and Baby Makes Three: Stuck in the Middle with You

My second trimester was very busy and exciting...The season ended and we packed our cars and headed home to Hattiesburg. At this point only our family (parents, grandparents, and siblings) and baseball family knew that I was pregnant. We had decided to wait until I was through my 1st trimester to share the news with everyone and it worked out perfect because that's when we would be back home. We enjoyed seeing all our hometown friends and watching the news spread through the social networks...And boy does it travel fast!!! We were amazed at the support and excitement of everyone we knew. We received the sweetest cards, texts, and phone calls. I guess I never realized how many people were praying for us all these years. It was truly a moving time for both of us.
I started a 9 week sub position for a 2nd Grade class at Purvis Lower Elementary. I always look forward to coming home in the off season and teaching. For the past 3 years I have done maternity leaves for the teachers at Purvis Lower. I missed working and LOVE being with the kids and having something structured to do each day. In fact, this was the first year of Craig's career that I didn't leave in August to come home to teach. I guess its my ADHD that makes feel that I need to be doing something ALL the time-plus I love the interaction. That being said, starting a job 3 months pregnant is a little challenging. I was okay the first couple of weeks and then the swelling and fatigue set in. I was really nervous when my ankles blew up to the size of tangerines in my 17th week. I mean jee-wiz the baby books say this happens in week 30. So off I went in search of the highly stylish, diabetic, knee-high compression socks. I found them at the local medical supply store for a designer price of $18-24 bucks a pair! WHAT!?!? I'm spending that on hideous, horrific socks!!!!! Oh well, I gotta do what I gotta do. Gratefully my blood pressure remained remarkably low for a person who is still breathing, so preeclampsia was not a factor...Just remembering to sit still and prop my feet up was. I felt there was so much to do!!! Pick out fabric, paint colors, furniture, which room to use, A NAME!!!! Plus it was Christmas time. I didn't have time to be still so my ankles would just have to be large and unsightly!!!!
We also found out the sex of sweet Baby Tatum as soon as we got home. My hometown Dr. (who delivered me) wanted to see me and get rolling on my prenatal care here in MS. It was a slow Friday afternoon and a family friend was working the sonogram machine, so Craig and I got to see the baby and play with 4D for about 45 min. I was only 15 weeks, but Crystal said she could give us an 80% accurate reading of what we were having. I didn't really want to know, but Craig was going to have a nervous breakdown if we didn't find out. One of the first images on the screen was a "bottom" shot and I immediately knew the sex. Crystal asked me if I could tell and I said yes, so she kept the image up and we asked Craig if he could tell the sex. He said no. We told him to look again and he said he couldn't see anything...We told him it was because there was NOTHING there to see... We were having a GIRL!!!! Craig got really emotional and I could tell he was so excited. I thought he'd be disappointed, but he wasn't. He was already smitten with her and would be a sucker for the rest of his life!!!

Here are the belly and Baby shots from the 2nd trimester...