A Father's Love

I can't believe I am in my 3rd trimester.  Have been for a couple weeks now, but still.  Crazy to think in a mere 2.5 months, our daughter Evangeline, will be out in the world for us to love on and take care of.    Even more impressive is the fact that God is trusting such precious cargo in our hands!  I am so thankful to have Derek by my side as we go through this parenthood journey together.

In all honesty, it has been him who has gotten me over the terrified hump and into the excitement of being a mommy.  From the start, he has had a smile on his face.  He smiled and hugged me when he saw my test's two pink lines, he shouted out on Facebook that he's "going to be a dad!",  and has reassured me weekly, if not daily, that we will be taken care of and things will fall into place once she arrives.

I know I love my husband.  I have for the last six years.  But in these last few months, I have grown an entirely different kind of love towards him.  One with more respect and awe as he receives parenthood with open arms.  Any time I have been unsure about this journey, he takes my hand and calms my mind.

Just last week we had our elective 3D ultrasound.  As soon as the technician began searching for Evie's face, Derek took my hand.  Just getting to see her and what she's looking like brings a smile to his face and a tear to my eye.

He is going to shoot me for sharing this, but it's too cute not to share.  We also purchased a heartbeat animal, where they record the baby's heartbeat and place the recording inside of a stuffed animal - in our case, an elephant.

After getting home and getting into bed, Derek quietly asked me, "do you have the elephant?"

"No, it's out in the living room."

Silence….

"Do you want me to go get it?"

"...Yes?"

So I got out of bed to grab the elephant.  When I came back into the room, I told him I secretly wanted to sleep with it too but didn't want to be the weird married girl sleeping with a stuffed animal!  He smiled, wrapped his arms around the elephant, squeezed it to hear her heartbeat, and proceeded to fall asleep.

Best daddy moment ever.

I truly cannot wait to see how he is with Evangeline.  Forget trying to fend off the moms, I'm probably going to have to pry her away from her daddy to get some baby time!  Aside from dry heaving while changing dirty diapers, I think he is going to make a phenomenal father.  I can't wait to witness it :)

27 weeks!

Evie and I at 26 weeks....haven't taken one this week yet.

The end of an era ------ er trimester!!!  Where have these six and a half months gone?  It still feels like last week we discovered we were pregnant, and now in just a few months time we will be holding our little girl in our arms.

I hope little miss Evangeline knows how much she is loved.  Though the beginning of this journey scared me, I can't wait to kiss her little toes and to hold her close to me!! Derek and I have been growing impatient on her arrival.  Last week, Derek even pressed on my belly last week telling her "Come out, I want to meet you!!"  (Yes, he does know she needs to bake a little longer, he's just antsy).  Seeing her move my belly and feeling her kicks and even little hiccups has made me realize how truly blessed I am to have this little one coming into our lives. 

The nice thing is I have had a rather uneventful pregnancy.  Yes, in the beginning I had nausea and morning (evening) sickness, constipation, and smell aversions...but in hindsight, it really wasn't as awful as I was making it out to be.  I'm just a big baby and really don't like being sick.

Since about week 15 or so, I've felt pretty normal.  My belly has definitely grown.  I now take back all the times I thought I looked pregnant.  No, no I didn't look pregnant.  Not even close.  I also now have some trouble putting on undies, pants, socks, and shoes.  I also catch myself grunting...a lot.  I recently watched The Switch, where Jason Bateman's character grunts and moans when he eats.  Unfortunately I feel like I do that now with every move I make!  Moving around 17 pounds of extra weight, most of it in my belly region, is difficult!!!

Dusty has now officially felt his little sister move about! He had leaned on my belly one morning while laying in bed and she happened to be moving around in there.  She let off a very hefty jab right where he was leaning.  He raised his head and looked at me, then looked to his left, then put his head back down on the pillow.  Needless to say, the next evening, I was laying on the floor in the nursery - he came up to me and patted my belly before laying at my feet.  I'm not sure if he was trying to hit her back, or if he's letting me know he understands there's something in there!  Either way, I thought it was cute.

What else should you in the world be updated on?  Oh, I have probably eaten my weight in soft serve ice cream since Cascades has opened at the beginning of March.  So happy I've only had that craving since January!!! (insert sarcasm there).   I have not had any weird cravings like pickles and ice cream.  Honestly, choosing where to go to eat or what to make for dinner has become increasingly difficult.  I was hoping cravings would help, but either nothing sounds good, or it all does and I can't make a decision!

I am now at going to the doc's office every other week.  Yesterday I had to take my glucose test.  When Doc. Pastoriza tried getting a heartbeat read, he had to follow her around my belly because she was moving so much.  I think it was all the sugar I had to consume!   I haven't heard back yet on the results, hopefully I'm normal.  Either they'll call or they'll wait until my next appointment. 

OH, we are thinking about getting a 3D ultrasound done.  Derek's dad really wants us to, and upon looking up all the different 3D photos, Derek now wants to so he can compare what she will look like outside the womb to the image.  And I think it has something to do with his impatience in seeing our little lady.

Ok, I think that's as much as I can muster for this evening. 

Tiff