It's A….

GIRL!!!!

Flowers, bows, ruffles, and all things pink!! Could not be more excited! Let's be honest, would've been equally excited if Baby Bailey was a boy but happy we were in a no-lose situation.

When we went in for the ultrasound at week 19 we were eager to find out the news but it ended up being the last piece of information we learned during the appointment. First, we learned all about how she was growing and just how much of a personality she has already. The first image of her made me cry, duh. She was no longer the first image we had of her at week 7 - an alien looking thing - here's what she looked like then:

I mean seriously, she had a beak and a tail… was a little pleased to get that image out of my head and instead replace it with a more human baby looking one. We started with an up-close shot of her head. Perfectly round and no beak. Phew! Then the doctor said let's get a look at her face. I was so excited, no more beak, round head, let's see those eyes, nose and little lips. So then Baby Bailey turned slightly, looking "right at us" and did this…

Not exactly the image we were hoping for. Talk about replacing one creepy picture with another, she looked like the Terminator/Crypt Keeper! What you can't see is how this pose took place. The Dr. kept saying "come on, let's get a good look at those eyes" and she turned, opened her mouth slightly, one eye really wide and her hand (which was in a fist next to her opened eye), as if saying "hi, I'm here!". While we can now appreciate how rare and sweet that moment was, in the moment it was a little scary. Nate and I both gasped and I asked "where's the other eye??". Giggling, the Dr. said it's just not open and moved the camera showing us a better view after she closed her one very wide eye and mouth. Phew, she's normal!! Already showing a little personality, we continued on.

It was amazing, actually amazing doesn't describe it well but I can't think of any other way to express the feeling. Amazing to see her. Amazing as we went through all the measurements and learned she's growing very well in "perfect" form.

Nicely formed skull and if anything like her father a soon to be scarily big head (to house a huge brain as he says when his is referred to freakishly large).

Sure to be little ham hawk thighs.

Anytime the Dr. would say let's get a look at anything, she would hide it as if she could hear her. It was really funny. We were going for her other arm and she turned and tucked it away. When we went for the toes she dug them into me, hiding them. When we got too close she would shove and twirl around. When we were just looking at her in general she would flip around as if showing us her tricks. Sassy little thing, couldn't be more proud ;)

Speaking of flipping around, it was crazy to see her make those moves on the screen and then connect it with the feeling I had. It was a moment of "that's been you the whole time??" I had been having butterfly feelings in my stomach and weird little what I would describe as bubbles and now I could recognize them as her moving and doing her tricks. A few days before our appointment I felt her first little kick or nudge and told the Dr. where it was. Sure enough, it was one of the areas she was liking to stretch out her legs and feet. I was so excited, I had been feeling her for about a week and didn't know it. So I started crying again.

All measurements were done, everything looked great and just as they should so now it was time to try and find out gender. We of course agreed to not say it out loud so she wouldn't try to hide as she had her little ankles crossed when she wasn't doing her flips and twists. I was craning my neck, Nate was on the edge of his seat and the Dr. asked if we could see it. No, I couldn't see anything, Nate couldn't either. She told us to keep looking and we were. But finally I said "there's no penis" which caused more giggles from her as she said "that's because it's a GIRL!"

I had been looking for a penis as we, along with a majority of everyone else, were guessing a boy. Not entirely sure why although on Nate's part it was a wishful guess. He had all his favorite MSU basketball and football players names ready to chose from to name his little boy. Now we were looking at our little girl. Nate had a smile mixed with an unrecognizable look of fear and it puzzled me. But knowing he was sure it was a boy, I gave him his space to let the shock wear off.

We gathered all our pictures and headed home. When we got home Nate was really quiet. I could tell he was thinking, just sitting there deep in thought. I was too but I had a small smile as I imagined all the ruffles, bows and everything we were going to spoil her with. A little concerned I asked him if he was ok and what was he thinking. He slowly looked up and said "I don't want her to be too pretty." Um… what?! I asked why he wished that and he said "because we'll have to get a lot of guns." Melted my heart. This whole time the shock turned into a fear and realization for him of how he was going to protect his little girl. I guess with a boy you worry less about that, or maybe moms do more than dads. I reassured him that everything was going to be just fine and that we had at least 15 years before we would have to worry about her dating. I immediately knew in that moment that he is going to be even more of an amazing father than I could ever imagine.

We're so thrilled and can't wait to meet our precious little girl!

Revealing the Big News

We had so much fun revealing the news of expected Baby Bailey. We had already planned on spending Thanksgiving with our Florida family in Vero Beach and knew we probably couldn't pull off hiding it well. Obviously we were worried someone would spoil the surprise for the MI family but decided we could threaten them enough that maybe, just maybe they wouldn't. We were so proud when we made it to MI for Christmas and found out they all stayed true to their word and didn't mention a thing. We were able to pull off the surprise on everyone there too - there were just two close calls. Jessica spotted me in the big poncho I was wearing and that made it obvious to her but she didn't say anything. Brenden, being the big brother that he is, went to tickle my stomach and stared at me for a brief moment, his face saying "um… either you got chubby quick or are pregnant". Luckily he felt so thrown off he didn't say anything either.

We stole the picture/video idea from our friends Tara and Terry - pretend to be taking a picture and say "1,2,3 everyone say Kylee's pregnant" all the while actually recording on video. We knew no one would really be surprised by the news that we were pregnant so we thought that this would be a shocking way to tell them and make it fun. So happy we were right as it turned out to be a total blast! Nate handled the camera each time, so he was behind each one, and sadly the only one that it ran out on at the end were his parents, which is why theirs was so short :(

We knew the key would be to take the picture as soon as possible to eliminate any possibility of anyone getting suspicious while together. While everyone thought it was odd, and some nearly ruined it by not cooperating, they all eventually played along and made it happen. All reactions were great. From Aunt Kathy falling on the floor to Uncle Mike refusing to break his pose (as he said he did not want to mess up the picture), we loved them all.

Needless to say, the next time we insist on taking a group photo our family is going to be a little suspicious…

One Two Three, Say... from Kylee Bailey on Vimeo.

Being Preggo So Far

So how do I feel? Different, but great. I almost feel like I've had it "too easy" so far and that it could all come back to bite me later. Here's what's changed:

Some of the first symptoms, and continue to be the strongest now, were fatigue and burping. Yep, louder than I ever thought possible belches. I've surprised myself and brought utter horror to Nate's face. There were days that I came home thinking I had to have mono for how unexplainably tired I was. Next came headaches. Headaches that would put me under the covers wanting no light or sound to be near me.

After that, certain things that I LOVE didn't sound good anymore - like wine and coffee. My two most favorite beverages in the whole wide world. Wine actually made me really sick early on when I had no idea yet that we were pregnant. There were two back to back Fridays that I had gone out to happy hour. After each I would wake up between 3am and 4am and have severe stomach pains and feel really sick. After the second one I tried to figure out what it could be. The only things the two happy hours had in common were chicken wings and red wine. No way it's the wine I thought. Just couldn't be. Probably those chicken wings. So that Saturday night I had two glasses of wine with dinner and sure enough, 3:45am I was wide awake with the same pains. What in the world, how could wine all of a sudden be doing that to me?! ...oh... uhoh... maybe? nah, just a weird coincidence I thought. The next week coffee didn't taste good or even sound appealing and the more I tried, the same with wine.

Then all of a sudden I could really smell things. I haven't had a good sniffer in about 8 years. I'll never forget one night I was sitting on one side of the couch and Nate came and sat down on the complete opposite. Immediately I could smell licorice - a smell I haven't smelled in years. I excitedly asked him if he had licorice in his mouth. He, of course thinking I was trying to bust him for eating sweets so late, denied it. But I knew it and told him I could smell it. Even he was surprised I could smell it, I've never really been able to.

Next came the uncontrollable hunger. You could sum up my pregnancy so far by calling it Hunger Games. I can eat, and eat and eat. And yes that has reflected in my expanding waistband. My overall cravings are carbs but an odd one at first were tomato juice. I had to have it all the time. But now I can't stand it, strange I know. The only other random one has been bean burritos from Taco Bell (no onions, add sour cream). I could eat those breakfast lunch and dinner if I let myself.

I've made it through so far without anything I would consider morning sickness. I get sick if I let my stomach get too empty. I think I've narrowed it down to every 2-3 hours I need to snack on something otherwise I will start to feel like I'll get sick. There's even been nights I've woken up starving. I'll disappear to the kitchen quick, sneak back in bed and Nate sleepily asks why I smell like peanut butter. My motion sickness has spiked so car rides are often rough.

I know I have it really easy and I feel very lucky. It is not lost on me how much worse others have it and I'm extremely grateful. Right now my focus is rest, eating right, and trying to exercise even though I'm utterly exhausted.

Trip to Walgreens That Changed it All

Julie had told us that the next time she's in town we better be pregnant because she wants to find out while she's here and she won't be back until the spring. So she came back into town and we met for dinner. Of course, one of her first questions is if we're pregnant. The smallest hesitation in my answer made her eyes go wide and she excitedly asked me what my symptoms were. Thinking the typical denial phrases like "nah, there's no way" we agreed to go get a pregnancy test.

So into Walgreens Nate and I went... in chinatown in DC... at 10pm. There we were standing in the long line with our Clearblue test among all the other 20 somethings picking up snacks and alcohol for their about to be wild Saturday night. Awesome.

I didn't want to look at the results. Not entirely sure why, but am guessing out of pure horror for what it could mean. Of course I would be excited, but I will never deny how petrified the thought of being pregnant makes me. So Julie looked. When she shrieked I demanded to see it - you could barely see the second line. But she insisted it existed and when we went into better lighting I could see it. It was faint, but it was there.

Speaking of faint, that's what I thought Nate was going to do. He literally looked like he had been electrocuted. He couldn't talk, he barely moved and he couldn't really smile although he did try really hard. After looking at the stick for himself he patted me on the back like I was his pal and then kept his distance. I giggled and told him the damage was already done which broke the ice a little and he finally eased up a bit and gave me a hug. We had a moment of yay, crap, what the heck do we do now?!

I think to a certain extent we were both holding back a lot of our excitement until we saw a doctor. While waiting for our appointment, I decided to take the second test, since we had it and all. Plus I wanted to see if there was a difference within a week. There definitely was...

Going in to the first doctor's appointment we thought we were about 8 weeks along. But during the appointment it seemed like we were maybe closer to 5 weeks along so they sent us in to a different office a few weeks later for a detailed sonogram to find out for sure. How the confusion happened? A weird series of events with my last menstrual cycle - I kind of had two within 30 days which was odd. So we weren't sure if we were pregnant from the first or second cycle.

That was two weeks ago. This morning we went in for the detailed sonogram. The doctor there asked if I was in any pain and I said no. She frowned. She asked if I had severe cramping. I said no. She then asked if I had previous complications or miscarriages and I said no. I couldn't figure out what she was confused and why she was asking those questions. She then finally said that we were sent there with notes of a possible ectopic pregnancy - meaning a pregnancy outside of the uterus which obviously is not good at all.

Immediate panic. Confusion. And for lack of a better way of describing it, I was royally pissed off that my doctor hadn't shared this with us at all during our first visit. I explained to her the confusion with my last cycle and that we were told we were coming to her for a more detailed sonogram than what they could do. She said ok, let's get started.

When we did I was cranning my neck at the screen. Please God let there be a baby (in the uterus). I was in a total panic that we might have a problem and felt like my heart was going to break. But within moments a little blob showed up on the screen and the doctor said the sweetest words, "congratulations, you're going to be parents." Of course, I cried. I could hear Nate's nervous little laugh behind me and she continued to take us through our baby's measurements and stats.

The little flicker of the heartbeat was incredible to see. Then she said "now let's hear it". Ok, this won't be my only completely ignorant time during pregnancy I'm sure, but I had no idea you could do that. It was super fast and super loud. Not knowing if that was good I looked at her and she said "great, perfect heartbeat". I could finally breathe. Then I cried some more. The doctor stopped and turned to Nate and said, "I'm going to give you some advice - she's going to cry like that all the time. For no reason. She'll REALLY cry when she has a reason, but for the most part she's going to cry at anything at any moment from now on. You just tell her you love her and that she's beautiful and you'll do great". Haha, best advice ever!

I didn't realize how much I was fearing that there was going to be a problem, that there wouldn't be a heartbeat, or something awful. I didn't realize it until we walked our with a little picture of our 7 week growing baby, knowing there was a heartbeat and that right now everything was good. Of course I still have fears and know that I always will, but this was a huge relief and I couldn't be happier! We are so excited and cannot believe we're on our way to parenthood - so fun and frightening all at the same time!

I haven't been keeping up the blog, but decided with the pregnancy it will be good to document and share all that's about to happen. Now on to handle the journey we're on... oh boy (or girl)!