Baby Roquemore

The last 4 and a half months of marriage have been amazing…

And true to the style of John & Lee Anne, filled with crazy adventures:
Getting accustomed to a new job & a new church (Dec 14)
Moving to Lakeland (January 1)
Losing the job (April 30)
Struggling with community in this new place (since we moved here)
Learning to really, really trust Jesus (our whole lives)

Finding out that we’re pregnant…
Good Friday (April 2, 2010), we both had the day off of work and decided it would be a good time to test for pregnancy, being that there were some symptoms.
First thing that morning, we drove to Walgreens together, bought a 3-pack of Clearblue tests, drove home, and I took the first one.
Positive.
Waited a while, drank some water, took the second one.
Defective.
Waited, waited, water, water, took the third one:
Defective.

Saturday (April 3)
Drove to Publix to buy 2 more tests.
Positive. (x2)

Easter Sunday (April 4)
We went to Orlando to celebrate Easter with both our families: lunch with my parents, dinner with John’s family.
We told them: we’re pregnant!!!

2 days ago (May 11) we went to our first appointment at the birthing center just a couple of miles from our place.
They calculated that we’re 11 weeks pregnant, which apparently means we conceived approximately 9 weeks ago.
Which means Baby Roque would be born 11 months from when we got married: December 1, 2010.

I anxiously awaited our first appointment from the moment we found out (“6 weeks” pregnant)… I know so many precious friends who have lost their little ones before reaching 12 weeks that we just couldn’t make the information public until we’d heard a heartbeat. So we told select friends, and shared with our families.

Then, Tuesday, they collected all sorts of samples, gave us all kinds of things to read, and asked us a million questions. Finally, after two hours of being there, the midwife had me lie on the table, where she began rubbing the doppler thing all over my stomach looking for little Baby Roque’s heartbeat.
4 minutes later, my eyes fill with tears as I get anxious that we won’t be able to find a heartbeat, we won’t ever get to hold our little one. I immediately start trying to comfort myself: Jesus’ timing is perfect, when He’s ready for us to be parents, He’ll give us our first.
John is taking video all the while, holding my hand and reminding me that I’m loved.
The midwife reassures me that I don’t need to be anxious, when they’re so little, it’s sometimes hard to find their heartbeat because they’ll be evasive.
Okay, it’s okay. Okay. Breathe.
After 8 minutes, the midwife pulls the speaker close to her ear and smiles. I sit up a little to listen closely to the speaker, smiling..
I can’t hear it. I can’t hear it.

I lie flat again, she repositions the doppler thing, and holds the speaker close to my ear…
Ever so quietly, there’s our little baby’s heartbeat. Fast and strong, we have one little baby growing in there.
(Which is great: I dreamed we were having twins. Good to know for sure that there’s one.)

WHOA!

Well, world, here it is: we’re having a baby.
I’ve written a lot of drafts in the past 5 weeks about Baby Roque and how we feel about being parents at this stage in our lives, and I plan to read & post those, as well as write a lot more.. so, stay tuned!