My previous blog post sat in my “drafts” folder for months. Every time I felt like I was ready to share the post, I would chicken out. Honestly, I was embarrassed because I felt as if I had dropped the ball when it came to being my biggest advocate.

What made me finally hit “post”? A visit to the doctor. I had been sick off and on for about a month. I was having a hard time keeping my food down and of course, my first thought was, “I’m pregnant!” but all my home pregnancy tests were negative. I went to the doctor and they performed pregnancy tests–nothing. I was told that it was something viral and given a prescription and sent home.

It was scary not knowing what was going on and having no real answers from the doctor. I thought I was pregnant, but the tests AND the doctor said differently. I began to think, maybe the doctors have been right, maybe I can’t get pregnant.

My friends who knew I had been sick would check in because they too were convinced that there was a baby announcement on the way, but that was not the case. Once again my husband and I had the “baby talk” and again and he reassured me that my health was first and we would worry about adding on to our family later.

I was not convinced that taking the medicine prescribed to me was the best move, so I let it sit on my night stand for a while. I continued to feel horrible, but had ruled out pregnancy. I decided to make one more trip to CVS to pick up a pregnancy test before I started taking the medicine my doctor gave me.

Waiting on the pregnancy test results was the longest 3 minutes of my life. I had taken a few tests days before so I had prepared myself for another “not pregnant” reading, BUT…not this time!

“PREGNANT”

I read the test and immediately tears began to swell up in my eyes. I decided to take 2 more tests just to be sure. “Pregnant” and “Pregnant,” I called my husband into the room and showed him the test. We both looked down at the test and then back at each other smiling.

I immediately found an OBGYN and scheduled an appointment. My first appointment confirmed the test results, but was also a bit nerve wrecking. The ultrasound tech performed an ultrasound and I was expecting to see a “little bean” but there was nothing…

The ultrasound tech noticed the worried look on my face and sighed and said “well I can’t see anything but, it looks like there is something going on in there.” My heart sank. I fought back tears and asked exactly what he meant.

He couldn’t offer much info, but said we would do another ultrasound and not to make any pregnancy announcements just yet.

I left the doctor not knowing quite what to feel. I almost felt like someone was playing a cruel joke on me.

I anxiously awaited my next appointment. I found myself laying down on the same bed. I closed my eyes and silently prayed as the ultrasound tech rubbed gel on my stomach.

“Look at that!” she said excitedly as I opened my eyes and looked over at the screen. There was my baby! Well, it didn’t quite look like a baby but a little gummy bear. She was able to pick up a heart beat, which made me feel even better.

My husband and I were equally excited a relieved!

It was after this appointment that I decided  it was time to hit “publish” on my previous blog post. Some blog readers began to suspect that a pregnancy announcement was on the way, but my husband and I had both agreed to keep the news a secret ( outside of the few who knew I had been sick.) I had a few more tests that had to be ran before we were all the way out the woods.

With my boys, I didn’t do much testing, but this time around any testing the doctors offered I was all for it considering all the changes my body has undergone since my last pregnancy.

It was after a call from the doctor going over all my test results that we not only knew we would be welcoming a baby girl on Christmas ( yep that’s my due date), but that everything appeared normal.

The past few months have been an emotional roller-coaster and not even my mother knew about the back and forth doctors’ appointments. Instead of going back through all our contacts and sending massive group texts, we announced the arrival of our new addition on social media (even though I’m sure my husband had slipped up and told a few people beforehand.)

Thank you to our family and friends who have been so supportive and prayed with us and for us through this journey. We are over the moon excited about our “miracle baby.” Ms. Makinley Grace Parker coming Christmas 2017