A wonderful surprise!

A few days ago I got a message from my friend Amy Chavie with a great little song on it that she wanted me to listen to.  It was one of here favorite songs and it is a great little kids song!  I am posting it on this message so you can hear it.  In just a few months, baby will be able to hear it also.... I will have to play it just for Amy!

Well, it has been a long week.  Between studying for my shelf exam next week and working cruddy hours, I am just exhausted.  So I came home tonight prepared to study study study and there was a wonderful surprise on our doorstep from our good friends Amy Chavie and Tyler Smith!  First of all, it was addressed to "Mommy-to-be", which was odd to see in writing (in a good way)!   I opened it to find the cutest little baby outfits and a cute little robe, plus some maternity shirts (that are actually really cute!) and a beautiful card!!! I was so surprised and touched.  We sure are lucky to have such great, thoughtful friends, and we miss them like crazy!  It made my night, and reminded me that the excitement of this pregnancy far outweighs the exhaustion!  One more week of this stupid surgery rotation and hopefully I will be getting a little more sleep :-)  That will be nice.  Poor Derek has had to deal with me going to bed at 9:00 every night!  At this point, I am just trying to stay healthy and well-rested and hope for no morning sickness (which is so far working out pretty well :-))

Thank you Amy & Tyler for the wonderful surprise!  You brought some light into my day!










                            It's A Big World

Telling Our Siblings We Are Pregnant!

Last night we told our siblings that we are pregnant.  We thought it would be a cute idea to have everyone over at Vicky's house for dinner and then give them each little booties that had "Baby Johnson Due Sept. 9 2012" on them.  While that is what we did, it did not go quite as smoothly as planned, but exciting nonetheless!  It turned out that Grandma Johnson's birthday celebration was also scheduled on the same night, so we cut our timing a little closer than we originally planned.

 We got to Vicky's house a little late and were standing around the kitchen waiting to grab a bite to eat.  We handed out a bag to Tracy, Russ, and Amy.  They opened them to find the little bootie with the news on it.  Most of them said "I knew it!"  but were all very excited.  Luckily, we also got this on tape just like when we told our parents.  We had a little time to visit before heading out to Grandma Johnson's birthday party, where Jerry announced that you were coming to the entire Johnson side of the family!  Everyone was very excited and congratulated us on the great news.

This morning, it was time for Aunt Tracy to head back to Amherst with her team.  I wish she didnt have to leave today.  It felt a little funny throwing the news on everyone and then having them leave the next day.  I was hoping we would all have a little more time to process the news first.  However, I am so glad I was able to tell Tracy in person, since she will probably not be home for several more months!  We miss her already!!  Aunt Amy also went back to Duluth tonight, but will be back later this week for surgery on her ankle.  Now we are spending the rest of the weekend with Larry and Dan while they are in town.  

It was nice to have the day off to relax and sleep in again.  It is also great to feel like the secret is out now.  Can't wait for the exciting months ahead!

First Doctors Appointment

Today has been a whirlwind!  I decided to go to the doctor and make sure everything was okay.  With not feeling sick and everything going on I just wanted to make sure things were fine.  So we went to see Terri Johnson today.  Mom came with me.  Derek wanted to go, but I told him it was not a big deal and that we weren’t going to do any testing so he didn’t need to go.   Whoops…. My bad!  Anyway, back to the doctor.  We went in and did the pregnancy test, which was positive.  After hearing about my symptoms and how I was a little nervous, Dr. Johnson decided to do an ultrasound.  When she used the portable ultrasound machine in her room she didn’t see the heartbeat, so she sent us down to the imaging center to get a better ultrasound.  This made me incredibly nervous.  I thought for sure something must be wrong that she couldn’t see the heartbeat.  So we went downstairs and did an ultrasound in a big dark room with just me and mom and the ultrasound tech.  At first, she couldn’t find the heartbeat either because you are just so small.  Eventually she found your heartbeat and clocked it at 114 BPM…. A good strong heartbeat.  It turns out, we are only 6 weeks and 1 days pregnant instead of the 8 weeks that we thought!  Definitely a relief and excitement to see your little heart beating and know that you are doing okay in there!  Dr. Johnson assured me that it is okay to tell your aunts and uncles this weekend.  Apparently most pregnancies have a 20% chance of miscarriage in the first 12 weeks, but seeing your heart beating nice and strong on the ultrasound tells her that we have less than 5% chance of miscarriage.  My heart is so relieved.  I definitely cried on the way home knowing that you are okay in there.  So now you are due September 9, 2012…. Just one day after your aunt Amy was born.  We will see if you actually are born that day, but what a huge relief to know you are okay.  Your dad was very glad to hear the good news.  No more panicking on my part!  Now I just get to look forward to you making me feel tired and sick for the next 6 weeks.  All good things.

Time to go to the doctor

So, I have been a little nervous lately.  I don't suspect anything to be wrong, but my mind has been racing.  Tracy is coming into town tonight and we are planning on telling all of our siblings that we are pregnant this friday! While this is really exciting, its also makes me nervous.  I have not had a doctors appointment yet to know that everything is going okay, and I am not out of the 12 week window yet where you usually avoid telling people you are pregnant. I will be 9 weeks pregnant when we tell everyone. Im just nervous about telling people we are pregnant and then having something happen in the next several weeks.  So, I called and made a doctors appointment today.  If nothing else, it is just for my own good to calm my mind a little and make sure that I am doing all of the right things.  I am sure it will go well.  Also, I have an appointment set up for week 11 with Dr. Johnson.  It sounds like during that appointment we will be able to hear your heartbeat.!! Can't wait!  Off to the Dr. I go!

A little freaked out

1/8/2012

Well, things have been going well the past week with really minimal morning (or all day) sickness and just a little bit of cramping throughout the day.  I was really excited about all of this until Saturday afternoon.  I had gone into work early in the morning for surgery and got done around 11AM so I headed home to meet up with Derek.  We have been working on the house to get it ready for you to come, so we decided to go to Home Depot and pick out the new light fixture for the hallway so we could hang it this weekend.  When I went to the bathroom, I noticed that I was bleeding.  I was immediately terrified that something was wrong.  I told Derek and we left the store and went straight home.  My worst fear was that something was wrong or that I was having a miscarriage.  I called your Grandma Kelley and asked her what she thought and if I should go in to the doctor or not.  She informed me that it is really common to have a little bleeding in the first trimester, which I knew from medical school.  She suggested that I put my feet up and keep on the lookout for any other changes such as really bad cramping or increased bleeding.  So I laid on the couch for the rest of the afternoon and watched Derek play spiderman (...a PS3 game that I am sure you will have played by age 3...) and rested.  I felt a little afraid to do anything strenuous and of course cried a little because I was so nervous that something was wrong.

Well it is Sunday night now and so far, no more bleeding or cramping, so I am hoping that all is well with your tiny little body in there.  I read today that you are about the size of a strawberry and that your face and arms and legs are developed.  This next week your fingers and toes will be developing.  In never ceases to amaze me at the incredible working of pregnancy and the perfection that is creating in such a tiny little being like you.  I get more and more excited with every week that passes, and also a little nervous.

On another note, we are planning to tell your aunts and uncles in 2 weeks, so by then I will be 9 weeks pregnant.  Usually they encourage women to not tell their families until they are 12 weeks because the first trimester is the time when most miscarriages can happen.  I am not sure we can wait that long, seeing as how I am already starting to show a bit and your Aunt Tracy has been thinking I might be pregnant already (since of course I am not drinking any alcohol)!  She will be home in a little over and week and I can't wait to tell them all!  I am sure they will be just as excited to meet you as we are.

Well, I am going to keep praying for God to take care of you and bring you into this world safe and healthy.  I will do my part to make sure that I am eating well and getting lots of sleep. 

I love you already,

Mom

We Are Pregnant

1/2/2012

Dear Baby,

Last week we found out we were pregnant with you!  Your dad and I had come home from long days at work and were heading to bed.  I was 2 weeks late, but had taken a pregnancy test the week before that was negative, so I thought.... well, I am just going to check again.   I must have had a funny feeling that you were going to be coming! :-)  So I took the test and there it was..... 2 pink lines.... pregnant!  I can't even tell you the joy and excitement I felt in that moment.  I walked out to your dad (laying in bed) and he looked right at me and said, "It's positive isn't it?"  What a blessing!  There was so much excitement and nervousness all at the same time.  With your dad working a lot and me being on rotations in medical school, it seemed like there would be lots of things we would have to figure out to make this work.... but of course we knew it would be well worth it in a few months!  

We were a little nervous about telling everyone because at this point I am only 6 weeks pregnant with you.  Unfortunately, there is never a guarantee at this point that you will make it okay.  I have to be very careful and take really good care of my body so that you will grow and develop correctly.  But, none-the-less, your dad and I are not very good at keeping secrets like this when we are excited, so we figured we better tell your grandparents!

Last night, we invited your grandparents (and Michael) over for soup dinner.  We sat everyone down and had dinner and then gave each grandparent a little bag and told them that it was a gift for New Year's Day!  In each bag was a little teddy bear with a sign that said, "You're going to be grandparents"  "Baby Johnson  Due: August 2012".  They opened them up and screamed with excitement.  It was so wonderful to see our family as excited about you coming as we are.  And also, it was a relief to be able to tell them so that we could share the joy with someone instead of keeping you a secret.  Of course, we immediately started thinking about all of the great things we were looking forward to. They can't wait to meed you!  We caught it all on tape so someday you will be able to see the reaction of everyone hearing that you are on the way.

Well, its late now and I need to get good rest so you keep growing and stay healthy.  We love you so much already and can't wait to meet you!  


Mom