Going public!

Paul and I have some exciting news to share, although most of you reading this already know. We are going to have a little Hickster! I am 13 and a half weeks and our little one is due June 18th! We could not feel any more humbled, blessed and excited!

We found out on Tuesday, October 11th and kept it a secret until Thanksgiving. It was the hardest secret I've ever kept. We wanted to be able to tell my family and Paul's family at the same time. Mom and Dad Hicks always come stay with us the night before Thanksgiving when we head to Boone. So we all ate at my Gram's that night. Paul and I planned the dinner about 5 weeks before Thanksgiving, praying every day that nothing would fall through. Paul had some video of him hunting and we told everybody before dinner he really wanted them to see where he's been hunting and what they've done to the land. A few minutes into the video, my sister-in-law started getting bored and walked into the other room. Paul redirected her back into the living room where we were watching the video. Right after that, Gram got up to go in the kitchen and check on dinner. I was sweatin up a storm. Thank God Paul somehow got Gram to stick around long enough for the "deer video" to turn into my first ultrasound and sweet baby's heart just a flutterin on the screen. I didn't know what to do so I just kept staring at the tv like I didn't know what was going on. My mom was the first person I looked at and her mouth was wide open and she had the biggest tears in her eyes. Needless to say, within seconds everybody knew what was going on. They were all so excited, but seemed really shocked. I think everybody knew it was coming sometime soon, but definitely didn't think that's why we were all having dinner together that night. It was so much fun. The rest of the evening was spent talking about baby and how in the world we'd been able to keep it from everybody for so long.

We couldn't wait to spill the beans to more people. It already felt so different now that our family knew. Paul said the blessing at our Thanksgiving meal in Boone the next day and at the end of the prayer, he thanked God for the miracle growing in my tummy. His family went nuts! With 11 grandchildren under the age of 5 I really didn't know how excited they'd be since babies are such a frequent part of their lives, but they couldn't have been more happy and excited.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving our friends Stephie and Jevon were in town so we went to hang out with them and some other friends. We hadn't seen them since their Chicago wedding back in May and knew we wouldn't see them again for a while so we decided to go ahead and spill the beans to them too. We always play catch phrase with this group of friends so I had the idea of telling them that way. For those of you that know me well, this was the most fitting way for me to break the news. We'd been hanging out for over an hour and I was getting quite antsy. As much as I love catch phrase, I didn't want to blow the surprise by being too anxious to play. Finally it was game time. The second time the game got to me, I said "this is what is in my tummy right now". Leave it to my friends to guess "turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce"! Finally Stephie's husband, who wasn't even supposed to be guessing since we were playing wives against husbands, shouts out "BABY", in which I responded "YES!" and threw the game down. That game will definitely go down as the best catch phrase game ever!!

I have to say I was super blessed by my lack of first trimester sickness. From about week 6 to week 10, I had some really rough mornings and nights. Well all day really. Although I wanted to sometimes, I never threw up or had to miss any work. Smells got to me really bad and there were very few things I felt like I wanted to eat. But compared to what some of my friends have gone through, I considered my symptoms to be pretty mild. Thanksgiving was really the first time I felt like I wanted a big meal. Now y'all know how much food I can throw down but for some reason, I seem to fit less in my stomach than before, which is weird since my stomach seems to be expanding by the day. And that is going to make the belly pic debut even harder to believe. I was quite surprised at how quick my bump popped out. I have always loved pregnant bellies and always said I'd wear one proud when it was my turn. I haven't changed my mind, but it has been a little embarrassing to show people my belly and see their reaction when I tell them I'm not at least 20 weeks. And I love how all of my pregnancy books told me at 13 weeks that "I might be starting to show if this is MY SECOND pregnancy." Ok, now there are at least two things you need to know before I reveal the picture. One, some of this bump existed pre-baby. Two, Thanksgiving has a lot to do with it too. I am not going to act like all of this is coming from our lime-size baby. It just happens to be in the right shape already.
And here it is...


No there are not two in there. And no, I am not further along than they think. Other than the two reasons listed above, I am going to blame it on me being short. Because that sounds good, right?! All joking aside, I am quite fond of my bump and plan on rocking it loud and proud. Not that I have a choice, but still.

We go back to the doctor on the 30th and after that we only have to wait 3 more weeks to find out what we're having. I can't believe it! Several people have asked me if I have a preference. I truly do not. I always thought before I got pregnant that I would. But I honestly feel so blessed to just be pregnant, that I can't imagine preferring one sex over the other. I have no feelings about it whatsoever so unless that changes over the next 5 weeks, I will be surprised when we find out either way.

Ok, I am sure this was more than enough of a blog post for one day. At least I have something blog worthy now though!