Let's Start At the Very Beginning

It is, after all, a very good place to start.

Your daddy and I decided to try to start a family, but we had to try around the date I had planned to take my NCS exam (romantic, I know). And when I say "trying," all I mean is praying that God would give us a baby and making sure that I was healthy enough to carry you. Love and Broccoli, right? Well, sometimes God answers prayers slowly and sometimes He answers prayers quickly. Fortunately, you were a quick blessing.

We had just returned from our greatest vacation to date: Germany and Austria. We toured the Bavarian Alps, visited historic castles and cathedrals and forts, saw an opera in the place where the art was invented, ate a ridiculous amount of good food, and fell in love all over again.

After a long flight back to the States, your daddy felt fine. I felt pretty rotten in ways that I'll explain when you're older, and I couldn't figure out why jetlag had affected me to such an extent. I doubted that our prayers had been answered so quickly, but I took a pregnancy test on a hunch. It was positive, and I was confused, so I took another one. I told your daddy, and we both just hugged each other and laughed.

We went to the doctor's office to confirm our test results. My blood test came back positive, but Dr. Cauthen said that my progesterone was low and gave me some medicine to make sure that my body would help you grow. When I went to pick up the medicine at the drug store, I was on the phone with your Auntie Amanda. I told her I was picking up allergy medicine! I don't know why I lied instead of saying nothing, but I wanted to keep you a secret for a few more weeks and keeping a secret from someone who knows me so well made me nervous! That day, I came home to find your daddy smoking a cigar, celebrating in secret.

We slowly revealed our news to those around us. The first person we told was my friend, Laura. She's the same kind of doctor that Dr. Cauthen is, and she's a mom, so selfishly, I needed her. The next person we told was Daddy's friend, Dan. At the time, he was working a lot in Atlanta even though he lives in Orlando, so he was spending a lot of time with us. Then, we told my friend, Emily. We were working together at the time, but she was about to move to Philadelphia since her husband, Jonathan, was starting his residency there. I didn't want to tell her and then have her leave immediately after hearing such big news! It was nice to be able to share that secret for a little while.

We had a little scare just before we told our families. Something happened, and we thought we were losing you. We had an ultrasound scheduled for the next week, but we called and asked if we should come in early. They asked us to come in right away, which certainly didn't calm our fears of miscarriage. Once the ultrasound began, we saw you immediately. The ultrasound tech said that you were a good size for an embryo, and that you looked about 6 weeks and 5 days. Then, we saw something white flashing quickly. I knew that this was your heart and that this meant you were ALIVE. Your daddy grabbed my hand with tears in his eyes, and the ultrasound tech turned on the audio so that we could hear your 145 beats per minute. You were growing perfectly, and we didn't need to fear miscarriage.

We told all of your grandparents and your Auntie Amanda over the next few weeks. Telling people about you was the best - everyone loved you already and you were barely even real!

Once I was 12 weeks along, we decided things were stable enough to announce you to the world (and by that, I mean Facebook). Here's how we did it:

A few weeks later, we found out that you were a girl and decided on your name: Ellie Rose. The Ellie comes from one of the greatest Disney characters of all time:

{image by H.Photography}

The Rose comes from Doctor Who, as she's our favorite companion thus far. Both of these women exemplify an adventurous spirit, along with kindness, courage, strength, and the ability to love. I couldn't think of a better name for a little girl who's going to teach us so much about adventure.