Fireworks on the 4th!

July 4, 2013 was not a great day for me.  I went outside to get something out of my trunk. There is a bird with chicks in a tree behind my car.  So the bird came squawking at the back of my head and freaked me out.  I stepped to the left a little too fast and lost my balance.  I hit the ground like a statue.  I have gained a bit of weight and I fell like a ton of bricks - on my side.  I calmly got up went inside and commenced with my mental breakdown.  I cried and prayed for nearly an hour.  I noticed that my little Cacy was still moving, and I was not cramping nor spotting.  Of course this happened on a holiday, when the doctor’s office was closed.  I continued to monitor my body and things seem to be okay.  I was sore in my ankle, back, hip, calf (weird), shoulder, and hand, and I had scrapes on my hip, elbow.  I could not relax and wait until my next appointment a week away, so I called the doctor and made an appointment.  Of course, my doctor was on vacation until my original appointment was scheduled.  Leave it to me to have an emergency on a holiday and while my doc is on vacation!  When I got there the nurse said several times, I wish you had gone to L&D which brought my panic back. So I go in to the examine room and await the doctor that’s foreign to my body and my case.  He comes in and puts me at ease.  Checks out my baby girl and tells me everything is perfectly fine!  I ask a couple of questions, and then we are done.  But not before I get an “I told you so” from my honey!

Of course her hands are by her face.  It's her trademark.

Discovering Cacy

Now that Cacy is moving a lot more, I have started to notice certain things.  One of those things is she doesn't seem to like the shower very much.  As soon as the water hits my belly she either goes nuts, or she balls up.  It takes quite a few minutes for her to calm down.

She does not like the noise from the vacuum cleaner or the hair dryer.  She balls up when she hears either one.

She seems to get amped up when I am winding down.  When I lay down to sleep at night she is very active.  When I wake up to pee in the middle of the night she is very active.  When I wake up in the morning she is very active.

I think when my bladder starts fill up, her radar goes off and she immediately starts to poke it!

Back to Kentucky

Between the 15 week and 19 week appointments, we headed back to Kentucky for a family reunion.  This time I met Cypheus's Father side of the family.  Everyone of was equally nice, and we had a great time! I feel like I connected with everyone. On Sunday we took Cacy on her first unofficial trip to the zoo.  The Louisville Zoo.  We had a blast.  Then we went back to the room to watch the NBA Playoffs.

About a week before that, he put a ring on it!  That's right mommy and daddy got in engaged!  We had a great meal at Gervais and Vine, and it was perfect!



The big one

My 19 week appointment was June 12, 2013 (Grandma Vera's birthday).  The checked my baby from top to bottom. The size of head, the chambers of the heart, the lungs, the arms, the legs, and they checked for a cleft lip.  The one thing I did not do was have an amniocentesis.  For the first time I did not cry in the sonogram room.  I started to feel movement around 17 weeks, so I was comforted by her movements.  The first movements felt like gas, constantly rumbling in my tummy.  Anyway, this is the day we also found we are having a GIRL!!  I was 110% sure it was a boy, and I was 110% wrong.  After getting over that fact that I was going to have to do two heads of hair, and I was going to have to get up much earlier to get ready in the mornings. After that, I was so excited about the cute pink and green outfits I was going to dress her in!  And then I begin to think of how on earth I was going to stop Cypheus from spoiling her rotten.

Later this day, I changed my FB cover to...

We then started to think of names.  And it we decided on CACY, CAnita and CYpheus.  I hope she likes it!

 Her hands are by her face soooooo much!

 Here are the long legs again!

 

 

Letting the cat out of the bag

Now with the 15 week appointment out of the way, I am free to tell people.  So, I first told my mom, then I started telling my friends.  And for some reason I just kept putting off telling my daddy.  But eventually I told him too.  Everyone was so excited!  The overwhelming love that I received was awesome.  I was told more than once, I knew you were going to end up pregnant.  It was shocking to me, because I didn't.  My dad told me the same thing.  I even got a pregnant and engaged - or pregnant or engaged ;)  This all took me by surprised, and I am still a little shocked!

Growing Pains

May 14, 2013

With my 16 week appointment approaching, I started to have pain in my back.  I was devastated, I just kept thinking - oh God not again.  But, it was a constant pain, not coming and going, so I tried to remain optimistic.  I was in church on the Sunday of my 15th week (Sunday is the day I change weeks), and I was in so much pain sitting in a CUSHIONED chair, I couldn't think straight.  So Monday, I called the doctor and voiced my concerns, and we move my appointment up.  They checked for everything.  And once again, I was in the sonogram room, holding hands, crying and scared to look at the monitor.  And all was well!!  My doctor said, you are probably just growing. She also told me my cervix looked great and there was no need for a cerclage, YAY! I was like well alright then, the pain instantly seemed to feel better.  And shortly after that, I got another, I told you so for Cypheus.

15 Weeks

That would be her foot, I loving refer to it as the flipper.

 

 

Derby Weekend

May 3 - 5, 2013

I was 3 months pregnant, passed the 12 week mark, but in my opinion not out of the red zone.  My doctor's plan was to check my cervical length at 16 weeks.  This would determine if I would need to have a cerclage  But, I had made a deal with Bunton that he could tell his family after we heard the heart beat. We had a side bar, but he was okay with telling his family.  We spent the weekend with his Mom's side of the family.  I met so much of his family, it was awesome.  Everyone embraced me, it felt really good.  I posted pictures on FB, and I only know of one person that noticed the bump. 
It was nice to just be pregnant.  No wearing creative clothing and making up excuses for why I am not having a drink, or eating some of my favorite foods.

This picture did not make it to FB, for obvious reasons :)

Common questions

I have been very blessed not to be sick.  I have only been sick for very specific reasons - I waited to late to eat, or ate something the baby didn't like.

I do not have weird cravings.  I crave food constantly, and I think of uncommon combinations all the time.  This did not change during my pregnancy.  Also, I have to say, people generally like my concoctions.

I do eat a lot more than before.  People were amazed how much I ate before I was pregnant, and I am amazed how much I eat now.  I am constantly hungry.

I am constantly in the bathroom.

Keeping the secret

The weekend before our first appointment, I was in my cousin's wedding.  I stayed with my Aunt Bolivia that weekend as usual.  But I had to diet to maintain.  So I went to the grocery store and bought a few items to help me make it through the wedding.  The last thing I needed was to get sick.  I bought fruit, a Bolthouse drink, and microwavable breakfast food.  I had mixed nuts in my travel bag.  I ate 3 bananas before the wedding started.  My family thought I was nuts - or turning into a monkey.  What they didn't know and I didn't expect, was that my dress had become so tight, I felt like the Hulk and at any moment I was going to burst right out of the dress.  I knew there was a difference between the first and second fitting, but I didn't know I would grow so much by the wedding.  It all worked out!  We had a great time.

My honey told me several times, I should just tell my family, because there was no way I was going to make it through the weekend without someone noticing.  You know, since I was showing so much!

First Appointment

Our first appointment was April 18, 2013.  I was terrified, I was a nervous wreck! Cypheus has been a God send.  He held my hand, gave me pep talks, and handed me tissues to wipe the tears.  The technician poked around a little, and clicked a few things, and then said everything's fine.  Then she played the music to our ears, the heart beat!  I uncovered my eyes and stopped crying to see my baby for this first time.  She measured our little one and told us they were at 11 weeks.

She took a few more pics, and left the room.  And I got my first ever, "I told you so." from that man of mine.

 My baby loves to touch her face.

This is a favorite pic of my, she is covering her eyes.

In the words of the technician, look at those long legs!

 

 

For family and friends

I decided, and I hope that dad is on board, to figure out a way to share this experience with family and friends.  I am extremely private, and if you don't know you will find out FB is not my main form of communication.  It's my way to keep up with my family and friends.  I am so interested in everyone and I love love love seeing the pictures.  Thank you for sharing.  Here is my reciprocation.  And  most importantly, this is a tribute to my daughter.  My miracle baby!

I am going to give a quick synopsis of how we got here.  I have not had the best history with pregnancies up to this point.  But, I accepted that a while ago, it was the history I was supposed to have.  This pregnancy to date has been "perfect on paper".  Everyday I am amazed and I feel more blessed than the day before.  So happy to see God's plan unfold before my very eyes.

Last August I donated half of the items in my baby storage container, since I would not need them any more.  Shortly after that I felt that I was ready, and I prayed for what I wanted next in my life, and I put it all in his hands.  This was a when I was in Dallas, late in the year. Shortly after that (a week or two) I was introduced to this extremely tall man named Cypheus. We hit it off right away, and dated - a lot!  I could tell you all the things running through my mind, but this blog is about Cacy.

I got an assignment to work in FL for seven weeks, so I had to tell my beau.  He was on board and very optimistic about the time flying by.  Half way through my trip Cypheus and I met for a well needed weekend.  We celebrated his birthday, Valentines day, and well... we also created a life.  I went back to FL, and he headed back to SC.  I was keeping up with my workouts, but they started to get harder.  I would over heat too fast, or just quit 30 minutes into a workout because I was sooooo tired.  Then I got a little cushion in my tummy area.  This was unusual, I could normally stop working out for weeks before I started to see changes in my body.  Then I started counting days.  Then I talked myself in and out of reality.  I was convinced that there were 28 days between my cycle - when I knew my entire cycle was 28 days and that something was amiss!  I stopped drinking alcohol, and started eating the way I should.  But I was also trying to figure out how long I could hold out on telling anyone.  If I was going to miscarry again, I was going to spare everyone.

I couldn't keep the secret from Cypheus for very long.  He made me face reality very fast.  So, to appease him, I took HPT and passed with flying colors.  For all of the mommies out there, you know your body, and you know a HPT never takes 3 minutes to show positive results.  It literally takes seconds.  It's done before you are.  A week or so later I called to make a doctors appointment.  I also called the pharmacy to discontinue my prescription.

Cypheus wanted to tell everyone in the world, with a bull horn from the tallest building!  I had to talk him out of this a few times.  We paid a visit to our pastor and then he chilled out a little.

Needless to say we are both very excited to be on the journey to parenthood.  We feel blessed to be chosen by God to be the parents of Cacy.  We look forward to what the future holds.

XOXOX, Canita