Baby News

JJ and I are super excited to be expecting our first child, Anthony James. After being told a year and a half ago that it would be extremely difficult for me to have children due to Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), I was amazed and blessed by this incredible news! 

May 20, 2010 I woke up early and took a pregnancy test just because I hadn't been feeling well. I was nauseous, had unbelievable heart burn, and a few more of the classic pregnancy symptoms. I didn't even mention anything to JJ, until the double red lines showed up about 15 seconds later. He was asleep in bed and I yelled for him to hurry up and come here. Groggily he came out to the guest bathroom and I told him to look. He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it, even after I told him all the symptoms I had been experiencing over the past few weeks. We called the doctor right away and made an appointment for the next day. Of course, Dr. Farwick confirmed for us both that I was in fact pregnant! I was so excited, thrilled, nervous, scared, and so much more! I think JJ was in shock. :) 

I instantly began brainstorming about how we would tell our families. I Google'd how others had done it, and decided we would buy bibs and cards for our immediate family to tell them. I couldn't wait to share our wonderful news with everyone. We went to my Mom's first. JJ handed my mom a bag and said it had been sitting on the entry way table when we walked in. She opened it to find a bib the said "I love Grandma." She didn't get it until she started to read the card. She cried. She was so excited for us. We left there and went straight to my Dads house and gave him his "I love Grandpa" bib- he was completely shocked. Speechless almost. We then called Aunt Katryna and asked to meet her at work for lunch, but she had already eaten, so we made plans to come to her house later that night for dessert with both her and JJ's Mom. We called JJ's Dad and met up with him when he got off work around 2pm. We gave his his "I love Grandpa" bib and card and he was thrilled! Later that evening, we brought a Publix cake over to Katryna and Nathan's house, along with their personalized bibs. JJ's Mom was completely shocked, and didn't say a whole lot. Katryna was really happy. She said she knew this news was coming after we called and wanted to have lunch with her at work, as we've never done that before. She even asked JJ on the phone if that's what was going on, but he denied it. Man, talk about an exhausting day!  We sure made our rounds. Aunt Brianne had already known, I had to call someone when I got the positive test results on day one! JJ and I decided she could keep the secret until things were confirmed. We made an appointment with an OB/Gyn in Winter Park, and got to see our baby in an ultrasound for the first time at 7weeks 4days! The heart rate was 169! We made another appointment to come back a month later. 

The first trimester was pretty uneventful, full of morning sickness (that lasted all day long) but I was thankful that I never threw up. The doctors never gave me a target weight gain, but I'd like to keep it as minimal as possible. I had strong aversions to poultry and vegetables, both usually staples in my everyday diet. I lived off everything bagels and cream cheese, and ginger ale and juices. I lost about 8lbs overall, and have just now started gaining it back.  

The second trimester has brought on a whole new world of fun pregnancy symptoms. Heart burn, back aches, headaches, insomnia coupled with complete exhaustion (makes perfect sense, right?), and learning how to maneuver with a growing belly. But, along with all the not so fun stuff, came being able to feel him move around inside. I felt the first flutters around 14 weeks, and have really enjoyed the movements ever since. It wasn't until about 18 weeks that JJ was able to feel and see the movements in my belly. 

We had our gender scan on September 2, 2010 at my 19 week appointment. Since my 25th birthday was just two days later, JJ and I decided he would find out what we were having, and then purchase our baby's first outfit based on the sex and give it to me as a birthday present. He loved this idea, and did an incredible job of keeping it a secret for two whole days! He went shopping with Aunt Katryna and they picked out some adorable little boy outfits. I woke up early before JJ left for work on the 4th and opened the box! What a special way to find out we would be having a BOY!!! Less than 4 hours later, JJ and I had decided on a name via a series text messages. We had spent the first 20 weeks talking through names but we were never able to agree on anything. We did know for a boy we wanted to be able to have several nicknames to pick from. The middle name would either be John (after Daddy's) or James (after my Pop-Pop who passed away a few years back). Daddy really wanted to honor his Italian heritage and decided that he loved the name Anthony, and since he chose the first name, I would choose the middle name. Alas, we came up with Anthony James Marinelli aka AJ, Tony, TJ, etc... 

We are currently 26 weeks 3 days along. I'm still down 3lbs from my prepregnancy weight, but expect that will be changing any day now. At our doctors appointment last week Anthony's heart rate was anywhere from 130-150, and very strong. We have settled on a nursery theme:  Fire Trucks. We can't wait to start decorating the nursery!

I still have pretty strong aversions to vegetables and poultry, and am drinking nearly 2 gallons of milk per week. The heart burn sure hasn't let up any. Anthony's favorite position seems to involve snuggling some where in my rib cage and kicking like crazy. I swear there is a circus going on in my belly most days. He is a really active little boy already, and loves to stay awake all night.