January
January 1st we toasted into the new year and I prayed so hard for my year of hope. I was so thankful to be starting fresh with this new year and had so much promise of good things to happen for us.
February
February 8th Lucy had her first snow and she was in heaven!!
March
My third 2nd cousin was born at the end of the month, March 25th. Lincoln Becker Cook
April
April 20th my sweet Lucy turned one and we had a huge party for her! I am so grateful for Lucy, she is one of the most important things to me in my life. So of course I had a dog party just for her with lots of presents! :)
May
My fourth 2nd cousin was born and he was born extremely early and fragile but is doing fantastic now! Levi Searcy Dyar May 24th.
June
June 4th we celebrated our big 5th anniversary by going away for the weekend to celebrate at the indoor water park and new outdoor water park in Gatlinburg (and eating at the Applebarn and shopping at the Christmas Shop)!!!
We also celebrated having Lucy for a whole year with us! It was a grand day picking her up June 7th 2020.
July
July 9th Cody finished his Masters degree in Exercise Science and Wellness, Fitness and performance through liberty university! I am so proud of him!!
July 11th and 12th we celebrated our big 28th birthday, the year I knew I would become a mom and baby Raborn will be born when we are still 28!
July 11th I cut my hair for Locks of Love for a third time!
August
Nothing eventful happened in August like most years. It's always a stressful time with school starting for Cody.
September
September 5th we got pregnant on a "whim" after deciding to not wait until October and barely caught the end of my fertile window, getting pregnant in September. I liked the idea of a June baby and how pregnant that would make me on the holidays (which was perfect, I just had gotten over my morning sickness a few days before thanksgiving (and I will be 16 1/2 weeks for our babymoon, not too early but not too pregnant but perfect)) and Cody agreed!
September 28th, even though I felt extremely pregnant, we tested at 3 weeks 1 day (the same time I got a positive with my last pregnancy) and got a negative. We kept testing the next week and I kept getting negatives. I concluded it just had not worked and my mind was just making me feel pregnant.
The end of September/early October Lucy had gotten very very sick. She lost 14 pounds in 9 days and wouldn't even drink water. She wouldn't move off of the couch or go to the bathroom, pee or poop. She had a stay overnight at the dog hospital for a few nights and I was a MESS. I can barely talk about this. Luckily after lots of IV fluids, medicine, and tests and lots of time she made a full recovery. She has since then gained almost 7 of those 14 pounds lost back!
October
October 4th my period was 2 days late and I was frustrated why it hadn't started, I am usually extremely regular and I wanted it to hurry up so we could start trying for the next cycle. I took another test October 2nd, it was very negative and then I took a test by myself with my night time urine on October 4th (2 days after my missed period, and 4 weeks and 1 day along) and it was very positive!! What gives?! I got to surprise Cody again! If I had tested on October 3rd it would have probably been positive as well but I didn't want to test again because I was so sure it didn't work at this point especially being the day my period was supposed to arrive and the test said negative the day before and it would have been positive by then anyways.
October 5th I immediately went to the doctor and got my blood drawn and my numbers looked fantastic!!! I got my blood drawn 2 days after that and 2 days after that and my numbers tripled each time! I also got on progesterone because my progesterone levels were low. My doctor was also surprised because I had just seen him 2 weeks prior and told him I'd see him in 1-2 weeks when my pregnancy test turns positive. He didn't believe me but I knew I was already pregnant when I saw him. I was right and he was shocked. He was sure it would take 3-6 months minimum.
Lucy turned 1.5 years old October 20th and I was so excited because lots of dogs calm down after a year and a half old and my plan was to always get pregnant right then or to be 6 weeks (when morning sickness starts) when she turns 1.5 years old and it worked out just like that. I was 6 weeks and 1 day along when she turned 18 months. I also wanted Lucy to be 2 years old when the baby was born and she will be 2 years and 1.5 months! So perfect!
October 25th 7 weeks and 1 day along we got to see our little healthy baby and hear and see his heartbeat on ultrasound! Thank God! I got an early ultrasound due to my history! Thank goodness!
October 26th we told our family the good news!
October 27th I got my blood drawn for the sneak peek gender test, the baby was measuring 6 weeks 6 days but I was 7 weeks 3 days along but it still worked! We got the results the next day for our Saturday gender reveal!
October 30th, all of family happened to be in town and we had a huge gender reveal party and the cake revealed BOY! We will have a son!
I was 8 weeks along on Halloween day!
November
We had 2 more ultrasounds and both looked fantastic! I am so spoiled to be able to see our little boy so much given our history.
November 13th I announced to everyone else that we were expecting. I was 9 weeks 6 days along.
November 17th I got my blood drawn for genetic testing.
I was almost 12 weeks along on Thanksgiving day!
December
We did genetic testing (at 10 weeks) and thank God everything came back normal and it double confirmed we will be having a boy.
I entered the second trimester in early December!
We got to see our baby boy on ultrasound again and he showed us that he indeed was a boy! LOL The ultrasound tech was so surprised we could see that this early at 12 weeks 5 days. Cody was proud lol.
December 11th, my brother in law Edgar graduated with his computer science degree from ETSU!! We are so so proud of him and all of his hard work!
I was 15 weeks along for Christmas and Christmas Eve and it was so fun being pregnant for the holidays. I wanted to be pregnant enough to not be sick, to be able to tell people about it by then, but not be too big in the second trimester where I'm uncomfortable. I got to wear my, 'tis the season to be pregnant' sweatshirt!
I was 16 weeks along for our Panama City beach babymoon and New Years Eve! We had such an amazing babymoon going back to the place we had our honeymoon over 5 1/2 years ago. I'm big on the sentimental stuff so this was so special to me.
I was 17 weeks along for New Years day!
.........................
I so look forward to this next year, this year was by far the best year and I am just so so grateful for this healthy growing baby in my stomach. I can't wait to feel him move so he can say hi to me every day and I can talk to him and he can hear me and everything. This next year I can't wait to actually meet him and get to know who he is. I hope birth and recovery won't be too bad, fingers crossed.
My baby shower will be April 2nd, maternity pictures April 3rd, and I predict he will be born at 38 weeks 1 day on June 2nd 2022. I look forward to all of his firsts this next year and introducing him to my favorite things about life. The corn mazes, traditions, holidays, etc. This time next year he will be almost 7 months. Thank you God. If our angel baby had survived, he (or she) would have been turning 2 this time next year.
My word of the year next year will be Faith. I had extreme hope in 2022 and this next year will be the Faith God has given us and the great rewards he has blessed us with baby Raborn. Thank you God.
Happy New Year!!
With so much love,
Kayla Raborn
12/31/21
