Baby Bush

Yes. There will be an extra little one added to our family in early October. This has been the hardest secret to keep. We are shocked, but absolutely ecstatic about this special tiny surprise. We are so excited to be sharing this with our family and friends. God has truly blessed us and we are completely in love with this little fig sized baby in my belly already.

We have had a lot of different questions asked and know that more are coming so I am going to try and answer as many as I can!

Was this planned? No. We were not planning on having a baby Bush quite this early. But God's timing is perfect right? And we are both so looking forward to being mama and daddy to this sweet baby. We found out on January 26th. Ryan actually had a dream that I was pregnant and told me about it that morning and so for the next day or so I couldn't get it off my mind. I ended up taking a few pregnancy tests and they were all positive. About a week later I made Ryan take me to get blood work done because I just couldn't believe it and again it was positive. We then decided to call a Doctor in Managua to make an appointment for in a few weeks and he asked us to come in that week so he could get all the paper work done on me. We had our first appointment on February 14th. I was 6.5 weeks and the sweet babe was very cooperative we found that little grain of rice AND heard a heart beat. Not sure any Valentines day will ever top that one!

Our most recent appointment was yesterday, March 21st, and everything was looking great. Baby Bush was doing all kinds of back flips, Cartwheels, karate moves, etc for us. I think we have an athlete on our hands :) 

How have I been feeling? Wonderful actually. And by wonderful I mean I have not thrown up once! I have had quite a bit of nausea but that has let up a lot in the past week or so. I also have been extremely exhausted but we have had a really busy month so that may not be as bad after I have some time to sleep :) And don't worry I have had my time or two of going completely psycho on Ryan but thankful he has been pleasantly understanding! All in all though, baby has been pretty easy on me so far which is going to be such a blessing in the 100+ degree weather. 

Cravings? Thankfully the only thing that I have been craving is easily bought here in Nicaragua and that is anything cold, fruity, and tart. Smoothies, flavored popsicles, and sherbet. We can go to eskimo for a  I think I will go get some now :) 

Are we finding out the Gender? Yes. I think it so cool that people are able to wait that long to find out and I always thought I would try but under the circumstances I will definitely be finding out. Since we will be doing everything down here by ourselves to get ready for the baby we just think it will be easier. And besides, I don't want to fool anyone, I would have the HARDEST time ever not knowing. We can't wait to find out sometime in May!

Due date? October 8, 2013

Are we moving back to the states? No. We made a commitment and we will be here for as long as we feel God calling us to do so. I am actually pretty excited about sharing a few years of this experience with our little one and who knows, maybe we will come back with a bilingual child! 

Where will I have the baby? We have thought and prayed long and hard about this and came to the conclusion that God has placed us here for a reason, has blessed us with this beautiful child at this time for a reason, and that right now this is home. Thankfully I have been blessed with a wonderful friend down here that just recently had a baby about 3.5 weeks ago and she was able to share with me all of her research. Ryan and I had already done some of our own and the Doctor matched up so we went with him. His name is Dr. Juan Carlos. He is a great Doctor and we feel very comfortable with him. He knows pretty good English so between our spanish and his english we have been able to communicate just fine. We will have the baby at Hospital Metropolitano Vivan Pellas in Managua, Nicaragua. 

How does our family feel? I think for the most part our family is just so excited about baby Bush. We know that it will be hard on them for us to be over here in a third-world country so far from them but they know that we are where we are suppose to be for now. We are blessed to have such a special supportive family. 

How did we tell family? Well, I told my Aunt Carrie immediately when I found out because she is a OB nurse or baby nurse as I like to call her. She got an earfull for weeks on silly questions/indecisiveness on when I wanted to spill the beans. But after the valentines appointment we found out that my whole family was going to be together for my brothers birthday that weekend and we were just ready for our parents to know so... Ryan edited the sonogram picture a little for me and wrote "be mine October 2013" on it. I sent it to my aunt for my parents and to my wonderful friend Kenzie to mail off to Ryan's parents. So while my whole family was over at my Aunt Kristy's for a birthday celebration we called on skype and while they were all standing there talking to us we had my aunt give them their valentines day cards. Each of my families reactions were perfect haha I love watching this video over and over again.

Though Ryan's family was equally as excited we did not have someone to video their reactions in North Caroline so this video is not as good quality but we love watching these reactions! Ryan and I had a hard time waiting for their letters to make it to them but they finally did and it was so exciting and such a relief for our families to all know and be able to be excited with us! 

When will we be back in the states? We will be bringing that sweet little bitty baby home with us for Christmas. So he/she will hopefully have the opportunity to meet as many members of our family and special friends as possible. 

Will it be a U.S. Citizen? Many of you know that Ryan bleeds red, white, and blue so that was a big question in our house for a while. As soon as baby Bush is born we will have a Nicaraguan birth certificate for baby.. Then Ryan will have to wait in a long Nicaraguan line to get baby a Nicaraguan passport.. After we have both of these in hand we can make an appointment with the embassy to get baby a U.S. birth certificate and passport. Our sweet one will be a dual-citizen, and as far as Ryan can tell, since baby is naturally born to two U.S. citizens he/she will still have an opportunity to run for President one day! sheww.. 

I have tried to keep it a secret over here in Nicaragua but it has been difficult. Since most of the population is 20-30's .. Most women have a baby bump.. Which means most Nicaraguans are "experts" in this field. Since the day Ryan and I moved back to Nicaragua in August I have had all the Nicaraguan women asking me weekly when we would be pregnant. Ever since the beginning of March all the women, men, and children from the different areas we work in have been asking me when I am due and I have been denying it. Seriously, after denying it they would just tell me "well you are".  100's of them. After telling our close friends Sergio and Daysi, I asked why everyone "thought they knew" I was pregnant, their response "Everyone is talking about it, you might as well stop lying, your face and body have thinned out, your collar bone is standing out more, and your hips have grown, besides look at that bump!" Experts. Thanks guys.. So though I have not made it "public" here yet, no one will be surprised.

God is good. I am so thrilled that we are going to be blessed with a child, that I get to finally be a mommy, and that I get to watch Ryan be an incredible daddy. I have been telling my family since I was 10 that I wanted 12 children. Don't think Ryan is going to go for that but I sure am looking forward to this first sweet bundle. I am so thankful God chose us to be this baby's parents.