.

Steve and I go to Target to get a pregnancy test. You would think that I would have taken one of these already in my life,  the teenage scare of, CRAP! I may be prego! or the mid-20's scare of, CRAP! I may be prego! or even the just married scare of, CRAP! I may be prego! but no ... I have never taken one of these things in my life. We go down the aisle ... Let's see ... EPT, Clear Blue, Easy Answer .... Hummm .... Do I take the one with the plus sign - or one really legit one that actually says, "You are Pregnant, you slut!" I am thinking the legit one. Oh look, there are TWO tests in this package. "BONUS! Free Pregnancy Test! Two for the price of One!!" Sweet! Now one of the tests can sit in my bathroom to collect dust on. Maybe I should go to Colfax and sell one of them  ....

After checking out and feeling like the checker-outter chick is judging me ("oh look ... these 30 year olds are buying a test ... what crazy sex animals!") we are on the way home. I am getting really nervous ... We are not talking much - Steve is wondering why I am biting my nails and twitching my leg - but this is really nerve racking! We get home, unload the groceries and there is the test just staring at me. I take it out, read the directions. "Ok, it will take 3-5 minutes for my pee to cook ..." Steve says, "well ... what are you waiting for?"

So I do the deed and come out of the bathroom. After 5 minutes of silence - Steve asks, "So ... you gonna check that thing?!" I make him do it ... Like its a spider in the bathroom and I need him to kill it before I even think about stepping foot in the bathroom. Steve yells from the bathroom, "You going to come find out, or what?!" I slowly get up - take a deep breath - and start walking towards the bathroom. Now, for those who have seen my bathroom, its the size of a closet - it is small. I walk in, Steve is leaning up against the tub - I am trying to evaluate his face. The only thing I can come up with is that he is gassy. He hands me the test. "Pregnant". I look at Steve, who has a big smile on his face, also a "told you so" look about him, and then I look back at the test. Someone pintch me! But not hard because I bruise easily. I called Steve, "Dad" and he calls me "Bitch" ... it was so sureal. Could this be?! Could I be prego?! No way, I am the Aunt ... I know how to be an Aunt - I have been an Aunt since I was 15! But a mom?! If the baby cries, can I just give it back to Ashley or Jessica?! (the answer is yes by the way) ... So I look at Steve, "Now what?!" You would think he would be asking that to me, but no, I am sitting there asking him. I have no idea what the next step is ... Again, I have been on the other end of the phone when my sisters have told me the news. And I am always thinking the same thing yet the number keeps going up ... "YAY! Aunt times 5! Aunt times 6! Aunt times 7!"

So here we go ... the first step is out of the way ...