All about Baby Zoutendam!!

So this is the first post, but most definitely not the last, about Baby Zoutendam! Everybody now knows about it...our closest friends and family, our friends at church, our co-workers, and now Facebook! I'll go ahead and warn you...this could be long because I can get very wordy!

I first started suspecting that I was pregnant on Christmas Day. Almost overnight, I felt very bloated (sorry if this is TMI)...to the point that some of my regular pants were SOOO uncomfortable! I also woke up to a face full of zits, an extremely runny/stuffy nose that didn't go away, and a nosebleed. These were all weird to me so after a quick Google search pregnancy was what kept turning up. Of course, I was thrilled since Michel and I were trying to have a baby, so I decided to take a pregnancy test. I was almost positive that the test would show up negative because I wasn't expecting my period until New Year's Day. Lo and behold, the test was negative.

Fast forward to New Year's Day. This was the day of my first missed period. My best friend, Julie, had bought a huge amount of pregnancy strips off of Amazon. She had a baby in September, and knew that we were starting to try and get pregnant, so she gave me the rest of them - about 20 of them! So I've taken a lot anytime I thought that I might be pregnant (yeah...I'm that person). Anyways, a positive result is two lines, so I took the test and the negative line immediately popped up. I was still putting in my contacts and I glanced at the test and saw what I thought was a very faint second line! Of course, I was ecstatic, so I ran to CVS and bought a digital test. The word PREGNANT appeared on the screen! I was so thrilled!! (Side note: I read online that Clearblue digital tests gave a lot of false positives, and that was the digital test that I took, so of course, I freaked out, went back to the store and bought a different test. I took it at night time because I couldn't wait until the morning, and figured if it came up positive it must be true because the hcg hormone is greatest first thing in the morning. Anyways, 2 more tests came up positive, so I believe it now)!

I didn't break the news to Michel until January 2nd. I can't believe that I held it in so long! On New Year's Day I went to the store and found a onesie that said "Worth the Wait" so I put that in a bag, along with a note that said, "The wait will be over with on September 12th" and the positive pregnancy test in it. Michel saw the bag on his desk and was like "You bought me a present?" I thought that would be the giveaway, but it wasn't. So he opened his gift, pulled out the onesie and was like "Why did you buy me baby clothes? Oh, wait...are you??" So he was very excited to find the positive pregnancy test in the gift bag!

We immediately made plans to tell our family during the upcoming weekend. We actually lied to everyone, but under the circumstances, I think it's OK. My parents have a bookshelf at their house that Michel and I are planning on bringing over to our house, and I truly had had the intention of getting that bookshelf when I first told my mom that we would be over on Saturday; however, after I found out I was pregnant that was no longer my intention. :) So we went to my parents' house, and I told my mom that I had an early birthday present for her (her birthday is Jan. 10th), and I pulled a photo book out of my purse that said WELCOME BABY on the front. My mom looked at it and was like "Oh, thanks", so I told her to open it. Inside I had come up with a little poem that read:
"A boy or a girl, it's too soon to tell,
But either one we think would be swell,
So to our small family we add a new member
Grandbaby #3 will be here in September"
I'm not gonna lie...I'm kind of proud of this poem. I used it for each of our family members we told, and just changed the child and number (my sister's said "niece or nephew" rather than Grandbaby #3, while Michel's parents said "Grandbaby #1")...anyways, so my parents were really excited to hear our great news! We stayed there and had lunch with them for about 45 minutes or so, and then had to get on the road to drive to Longview. The lie we had told my sister was that Michel's brother and sister-in-law were coming down for a belated Christmas celebration, and we would be in Longview and one of the presents that we ordered and it didn't get here in time for Christmas (luckily that part was true so it gave us a really good reason to have to stop by), so I just gave her her late Christmas present, the poem, and pictures of my positive pregnancy test. Janette and Ryan were thrilled, too! I even told Karys, and I didn't think she totally understood, but Janette told me later that when Zane woke up from his nap Karys told him "Aunt Julie's going to have a baby", so apparently she did get it :) So, again, we stayed at the Magan's house for about 45 minutes before heading to Michel's parents' house. Unfortunately, his dad ended up having to go out of town on a trip (he's a pilot) and we knew this was a possibility, but we decided we would still share the happy news with his mom, and text his dad a photo of the picture frame that said "I love Grandpa" to him. Michel's mom was so happy to hear about the arrival of her first grandbaby! Michel and I are so blessed to have so much family around who already love our baby! Can't wait until January 25th when we have our first doctor's appointment!