The First Half

Technology has changed our means of recording life. Adriana's baby book was abandoned after the first year when I decided that a family blog was a better way to record her (and her brothers') tender years. And I was thinking about how Facebook statuses have tracked my pregnancy, which by the way I am now half-way through! For anyone not familiar with Facebook, everyone participating posts "statuses" which are short updates on your life. I pulled up all the statuses that referred to my pregnancy and put them down for oldest to newest as a sort of pregnancy diary starting immediately after we announced that we were expecting. So here is a glimpse at my recordings of the first 20 weeks:

• Thanks everyone for sharing in our joy!
• I'm O.D.-ing on Saltines...
• Steven to me: "Now that our kids are allowed to tell people we're pregnant, we might as well have printed up fliers for the neighborhood.
• I'm at least glad the toilet I'm sticking my head into is emitting a fresh smell...
• I don't quite understand how one sweet, little pea-sized human being can wreak this much havoc on an adult body.
• I laid awake last night in misery thinking that having flu-like symptoms for multiple weeks was not what I had planned for my fall. Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of my purpose. I'm here to glorify God in whatever way He sees fit; I'm not here to have my own plans fulfilled.
• I'm humored by my daughter's latest attempt at begging for a snack. Adriana: "I'm pregnant and I'm hungry!"
• An advantage to being too weak to take a shower is that your only other option is a bath...and I can't remember the last time I enjoyed one of those...
• Thank you, Zofran, for reintroducing me to Mr. Appetite. Shall we try to be friends again, sir?
• I went to the midwives where they drew blood and threw around fun words like "hypo-thyroid" and "Epstein Bar". We're all just hoping to solve this extreme fatigue mystery.
• My bloodwork came back normal- Yeah! I found out that I was having an adverse reaction to the amount of Zofran I was on. Combine that with a large case of morning sickness, a cold, and low blood pressure and voila!... you have extreme fatigue. So I'm cutting back on the meds--more puking, but the ability to get out of bed more often- I'll take it!
• I feel like I should be getting a bulk discount at Panera for how many of their spinach artichoke souffles I've eaten in the past three weeks...
• "Dear Body, That foreign object inside you is a BA-BY. No matter how long and hard you try, you will not be able to throw it up."
• I'm fine with the blossoming belly, but begrudging the blossoming hips.
• When I'm pregnant, I eat more cereal than a college boy...
• Got a glimpse of myself in the mirror and automatically thought, "Gosh, I need to do some sit-ups", before suddenly remember that I am housing a human in that bulge.
• Felt baby flutters for the first time!!! So excited!
• When I got so ill that I could no longer live in my own home, my kind parent's offered their home and help to us. I would have never dreamed how long it would be for, but God sustained us, and now 7 weeks later, I have finally grown strong enough to move home tomorrow!
• Read about the baby, and I'm not making this up. At this stage of fetal development, scientist have observed that the female fetus tends to move its jaw more than the male fetus....who knew it began that early?!
• Hand over the smoked gouda and nobody gets hurt!!!
• After nearly 4 months of pregnancy I finally got to hear a heartbeat...love at first sound!
• Stop it, lunch! Stop it! YOU are not dinner which means YOU are supposed to stay down!!
• ♥♥ tiny kicks ♥♥
• Headed to the ultrasound...keep your legs uncrossed little one!
• I'm enjoying spending time with her sisters and smiling at the thought that Adriana will get to have that experience too....
• Bought littlest Miss Sieb her first piece of Janie & Jack apparel today...
• My New Year's resolution is to gain a bunch of weight and then lose a bunch of weight!
• Crazy preggo dreaming is not condusive to my job! I had wedding photography nightmares all night...first I realized I had to be the florist too, then next dream I forgot my lens, next I arrived late! I feel like was working all night...now off to the real wedding...let's hope this isn't a nightmare!
• Ready to sleep...baby girl seems ready to party.
• If only I had had the foresight at the beginning of this pregnancy to talk my husband into budgeting me a $1 spending money for each time I threw up. Had I done this, I'd be wearing Prada boots right now...

If you actually read all of that, you are one seriously dedicated blog reader! Reading over it is a fresh reminder to me of God's faithfulness to me, my baby, and my family.