We see you, little Baby West!

Saturday, June 16th 2012

Last week I didn't post anything mostly because I had my first bad week. I started off the week with a terrible, terrible migraine. Usually over the counter medicine doesn't work for my headaches so this is one thing I have been a bit worried about with this pregnancy. But God is good. And so is my husband. He got up at 3:30am and went to the gas station to buy me some Tylenol. Then he stayed up with me until I was able to get semi-comfortable enough to fall asleep. Isn't he wonderful? :) And thank You, Jesus, it actually worked. I by the end of the next day my headache was gone.

I also had my first bout with food aversions. I was making chicken one night and then all the sudden the smell was repulsive. I just couldn't get away from it and I was so queasy and miserable for two days after! And I must say kudos to every mother who has had morning sickness because these two days of being so extremely nauseous were horrible! I don't think I could handle it every day.

This week was a great week though! On Monday, we had our first ultrasound!! It was so exciting to see our adorable little lima bean of a baby! I just wish I was able to capture the look on Joe's face the first time he saw his little baby. Especially when he saw the heart beating. It was such a precious and beautiful moment.....

The ultrasound technician also gave us a more accurate due date, which is now January 21st, 2013! We thought I was 7 weeks along at this point but I'm actually 8 weeks. Which I also figured out this is a honeymoon baby..... :) The only bummer part about the new due date is now there really is not a good chance of it being a February baby at all. I guess little Baby West will be sharing a birthday month with Daddy, Aunt Brittany, Uncle Michael, and Aunt Karynn for sure!

This week I also broke the news to my boss and coworkers. For some reason I have been pretty apprehensive about telling them all, but I knew I needed to do it sooner rather than later. 1. because my belly is already starting to grow and 2. we travel so much with work that my boss really does need to know so I can take the proper precautions while flying and collecting documents at client sites. But good news. They took it well. I also found out that one of the ladies I eat lunch with at work is also pregnant! So now there will be two of us waddling around the office this winter :)

And since another month has passed by, here is the 8 week picture! My stomach is starting to grow a little bit, though I'm not really sure you could tell in this photo or not.

Week 5!

June 1st, 2012

It's Week 5 Day 3 and little Baby West is the size of an appleseed or a sweet pea. He or she is now visible to the naked eye too :) That is so exciting to think about!

This week has been another week of annoying and bothersome cramps but not too terribly bad. I haven't had any of the supposed "normal" symptoms yet like extreme tiredness and exhaustion, or morning sickness. The funny thing is, I'm sort of opposite. I've actually been really hungry! Which for me, that's a praise since I am pretty sure I am getting hungry as much as a normal person and I haven't had any sort of "normal" when it comes to my stomach since I was 18 years old. I still can't eat a lot of food but I do get really hungry every couple hours. So for me, that is super exciting :) Although, I have to admit, it does make me nervous that I will gain a bunch of weight....my goal is to gain no more than 30 pounds this pregnancy. Which will still put me at the heaviest point I have ever been in my life; which also freaks me out a bit! At least most all of it will be gone when the baby is born and while breast feeding.

This week I have also been a bit stressed out. Dealing with health insurance is a pain! I have never been so frustrated about something like this before. Who knew that trying to figure out which insurance plan to choose could result in so many what-if situations.....! But I think we are close to figuring that all out, thank goodness.

We are also starting to look for a midwife in the area that we are comfortable with. Joe and I both would like to deliver at home if at all possible, so prayers in finding someone in the next few weeks would be fantastic :)

Another good news about this week is that I am officially a West and a Georgian! Today I spent the entire day getting a new social security card, driver's license, car insurance, and license plate and tags. I must say though, I have been dreading losing my California plates :( The new Georgia plates are so ugly....!

How We Surprised Daddy and Family :)

Even before I thought I was pregnant, I had been thinking of creative ways to surprise Joe and our families when we actually did get pregnant. Good thing I love planning things because the little baby came sooner than we expected :)

Now, I know lying is bad, but I find there are exceptions when planning surprises. At least that's my theory. 

The Monday before I found out I was pregnant, I asked Auntie Brittany if she would help me surprise him at work sometime, though I wasn't sure when yet. Then Thursday came along and I found out I was pregnant. And here comes more lies. We have a friend, Emily, that has been staying with us, so I had to also lie to her. Since I bake cupcakes often, I told both Joe and Emily that I had to bake cupcakes for a baby shower at work on Friday. Then, so Joe wouldn't see the cupcakes I told him that my frosting messed up so I didn't do cupcakes (which isn't entirely a lie because my frosting did mess up the first time). After I decorated the cupcake box I hid them in a cupboard that I knew Joe wouldn't look in. I then told Joe that I was going to the chiropractor Friday morning, but really I was going to the OB/GYN to verify my pregnancy. I also told Emily that I was going to surprise Joe with dinner at work Friday night so she wouldn't suspect anything. 


Friday, May 26th, 2012

So here is how it went. Aunt Brittany and Uncle Montez both didn't know what was going on; just that I had a surprise present for Joseph. Brittany hid me in a side room of the cafeteria at work and Montez was recording the whole thing. Then Brittany brought a balloon that said "Congrats!!!" to Joseph, and my plan was for him to be all confused at that point. I think it worked :) Then she brought him over the cupcakes. 

This is the top:

So Joseph proceeded to open the lid and at first he just closed it. But then realized that he might have seen something. So he opened it again and looked at Brittany and Montez all puzzled, then decided to text me first to see if what he was thinking was true.

This is what he saw:

 Once I saw him pull out his phone I walked out of the back room. At first I didn't think he saw what the inside said, but then this is how the conversation went:

Joseph: "Is that for real?"

Tiffany: "Yes"

Joseph: "No. You're lying. It's a joke."

Tiffany: "No, it's real. I found out this morning."

Joseph: "No. Really?"

And then he proceeded to turn the box lid around to Brittany, Montez, and the camera. Everyone was surprised and shocked :) After some jokes from his coworkers, we talked about it all, and poor Joe was so shaky that he couldn't finish his dinner. Sorry honey.... :)

The daddy to be still in shock!

It is still all so surreal to us! 

--------------------------------------------------------

On Saturday morning, Emily helped us take some pictures so we could surprise his family. Mom was the main person to surprise so I told her that Joe and I took some pictures the other day and we brought them to show to everyone. I handed her the photos upside down and when she flipped them over, she was in shock. It was great. After confirming that we were serious, she was just so excited! She didn't put the pictures down for a good 15 minutes. And that was only because she went to get a baby picture of Joe :) She was so giddy about finding out she was going to be a grandma!

We told my mom pretty much the same way. Except we had Auntie Stephanie pick up the photos that I sent to Wal-Mart in Bakersfield, and while she had Joe and I on FaceTime, she handed Mom the pictures. Her expression was priceless. She just couldn't stop laughing and it was hilarious.

When we told the rest of our families, pretty much everyone's first response was "Wow, that was fast!" ya.....we were thinking/semi hoping it would take a little longer than 2 weeks to get pregnant.....I guess God had other plans :)

Here are the pictures on how we surprised the families!

And this is the beginning of the weekly update photos!!!

Welcome Baby West!

Thursday, May  24th, 2012


We are going to have a baby!!!

For about a week before we found out, I sort of had a feeling that I was pregnant. I was having weird symptoms that weren't typically normal for me. Then on Thursday, May 24th at 12:58, on my lunch break at work, I took an at home pregnancy test. And to my semi-surprise, IT WAS POSITIVE!!! 

Now, we have only been married for a couple days short of 7 weeks, so it's a bit soon, but I guess God didn't think so. I have to tell you though, the entire we before, I was a wreck. Have you ever seen the Disney movie, Tangled? Well, you know at the beginning when Rapunzel finally leaves her castle and she goes from one extreme to the other about being free and disobeying her mother? That was seriously me the entire week. It was like a war zone in my head between not wanting to start a family yet and it would be nice to start a family right now....

After I took the home pregnancy test, I called my doctor and got an appointment for the next morning to confirm. And guess what?! I really am pregnant :) As of right now, our due date is January 29th, 2013. Yet another January birthday for our families......You see, I told Joe from the beginning that I absolutely did not want a baby born between the end of November and end of February, because between both our families we have 7 birthdays, with 4 of them being in January alone! And now 5 counting little Baby West. God has a funny sense of humor sometimes.....

We have our first ultrasound in two weeks to hopefully hear the heartbeat and also get a more accurate timeline of how far along I am. I really cannot wait! 

I know that Joe and I are going to be great parents and we have wonderful families and friends surrounding us all over the country to help us out. Though we are nervous and anxious, we are both very excited for this next step in life.

LoveAlways, 

The West Family