From Seed to Veggie to Snack Cookie?

Without further delay, here they are, the very first pictures of Baby Snyder.  Or, the very first pictures of what has become (and keeps becoming!) Baby Snyder.  The ultrasound picture on the top was from our very first appointment.  They wanted to verify that things were progressing accordingly.  So here you have it.  The yolk sack.  I have to admit, it's a little weird when the ultrasound tech keeps asking you if you see the sack, and you know she's talking about something floating around inside of you.  But there it is.  The second pic was a bit more exciting.  We could see a tiny little Bean heartbeat!  The white blob on the right side is our little Bean who, by the way, has grown to the size of a prune.  Because the picture is scanned it's hard to tell, but we could actually see where the cord was starting to develop, and every time the little Bean's heart beat (which was a lot!  that sucker is FAST!) there was a little flicker on the screen.  Our ultrasound tech promised that our next ultrasound would show something that actually looked like a mini-human.  Actually, she said it would look like a Teddy Graham.  So we're pretty pumped for that.  We'll post those pics as soon as we have them.  In the meantime, thanks for all the love and support!  It seems like maybe (knock on wood), the morning sickness is starting to slow down a little.  I'll probably be posting tomorrow cursing myself for saying that.  But one can hope!  More to come!

The Beginnings of the Bean

The whole pregnancy thing is kind of crazy to me.  Sure, I understand the principle of it, the science behind it, but now that it's happening, I have to admit--I can't believe there's a human growing in there!

Like many women before me, I was completely floored when that little test came back and said "Surprise! It's go time!"  Early in February I had an appointment scheduled with my doctor to go in and discuss starting a family.  I decided it was probably worthwhile to take an at-home test prior to going to the appointment so that I could tell the doctor, without a doubt, that I wasn't pregnant.  Well, that plan didn't go off quite like I thought it would.  I took the test and, low and behold, it came back positive!  I called the doc and let them know, and was told to come in at my scheduled time as planned.  I decided not to mention anything to Brandon, who was still at work.  So I went to my appointment, and wouldn't you know, the test they gave me there came back negative.  Turns out the tests they sell at Walgreens are more sensitive that those that are used at the OBGYN.  Go figure!

So, to sort out my conflicting results, the doctor ordered blood work.  If you've ever taken the at-home pregnancy test and thought the three minutes of waiting lasted FOREVER, wait until they do blood work on you.   They told me to expect results by 11:00 am the next day.  Turns out some of the equipment needed to complete the work-up was down, so I didn't actually get the results until about 4:00 pm (and probably ten phone calls later!).  But, when the results did come, they were exciting!  We were officially pregnant.  It was time to let Brandon know.

Rather than simply sit him down and tell him we were going to have a baby, I wanted to jazz up the announcement a little.  While at the grocery store a few days earlier, I noticed that you could buy fortune cookies in the bakery section.  While I didn't think they were probably a hot seller, I thought they'd fit into my little plan perfectly.  So I bought a box and typed up my own little fortune for Brandon.  When dinnertime arrived I insisted that I wanted Chinese (which I think, in hindsight, should have tipped Brandon off--I don't really like Chinese!).  So I ran out, picked up some take out, came home, hijacked the fortune cookie and dinner was served.  Brandon had no idea what was in store for him, but when he cracked the cookie and figured out that I had gotten to it first, he was really excited.  The Snyders had a secret!

Two appointments and two ultrasounds later, we find ourselves here today, at 8 weeks, six days.  We finally felt comfortable sharing our news with our families and friends, and have just a few people left to notify.  Our little Bean is no longer a bean, but is about the size of a medium green olive.  I spend a lot of my time feeling like I'm going to be sick and complaining about being tired, and Brandon spends his time taking care of our new puppy (timing doesn't appear to be our strong point!) and trying to do what he can to make me feel better.

Stay tuned for more updates!

A Little History Lesson

Chances are, if you're reading this blog, you probably know most of what's going to be written in today's post.  Our first post.  Brandon doesn't even know this is happening.  The blog!  Not the baby.  He knows about the baby.  I'm not all that great at keeping secrets, so his is well aware of our impending arrival.

Anyway, on to today's post.

As you probably know, Brandon and I moved from Virginia to Illinois about 18 months ago.  While we love the life we've put together here in the sleepy village of Shiloh, our location in the midwest has put some distance between us, our families, and some really great friends.

One of those particularly great friends (shout out to you Meisha!) happens to find herself, quite often, falling victim to a raging case of baby crazy.  Not to be confused with baby fever, baby crazy strikes when one's close friend(s) find out that they are expecting, and while you're not suddenly struck with the urge to have your own child, you want to know absolutely everything about what's going on with the parents-to-be and their new little bundle of joy.  You want to hold the new baby and buy baby things and see every little milestone, but still be able to hand the little peanut back over to mom and dad at the end of the day.  Every once and a while baby crazy evolves into full on baby stalking.  Not in the scary, draw the blinds because someone will nab your new kiddo sort of way, but in the flattering, "wow, you're really loved" sort of way.  And that brings us to this blog.

Because so many of our friends and family members don't live right down the street, or even within driving distance, it was suggested to me that we blog about our journey to parenthood.  This way, we can keep those at a distance updated in what's happening with Baby Snyder, without having to log too many hours on the old iphone.  Plus, we can upload pictures and maybe, if I can figure it out, some other cool features.  

So welcome!  It looks like you've chosen to be along for the ride.  I can't guarantee that the posts will always be entertaining, witty or funny, but I promise to try my best to at least make them timely.  And I'll do my best to keep it up for the next nine months.  I would love to promise to continue to do it once our little stinker arrives, but we've had enough friends have babies to know that I cannot even begin to fathom how things will change.  I'm going to try not to write checks that I can't cash.  So, here we go!  Stay tuned for the story of our little Bean!