ITS A....

BABY!! For now that's all you're getting anyways. Most of you I'm sure already know if we're having a boy or girl, however to protect our Christmas surprise to the Jones family this year, there will be no posting of the gender until our return from sunny Florida next week. Brad and I were like giddy little kids this week, we were so excited. We were so excited to find out the sex, but even more to get to see our baby again and see how its grown in the last two months. Baby Jonesie, according to the sonogram, is completely healthy with no apparent birth defects, which is of course a sigh of relief. Baby is 10 oz, 7.7 inches long and measuring a few days ahead of the original due date, now estimated to arrive on May 11th. It was truly one of the most exciting days of our lives and made our baby so much more of a reality. Last week I started feeling the baby move and each day I feel it a little more. Its one of the most wonderful feelings. Stay tuned for more writings and pictures of baby next week.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

HAPPY CHANUKAH!

Tomorrow night is the first night of Chanukah. I have so many great memories from my family's Chanukah growing up and I can't wait to start those traditions with my family in the years to come. Growing up I couldn't wait for my dad to get home from work each of the 8 nights of Chanukah so we could light the menorah and open our alloted one gift of the night. My parents would display the beautifully wrapped presents on the dining room table and my brother and I were each allowed to open one gift each night. Generally the last night was saved for the biggest gift. My parents always went out of their way to make the holiday extra special and I hope I can pass that down to my family as well.
As far as baby updates, nothing really to report at the moment. Beginning my 17th week and I am finally starting to feel a little better. I go 2 weeks from tomorrow for the big ultrasound and am anxiously counting down days to see baby and find out if we're having a future figure skater or hockey player! Below are a couple of photos... The first is our latest purchase for the nursery, a changing table/dresser and sitting on top is my AMAZING Chanukah present my AMAZING husband surprised me with this evening...a Coach diaper bag! (To give you an idea on how much I've been wanting this, I would go into the Coach store and just stare at it!). And the second picture is my latest baby bump taken yesterday. My jeans are becoming increasingly more snug and I think the switch over to maternity pants is in my very near future.

Doctor Recap

The last 4 1/2 weeks have seemed to crawl by. I think part of that is because I've been feeling so bad and sometimes is really hard to get through the day and the other part is because I kept looking ahead to my next doctor visit so I could once again get the reassurance baby was healthy and happy. Today felt like Christmas morning, although to be fair that is just a saying since I've never celebrated Christmas!! I know it may seem strange I was so excited just for a doctors appointment especially when I wasn't going to be getting an ultrasound to see my baby in pictures, but I knew I would hear the heartbeat and that was just the perfect gift I needed.
Brad met me at the doctor's office and we were in and out in an hour although more than half of that time was spent waiting to see the doctor. It was a quick visit with not much to report. The first thing she did was listen for the heartbeat with the doppler and again sweet music to my ears to hear our baby's heart beating. Brad and I locked eyes and just got the biggest smiles on our faces. The doctor said, "You have a very healthy baby in there." The heart beat was 140bpm which is normal. Everything else is normal and where I need to be...all the bloodwork taken last time came back great and nothing to be concerned with. All great things. The doctor said that since she was able to find the heartbeat with the doppler I now have less than a 5% chance of miscarriage which is also very reassuring. She said now I can truly sit back and relax and enjoy my pregnancy, of course when I'm not feeling crummy! My next visit I will get to have a sonogram (my last one she will do if things continue to be normal through the remainder of pregnancy) which will show the baby's gender. That is 4 weeks from today.
Brad and I can't wait to find out and is the best Chanukah/Christmas present we could get!

Thanksgiving Blessings

Its almost Turkey Time! I love this time of the year....I love the food, holiday parties with friends, the family gatherings and the time off work is always nice too! With Thanksgiving coming up this week I definitely have lots to be thankful for. Of course, this year, I am most thankful for our little one still growing inside. Baby Jonesie is such an amazing blessing and I thank God every day for giving us this most wonderful gift. I still can't help but think about what the doctor told us about the chances of conceiving on our own were and if we did the chances of the baby making it long enough to hear a heart beat. This baby is certainly my miracle and for that I am eternally thankful.
I'm anxiously waiting for Baby Jonesie to make his or her presence known with a kick to momma, but still none yet, although I know its still a little early. I am beginning my 15th week and go to the doctor on Tuesday for a checkup. I don't think an ultrasound will be done, but I am still so excited to hear the heart beat again. Because I can't feel the baby, the reassurance that baby is still doing well will be such a relief. I will definitely post this week on how the appointment goes.
This past week was one of my most difficult so far during my pregnancy. I was feeling awful and had to even leave work early one day. Everyone around me keeps saying, the morning sickness will go away, the nausea will go away, but I'm still waiting!!! I know I have no right to complain because I'd go through just about anything if it means bringing in a healthy baby into this world, but I do keep hoping the sickness will eventually subside and I can actually truly enjoy this pregnancy.
And finally, I am also thankful for all of you reading this, my friends and family. I hope all of you have a very Happy, Fun, Safe and YUMMY Thanksgiving!

Worth a Thousand Words

Brooke and Brad at Brooke's favorite restaurant Joe T's.

Odie and Darcy, excited brother and sister to be.

Baby's new digs.

Brooke at 10 weeks.

Brooke at 14 weeks.

A Bunch of Nothing

I have been pretty bad about keeping up with my promise on the weekly updates. It seems that being pregnant has taken all my energy away and I just can't bring myself to sit and compose thoughts at the end of a busy day. The last few weeks have been pretty uneventful, which can definitely be a good thing. I'm still getting sick almost daily along with the constant nausea, but I'm dealing with it all and just keep thinking of what all of this means and it makes it all worth it. My stomach has definitely expanded but I'm still not "showing" and I am still fitting into my normal clothes. I'm just waiting for that morning when I go to put on my pants and can't button them! Brad and I (okay mostly Brad), have been busy cleaning out the 3rd bedroom, which had become our storage room and will now be our baby's room. The weekend before last I went shopping with the new grandma and grandpa to just look at baby stuff and we came across a deal too good to pass up on a beautiful crib. So now the baby's room has a bunch of boxes and a white sleigh crib all set up.
I go back to the doctor for my 15 week check up on the 20th. I can't wait to hear the baby's heartbeat again just to have that reassurance things are still okay. Then next month will be the big u/s and we can really start decorating the nursery. I can't believe I only have about 6 more months until my due date...I just know time will fly by.
I will post a bunch of pics later this week!

The Waiting Game

The last month has been exciting and excruciating at the same time. It was all about the waiting game. I actually didn’t know I was pregnant the first month of my pregnancy which is a huge blessing, as I only had to wait 4 weeks to hear the heartbeat instead of many more. Because I was told I had such a small chance of the baby living long enough to hear the heartbeat I have been living in a state of fear. Yes, I allowed myself to be excited but I couldn’t fully embrace this pregnancy and what it truly meant to be pregnant until I was certain my baby would make it. With every twinge of discomfort or unknown pain my heart would skip a beat. But I put my faith in God, and as days passed became more and more certain this baby was meant to be mine. It became harder to ignore the life growing inside of me; after all I’ve been throwing up almost every single morning! That had to be a good sign!! My almost weekly blood tests to check my levels all came back with very high numbers, which was great and with more and more pregnancy symptoms I just knew this baby was growing and doing what it needed to do. But still, in the back of my mind, the “what if” scenario was playing. What if there is no heartbeat when we go to the doctor? What if I lose this pregnancy?
The night before our doctor appointment I was a nervous, emotional wreck. The morning of the appointment I was still an emotional wreck, if not more so. We played more of the waiting game, waiting an hour after our appointment time to even see the doctor. Brad joked that we should name our baby Patience since I have none.
Finally at 11:00, an hour and a half after our initial appointment time, we were taken back into the sonogram room. The technician was amazing, as I know they have to be in that job, but she couldn’t have been nicer and made the moment more special. I went in expecting I was only barely 7 weeks along, so I thought we’d see a blob on the screen that resembled nothing close to that of a baby, see a heart beating, but not hear it and we’d go on our merry way, at least that was my very hope. I also expected her to find the baby on the screen and take her measurements before allowing us to see, but the screen was pointed directly at Brad and I the entire time. (I even had my own little personal screen!). The second she started we saw a baby appear. Words can not describe how amazing it was to see this little thing on the screen, that was in fact not a blob at all, but our baby. This was my baby, my baby, MY BABY! I wish there was a camera to capture Brad and I’s faces at this moment. We had smiles a mile long on our faces. Brad and I haven’t felt that level of happiness since our wedding day. It was truly an amazing experience. Immediately our little one started moving around. The technician said we had a very active baby and most people aren’t as lucky to see their baby move around this much, this early on. Baby Jonesie waved around its little arms and feet as to say, “See Mom, I’m okay, stop worrying!” Then at the bottom of the screen a wave of heart beat appeared and then the sound of the heart beat. I was not expecting to be able to hear the heart beat so I asked, is that mine or the baby’s??? She said the baby’s!! It was sweet music to my ears. The most wonderful sound! My baby’s heart beating a very strong normal heart beat and every worry I’ve been carrying around left my body. The little one measured at only 32.m (about an inch and a half). It blows my mind that the baby is this small when it looks so much bigger to me on the screen! She told me I am 10 weeks and 5 days and our Little Jonesie will be due on May 15th.
Brad and I now can relax, enjoy this pregnancy (well, fully enjoy once the morning sickness ceases!), and get ready to meet the love of our lives! The waiting game continues, but this waiting game I can handle!

Hi Mom and Dad-


Due Date and Length-


Strong Heartbeat-


Baby Feet-


Hi Grandma and Grandpa-

The Long Road

The last year in the Jones house has been a bit turbulent emotionally to say the least. Its been a year filled with lots of negative pregnancy tests (think of the money wasted), a very emotional Brooke, the loss of a pregnancy, a very emotional Brooke, lots and lots of medical tests with some not so great results, oh and did I mention a very emotional Brooke?
Yes, this past year has been one of the most difficult times in my life, but the lessons I have learned this year have been some of the greatest. I have learned how important faith is and I have certainly reconnected to my own faith. I have learned while some things can be going so wrong, there is still so much to be grateful for. I have truly amazing friends and family, a nice roof over my head, two great dogs and a job I love. Most of all though I have learned so much about my best friend and husband, Brad. You can learn so much about a person and what they’re made of when you’re going through a hard time. Brad has been my rock. He lifts me up when I get down, and at the same time understands that its okay to feel down sometimes and lets me feel those emotions too. He is my constant state of positive though and stayed strong enough at times for the both of us and for that I am eternally grateful.
So now the long road has led us to the most unbelievable place…PREGNANCY! I still at times can’t believe it’s true. A specialist we saw only two days after I took a home pregnancy test (took 8 weeks to get in his office, so wasn’t canceling that appointment!) told us we had a 15% chance of conceiving (well it seems we jumped that hurdle) and if we did become pregnant, it was almost a guarantee of a miscarriage. He said of course God willing this pregnancy will make it, but if not, our best option of pregnancy without a miscarriage would be a special form of IVF, costing somewhere around $14,000. Oh what wonderful news. But none of that could really matter to me at the time. In fact I was sitting in his office pregnant and I had to hold on tight to that fact. Actually I’ve had 2 pregnancies in one year when he was telling me I only had a 15% chance of one. Miracles happen all the time that laugh in science’s face. This baby is my miracle. As one of my best friends told me, this baby knows how much it is loved, even before he or she was conceived and it is going to do everything in its power to hold on to meet us.
I have known since I was a very little girl that when I grew up I was going to be a mom. It was the one certainty that has always been there for me. I was blessed enough to find Brad to be my husband and the father of my future children. I couldn’t think of anyone in the world I’d rather have a family with. We tried to do it the right way….waiting several years into our marriage to build stability and enjoy our time as just husband and wife. So when Brad told me he was ready, it was the happiest time in my life. Its funny how you spend so much time worrying and preventing pregnancy and then when you finally want it, it’s so hard to achieve it. But I am now so much more grateful for this baby growing inside me because of the road we took to get here. I feel like I will love this baby that much more for what we went through to have them. I feel it will make me that much more of a better mommy and now sitting here pregnant its easy to say all of the adversity we faced to get here was well worth it and yes, I’d go through it all again.