Monday, March 2, 2009

18 Week Checkup

I trudged my self through Washington, DC's last big snow this afternoon for my 18 week prenatal appointment. The doctor said everything looked great. I had gained a whopping 5 pounds last month which is right on target. The baby had a heartbeat of 140 and the doctor said she was growing very nicely. Almost half way there!

The next couple of weeks are very busy at work so it was nice to have today off and snuggle with Drexie (my adorable pup) and get some cleaning done.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

And the baby is.....

Yesterday we went to Simply Sono in Woodbridge, Virginia to get a gender determination Sonogram. My parents and brother met us there. When my mom walked into the waiting room and saw my growing belly and starting crying. Everyone was very excited to finally find out what exactly was hiding in there! Dino's mom called and my mom gave her a play-by-play of what was going on. The tech was in incredibly patient with us, especially considering how loud and excited we were.

From the moment we started telling people we were pregnant, everyone has had an opinion on the gender of our baby. About 99% of the people including my mother, mother-in-law, husband, and most of my girlfriends thought we were having a girl. Nothing about my pregnancy has happened to really make them think this...they just all felt this way. I on the other had was the ONLY person who felt it was a little boy. I even went as far as calling my belly "little guy" and referred to my growing belly him and he.

I have this theory why everyone thought is was a little girl....(1) I think everyone sees me as being very girly and they couldn't see me without a little girl, (2) I think everyone thought it would be hilarious to watch Dino with a little girl considering how "all boy" my husband is. Either the outcome, we were going to love this baby and could care less if it was a boy or a girl.

The tech squeezed the blue gooey stuff on my belly and went to work. She immediately knew what the baby was but waited until she could get a clear shot and show us. While we anxiously waited we got to hear the heartbeat and see other various pictures of the baby. Finally she said, "See the three lines there, that makes a hamburger, and a hamburger makes a girl!" My mom was sooo excited and started crying while on the phone with my mother-in-law. A smile spread on my husbands face because he got what he wanted...his baby girl. Even though I thought it was a boy, I was still VERY excited--I got my shopping partner.

These are the pictures of our baby girl: Sophia Floriana Tapper set to premier this summer.







Notice in one of the pictures you can see her hand and count all five fingers! The first picture shows her feet and if you notice the black blog to the right, that is my bladder. This shows that I was right, she is literally standing on my bladder!

Today is Dino and I's one year anniversary. This time last year I knew I would be as happy as I am now. However, I never thought we would be as blessed as we are today! This has been an amazing year for us and though we still have A LOT to learn about the road ahead of us, I'm glad Dino and I are doing it together.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I once loved pickles too

I was really on a roll posting, however life gets busy and I just could not keep up!

Below is an email I wrote to my parents and grandparents in early January. I was still feeling very very sick with "morning sickness" (that by the way isn't just in the morning- for me it was all day long!). I thought it was funny and I should share.

From: Rachael Tapper
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 10:33 AM
To: 'Kathie Truitt'; 'L'; 'billy062@centurytel.net'; 'Jay Truitt'
Subject: Pickles
Importance: High

Ewww I feel so gross today. I ate 5 pickles (like huge pickles not to mention I had a big pile of Florianna's pasta before that) last night when I was watching American Idol. I knew it was a bad idea about 10 minutes after I finished the 4th one, however I went ahead for the fifth. I was up all night peeing, thirsty, and feeling like I was going to vomit while Dino and Drexie snored peacefully sleeping next to me. I feel horrible today-- needless to say do not even say the word pickle around me today. I will probably throw up on you.

I can still smell the pickles this morning. I even ate a blueberry muffin this morning and I swear it tasted like pickles. Until further notice, do not say pickles, talk about pickles, eat them in front of me, think about them, or allow the smell to linger in a room I might be going to. I will most likely be sick. Sorry for the trouble-- I loved pickles once too.


Thursday, January 15, 2009

Ring the alarm

Before I found out I was pregnant, I had scheduled a gyno appointment to get back on birth control. As you can imagine that appointment was no longer needed and they re-scheduled me for December 23rd. This gave Dino and I the idea to wait until the holiday to tell our families and to make sure the first appointment went well. 

The morning of December 23rd I was a nervous wreck. We sat in the waiting room for almost 45 minutes (thinking they forgot us) until we finally went back. We do all the usually checks: weight, pulse, blood pressure, and were finally motioned to a room with a Ultrasound machine and a gown. "Take it all off," says the nurse in her very strong accent that I couldn't place. I undressed quickly and kept telling myself all the bad news I might get. I didn't want Dino or myself to get our hopes up only to be dissapointed later. Finally the Dr. came in.

 Because I was only 8 weeks and the baby was so small, the doctor decided to do a vaginal sonogram. This is where they put this little machine inside you and the the sonogram from inside rather than on your belly.  This was very uncomfortable exspecially with your husband of only 10 months standing over your shoulder with a smile that went from ear to ear. The doctor could not even find my uterus because my bladder was so full from anxiety. I threw on my jeans and shirt and ran down the hall to the bathroom. While emptying my bladder pants around my ankles, I hear, "CODE RED, CODE RED, PLEASE EXIT THE BUILDING IMMEDIATLEY!!" I ran back to my room where my doctor and Dino waited with the news that our hospital was on fire, ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? JUST MY LUCK. 

I walked down 7 flights of stairs with no underwear or bra only to be told it was a false alarm. While waiting 15 minutes to get back on the elevator and wondering if this day could get any worse, when standing across from me was my doctor. The same doctor that moments earlier had been staring and analyzing my crotch! Okay so maybe she wasn't analyzing it, but she was a lot closer to it than I let everyone else! All I could think about was how this doctor was probably looking at me thinking, "I hate my job. I have to go back up there and deal with this woman and her crotch again." (After I told my mom this story she assured me this woman probably was not thinking this considering her job.) 

As we finally got settled back in our room, the doctor came in, and the sonogram began. Moments later we saw Baby T's heartbeat and the baby all snuggled up. The picture was very fuzzy and you really couldn't see anything that resembled a baby, but I knew it was my baby. It was one of the most precious things I have ever seen and will never forget it. 


The Start of Something New

The moment before I found out I was pregnant was one of the happiest times of my life. I had just gone for drinks to my mother-in-laws restaurant with Dino's (my husbands) Aunt Donatella and they had surprised me with an amazing present....my first Gucci Handbag! I was so excited I rushed to Dino's restaurant to show off my new prize. I was so excited my life was finally complete! I was so excited in fact that I didn't realize -- something in my life was missing.....

Well that something was HUGE! As I drove home that night I realized what was missing -- "Aunt Flo" my monthly guest had just not shown up! Not the least bit concerned, however taking some precaution, I called my one of my best friends Blair and made her stay on the phone with me as I bought the big test. I had taken many "tests" since Dino and I had gotten married always being careful. Every time millions of thoughts ran through my brain, what if its positive? what would we do? are we ready for this? This time was different, none of those thoughts crossed my mind. I almost even considered myself crazy for taking the test, until that second line appeared. It was very light blue. So light in fact I wondered if it was my eyes playing tricks on me, yes that had to be it, where did I put my glasses anyway? Why wasn't the blue line going away? Since I had bought a box of three pregnancy tests (two that read with a line, and one digital) I decided to take the second "line" test. This time the line was a little brighter! These crazy sticks what was going on! I noticed my face heat up and heart began pumping a little faster than it had before I started the tests. The only way to make sure I had not bought a faulty box of tests, was to take the digital...on the third test before I had even finished peeing it ready quite clearly PREGNANT. It was like God sending a message, "Rachael, I was serious the first time, your preggo." I cried and cried and not because I was happy, but because I was terrified! My life was never going to be the same again! I called my Nana and Cousin Jerica and made them swear they wouldn't tell a soul. Then I woke up at 2 a.m. to tell my husband. He was so excited and I just couldn't understand why. Didn't he understand what this meant. I was going to be fat, moody, and No more just Rachael and Dino. We had just gotten married 8 months before this was too soon! His smile was huge -- he was obviously proud of his accomplishment.

Although my opinions since the day I found out I was pregnant have changed, I can't lie to you and tell you I'm always excited. Its hard to be excited when (1) you are hardly ever awake and (2) most of the time when you are you feel like crap. My friend Athena made the suggestion that I should keep a journal. This way my baby would know exactly how I felt. I realized that most of what I was feeling was a little PG-13 Rated and didn't know if I wanted "it" to know all of that yet. So instead my mom gave me the idea to blog.

So here it is, the begining of my adventure....