Wait, What?

     "Here's the shot of your baby, right between its legs. Do you wanna guess what you're having?" Then I saw it on the screen: a little round testicle. Well, at least I thought I saw it. "Is it a boy?" I asked, half-jokingly because I already knew the answer; I just wanted to here someone else say it.  "Nope, if you look over here, see those lines right there?  Those are your baby's genitals.  You're having a girl." "Wait, what?" I thought to myself. "Whaddaya mean we're having a girl?  Don't you know we prayed and believed in faith for a boy, have been calling our baby Little Hosea/Champ this whole time, and I ONLY did an "It's a Boy" e-mail announcement?"  Those were the thoughts running through my head, but somehow I only managed to eek out a small "oh" at the news.

    A girl? A girl? I kept repeating the question in my head. My whole world had just been rocked with one wiggle of a jelly-covered ultrasound wand. A girl? It's not that I wasn't grateful for the blessing of a healthy, living, perfectly-forming baby growing inside me.  I was. But I had envisioned dressing our baby, our son up in little Atlanta Braves outfits and taking him to games.  I saw Hosea and I attending his wrestling matches in school, and cheering him on from the stands.  I had imagined meeting his first girlfriend and thoroughly cross-examining her, giving her just an inkling of my wrath---just so she knew not to get on my bad side.  I had leisurely daydreamed all of these things, smiling to myself. I had wanted a son.

     After getting all of my tears out, and with soothing reassurances from Hosea that God knows best, and that His plans for us were perfect, and that our baby was healthy and well, I began to come to myself.  We were having a girl. A precious little baby girl. A girl! She'd be my dear, sweet little daughter. I would put her in pretty little dresses and braid her hair.  Hosea and I would still cheer her on at her sporting events. (After all, I want all of our children, no matter their sex, to inherit their father's athletic ability.  Lord God, please don't let them inherit mine).  I'd cross-examine and re-cross her first boyfriend . . right before Hosea showed him his gun. I'd make sure she was smarter and more knowledgeable than me. She'd go on to do great things. In the middle of my thoughts, I turned to Hosea. "Dang. We gon' have to pay for a wedding," We chuckled at the thought. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," I thought to myself, smiling as I continued to settle into the idea. 

     A girl.  I now had to give some serious thought to what I wanted to teach my daughter about being  a woman. What were the essential values that I wanted to instill in her?  I'd need to think about what I want her to view as important, how to stand up for herself, how to conduct herself like a lady.  How to love God, passionately. Before our doctor's visit, I had assumed that Hosea would teach our son how to be a man.  But now, I was coming to grips with the reality that I would be responsible for teaching our daughter what it means to be a godly woman. What an honor. A girl. I smiled to myself as I edited our gender reveal e-mail announcement.  "We thank God for this time and can't wait to meet our daughter," I typed. So true. So true. 

Hey All, 

I know it's been ions since I posted to the blog.  I'm gonna try to do better.  It's been really busy around these parts, but I do want to document what's going on.  So please accept my apologies. Hopefully these pictures will atone for my absence.  More to come! 

Kennedy Elizabeth Gibbs (21 weeks)

Kennedy Elizabeth Gibbs (and mommy) (22 weeks)

Is There a Doctor in the House?

So, our first doctor's visit was July 12, 2012.  I know, I know, it was almost a month ago.  Forgive me for not writing about it sooner.  But as I stated previously, you'll have to work with me until I can fully get my bearings on blogging while pregnant.  

So I have to admit, I was actually really nervous when we went to see the doctor.  I was scheduled for my first ultrasound.  It would be the first time I would see and hear the little life living inside of me.
So there we are, in the technician's room.  I'm sitting on the table, sans pants or underwear, and Hosea's sitting in the chair facing the monitor.  After some comic relief from Hosea about how guys don't take their clothes off at the doctor's, and how I took my clothes off like I was about to get in the shower, like it was no big deal, I took a deep breath and got ready.

"This is it," I thought to myself. "Dear, God."  The thing is, I was nervous about what I was about to see.  What if the, like, four pregnancy tests we'd taken had been wrong?  What if there really wasn't another little person inside of me, and my boobs had just gotten bigger by some miraculous and merciful act of God?  "Dear, God," I thought again, as I lay back on the table, and scooted my rear toward the technician.  (Did I mention this was a vaginal scan?)

I was holding my breath, my eyes glued to the screen.  "Up, there it is.  That's your baby," the technician stated happily.  Even in thinking back on it, I can still hear my huge sigh of relief.  There it was, our baby.  Half an inch long, with it's butt up in the air, according to our technician.  It's a shame I don't remember her name, since she was the embodiment of all things right and true that day--at least to me, anyway.

She measured the baby, measured my uterus, took a look around my uterus to make sure everything was OK, and then she did it--she let us hear the heartbeat.   Well, we could actually see it moving on the screen at the same time we were listening to it.  It was AMAZING.  I started to tear up, but I didn't let any tears fall...thankfully.  I mean, it was only the first ultrasound for crying out loud.  Was I really going to let myself cry at the sight of something the size of a kidney bean?  Who am I kidding? I probably would have if I'd let myself go there. I mean, I was looking at the beginning of new life--life that Hosea and I had created together.  I turned and looked at him.  "That's our baby," I said to him.  I could see the amazement on his face, too.  There really was a living, heart-beating miracle living on the inside of me. How awesome.

So, we're pregnant--and really excited about it. As I stated in the introduction, this blog is an effort to track the journey, bit by bit.  So far, the main reaction that we've gotten from people is "OH MY GOSH!!!!!" I have to say, I've really enjoyed others' enthusiastic responses as we've spread the news.   At this point, we've pretty much told everyone.   We started with our parents first. We drove to my parents' house, in Peachtree City, to tell them face to face.  On the way, we called Hosea's mother, Velma, and told her.  That conversation went a little something like "So, we have some news for you.  You're gonna be a grandma." And Velma responding in kind with an incredulous "WHAT?!" I actually chuckled to myself at the thought of telling her that way since she  has already been made a grandma six times over, but hey, minor details, right?

After more excited conversation, and a few off-hand comments about how Velma thought we were taking too long, and how she thought she'd never be a grandmother (again, note the irony) we hung up the phone and were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves and our treasured Baby Gibbs.

Next up: the Links.  After we had stopped off at the neighborhood Kroger to pick up some celebratory sparking cider, I sent my mother the picture of the pregnancy test via text.  A few minutes later, she called back.  I was given strict instructions by Hosea NOT to pick up the phone, and it was killing me.  I wanted to pick up and say "Giiiirrrrlll, can you believe it?!"  But alas, we arrived at the house, rang the bell, and my mother answered the door screaming, which, according to my father, she had been doing for the last five minutes.  My mom and dad hugged and congratulated us both.  Mom teared up, no big surprise there. And as we carried on casual small talk about the covered back porch they were building, my brother, and the latest news, and we all just breathed in the moment, really--the excitement palpable.

And it's really been non-stop smiles, laughs and hugs ever since.  Our faces have been in a constant grin since early July.  I appreciate the love and good feelings that Baby Gibbs is evoking even though he hasn't yet arrived.  Notice I said he...more on that later.   I'm 9 weeks tomorrow, and ever so grateful to experience this miracle in the making.

Next post: the first doctor's visit!  Stay tuned...

Introduction (and somewhat of a disclaimer...)

I am new to blogging, so if posts disappear and reappear, if format or layout changes occur, just ride the wave with me.  I don't know too much about what I'm doing other than my main goal which is to share my pregnancy journey with the ones that I love.  So, sit back and enjoy the ride, er, read...