Baby Clark

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!

The little "peanut" in the middle of the black area is our baby!
The head is on the lower left side.

Since February 21 when my pregnancy test came back positive, I've been dying to share our big news with everyone. I visited the doctor today and found that the baby is healthy, so we can finally tell our friends!


On the morning of February 21, I woke up before David to take a shower prior to church. I thought I'd take a pregnancy test just for fun.... I wasn't "late" yet and I wasn't feeling pregnant so I was expecting a negative test. You can imagine my shock as I read the word all spelled out: PREGNANT. So matter-of-fact. My initial reaction was wide-eyed shock. I had imagined this moment so many times, but it didn't feel the way I expected it to. I didn't cry... I wasn't jumping up and down... I was just frozen. "Now what?" I thought. I went along with my routine:  shower, breakfast (sans caffeine), church, and lunch. I told David I was going to run a few errands and I left the house to search for the perfect gift to give David to tell him about his sweet baby. (Gift-giving is definitely my love language.) I thought about buying him an "I heart Daddy" bib, but the ones I saw were either pink or blue--how could I choose? Since David is an avid reader I decided upon a book called The Expectant Father. I wrapped the book, positive pregnancy test, and a tiny pillow that David's mom gave me awhile ago that cross-stitched reads "George David Clark III" which was given to her when she was pregnant with David (the person didn't realize that David was a Jr., not III). David was engrossed in his TV show (I had just given him the "Deadwood" dvd series for Valentine's) when I finished wrapping the gift. I couldn't wait for the show to end so I told him I had a gift for him that he needed to open right away. He begrudgingly paused his show to indulge me. Since the gift was book-shaped, I told him it was a book for AWP (a writing conference he's going to attend in April) to throw him off the scent (I'm big on surprises too). He opened the box with the gifts and he said, "Are you serious?" That's when we both lost it and wept together. Since then, we've enjoyed dreaming about our baby and trying to imagine how dramatically our life will change in October. The book ended up being a good investment as David has read it very carefully and seems to know more about the process than me!


David's parents came in town last week to visit us over spring break and we told them they were going to be grandparents! We're so glad we could tell them in person. We called my family and his siblings the same day to share the good news. 


More about our little one:

• Our due date is October 29, 2010 (my Dad's birthday!)
• I am 9 weeks and 3 days along (13 weeks = 2nd trimester; gender can be determined at 20 weeks)
• The baby is the size of a prune (1.5 inches long)
• With bones and cartilage starting to form and vital organs beginning to function, Baby Clark is making major progress. Body length will almost double in the next three weeks and arm joints are now working. (Soon, legs will start working too.)
• We were able to see our baby via ultrasound and there is only 1 baby :)
• He/she wiggled for us a little, we could see leg/arm buds, and a vigorous heartbeat
• The baby will be the first grandchild and great-grandchild on both sides of our families
• Thankfully, I haven't been very sick. I only "lost my lunch" once, but otherwise I feel a little queasy throughout the day and extremely fatigued. 

We ask that you please begin praying for this precious baby. We love him/her so much already. 


We'll keep you updated on the blog as the baby grows. 


Love,
Elisabeth


(Little did we know the picture below from my last post would be foreshadowing with the baby hovering above our heads...)