Summing Up The Smiths: Expanding Our Family

On May 22, 2011 I was feeling a little under the weather and tired (not sickly by any means, just very exhausted). I thought that the fatigue that I was experiencing was just a good sign of PMS. I turned on the ovualtion kit that I used religiously to see if/when I was ovulating for it to tell me that I was 4 days late... I didn't think too much of this news due to the fact that Scott and I had such a hard time getting pregnant AND that I had an appointment with a fertility doctor the coming Wednesday to see what our options were. I hesitantly took a pregnancy test wondering why I torture myself by always taking those pesky things when they always say "negative".... Well, after 5 more pregnancy tests I finally decided that I was indeed pregnant!!! It was the greatest, most overwhelming feeling in the entire world (as to date). That afternoon Scott and I went to tell our families the great news. Of course, everyone cried. So, that brings us to where we are today....
August 18, 2011 I had my "gender scan" at the OB GYN's office. It was quite the ordeal. Needless to say, we had a gender revealing party planned for the night of the appointment. When I laid down for the first ultrasound Baby Smith had it's legs crossed napping. So, after about 5 minutes of the ultrasound technician poking on my belly to wake Baby up I was forced to get off the table and drink a Sprite and eat a handful of Jelly Belly Jellybeans. Shockingly, this grand idea worked! Baby was all over the place. The ultrasound tech finally got a good gender photo. Haley, my nurse, called JoAnne and Lauren so they could continue to plan the dinner. Scott and I left the doctor's office with an envelope with our baby's pictures in it. We anxiously talked about baby names all the way home and how we thought that the baby was a boy from all the talk the nurse and ultrasound tech were having while I was on the table. Everyone met at the Como Steakhouse by 5:30 and Lauren and JoAnne promptly started the game to reveal the gender of Baby Smith. They placed paper sacks at the seat of each guest. Everyone took turns opening their bags. In each of the bags there was either blue candy or pink candy. As the guests opened their bags Lauren would put a tally mark on a graph showing the results of each person's opened bag. By the time my dad opened the last bag it was a tied ball game. Six tallies for a boy and six tallies for a girl. Scott and I opened the last bag which was the tie breaker. When we opened it it was a huge rattle (pictured above) that read "IT'S A GIRL"!!!!! I was so shocked and excited I just burst into tears. The party was a great experience. I am so lucky to have great friends that take the time to do awesome things for Scott and I. It was a night that I will never forget.

As we settled down for dinner the talk of names was brought up... I am almost 90% sure that her name will be Ella Suzanne Smith. Ella is a family name on both sides and Suzanne is my mother's name. We will call her Suzy!!