Expecting

Big news in the Klusman household! We are expecting a baby! I am pregnant and doing well. Here are the details of the last few months:

December 13, 2008

On this Saturday morning I decided to take a pregnancy test. I had bought a pack of three at the store earlier that week. Aaron was not home...he was on a bike ride. He has no idea this is going on. I took the first test and it was supposed to show a cross if it was positive. There was the slighest, faintest line that made it look like a cross. I was just not sure if it was positive. So, I had to take test #2. The pack I had bought had one digital test in it so I decided to take that one so there were not any questions or doubt. I thought about waiting until Aaron got home to take it but I just couldn't take the suspense. I took the test and stared at the flashing hour glass while it was reading the results. And then, there it was, plain and clear, PREGNANT. I stared at the test in shock for several minutes. Then I stuffed it in the drawer and tried to think of what I should do next. What do I do? Go on with my Saturday morning as normal? Well I tried to compose myself and think of how I was going to break the good news to Aaron. I had to go to the grocery store for some household things and groceries so I decided to make the trip to Fry's. I was trying to brainstorm while I was in the store of a creative way to tell Aaron. I finally decided to get him a card. It was simple and perfect. I went to the baby shower section. I found a baby card that said "Congratulations" on the front and on the inside it said "On your newest reason to smile". I wrote in it and said "AK, you are going to be a great Daddy! I love you, SK" When he got home from his bike ride I was mixing hot chocolate mix for Christmas gifts and I told him that I got him a card and that he should open it. He thought, "Oh how sweet, an I love you card". Little did he know. He opened it up and looked very confused. It was not what he expected. It took him some time to figure it out but when he did he was so excited. I started crying when he looked at me in excitement. He hugged me and I went and showed him the test...there it was plain and clear: PREGNANT.

That day we went out and ran some errands and went to Michaels and got the supplies to make our parents grandparents frames to tell them the good news. That night we also went to our friends Christmas party. It was difficult to compose ourselves but for the time being this was a big secret.

December 18, 2008

My first doctor's appointment. This was a Thursday and no one knew I was pregnant. I had to make up a lie at work so no one knew where I was going. I told everyone I was going to lunch with Aaron. The doctors appointment ended up taking forever so I was gone almost 3 hours! Luckily no one asked too many questions. At this point in time I thought I was about 6 or 7 weeks along. However, the doctor had reason to believe that I was much earlier than that. I had blood drawn for my hormone level (which at that time was 580 Hcg) and I had an ultrasound. The ultra sound only showed a small little black dot. Since the pregnancy was so early, probably only 3 or 4 weeks I could not get a due date or anything. I left knowing that I was for sure pregnant but that I was so early anything could happen.

December 19, 2008

I finished up the Grandparents frame for our parents. We had planned dinner with my mother-in-law, Sherry, and Jim. We went to a little mexican food restaurant called Richardon's. We gave her the picture frame that said "Grandma" on it. It had a photo of her in it. We said it was an early Christmas present. She unwrapped the gift and giggled at the photo of her laying in fall leaves. Then after a couple minutes she realized why the frame said Grandma. She started crying and so did I. Later she told Aaron that she wished she had stood up in the restaurant and yelled to everyone, "I'm going to be a Grandma!" She was thrilled for us and probably had one of the best reactions of everyone we told.

December 20. 2008

This was a Saturday. We really wanted to let my parents know the good news but weren't quite sure how to plan dinner with them because usually everything we do with them is more spontaneous, like dinner after work or something. So we asked them to go out to dinner as part of our Christmas present to them. Our church was joining in a movement called Advent Conspiracy for the Christmas season. This is something that promotes giving relational gifts as opposed to mindless gifts people don't need. So that was a great way to tell them why we wanted to take them out to dinner. We went to Stax Burgers and Bistro. We ordered sweet potato fries as an appetizer and then placed our meal order. While we were munching on our delicious sweet potato fries I pulled out the wrapped frame and told them we had an early Christmas present for them. They opened the frame and looked at it for a couple seconds and then realized that they were soon to be grandparents. We spent the rest of the meal talking baby details. They are so excited to be grandparents.

Decmeber 25, 2008

Christmas Day. This is the day we told Paul, my father-in-law. We had my parents, grandparetns and great aunt over for Christmas dinner. Paul arrived before everyone else so it was a great time to present his frame to him. In his frame we had a photo of him and his dog, Adelaide. When he first opened the frame he was admiring the picture and we thought he didn't understand. Then it clicked, Aaron said, "Do you know what we're saying?" and Paul said, "You're going to have a kid." He congratulated us and is proud to soon be a grandpa.

December 26-30, 2008

We traveled to and from Michigan on these dates. We met up with Becky, David, Michelle and Brent in Michigan. It was so hard to not tell them I was expecting. We had to keep it a secret from everyone....cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. We saw everyone but it was just too early in the pregnancy to make a huge announcement. It was also hard because I stopped drinking coffee and my sisters are coffee lovers! I think I played it off pretty well for a few days.

December 30, 2008

This day we traveled from Michigan to Arizona. Becky, David, Michelle and Brent all came to Arizona to celebrate Christmas. On the 31st we celebrated Christmas togther and Aaron and I planned to announce the big news then. On the night of the 30th we went to a really nice dinner at Lon's at the Hermosa. It was wonderful food and we had a very nice semi-private room. This is when Becky and Michelle started to figure it out. First of all I did not have any wine at this nice dinner. Secondly, I ordered my salad without bleu cheese (these days your not supposed to eat soft cheeses during pregancy because of listeria). I usually never make changes to my entrees at restaurants. I usually just like everything. I also ordered my salad without pecans, just because they did not sound good to me. I was feeling so sick and nauseated this night. The pregnancy sickness was just starting to kick in. After I ordered, Becky looked at me and said, "No pecans?" and I just said, "They just don't sound good". She purposely didn't say anything about the bleu cheese but she was thinking it. Dinner was wonderful despite the nausea. Later that night I told Aaron, "Oh my gosh, Becky and Michelle totally figured it out." I had told him that even before dinner because it was just starting to become obvious to people who know you so well. He said, "No way they figured it out, there is no way." However, that night Becky and Michelle had a little pow-wow and decided that I must be pregnant and they started putting it all togther....I hadn't had coffee, no wine, no bleu cheese. Enough hints for a sister to be suspicious.

December 31, 2008

This was Christmas for the Beals family. This morning we had breakfast (I was really feeling sick by this point in the pregnancy...about 6 weeks along) and opened gifts. We got so many nice gifts from my parents and sisters and brother-in-laws. But for the very last gift of them all I gave Becky and Michelle a special gift. They both opened it quickly to discover a little baby bottle with a tag on it that said "Aunt Becky and Uncle David" and "Aunt Michelle and Uncle Brent". They were thrilled! They yelled, "We knew it!" They came and jumped on me and hugged me. Aaron just kept on saying over and over, "No way you knew, no way you knew!". It's just one of those things you won't understand unless you have sisters who know you so well. I love you sisters! Finally everyone knew. What a relief! I could talk about it openly at last. Everytime Brent would walk by me he would say either "Baby Mama" or 'Prego Eggo". You gotta love brother-in-laws. Since this was New Year's Eve Becky and David and Michelle and Brent went out that night and celebrated. However, this was the beginning of my pregnancy sickness. I was not feeling well at all and brought in the new year sitting on the couch drifting in and out of sleep. Everyone left the next day and I was so sad to see them go.

January 6, 2009

This day I had a doctor's appointment and Aaron came with me. Since the baby was so small last time I was not able to get a due date. So today the doctor did an ultra sound. The baby was now big enough to measure so we could get an accurate due date of August 25. I was 7 weeks and 1 day along. We could see the heart beat on the ultra sound. It was amazing to see the little life growing inside me.

Through out the month of January we were able to tell many of our friends that we see often. The first to tell were our dear friends Josh and Steph. They have a 2 year old daughter so they have been wanting us to have a baby for a while. We told them by showing the ultra sound picture. They were so excited they screamed and jumped up and down. We are just so blessed to have so many great friends and so many people to share this great news with. So I apologize if we weren't able to tell you in person.

February, 2, 2009

Today we told the office staff I was expecting. We had a staff meeting and my dad made the announment that he was going to be a Grandpa. Everyone had to think about it for a minute considering he does have 3 daughters. But it did not take them long to figure out it was me! Another relief to have them know...now I don't have to make up fake stories about where I am when I am really at the doctor.

February 5, 2009

Another doctors appointment today and Aaron was able to come along. At this appointment I was in my 11th week. I had another ultrasound which I was hoping for. This is such a weird stage of pregnancy for me. I know that I am pregnant but I can't feel the baby and I still pretty much look the same, I am not showing yet and haven't gained weight yet. So it was reassuring to see the little baby moving and active. The baby is a wiggle worm! He/she was moving all around that we could barely get a good picture. The heart beat looked good and overall the visit was simple. Next time we will get to hear the heart beat instead of just seeing it.

Luckily morning sickness was short lived for me. I only had about 3 weeks of not feeling very well. Now it seems to be under control as long as I am sure to eat often. Well that gets you all pretty much caught up on our story. I will try and post as often as possible with Klusman baby updates.