Pregnancy Post

Okay, so two weeks out from my due date is probably not the best time to be writing a blog post on the joys of pregnancy and how great it’s been for me. At this point, I’m really just ready for it to be over, but at the same time, it’s good to take the time to reflect on it all and sum it up for you so here are some fun facts and tidbits from the last nine months:

When and How We Found Out We Were Having a Baby:

At the end of October last fall, I had started to think I might be pregnant. Just a lot of crazy things like being more hungry and tired than normal and not being able to sleep well, but I kept trying to convince myself not to get my hopes up and that maybe it was all in my head. Well, over Halloween weekend, David’s brother, Chris, and his girlfriend at the time came down to Atlanta to spend a couple of days with us. Throughout the course of the weekend, I was becoming more and more convinced that I really was pregnant. Even though we had planned to wait until after that weekend, curiosity finally got the best of us, and David and I couldn’t stand it anymore. So, we got a moment to ourselves that Sunday afternoon for me to take a pregnancy test, and lo and behold, it turned out positive! We knew we wanted to keep it a secret from Chris and Mary at that point, so we had all of five minutes to celebrate and then tried to act as if nothing were going on the rest of the weekend. It was so hard because we were so excited, and it was all we could both think about, but it allowed some time for it to sink in for each of us too.

Trying to Keep It a Secret:

My first doctor’s appointment wasn’t scheduled until the first week of December, and we knew we didn’t want to tell anyone until after that. With Christmas only being a couple of weeks later, we knew it would be worth waiting until then to tell our families. Of course, we both told a couple of close friends at work just to have someone to confide in besides each other. With me working so closely with Amy and Katie, I knew I would never be able to hide it from them anyway. Here’s the crazy thing though: After finding out on Sunday that I was pregnant, I walked into work Monday morning, and Katie proceeded to tell me she had this dream over the weekend that I was pregnant and my due date was July 11^th (my actual due date is July 9^th). Needless to say, I was totally caught off guard, don’t remember what in the world I said to her at that point, and made a dash for my office. I ended up telling her and Amy the next day, and I think even now she and I both are still freaked out by it! It sure was hard for both of us trying not to let on to anyone for two months, but we somehow managed to do it. Even with spending a couple of weekends in Dayton and Thanksgiving in Nashville, our families had no clue.

Sharing the News at Christmas:

We absolutely love Christmas with our families each year and were so excited to see their reactions when they found out we were having a baby. We found some picture frames at Babies R Us and put one of the pictures from our first ultrasound in them and wrapped them up. Of course, some ended up finding out all at the same time since we had so many family together at once, but we still had three or four different times where we got to watch them open their gifts. To top it all off, it snowed for Christmas this year, both in Dayton and Nashville, so this was by far our most memorable Christmas ever…

Morning Sickness:

I was so fortunate to not have much morning sickness. In the first couple of weeks after finding out, I did have a hard time with just feeling queasy and a little shaky. Once I realized that was the extent of it and figured out what I could and couldn’t eat, I really had no problems at all, and of course, even that went away within a few weeks.

It’s a Boy!

We knew from the start that we were going to find out the gender, and we were dying to know by the time rolled around when we first could. It turned out a little crazy…we scheduled the appointment to find out for February 7^th. David’s new job was starting around the same time, and so he planned his start date around it so he could go to the appointment with me to find out. (He planned to start work on February 9^th). Well, a few days before my appointment on the 7^th, I got a call from the doctor’s office thinking they were calling to confirm my appointment. Instead, they were calling to move it back a week! I called David and was so upset since he wasn’t going to be able to come and us find out together. So, we did some quick thinking and remembered that the office offered an elective gender ultrasound. I called the office back to ask about scheduling one, and the only appointment they had available was for that afternoon within a couple of hours! We were so thankful it worked out, and instead of waiting another week, we actually got to find out a few days earlier than we had planned. (You can see all the ultrasound pictures from the appointment in my separate post).

Anthony Joseph:

David has had a girl’s name picked out for years, but honestly, we really had a hard time deciding on a name for a boy. We had a couple of the baby name books, and it quickly got overwhelming looking through them. Also, Noga is a really hard last name to try and come up with a name for…so many ended in “a” and that sounded funny (mostly girl names like Sarah, Anna, Jessica, etc.). Also, the ones that ended with an “n” (like Nathan, Brandon, etc.) make it sound like one big run-on and made our last name sound like “Oga”. My favorite one I came across was Noah…wouldn’t that have been fun – Noah Noga!

We decided early on that we loved Joseph as a middle name. That was David’s grandfather’s name, and also, it’s my dad and brother’s middle name. David’s older brother, Daniel, his middle name is Anthony, and I had seen his full name on their wedding invitation at their house a couple of years ago and had really liked the sound of it together…honestly, in the list of names we had that we liked, we just kept coming back to it, and pretty soon David started calling him Anthony, and by then, we just knew.  

As many of you know, David never calls me by my name, but calls me “Bean” (Jilly Bean just shortened to Bean). So, early on, our little nickname for him became our beanie baby. I know, it’s ridiculous, but it was fun referring to him as that, especially before we even knew whether to refer to the baby as he or she.

Food Cravings and Aversions:

I have tried to eat as healthy as I can throughout the whole pregnancy and even managed to keep up a pretty decent workout schedule, just cut back and modified. Even still, I have gained just over 40 pounds at this point. That was way more than I had intended, but with him being such a big baby, as well as having high levels of amniotic fluid, I think gaining a little more than anticipated was inevitable.

Except for those first couple of weeks early on, I’ve been able to eat just about anything. The only real aversion I’ve had has been grilled chicken, which is tragic because I normally love it! It’s only been just a grilled chicken breast by itself, I’ve still been able to eat it on salads and in quesadillas and fajitas, but that’s lasted the whole pregnancy.

As far as cravings, I gave in on the ice cream cravings about midway through and allowed myself to have some. My favorite: Mayfield Cookies N’ Cream. Also, I have found that I love barbeque sauce on all kinds of stuff, and that’s just bizarre to me. I normally liked it before I got pregnant, but rarely ate it with anything.

Favorite Moments:

At this point, one of my favorite moments was our first doctor’s appointment and hearing the heartbeat for the first time and seeing the first ultrasound. I think it all became a reality and hit us both at that point, and we were completely overwhelmed with joy and excitement.

Again, I loved Christmas and telling our families and also when we found out we were having a boy so those were some great memories as well.

My other favorite moment was when David was able to feel him kick for the first time. It was so crazy because when he first started moving a lot was when David and I were apart. So, during the week, I would feel him moving a ton, but come the weekends when we were together, Anthony decided to chill out and take it easy. This went on for weeks, and I was so disappointed David couldn’t feel him. Finally, one weekend he was moving a ton, and I was pretty excited that he finally got to feel him move. David, on the other hand, was pretty freaked out by it at first, but was still a big deal for us both.

What I’ve Enjoyed/Not Enjoyed:

By far my favorite thing throughout this pregnancy has been feeling him move, and he’s been so active from early on. Also, it’s been great having several close friends who have been pregnant at the same time…they have been a tremendous support and encouragement for me, and I’m so grateful to them. This is the scientist coming out in me, but I have loved all the research I’ve done and books I’ve been reading…it has been overwhelming the miracle of this baby and following his development each week. I remember taking an embryology class in college that was an in-depth study of the first few weeks of fetal development…I didn’t go so far as to drag out my notes from that class, but I kept thinking back to it and memorized Psalms 139:13-16 not long after I found out I was pregnant and have kept thinking on it time and again the last few months.

As far as the things I’ve not enjoyed…I really can’t complain as this has been an incredible pregnancy as far as symptoms and it being relatively easy on me. The biggest thing has been the trouble I’ve had sleeping, and that’s even been from early on, but especially here recently. It’s been driving me crazy being wide awake in the middle of the night and not able to sleep, but I guess it’s all preparation for what’s to come. Also, I usually try to steer clear of being the center of attention, so all of this attention from being pregnant has taken me awhile to get used to. It’s been especially crazy because I’m carrying him completely in front, and he’s been a big baby from early on, so I feel huge!

What I’m Looking Forward To:

At this point, I am so anxious to just have him here and hold him in my arms and meet him! I’m also anxious to see how much he’s going to weigh. Big babies run in our family, and he has, he’s been big from the start. At my last appointment they estimated him to be 8 lbs., 13 oz. and that was two weeks out from my due date.

We’re also dying to see all his hair and what color it is. From the ultrasounds, it looks like he has a ton of hair, and the ultrasound tech couldn’t get it over it. She made it seem like it was more than she’s ever seen before, so we’ll see how early on he needs a haircut!

I’m also looking forward to seeing how great a father David is going to be and just starting this new chapter in our lives. As far as trivial things, I’m looking forward to being able to breathe again, bend over, sleep on my back, walk without waddling…I also can’t wait to run and start working out again when I’m able and also eat all the things I wouldn’t let myself have these last few months (Subway turkey sandwich, a grilled hot dog, Krispy Kreme donuts, a Five Guys burger and fries, and my Girl Scout Samoas cookies that are in the freezer!)

Last Update:

One of the harder things for me too this pregnancy was having to switch doctors near the end when I moved back to Tennessee. I loved my doctors in Atlanta, and they took excellent care of me, so I was extremely nervous about finding one in Chattanooga. I got some great recommendations from friends though and absolutely love the doctor I’m seeing now and also, I’m excited about delivering in Chattanooga. I’m actually more familiar with the hospital here than I was with the one in Atlanta, and David was impressed too when we took a tour of the hospital a couple of weeks ago.

At my last appointment a few days ago, they did one final ultrasound to check on his size and position. He has been breech since early on and hasn’t turned, mostly we think due to his size, he just hasn’t had the room to do so. I figured as much because I could still feel his position by the way he was moving and had been mentally preparing myself for the possibility of a c-section. So, with him being breech, along with them estimating him to be so big, the c-section is definitely going to be best, so we went ahead and scheduled it for this Thursday, June 30th. 

I’m still not sure it’s sunk in yet that he’s going to be here in a few days! We’re trying to finish up getting everything ready, but we’re almost there and just have a little bit more to get done before then.

We have been so overwhelmed by the love, support, encouragement, and generosity we have received from friends and family, both in Atlanta and here in Tennessee, throughout this whole time. David and I combined have written well over 100 thank-you cards and have everything we need and more for our precious little boy, and we really hope you know how much we appreciate all you have done for us in preparing for his arrival! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers in the next few days, but especially Thursday afternoon…we’ll try and post an update and pictures as soon as we can after he’s born!