2012 has been one of the hardest years for your father and I. We started it by bringing in the new year in Las Vegas, NV. My mom, your Grandma Segarra, raised me with the superstition that however you spend your New Year's Day will be an tone for the rest of the year. Well our New Year's Day (starting at midnight) did not start out well. Long story short, we were in Vegas with friends and they had a little too much to drink, so the day started out with some nonsense but ended fairly well. Little did I know that they would be an omen to how 2012 would shape up.
Despite the new year starting out in an undesirable way, your father and I were very much looking forward to 2012. We spend the previous year living in Dover, DE with your father driving 1.5 to 1.75 hours each way to work in Philadelphia, PA and I driving about 1.75 to 2 hours each way to DC. The Detailer was not nice to us and forced your father to do a job he didn't want to do. So when your father got selected to become an RPA, he was transferred back to DC.
Your father and I have enjoyed our time in DC previously. There is so much to do and see here. My career has been able to grow as well. After many years of struggling, your father and I are now living a decent life. So getting restationed in DC was very exciting for us.
The week after we got back from Vegas, your father and I made a trip out to Anaheim, CA for my job. We took an extra couple of days and went to Disneyland, Universal Studios, etc. It was a fun vacation for us. However, little did we know, things were about to get tough.
While in Anaheim, your father was due for a paycheck, however, I noticed it had not hit our bank account. As soon as we returned to DC, your father went to see his Yeoman and found out that there had been an error inputting his contract date into the system, thereby, deleting his pay. We had to fight with the admin shop to get your father his paycheck ASAP, as they were just dwiddle dwaddling at getting it fixed. The day your father finally got paid (10 days after he was supposed to), was January 25th.
Why would I have this date memorized? This is the day that our baby girl, Hope, passed away. By the time you read this, both Hope and Mack will have been long gone, however, I am sure your father and I will have told you many stories about them. In short (since this blog is about you), Hope and Mack were our children for the first 12 years of our marriage. We got Hope when she was just a puppy, and her brother Mack, a few months later. They have been everywhere with us and we treated them as our children. Hope passing away hurt us greatly. She died in her sleep, never to awaken. Here is a picture of Hope.
A few weeks after Hope passed away, I convinced your father to agree to adopt a dog from the pound. Mack had been lonely and the house had been so quiet with Hope gone that I felt we needed to bring some joy back in our lives. I found Zoey at a pound in Ohio, some six hours away. So on February 17th, we drove up to get her. On our trip back home, your father realized she had a green discharge coming from her nose. She had kennel cough. We freaked out because Mack was old and we didn't want him to catch it. So for the first week after bringing Zoey home, she had to stay in the basement. I stayed down there with her and we bonded. However, when we introduced her to Mack, well he tried to eat her, TWICE! After trying to figure out how to introduce them safely, we bought a kennel and would put Zoey in it so Mack could sniff her and get used to her. After about another week, we reintroduced them, and they have been pals since. Here is Zoey.
On Hope's one month anniversary of her death, Zoey decided she needed some attention, and fell out of the car. She was ok, only had a few scratches, however, it only added to your father's and my misery of the depressing day.
About a week and a half later, Mack hadn't been acting like himself so your father took him to the vet. We were upset to find out that Mack had a large mass in his abdomen and would need surgery. We had scheduled an appointment for that Saturday, however, the vet had an emergency, and we had to reschedule for Tuesday. Thus, that weekend was a stressful weekend for your father and I.
The next week was Mack's surgery, March 13th to be exact. The reason I know this date will be explained fully shortly. Mack did well in surgery and they removed his mass (which we found out was a cyst) and sent it in for a biopsy. The vet said that Mack's organ's looked healthy and she found only a few small cysts left inside of him, but thought he should recovery nicely. His cyst was 8 inches! We took him home Wednesday. Poor dog was doped up on drugs. We babied him and loved on him all weekend long, however, that Sunday, I had to leave town for a week, for work. Unfortunately, a week later, we found out that Mack's cyst was cancerous, a fast growing aggressive cancer, and he had to get chemo. Currently, he has had his first round and goes next week for his second. Here is a picture of Mack.
Let me back up slightly....
Your father and I had been discussing having a baby for many years, however, we wanted to finish our education, get our careers established, make sure we had enough money for you, and make sure were were ready. We want to give you the absolute best childhood we can, which includes financially, but more importantly, emotionally. So we had to be sure we were ready for you. After we found out that your father was transferring back to DC, we decided to start trying for you. That was in June, however, by the end of February, we had not conceived. I started to get angry, as it seemed like everyone else was having children so easily. Your father got his fertility tested and he was good. So I had to go see my OBGYN for my pap smear and told her about our troubles trying to conceive. She gave me a referral to go see a specialist, however, we would not be able to get an appointment until April 23rd.
In the meantime, I found an ovulation kit online that had great reviews. People were swearing by it and many of the reviews said that these couples got pregnant the first time they used the kit. Your father agreed to let me purchase a kit to try out. The only problem was, if this kit worked that month (March), then the calculations showed that we would have a Christmas baby. Your father and I had always said that we didn't want a Christmas baby because we didn't want the baby to be cheated of their birthday. We discussed this and determined that if we were fortunate to get pregnant this month and had a Christmas baby, then we would make sure that the baby would never get cheated. We would always ensure that they were spoiled for both their birthday and Christmas.
So the way the kit worked is that about a week after my period, I would have to pee on a stick every morning to test my hormone levels. Essentially, right before an egg is released (ovulation) a certain hormone increased and would show in my urine. Therefore, when the stick showed a smiley face (I know, how appropriate), then we would know that I was going to ovulate in the next 24 to 48 hours. Well, I got the smiley face the afternoon we brought Mack home from his surgery.
So I left to Waynesboro, VA on Sunday. By Tuesday, I had started complaining to your father that I was going to have a bad period this month, as my breasts had become very painful and began to swell. Your dad asked me if I had this in previous months (hoping that maybe I would be pregnant) and I told him I had, but not quite as bad.
About a week after I got back from Waynesboro, your grandparents Segarra came to visit. They arrived on Saturday. On Sunday morning I woke up at 5:15 am to do my homework. I had been cramping the previous three days and was waiting for my period to come. At around 7:00am I finished my homework and went upstairs to check on your father, who was still sleeping. I decided to take a pregnancy test just for kicks since I hadn't started my period yet. I was only three days late and I had been late like this before, so I was expecting no surprises. As soon as I finished peeing and put the test on the floor, it came up positive! I was so excited that I picked it up and ran over to your sleeping father to show him. I kept whisper yelling (as my parents were still sleeping) that "I might be pregnant! This is my second pee of the morning!" See, generally, you want to do your pregnancy test with your first pee, as it is the most potent. But I did it with my second and it was showing positive. I told your father that it was a cheapy test, so we had to go to the store to get a real one. HAHA Problem was the store didn't open until 8:00 am so we had to wait. In the meantime, I had to start drinking water so I could pee again.
Here is the picture of your father and I with the first pregnancy test.
So when we got back from the store, I tested again.
And since your grandparents were here visiting, we decided to tell them as well.
As you can see, we were all very excited! On Monday, your father called to get me an appointment to confirm the pregnancy and we went in Tuesday morning. Guess what, we were pregnant! At that point I was about four, almost five, weeks pregnant. We decided to decorate your nursery with the Very Hungry Caterpillar theme and that weekend we went to pick up the first half of your bedding. The rest came in the mail about a week later.
We also, of course, couldn't help ourselves, and had to buy you some outfits. As you can see, they are gender neutral, because we don't want to cheat and find out what you are until you are born.
This past weekend we made a belly growth chart to document how big my belly gets. Of course, I have not started out with a small belly (I blame the rough begining to the year for my big belly) so there is already a round line on the chart.
.JPG)
We have told your other grandparents (Mulroy and Sanchez) as well your Great Grandmother Sanchez and Aunts Nicolette and Clair. Additionally, we have told a few friends, but generally, we are not telling anyone else until we are past the "safe" mark.
If you can't tell, we are very excited about you. Your father and I have wanted you for a very long time. We have been reading books and watching videos to see how you are developing. So far, you have been nice to me, and other than tender breasts, I haven't had any pregnancy symptoms (keep up the good work!) and I am in week six. We have our first doctor's appointment this Thursday, May 3rd which will make me seven weeks pregnant. They should confirm your "due" date, which I currently have calculated to be December 20th. This is going to be an AWESOME Christmas this year. Of course, your dad wants you to come early and I want you to come on New Year's Eve! Haha. We both can agree that we want you healthy, as you are now our shining light in what started off as a bad 2012. We love you!
No comments:
Post a Comment