Can we say "HORMONES"???

So the last couple of days, I've tried to keep my mind busy, exercising (walking) as much as possible, eating healthy, no caffeine although sometimes 1 cup of coffee a day and things are truly going great! Knock on wood, no morning sickness, no mood swings, no cravings, no different than 3 months ago when I wasn't pregnant!! However, multiple times in the past few days, I've heard songs like "Anything like me" by Brad Paisley and "My little girl" by Tim McGraw and I've cried every time!!!. These songs are about having a child and how fast they grow.  Lines like "I started wondering who he was going to be, Heaven help us if he's anything like me" or "I remember you looked like an angel, wrapped in pink so soft and warm, you've had me wrapped around your finger since the day you were born" made me think of how amazing this journey is truly going to be. Every day I thank God for giving us the chance to be the best parents we can be and to learn what unconditional love is all about.

My cousin Eduardo and his fiance Mira have been staying with us for a few days. Every time they are in town, I feel like I learn something new. Last time (a few months ago) I learned to meditate, and do so every once in a while, and also using Sage to cleanse the house and feel more at harmony with earth, which I also have done a few times! This time, Mira showed me something amazing and incredible and even much more logical now that Im pregnant.....Juicing!! She goes grocery shopping then comes home and makes herself a juice almost daily full of vitamins and minerals. My first experience was during her birthday celebration here at our house this past thursday. While the family was drinking wine and beer, she made me a green "thing". I happily drank it, thinking of all the good nutrients I was passing on to "little Pitt".  Yummy to the blend of cucumbers, celery, green apple, ginger, kale, pear, and romaine lettuce!!!

The next day, I woke up early to go to the shop and drank another glass of this juice. It made me feel great all day, energized, focused and just plain happy! With little to no time to decorate the house for halloween this year, Craig asked me to please buy a pumpkin to put on our front steps, and I figured I would surprise him with "our little family" of pumpkins. I went to the pumpkin patch near our house and picked out one big, one medium and one small and put them on the steps so he could see them when he came home.

It's Official

Today I woke up anxious about our first appointment!. I got ready early and went to the shop to get started for the day and to keep my mind occupied until 10! Craig came to pick me up and we headed 5 minutes down the road to the Maternal-Fetal Group’s office here in Newport News. There were about 20 patients, all in different stages of pregnancy, waiting to see the doctors so I felt a little intimidated. When my name was called, an automatic nervous smile appeared on my face. Craig could tell that I was nervous and reminded me multiple times to "just breathe". 

I was directed to the scale then the bathroom for a urine test and then room 2. Thankfully my nurse Inez was amazing. She was really sweet, explained everything slowly and always smiled. That put me at ease. When it came time to check my blood pressure and pulse, both were elevated!!!! I blamed it on the excitement of being there but Ines seemed a bit worried. She rechecked it about 5 minutes later with no change, and asked me to lay down on my left side and try to relax.  The Nurse Practitioner Anna came in and she was also very kind. By this time my blood pressure and pulse had decreased and we were able to move on with the appointment. We spoke about prenatal testing, blood work and she did a quick ultrasound on my belly (after telling me I was about 5 weeks) and pointed to a tiny black dot on the screen and said “That’s it!". At that point, things became more and more real.  A few minutes later, we met one of the attendings Dr. Abuhamed, who we also liked very much. He reiterated that we would have to deliver at Norfolk General and admitted that although I would probably be an easy patient in comparison to his workload, that he needed to read a bit more about pregnancy and delivery of someone with my history. On our way out, they scheduled us for an appointment in 3 weeks to “discuss the lab work” and 6 weeks to get our first official ultrasound....ugh! can I wait that long??? 

We left the office extremely pleased and relieved that this group of doctors and nurses seemed capable and willing to see us through this pregnancy. When Craig dropped me off at the shop, my mom ran out with a gift bag....she hugged us tightly and handed it to us. The card read “Things will change before you know it, this is something to get you ready. With love, grandma manis”. I almost started crying and quickly opened the bag. She had bought us 2 books, mine was “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” and Craig’s was “So You’re Going To Be A Dad”....more reality set in and I could hardly contain my excitement!!!! Anxious to hear every detail about our appointment, my mom and I walked back in to the shop and Craig headed back to work. 

A little later this afternoon, our friends Martin and Lisa welcomed their baby girl Haven Emilia Zelada into this world. When we heard the news, we cheered and I couldn’t help but think of OUR upcoming day!!!!! Life is absolutely perfect. I married my best friend, and now we are going to have a baby together....

Good Night!!!

Today, while Craig worked a 24-hour shift, my mom accompanied me to the cardiologist. To my great surprise, I saw Neoma (the nurse practitioner, who I knew from the hospital) and when I told her the news, she screamed and her eyes built up with tears. She hugged both my mom and I and ran out to let Dr. Herre know. He walked in and congratulated us and proceeded to change all my medications!!!! He then insisted that I need to be followed by a high risk group and that I would have to deliver at Norfolk General because “we have the children’s hospital next door!”. I took a deep breath and with a HUGE smile I said I would do whatever was deemed necessary. Neoma made the call to the Maternal-Fetal EVMS group and I got the appointment for tomorrow!!!!

I called Craig on my way out and although it was only about 3pm, I was ready for bed...tomorrow can’t come fast enough!.....so Good Night!!!!!

NEWS! NEWS! NEWS!

Craig didn't want to make the news too public with the fear that something could go wrong, but I wanted to scream it to the world at the top of my lungs!! 

Today I got up early to go into the shop and get things ready with my mom before heading to “Alzheimer’s Walk to Find a Cure” in support of Abuelita. The cause is amazing and the idea was for every person to get a flower of whatever color corresponded to their personal story. After introductions and some singing, everyone would give the flower to a volunteer prior to starting their walk and after crossing the finish line, everyone would see a "garden" of flowers planted among banners of hope, care and encouragement!! 

With the excuse of my leg and heart, I couldn’t walk the 1-3 miles so Craig and I waited for the others in a bench. My mom and Allen were the first ones back and as they hugged us, Allen said “if we can’t tell, how are you going to know how truly excited we are?” and that did it for me!. I turned to Craig and begged him if I could tell my family, with a big smile, he agreed and I winked to my mom who ran to the other side of the park and told my uncle Tato, his girlfriend Judy and my cousin Eduardo. We heard a joyous scream and as I looked up, all three of them plus my mom were running in our direction to congratulate us.  Judy gave me a big hug and called me "Little Mama" and I almost bursted into tears! "I am a little mama", I thought and I'm loving every minute of it!!!

When we got back to the shop, I felt that I couldn’t call my family fast enough. Everyone was so excited to get the news and wished us the best. I can’t stop smiling, I feel so lucky and so blessed. 

Little Pitt's Onesies

Today started like any other friday at the cupcake shop, but today I was tired, I felt fatigued, and for some odd reason I was thirsty therefore peeing A LOT!!!! At almost closing time, it occurred to me “could it be?”. After what seemed like 5 frustrating months of “trying and failing”, I told myself, “if this month is not our lucky month, Im done trying for a bit, I will focus on the shop, myself, my marriage, my house, etc etc etc” but when I got home and took that test that reveled 2 lines, I was in shock!!!! I realized I was home alone and although I wanted to scream, I couldn't, so I ran to our dog Ink and hugged him pretty tight and he was the first one to officially hear the news!!!! I ran out to the store to find a cute way of telling the daddy-to-be!!! In my search, I found 3 unique onesies that I decided would be perfect to use to deliver the news.  I got home, still in shock, and decided to give another test a try just to make sure. This one was digital, so I couldn't doubt it when the word “Pregnant” flashed on the screen. 

Craig was coming home shortly so I folded a red firefighter “Little Hero” newborn onesie and wrapped it in a silver box and put it on top of his pillow. When Craig got home from work, he went upstairs to change so that we could join my family for dinner. I ran after him pretending I needed to get a sweater and when we got to our room, I stayed by the door. He was surprised to see the box and asked “is this for me?” I said “oh yeah it is!!”, he opened it and carefully pulled out the onesie and smiled, “this is really cute”, then he paused, and turned confused. My smile was from ear to ear and I said “Surprise, I’m pregnant!!”, his eyes got big and with tears in our eyes we hugged in disbelief. We hugged tightly and hung on to each other as we felt our lives shifting gears. We could hardly contain the excitement but went to dinner with the planned excuse to leave early so that we could swing by my parents to get a package that we knew had arrived today. 

Craig ordered 2 margaritas, and along with my water, we cheered quietly. When we got back in the car, I wrapped a new onesie that said “Brand New” in the same silver box. When we got to my parents, we walked in and proceeded to see if Allen could come downstairs to ask him about a “problem with the car”. When he came downstairs, we quickly gave my mom the box to open pretending that it was a “I'm so happy we are cupcake partners” gift. She was in shock when she pulled out the onesie and with a big smile she turned to us. “We are pregnant!” I screamed. Tears filled her eyes and unable to let go of the hugs, she kept saying “are you serious?, Im going to be a grandma? Manis?” Allen was in a bit of shock and with little words he hugged us. Concerned with my health, he asked “are you going to be ok?” and I said “I sure hope so!”. 
We quickly left that house to move onto the next. I brought the same silver box and while in the car I wrapped one last onesie. This one said “Emergency Room Personnel” and with a picture of a stethoscope it resembled our work scrubs. We arrived to my in-laws and while discussing the football game, we handed over the box. They thought it was a cupcake!!  As soon as Adrienne pulled out the onesie, she smiled and looked at us slightly confused. Unable to contain myself I screamed it again “We are pregnant!!!!” and they both greeted us with hugs and tears of joy!