Gunner in Utero!

When we first found out we were pregnant, we decided to not announce on Facebook, just in case something happened. I was so worried that I would do something wrong and did not want to do a bunch of take backs. As we passed the first trimester mark, we decided not to announce on Facebook at all. We had told our family and were letting our friends find out as time progressed. I know it was hard for our family but it was the right decision for us. I nearly made it all nine months before being found out. Of course, once Gunner was here, all I did was post pictures of him so the secret would have been out in another two weeks.

Pregnant but did not know it yet!

I had bought some announcement signs from Etsy in the previous months when we had first started trying. I got a positive test two days after my youngest nephew, Koen, was born. I took a sign that said, “Gigi’s house- where cousins become best friends” when we went to see Koen on his first day home. (My sister very graciously allowed us to steal Koen’s thunder to announce.) I gave the sign to my mom. She read it with very little reaction. I gave her the “come on, get there” face and still nothing. I said, you know cousins, me and Dusty.. She thought I was trying to tell her that Dusty and I were cousins. I finally just told her.

Bought from Kristina Kreations on Etsy

Very similarly, we went to Dusty’s parents house to tell them. I gave them a sign that said “Grandchildren are God’s reward for not killing your children.” We let them open it and I waited for the big reaction. Crickets. Less than crickets. Finally, Dusty texted Bonnie that I was pregnant. They were so excited when they finally realized what in the world I was trying to say. Justin caught it on video. Luckily, he did not video the awkward silence before then.

Bought from Two Chicks and a Basket on Etsy

Looking back, I should have put a little note that said. “Baby Dickson, March 2013”. I was counting on that pregnant glow I guess.  

Our refrigerator constantly had a ton of dill pickles in it. I bet we went through a jar a month if not more. I would mostly drink the juice. Salt sounded so very good all those months. (Now things always taste oversalted to me.) Dusty drank the juice and still salts everything. I think it is a Dickson thing though. I also pretty much quit eating meat. I would eat sides and bread all day long. Oh and sweets. All meat just had a weird texture.

I loved the pickles enough to put them in my weekly update photo…. 

I was so swollen 7 months of my pregnancy. I had to finally buy some size 12 flip flops to wear. They were the only things that would fit. I wore those things all of February and March. All my other shoes left indentions in my feet and ankles. I got some Uggs for Christmas and could not even begin to push my feet in those things. It could have been all the pickle juice I was drinking but I don’t have a medical degree so I cannot be sure. Ok I’m sure.

The swelling actually extended a bit beyond my ankles and feet. More like my entire body. I could not wear my rings very early on. My face was ridiculous. I had made plans to cut my hair for my Aunt Peggy. I should have thought, “Self, your face is big now and will only get bigger, let’s wait to draw all attention there.” But noooooooo. I chopped my hair and my goodness, it made my face bigger looking. Hard to believe, I know. I am so glad that I could donate my hair, however, I should have waited a few months after I had Gunner since it all fell out at that point anyways.

I decided to keep a bump book. I did at least one entry every week. It included a picture of the baby bump and the same prompts for answers. Cravings, rings on/off, favorite moment, looking forward to, etc. I would include fun places we went or holidays. We would write letters to Gunner and even have the birth story in each of our perspectives in it. I love looking back at that book. So much. Except for the weight gain line. (Refer to my eating habits for explanation.) I was honest for most of it then I started to fudge my numbers a bit. It was so depressing to me to see how much I was gaining. Granted, my kid ended up being 10 lbs of it and the pickle juice swelling was another 15. But still. I have told very few people how much I actually gained. I did lose it all that next month which was nice.

My sleep habits were crazy while I was pregnant. I would go to bed at 8:00 some nights and still wake up feeling tired. That baby was sucking the life out of me! I needed my rest and was very angry without anyone who stood in my way. Our dogs sleep with us. Wally is bad about moving a lot. He will be on top of the covers and then want under them so he noses his way under but usually takes most of the covers with him to the bottom of the bed. Dusty was playing on his computer that is in our room. Wally must have been moving a lot or I was just cranky because he tried to get under the covers and I got pissed. Apparently (and I say apparently because this is Dusty’s account so it may be exaggerated), I punched Wally right in the face and told him in some very ugly words to lay down. I had not a clue. Dusty asked me about it the next morning and I felt terrible. Wally either forgives quickly or I am bad at fighting.

Another time, I woke up because I was burning up and the only solution was to get me a fence. Crazy pregnant lady was yelling at her husband to bring her a fence to cool her off. It made so much sense to me at the time. Dusty was freaked out and got me a bag of peas from the freezer. I gave him a terrible look and told it that is not helpful at all. Once again, I’m sure my word selection would get me in trouble with my momma. I finally started to realize that I was crazy and just laid back down and fell asleep. It took me at least 45 seconds to realize that fence did not mean what I thought it meant.

Dusty’s great aunt did the string test on my wrist while I was pregnant. It showed boy, girl, then showed both signs. She said maybe twins. I am going to take it as we have talked about adopting which would mean it might be a sudden thing. Having two kids then having twins makes me feel like I might throw up.

We were scheduled to find out the gender with Dr. Stewart at the end of October but we were having a pumpkin carving party with our family earlier in the month. I found a place in Abilene that did sonograms in the evenings so we made an appointment. We went over on a weeknight to find out. (Dusty was so nervous they would say girl. He seemed to think we would know what to do with a boy. I’m not sure where that thought process came from. You could see him breath out finally when they confirmed boy.) They had a ceiling fan on and I shook the whole time. I’m still not sure if it was the ceiling fan or nerves. They told us boy. That weekend, we had everyone over. When they came in, we had them choose a blue or pink ribbon. We told them we wanted to see the teams even though we would not know for a few more weeks. We ate and visited then started the pumpkin carving. We took pictures of team pink then team blue. While team blue was still sitting to get their picture taken, we announced that we had actually gone that week and found out we had a baby boy coming and his name would be Gunner Ryan. It might have been my favorite moment of our pregnancy.

We had talked about boys names only throughout the first half of the pregnancy (because once again, Dusty did not understand it was only a 50% chance it would actually be a boy). We liked Lincoln/Linken but could not decide on the spelling. We talked about a D name to match Dusty and Dennis’ initials but could not find one we loved. Chelsea had sent me lists she had found online. I do not remember any of the girls name but the boys list had names like Thor and Gunner. I called Dusty as soon as I saw it and asked him about Gunner. He was sold right then. It took me awhile to commit to Gunner if it was boy but that is just my personality. (I still have the list from Chelsea in my email. I just can’t delete it.) Before we even left the sonogram office, we knew his name would be Gunner. We texted some of our friends because we could not keep it to ourselves and our family was getting surprised later that week. Andrew asked what his middle name was. We were still unsure and told him so. He said what about Ryan? It sounded good whether you were saying it sweetly or yelling it because they just acted out. My parents have always said if I was a boy I would have been Nolan Ryan Ross. (I think my mom is kidding but my dad seems serious about it.) So if it was a good enough name for me in the 80’s, it had to be a keeper. And just like that Chelsea and Andrew named our baby.