And Baby Makes Three...

Giovanni and I were married on May 16 of this year, after much preparation and anticipation, and la Familía Cathline de Rodríguez was created. Our wedding day was so beautiful, a dream come true for both of us. We enjoyed a lovely and relaxing honeymoon in Wailea, Maui and began to settle into married life together in our new apartment.

On Father’s Day, June 20, Giovanni and I discovered that we were expecting! I had been feeling typical early pregnancy symptoms for a couple weeks already but didn’t recognize them as such. As we stood together on Sunday morning in church, unaware of the little life growing inside of me, the speaker released a special blessing for all the Fathers that were present. Something spoke to me and I knew that Giovanni was included in this blessing, and Giovanni later told me that he felt the blessing was spoken directly to him that day. Later in the evening we bought a pregnancy test and discovered that indeed this was Giovanni’s very first Father’s Day.

It was an emotional moment when we together saw that little + sign that altered our lives, as we discovered that we were parents. It then became shock as we were flooded with all the thoughts of preparation, finances, and questions about the unknown aspects of pregnancy, birth, and parenthood. This soon coupled with a roller coaster of emotions and excitement as we realized our lives had changed forever. There would be a new little addition to our party of two; la Familía Cathline de Rodríguez was expanding and we are looking forward to the future with this little one in our lives.

We called the doctor on Monday morning to set up our first prenatal checkup and to confirm the test results. I was scheduled to leave on a 5-day work conference two days later and they could not get me in beforehand, on such short notice. It was torture waiting until over a week later to have the doctor’s confirmation of the pregnancy. In addition, being that I work with grapes, this is California, and it was a grape conference, I was suspiciously avoiding the abundant wine that was everywhere!

We had our first prenatal appointment with the doctor on June 30 where she confirmed that the test results were correct, we were for sure expecting! I was then flooded with an enormous amount of information to process, and also provided them with all sorts of information, including everything I knew in both our family health histories. It was overwhelming and full speed ahead, ready or not!

Upon confirmation of our little baby’s existence, we began to realize what a miracle this conception really was. Due to complications when Giovanni was very young, doctors were not sure he would be able to have children. In addition, I had been told by four different doctors that I would have difficulty conceiving, if at all. Giovanni and I had accepted and discussed the idea of adoption, should we have difficulty in having our own children. It became very clear to us that this little one and the timing of his/her conception were by God’s hands, and without a doubt we had our very own “Miracle Baby”.

The 9-week ultrasound of our little baby waving.

Giovanni and I wanted our families to naturally be the first to know our news. I was travelling back home to Canada for my sister’s wedding that month, on July 17^th, and we decided that we would wait to tell my family until then, since we had an opportunity to share the news in person. It was very difficult to keep our secret until then, but also exciting to know about something so special that was just between the two of us. Just before I left to head home, on July 15^th, we had our first ultrasound and saw our baby for the first time. On that same day I first heard the baby’s heartbeat, it was amazing. The ultrasound showed a very active little one, arms and legs moving all over, it looked just like she/he was waving at us as if to say “hi”. It was just precious. The reality that we were having a baby really sunk in at that time and it was an emotional and memorable moment for Giovanni and me.

The first half of this pregnancy was very difficult physically for me. I experienced severe nausea 24/7. My family was beginning to become concerned about my health, since they could see I was very sick but they did not yet know I was expecting and that it was the pregnancy generating the symptoms. I decided to share the news with them the day after I arrived home so that I could alleviate some of their concerns, and also I was ready to burst with the news! We had purchased pairs of little baby booties in neutral colours for each of my siblings, my parents, Grand Dad, and Giovanni’s Mom and wrapped them up with a little note attached that read “Coming on Valentine’s Day 2011, Congratulations Grandpa and Grandma” (or Auntie/Uncle/Great Grand Dad/Abuelita).

 My sisters Christina and Amanda with their surprise presents.

My Mom and Dad about to find out the news!

My sisters and parents opened their gifts all at the same time and it was an emotional reaction full of excitement and surprise. Tears were flowing all around! We had a similar reaction from Giovanni’s Mom, Dad and brother as this will be the first grandchild on both sides of the family.

Now that our families knew the exciting news, we began to share with all our friends and extended family. A new adventure in our lives had begun!