No more B.R.A.T.

Second trimester was finally here! No more nausea, my appetite would return and I would start feeling more like myself. Guess again.

Around 16 weeks I contracted the stomach flu. I honestly could not recover from it. It got so bad at one point, that I had to go to the hospital. It was a bit of a scare because I was so dehydrated that I was having extreme cramps in my abdomen. I wasn't sure at the time if it were my actual stomach or my uterus. I now believe that it was my stomach, but at the time I was terrified I was having contractions.

I was given 2 bags of fluids through iv and sent home. I still did not feel okay until I hit 18 weeks. So for a solid two weeks I was an exclusive member of the B.R.A.T. (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast) diet.

Now I'm feeling much better. I am actually hungry again. I'm making sure I get plenty of fluids every day so that we don't have a scare like that again. However, my mom, my dad, my grandma and my husband are making sure I'm drinking plenty too. :)

In more exciting news, since about 17 weeks and a couple days, I have started to feel the baby! Right now it is just little tapping in my lower abdomen. It is the most amazing feeling. I can't wait until Ryan can feel the kicks on my belly so that he can share in the excitement with me!

I promised some belly pics from 18 weeks. Here are a couple.


Just one week later at almost 19 weeks, I feel like I am a lot bigger already. It is nice to finally see my belly growing because it brings so much reassurance to the fact that our little babe is growing too!

Thumbs Up, Dude

Weeks 8-12 is when morning sickness showed its ugly face to me. However, it was more like evening sickness for me. I felt like myself throughout the day and then like clockwork at 4pm nausea would take over. I am so lucky to have such an understanding and nurturing husband. He would wake up in the middle of the night when I could barely take it and bring me a glass of ginger ale with a straw...just the way I like it.

I had heard that morning sickness tapers off as the second trimester approaches. So I was counting down the days until our 12 week appointment. Our appointment was on July 13. I knew this appointment was not as exciting because there wasn't going to be an ultrasound. So I told Ryan he didn't need to take off work to go. He insisted though.

The beginning of the appointment was the normal "routine". The routine checklist went smoothly. The last thing my doctor wanted to do before we left was to hear the baby's heart beat on the doppler. By the time you are at 12 weeks, the baby should be big enough where you can detect its heart beat with it. However, when she put the doppler on my my lower abdomen, all she could hear was my own heart beat. She tried for a solid three minutes to find the heart beat. As she kept looking, my heart rate increased. Both Ryan and I were starting to panic. I think I even saw a glimpse of worry in my doctor's face as well. She told me not to worry, if we couldn't find the heart beat with the doppler she was going to do a quick ultra sound.

So that is what it came to. We  rushed into the ultra sound room and began looking immediately. We could see the baby right away. I took note at how much it had grown in only four weeks. I counted all four limbs. Then to my relief, the baby started moving its arms and legs all around which gave us more comfort than words can describe. The doctor also took a sigh of relief. She was smiling ear to ear because then we were able to see and hear our baby's beautiful heart beat once again.

She took two quick snaps shots of our beautiful babe. In the second one shown, she caught the baby giving us a "thumbs up."  This made us laugh because it was like our Little One was saying "Everything's okay, Mom and Dad!"



The moment our child comes into this world, we will be teaching and showing him or her about faith in God. However, this time, at only 12 weeks in my womb, our baby gave US a little lesson on faith.

The Heart of the Matter

The 8-week appointment was big. I had scheduled it with my OBGYN for June 10.  This was the first day they would see me. I was so excited to see my "girl doctor" for a reason other than my yearly exam. I have been seeing the same doctor since I was in high school, and in my fantasy world, I believe that we are BFF's. I expected them to be just as excited as I was. I thought they would want to confirm the pregnancy with a blood test at least! But of course the receptionists brought me back to reality.

June 10 seemed to never arrive. When it finally did, Ryan met me in Zionsville at the doctor's office. He took pictures of me in the waiting room. I got kind of embarrassed because he kept calling out the fact that I was the only one in the waiting room that wasn't at least 36+ weeks pregnant. He was singing "which one is not like the other ones..." in the most melodic of Ryan tunes (or lack there of).

We finally get called back. The routine begins. Check weight. (Ugh. It's hard adjusting to the mindset that its OK to see the numbers go up after counting every calorie that went into my body for the last year.) Next, pee in a cup. Check blood pressure. And now finally..........the ultra sound.

Ryan and I were so excited/anxious for this moment. At this point, my only signs of pregnancy were bloating and more bloating. I didn't feel pregnant. Was there really a little being inside of me? Is the baby healthy? Will we be able to hear that magical sound of its heartbeat? The tech quickly put our worries to rest. The first thing she checked was the baby's heartbeat. 172. A healthy 8-week heartbeat. The sound was the most beautiful music I have ever heard. There is something so moving about hearing your child's heartbeat for the first time. It is a moment I will never forget. You may be able to see/hear it if you listen closely to the video.


We also got some great pictures of Baby Robinson.



We were overwhelmed with joy. This is our family. I got to see my doctor shortly after that and then my amazing nurse, Stephanie. With a packet full of information including everything from what to eat and what not to eat while pregnant, to the information on IU North Hospital, our delivery site, we were on our way out the door.

We were joyful and cautiously excited at the same time. We ended up celebrating at the most romantic of places...Subway. While eating our lunch we couldn't stop staring at the video and pictures of our Little One. We probably won't stop until we finally get to meet him or her in January.

I'm POSITIVE.

The story of when I told Ryan about our Big Fat Positive is one to remember. The morning of Thursday May 19, I got up super early before I had to get ready for school. I knew that this day could possibly be the day that if I were pregnant, the hormones would be abundant enough for a pregnancy test to detect it. So I wake up and leave all the lights on in the bedroom and leave the bathroom light on and the door open. I did this partly so that Ryan would wake up. I wasn't telling him I was taking the test that morning, but I thought it would be nice if he were awake.

So while I was in the bathroom, Ryan groggily yells "turn off the light!" I was so excited about the possibility of getting a "positive" result that I told him cheerfully "don't worry about it, I'm coming back to bed in a few minutes."  I'm waiting for the results to show, and I hear him again "TURN OFF THE LIGHTS or CLOSE THE DOOR. DO SOMETHING!" Again, I just blew him off in a cheerful tone because I had just noticed that light second line. WOOHOO! Now I need to tell Ryan. So I skip (probably literally) back into the bedroom and shake him to wake him up. He said again "Please babe, turn off the light." And I replied, "No Ry...you HAVE to wake up! It's POSITIVE!" And Ryan replied with "I'm POSITIVE you need to turn off that light!"

I then was laughing so hard, that he woke up a little more and realized what I had actually meant. He was sleepily ecstatic...which is asking a lot from Ryan at 5:00am in the morning. At that moment, we knew everything would change. A wonderful change.

Later that day I took another test. Then on Friday I took another...just to make sure. With each test, the second line got darker and darker. By the third test shown here, I was finally convinced. Yes, definitely pregnant.



These belly pictures are from Friday May 20. I was 4 weeks and 3 days at this point.



It would be a while until I took belly pictures again. I was going through the transition from teaching to real estate. It was definitely a transition for both Ryan and I. Both hopeful, time consuming and emotional. Things are starting to smooth out more now. So we again started taking belly pictures when we hit 18 weeks which we will be posting soon!

Life's a Journey

When I first saw the second pink line on the beautiful spring morning on May 19, I was overcome with joy. (This is a story in itself that I will have to post later.) This is exactly what Ryan and I had been hoping for...dreaming for, since the day we decided we wanted to be together forever. It was never a question of "if" we are going to have kids, but "when?"

Being a high school teacher, I thought it would be best if we timed it so that the baby would come during the second semester of school. Well it was a success. Our due date would be January 25, 2012. That is when our miracle is to join a loving mother, father, and even an anxious little jack russell. (yes, i'm convinced she's completely aware and excited as well.)

We wanted to wait to tell the family until Father's Day, which would be exactly one month from the day we found out we were pregnant. I would be 8 weeks by then, with an ultrasound and doctor's visit under our belt, we would have peace of mind that we were progressing with a healthy pregnancy. This was our plan.

However, God works in mysterious ways. On Tuesday May 24, just four days after we got the Big Fat Positive, I found out that God had a much different plan than we did. Due to budget cuts in the Avon School Systems, I was told that I was being RIF'd. I was completely caught off guard. My first thought was the baby. Is the baby going to be ok after getting this bomb dropped on me? How am I going to keep my stress levels down? How am I going to have health coverage throughout my entire pregnancy. Oh, ye who have little faith. Little did I know during my shock and panic, that God had a much bigger plan for the Robinson family.

Believe it or not, this was Tuesday's daily Bible verse that I had taken a picture of that very morning to send to Ryan before I got the news. It still brings tears to my eyes when I read it because He was already showing me that He had it under control.



I called my family immediately after talking to Ryan and telling him about that terrible meeting with the two superintendents and my principal (who held me in his arms and cried with me- talk about compassion). With Ryan's blessing, I met my family (Mom, Dad, Kara and Ryan Matthews) in Florida that very day. Dad flew me down because he knew I was in such a state of distress that I couldn't stay in Avon. I arrived at the Sarasota airport at 5:30 p.m. Dad and Ryan M. picked me up from the airport because I was now going to be an intricate part in what would be one of my baby sister's milestone life moments. Ryan M. was going to PROPOSE to my Kara that night. And I was going to witness it. Wow. My heart couldn't handle that much emotion and my head couldn't comprehend it. But I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to be there...and even more, I was the only one who documented it through video! It was so incredibly special to see my sister so happy. It was so apparent even through the hazy darkness I felt that day. Nothing can overshadow my joy for her. May 24 will forever be HER day. That is how it will be remembered.



Ryan proposed to Kara at sunset on our beach in front of Palm Bay Club. After she of course said yes, we went out to one of our favorite restaurants, Roy's. Ryan and I had decided before he dropped me off at the airport that when I got down to Florida, I was going to tell the family our good news, so that I could have more emotional support and understanding during such a confusing time.

So there at Roy's, I put Ryan on speaker phone and announced our great news to the family. The first person to say anything was Ryan M. He yelled out, "I'm going to be an Uncle!" I loved it. The more surprising reaction of the bunch was my dad's. His jaw dropped and was speechless for at least a minute. I'm pretty sure I've never seen my dad speechless about anything. I knew it was a good speechless because since the day Ryan and I said "I do" he has wanted us to try and give him a grandbaby. He was just so overcome with emotion from the day. He later told me he was so thankful to have good news for me too. Mom actually already knew, so she was relieved and joyful and Kara was beaming!

So the day was a blessing in the end. It was only the beginning of the road to recovery after being laid off from my job. I tried to keep it in perspective by remembering that it was only a job and my family and my baby were forever. But I also kept thinking that I will miss my friends. I will miss my kids. And I will miss my ability to constantly be involved and grow in the world of academia. (I truly am a nerd at heart.) However, this is not the end for my passion in Geography. I will continue to learn and discover more of this love in many more avenues. But on this day, I was still hurting. It won't be forever but I needed to heal. The best way for me to do that? I signed up for Real Estate licensing classes the next day. Thanks to the blessing of my dad welcoming me with open arms on his team, I could say, F.C. Tucker....here I come. The Robinsons have arrived. The horizon is very bright.