Today is the day!!!

Getting ready to go to the hospital, you'd think the nerves would be getting to us, but we were calm as a cucumber (however calm that is!)

We were in the pre-op room for what seemed like forever

She's here!!!!

Her little squeals were the best sound in the world...Cue: Tears!!

Emma Brooke Bradley

Born at 1:06 pm on June 25, 2010

measuring 7 pounds 2 ounces and 18.5 inches long

A couple moments of happiness...and then they took her away from us...

just when we thought it was over

It was an absolute roller coaster of emotions going through the fertility process.  We would go into one month with high hopes and the next they would be dashed with devastating news of a failed ovulation.  We thought once we got pregnant, the worry would be over...not quite!  I had a doctor's appointment 2 weeks ago to "confirm" the pregnancy.  I got a call the next morning from a nurse saying that my ultrasound had come back negative.  She informed me that it "most likely" is an ectopic pregnancy and that I needed to go get blood work to rule that out.  


For those that do not know what an ectopic pregnancy is, it is where the egg implants anywhere other than the uterus.  This can be a life threatening condition if not caught in time.  Talk about scaring me to death.  


She then told me that I need to go in every other day and get blood work done to out rule an ectopic pregnancy.  The last day of my bloodwork, I got a another call from the nurse explaining that everything has come back normal and that I needed to have another ultrasound done just to make sure.  This morning, I went in not exactly sure what to expect...I tried not to get my hopes up.  Well, GREAT NEWS!!!  THERE IS A BABY!!!! and it is growing right where it should be growing.  Hopefully no more stress...knock on wood!!

about to burst

This weekend, we are driving back home for a birthday party.  My in laws are both turning 50 in the next few weeks and my mother's birthday is the 2nd of December.  We thought...what could be a more perfect present than to tell them we are expecting!?  It is luck that the positive test and the birthday weekend are so close.  I think I would have burst keeping a secret like this much longer.  The plan is to have the parents open up digital picture frames at the same time.  Among various pictures of us, we are putting a picture of the positive pregnancy test along with the words "You're Going to be Grandparents!"  Hopefully all goes as planned!  Wish us luck!!

mums the word

The weekend has come and gone, and boy was it a total whirlwind of emotions!!  It was Halloween weekend, so we had a lot of activities planned, starting with handing out candy to the neighborhood children.  I just wanted to shout it out down the street, "we're going to be parents!!!!" And then there was the trick-or-treaters....every adorable baby that was carted to the door by their parents, I just thought, next year, this will be me next year!!  We also had a party that Hubby's co-worker was throwing.  I had become pretty good at making excuses when asked if I want a drink, but now, I have the ultimate excuse, and I can't use it!  Then to top the weekend off, we had church on Sunday.  I am good at keeping secrets, but to keep a secret like this from our friends who knew all of our struggles to conceive.......that was just torture!  I just want to tell someone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited and nervous.  I don't think the whole idea that I am pregnant has hit me.  In a couple hours, I have a doctor's appointment with my ob/gyn.  I am just so ready for that confirmation! Hopefully then, it will finally start to sink in!

shock

...is this really happening?!?!

Let me back up and explain.  I've been sick for the past couple weeks, doctor appointment after doctor appointment left me no where.  The doctor believed it was either some kind of infection, migraines, or an issue with my gallbladder.  I was talking with my mother about my symptoms (my sister had her gallbladder taken out a couple years ago).  She told me that it really did not sound like it was my gallbladder...it sounded like I am pregnant.  She, of course, knows all that Hubby and I have been through trying to start our family, and when I tell her that I'm not in any way pregnant, we move on in our conversation.  Well, she may have moved on, but that thought stayed in the back of my head.  That night I mentioned the conversation to Hubby, and I was shocked to hear him say, "well, why not take a test?"  We went to the drugstore and got a cheap 3-pack of pregnancy tests, and I told him I would take it in the morning.  Morning came and I took the test, and 2 minutes later, it came back with a very faint line.  You would think after all these years of trying that I would be rejoicing at the faint line and the posibility of that meaning it was positive...you would think, but no, I threw it away and thought no more about it.  However, 2 days later (today), I woke up and something just did not feel right.  I can't explain it, maybe it was a dream, I don't know, but something told me to take another test.  I went in the bathroom after Hubby left for work and took a test.  It turned positive right away...no faint line there, it was definitely positive!!!!!  I sat down at my computer to find a doctor that could get me in right away.  I just wanted confirmation from something other than a little plastic stick.  Of course, with today being Friday, I could not an appointment until Monday at the earliest.

I called Hubby and told him that I would be out running errands and I wanted to stop by and see him.  For the past 2 years I have had plans about how I would tell each person the special news when the time came.  Such a long time has past that I completely forgot how I was wanting to tell Hubby.  Well, I snapped a picture of the test with my phone before I left the house.  As I drove to his office, I was in a little but of shock and disbelief...I can't believe after 2 and a half years, after all of the medicine we have tried and all of the doctors we have been to, we did it on our own, with no help except from our Lord above!

Hubby walked out of his office and up to the car with a bit of a confused look on his face.  I just held out my phone with tears rolling down my cheek and the biggest smile on my face.  He looked up at me with, what I can only imagine, the same shock and disbelief that I had been experiencing all morning.  He then gave me the biggest hug I think I have ever been given.

Today has been an emotional, overwhelmingly crazy day, but a perfect day!  This is what we have been waiting so long for....I am going to be a mommy!!