Emergency Room Fun and Turkey

Today I am officially in my sixth month of pregnancy! At least I am according to my "what to expect when you're expecting" app. What did women ever do without the Internet and smartphone apps? I find myself having a hard time keeping track of what week I'm in, and this app has been a complete lifesaver. Nothing is worse than someone asking me how far along I am, only for me to hesitate and then be like "err ,<insert guess here>". What mom-to-be can't remember how far along she is?!?! This one!!! But I prefer to think it's not my fault. I don't understand why the counting of weeks, months, etc. has to be so complicated. Why do we have to start counting how many weeks someone is alive before they are even conceived? Technically, I should be at 5.25 months..but according to the book my doctor gave me I've entered into my 6th month. Too confusing.  I don't know how many times I've had to explain to people that yes, Brandon and I have cleared our wedding date and that I'm as far along as I am because of the wacky gestational v. who knows what it's called ages. I've had several people, including some of my own family members, pause to do the math in their heads... Too funny.

So last week was Thanksgiving, and of course we started it off in dramatic fashion at the McGee house with a trip to the emergency room late Tuesday night. I have experienced a LOT of pain thanks to my dear friend Celiac disease, but nothing has felt as horrible as the pain I was experiencing Tuesday. We are talking can't move-can't breath-someone please kill me pains in my left ribs/side area. I usually have the mentality that ER's are only for dying or because you about to die from bleeding so much, so I'm sure I shocked the heck out of Brandon when I woke him up to drive me.

Long story short, 6 hours and 2 shots of morphine later, we were headed home with absolutely no explanation as to why I was STILL hurting (although the morphine did take some of the edge off). All we knew was that the baby was fine and I had no kidney stones. Did I mention I'm not a fan of emergency rooms??  After following up with my doctor the next day it was determined that I had all the symptoms of a pinched nerve and that because of my small frame I might need to see a specialist if it gets any worse. So. Awesome.

Anyways, the rest of Thanksgiving was nice. We spent Thanksgiving with my mom's family in Austin. My sister-in-law aka "Prego Buddy" (shout out Angie!) is almost exactly a month behind me, so it's always fun to be around her and talk about how are babies will be the bestest of friends.

 Liam attended his first UT football game. He was kicking like a maniac as I screamed and stressed out while the Longhorns ripped out my heart. (I'm allowed to be dramatic when it comes to UT football).  But on the bright side, my aunt got Liam a great care package of Longhorn gear. I am so thankful for her. I can't WAIT for him to wear it :) Now all we need is some Cowboys and Rangers gear and he will be all set!

                             (All that is missing is the bib she got us that says "I spit up on Aggies")

Liam has been kicking a lot harder and more often. I'm also starting to feel him turning over, or doing some kind of weird movement in there. And today the doctor called to get things planned for his circumcision. He is going to absolutely LOVE me for putting this part on the Internet in a few years :) I didn't even realize it was an option? I thought that that was pretty much a go these days.  After I hung up with the nurse I had a minor freak out that I didn't ask Brandon his opinion and quickly called him. Thankfully he agreed. I can blame that on "pregnancy brain" right? ;) Although, I will say that the word "barbaric" came out of his mouth right before he said yes.

All in all, things are looking good and in two weeks we will get to see our little man again <3. But in the mean time, here's a sonogram pic we have from 2.5 weeks ago. I promised I wouldn't put sono pics up on facebook..but I'm going to make an exception since this is the whole point to the blog.

                                                        Liam at 18 weeks 4 days

Kicks and Punches

So I've decided to start a blog. Not because I think anyone cares about anything that I think/say, but mostly because I am horrible at keeping up with my paper journals, and I know one day I will look back on this time and wish I had kept better track of all of these exciting memories. I debated about blogging because obviously I refuse to put anything too emotional/personal online for everyone to see...but then I thought that maybe the filtered version of memories would be better to remember anyways :) Plus, when Liam comes this will be an easy way to share updates/pictures with family. So here goes nothing...

First things first. I'm 19 weeks pregnant. (four months and change). Surprised?!?! Brandon and I have been on the fast track it seems since we first started dating. We were engaged within two months of beginning to date, married within a year, and will now have a baby boy within two years. Some people may say we are crazy, or destined to fail, but I like to think of us as two people who finally found what we were looking for in each other.

I think it's safe to say that pregnancy has not been so kind. No one ever talks about all of the dark and scary things that come along with pregnancy. I don't know how many times I've been told by my friends, co-workers, and strangers about how pregnancy is the "most wonderful feeling" and that they "wished they were pregnant again". Whenever someone says something like this to me I envision punching them in the face. Seriously. What exactly am I missing here?!?! Because to be honest, if it's "such a wonderful feeling", then I feel completely cheated. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to be having a baby, and all of the sickness, pain, etc. is TOTALLY worth it. But I wouldn't call being pregnant wonderful. So of course whenever someone tells me how wonderful it all is I get this overwhelming guilty feeling that I haven't been able to shake. I keep thinking I am going to be this horrible mother/person because I don't particularly like being pregnant.

But yesterday, I came to the conclusion that everyone who keeps saying that being pregnant was/is the "most wonderful feeling", must be forgetting all of the horribleness and only remembering the wonderful moments. Which leads me to the reason for starting this blog today.

I've been feeling little Liam kick for about two weeks now. Since most women don't even realize their baby is kicking this early, I expected it would be about another month before Brandon could feel anything. If anyone knows or has spoken to Brandon since I've gotten pregnant, they will know that he is completely over the moon about becoming a dad. He has been so supportive, has gone to every Dr. appointment, and has pretty much talked to my stomach everyday since day one. He is going to be an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G dad. Period. Every day I thank God that I have such a wonderful husband. So you can only imagine how hard it has been to see the look of sadness/disappointment on his face every time I feel Liam kick and he can't. Until yesterday. Yesterday I had what I can only assume are those "most wonderful feeling" moments that everyone keeps talking about.

We were sitting around watching ESPN and getting our fantasy line ups in order over coffee. (Before anyone begins to silently judge or shake their head, my doctor allows for me to have caffeine in moderation). Liam began kicking particularly hard, so I told Brandon to come over and put his hand over my belly just in case.  It took about a minute of staring at Brandon's face (and a lot of silent praying on my part) before I felt a kick and saw Brandon's face completely light up.

I have been lucky enough to experience incredible moments of overwhelming joy in my life. But nothing so far can come close to the feeling I got when I saw Brandon feel our little man for the first time. And it was in that moment of excitement, that I promised myself to never imagine punching another person that says "pregnancy is the most wonderful feeling", or at least try not to ;)