Holiday prep and baby chatter

/ Meg

Thank you all so much for your kind words and well wishes on our pregnancy announcement! Honestly, for as excited as I am to share the news, I was also pretty nervous. Something about the reveal makes me anxious, and I’m not sure why. Before we told our families, I was literally shaking. Shaking!

And, I mean, it’s a good thing. A great thing. But it’s a huge change, too, and I think that’s what my body recognizes even if my brain is saying, “Just be happy. Don’t worry. Be happy.”

I had my end-of-the-first-trimester doctor’s appointment yesterday and all is well. The nurse immediately found the baby’s heartbeat with a Doppler — the first time I’ve actually heard it. Spence and I saw it on ultrasound twice, but actually hearing it — the whoosh, the gallop — was so amazing.

It’s nice and strong, they said, in the 150s, so of course I’ve been Googling old wives’ tales about heart rate and gender prediction. According to all sorts of nonsense I’m reading based on that heart rate, it’s a boy. Of course, Chinese gender predictor charts say we’re having a girl. So. You know. Fifty/fifty and all that.


Pie


Anyway! Baby talk. I can get carried away.

Are you ready for Thanksgiving?! I am . . . not. Well, I sort of am. Twelve of my nearest and dearest will arrive at our door tomorrow and I have mustered the strength to, in no particular order:

a) clear off our disastrous coffee table;
b) wipe down kitchen counters;
c) gather together the spoils of our Sunday grocery trip;
d) scrub the bathrooms;
e) procure two additional folding chairs;
f) slice our stuffed ham;
g) get the guest room mostly ready.

And that’s about it.

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I noticed a sizable layer of dust on a side table that has probably not been touched since we moved in June. And lots of dust bunnies in corners. Plenty of debris on the stairs, which I swear I just vacuumed but . . . apparently not?

Anyway. I hope they’ll forgive me. My parents-in-law arrive this afternoon from New York, I’m heading home mid-afternoon and then the cooking, baking and delightful chaos will begin. Regardless of the state of our mostly-clean house, I’m sure we’ll have a good time.

I’m not as nervous as I was last week. This is my family, after all — they’re not going to judge a tiny bit of clutter, especially given I’m just emerging from the haze of the first trimester and am really most concerned with loading my plate with mashed potatoes.

Pregnant Thanksgiving — especially when I’ve just gotten my appetite back — is sure to be the best Thanksgiving, friends. I’m looking forward to hanging with the crew, hosting my in-laws and celebrating with all our favorite eats.

Hoping y’all have a wonderful holiday!


13 thoughts on “Holiday prep and baby chatter”

  4. I did prep today too. I baked a pecan pie and threw in some chocolate chips, as I’d had in a restaurant slice of pie, hope it’s good. I made oatmeal craisin cookies, I made the cornbread for the dressing. I cooked green beans. Tomorrow it’s just turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and asparagus to cook for dinner. Prior to that there is french toast breakfast, and the snacks and dips…yes it seems like we eat all day. Dust is no big deal, and you have the perfect excuse.

    Like

  5. No one is going to be looking at dust. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE is going to want to know how you are feeling. There is going to be so much baby excitement that clutter on the stairs won’t even be noticed. Trust me on this. Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy having your appetite back! 🙂 It’s such a relief to be through the first trimester, isn’t it?

    Like

  6. Here is the thing! When you are pregnant, you can excuse away almost anything. You don’t want to cook? To clean? Fine. You want to sleep until noon? Go for it. Ride the wave baby. I’m so excited for you. I hadn’t told you that yet. By the time I saw the post, there was about 2,000 comments and I figured it would get lost. So anyway, CONGRATS! Can’t wait to see you progress!

    Like

  7. The first baby is such a wonder. Drink it all in. I’m so with you on the heartbeat. That heartbeat makes it all seem so real and yet surreal.

    Like

  10. Congratulations Meg!!! I’m so glad to hear the little one is doing well and that you are ready to enjoy some food again! The appetite thing is tough – that’s actually how my family started to figure out that we were expecting for the second time. I just wasn’t hungry at all!

    Like

Comments are closed.