How it all began

The past few days I've felt like God has been telling me to tell people of Chatelle's story.

It was the last time Marcus and I were in Virginia (right before Halloween 2012) helping my cousin Michelle take care of her mother.  Ben had driven us half way to meet the gang (Michelle, Ty, and the 3 boys).  Ben had come down with something, but knowing that I wasn't going to see him for a while I gave him a kiss and took my chances with his germs.  Low and behold I got sick too.  So, here I am sick as a dog and Michelle won't let me take anything because she knows that we've been trying to get pregnant again.  So before I can have anything to help me feel better she makes me take a pregnancy test.  I pee on the little stick and leave the room.  Biting my nails, pacing back and forth I waited.  Finally Michelle comes out and with a huge smile on her face she proceeds to tell me that I'm pregnant.  I stood there in disbelief, trying to make it sink into my brain.  There's a little baby in there, we're gonna have another child, are you sure I'm pregnant?  So off to the doctor I went, and sure enough I'm pregnant.  No taking regular meds to get me better, nope, I'm stuck with home remedies and cough drops.  Fun, fun, fun.

Here come the life changes.  No more smoking, have to watch what I eat, no heavy lifting, and no more sodas.  I also had 4 sinus infections and some morning sickness.  I know that every pregnancy is different, but I would have taken morning sickness any day over having all those sinus infections.  The first one was so bad that the whole right side of my face, throat, chest and head hurt all the time.  Getting past being sick for what felt like all the time, being pregnant was wonderful.  There's nothing more amazing than being able to feel your baby move and kick inside you.  The fact that you are bring a life into the world, that you're responsible for taking care of your body and the baby.  It's an amazing thing.

The first visit I had to the doctor, my sister-in-law took me and Marcus.  It took forever!  I remember laying on the table while the mid-wife tried to find the babies heart beat and couldn't find it.  I was telling myself not to freak out because the baby was still really small, so that might be why she couldn't find it.  After a few minutes of no success she takes me to the ultrasound room and holding my breath, I look at the screen and there's my baby, and there's the heart beat.  I start crying and saying a silent thank you to God.  The tech looks at me and asked if I wanted to know the sex, of course I said yes.

It's a girl!