Preggo Q&A!

Thank you SO much for sharing our excitement about our growing family!  We've read and reread all of your sweet comments.  Your support and love is overwhelming!  It's been killing me not to write about this pregnancy on this blog, because this is the only way I keep track of things.  I don't want to forget those first few weeks!!

We are getting LOTS of questions these days, so I thought I'd do a little Q & A post!

How/when did you find out?
Very early Christmas Eve morning we were packing to head out to New Orleans to celebrate with my family.  We had Christmas with Mark's family all day the day before, so we had a lot to do to get ready for the next round.  I told Mark I was going to take a pregnancy test just to rule out pregnancy.  (It was probably the 500th one I've taken in my life!)  I get these at Dollar Tree. :)  It looked negative, just like normal, and I didn't think twice about it as I went on packing.  About 30 minutes later, I went back in the bathroom to gather a few more things.  The test caught my eye.  I just about fainted.  Never in a MILLION years did I think the test would actually be positive.  Seriously, y'all, it was 5 YEARS ago when we started trying to have a baby, and I lost an ovary just a few months earlier!  My first thought??  "QUICK, come up with a creative way to tell Mark!"  My mind was racing, and all I managed was "Babe, I don't think we are going to be on the road by our 8:15 deadline..."  I came around the corner and when I saw him, I just started hysterically sobbing with JOY!  The fact that the test might be positive was the last thing on his mind too, so he panicked!  Somehow I managed to tell him the news that I was PREGNANT!

Baby Long at 8 weeks (The baby's head is on the left, and you can see the arms too!)

I have low progesterone, which can cause you to miscarry, so I knew I had to get on medicine right away.  I started calling every doctor I knew, and they were all closed.  Imagine that, closed on Christmas Eve at 7:00 am!  :)  I wish I had a video of us that morning.  I'm racing in circles around the house, trying to decide what to do, all the while crying like a baby.  Mark's still trying to load the car and pack, and Landrie's oblivious to all the chaos, happily eating her oatmeal.  Every few minutes we stopped, looked at each other and said, "Can you believe this???"  I finally decided to PAGE our favorite fertility doctor.  The message said I could if it was an emergency!  Of course, his office was open and they told us that we had about 15 minutes to get downtown if I wanted to get my levels checked.  We FLEW down 35!  I got my blood drawn in the nick of time.

We took this right after we found out! 

We left straight from the doctor's office for our trip.  We spent the next 9 hours in the car talking and dreaming about our next little baby.  We thanked God over and over for this blessing that is far more than we dreamed of.  It was the most blissful 9 hour car trip you could ever imagine!  Around 1:00, the doctor called with GREAT news.  You see, we were pregnant after IVF one time before and our numbers were very low.  I had a devastating miscarriage a few weeks later.  We were praying for high numbers.  Last time, our HCG was 30.  This time, it was 502!!  We were elated!

Just a few hours after that phone call, we arrived in New Orleans.  We decided to keep our news a secret! No one suspected a thing!  I drank more OJ in those few days than I have in my life.  It was SO good! :)

Mark whispered something like, "I need a picture of my PREGNANT wife!" right before he snapped this.  It was so sweet to have this precious secret in the middle of all the Christmas morning craziness.  

I can't believe that next Christmas Landrie will be a 2 year old BIG sister and we will have an almost 4 month old!  Life really can change in the blink of an eye!

What does Landrie think?
She's way too young to understand at this point, but survived the first trimester surprisingly well!  She has a newfound love for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse because she watched so much of it!  When we ask her about the baby, she pulls up my shirt and points at my bellybutton.  She'll even kiss it.  :)  Sometimes she also points to her own bellybutton to though...

How far apart will Landrie and the new baby be?
If this baby comes on my due date, then Landrie will be 2 weeks short of her 2nd birthday!  For a few days I'll have 2 under 2!

Are you going to find out the gender?  WHEN?
There is NO way I could wait!  I'm not as patient as some of y'all!  We managed to get our doctor to do it a bit early, so we'll find out in less than a month, on April 1st!!

How do you feel?
I feel much better now!  I was thankful for the nausea at first because it helped to reassure me that I was still pregnant.  Plus, it made me feel like a real pregnant girl. :)

Are you still going to turn in the adoption paperwork?
No.  We have our hands full right now!  Plus, we have several friends on the waiting list for Inheritance, and we cannot WAIT to see them get their babies!!!  We've learned over and over not to limit God though.  We love adoption and are definitely not closing the door to adopting again in the future!

How far along are you?
I'm almost 15 weeks.  If you use Google Reader or something like that to visit our blog, click on over to the actual one!  I've made a new header and there's a due date ticker at the top.

Do you have a baby bump yet?
Right now I just look like I had a big lunch. :)  I am planning on posting pictures when I do!

Did you do fertility drugs this time?
We haven't touched them in about 2.5 years!  God's perfect timing for our family was just right now.

Have you had any cravings or aversions?

Oh my goodness.  Have I ever!  I've craved 

Rolos, Doritos, Pop Tarts, Pizza, 

all types of Italian food (I wanted only that for 3 weeks straight.  Poor Mark!), Fuji apples, oranges, bread/bagels/english muffins, OJ, sno cones...I really could only eat something if I craved it for most of the first trimester.  Looking at this list, I think the baby just wanted some calories!!  I hardly ate, so I still lost weight.  Mark was so excited to get to go on "cravings" runs for me!  

I had a HUGE aversion to cooking.  Believe it or not, I am going to attempt to cook dinner tonight for the first time in I don't even want to say how many weeks!  I would try and get so grossed out.  I also couldn't handle milk, eggs, oatmeal, 

bananas, and even couldn't handle Mexican food for a month straight!  That was so sad!  We went to Fuzzy's Tacos with our Community Group on Friday night, and I'm happy to report that it tastes good again!

Hmmmm...it looks like the baby hates healthy food and loves junk food.  What does that mean??? :)  I promise I'm trying to eat healthier now!

If you missed the announcement and are confused about why this adoption-loving couple is announcing a pregnancy, click here. :)