Three Little Ducks

Here's the latest Vasquez family picture - minus daddy (he was sitting on the chair next to me, but didn't quite make it into the picture) Michael and I are beyond thrilled to be parents. We have wanted this little one for quite some time, so it wasn't a surprise, but somehow I still stared in amazement at that little "+" sign for at least 15 minutes.

It was so close to Valentine's Day, so I decided to wait until then to tell Michael. Don't ask - it sounded like a good idea, until I was busting at the seams for a good 3 days. It was a good thing we had decided to celebrate it on Saturday, or I really would have died. I had bought a little onesie with 3 little ducks on it and the words, "Mom, Dad and Me" as a way to let Michael in on the good news. I put it in the bottom of his V-Day gift along with the pregnancy test and waited the 3 longest days of my life, until he could open it. After we went out to dinner, I was jumping at the gun for him to open it and he said, "Well, maybe we should wait until actual Valentine's Day to open the presents, so we can at least have something to do that night." I think he was taken back by my immediate response, "NO! You are opening yours RIGHT NOW!"

As the shock wore off, and he realized what it meant, Michael just looked and me and smiled. He had asked previous to opening it - "Is it something I really want?" All I said is - "You better!"

Fast forward 3 weeks. I'm sitting in the doctor's office, with my mother-in-law outside in the waiting room (a timely visit down from Idaho Falls) - we had told our parents the day we found out. We had to tell someone and we figured our parents were our safest bet. We had previously decided before we got pregnant, that we wouldn't tell anyone until we were out of the first trimester.

Well, I checked out just fine and a second appointment was scheduled for the next week for an ultrasound. Michael was able to come with me this time and we waited in anticipation to see our little one on the big screen. I was 9 weeks along (or so I thought).

Our ultrasound tech was new to the office and was just getting used to all of the equipment, so she had someone there to train her. It was a full house in a little office - but we didn't mind. This was a big day. As many of you may know, there's two ways to do an ultrasound - one that is a little more invasive procedure than the other if you know what I mean. Because the baby was so young (again, or so we thought) they decided to go that route. Not 5 seconds later, the tech exclaimed, "Ummmm.... this baby is way to big for me to even see with this thing."

What?!? My first thought was that we had a fat baby.

My second was that we were further along than we knew.

Luckily, my second thought was correct - not that I don't love chubby babies. The tech proceeded to perform the second way of doing an ultrasound - abdominally. We recognized the baby's form immediately. The head. The hands. The back bone. The TOES! It was all perfect!

We were told that I was measuring at 13 weeks, which came as a surprise, but not a huge one. I had a feeling earlier that 2 months previous I had a weird period, but didn't give it much thought. I didn't want to take a test until I was sure, which probably makes no sense, but to me at the time, it did. Anyway, this news thrilled us - mostly because we didn't have to keep it a secret anymore, but of course because our little guy (or girl) was happy, healthy and strong. You shoulda seen it dancing in me - no joke!

In retrospect, on my last post about starting a new job and house hunting in the same week - you can also add that I found out that I was pregnant. That week was crazy and probably, to date, one of the most eventful I've ever had. But I wouldn't change it for anything. We've got the perfect house to move into, an understanding job and a whole new life ahead of us. Can't wait!