The Bailey Chronicles

At last the medical insurance for me became effective. I could finally go to the OB and see if the pregnancy was healthy. The fears of it being an ectopic pregnancy, or no heart beat for the baby, or ovarian cysts plagued my mind from the beginning, especially because I still cramped regularly. It seemed like eternity to get an appointment, but on May 15th the day finally came. They did blood work and urine tests, a full physical and then finally the first sonogram. We saw our little baby up on the screen dancing all around inside of me. It was so precious and filled us with so much joy. I have seen sonograms before, but they never meant anything to me until this moment. I felt my eyes tearing as I watched our little gummy bear on the screen. John was speechless, with glossy eyes and big smile as he stared in amazement. At that moment it made all of my misery from the morning sickness seem minor compared to the miracle taking place in my body. We watched the heart beat flicker on the screen and all signs pointed to a perfectly healthy pregnancy. Dr. Annie Bass printed out many pictures for us to take home, and I immediately e-mailed them out for the rest of the family to see. From this point on, the baby is referred to as the gummy bear, since we didn't know the sex yet and felt it was heartless to refer to a baby as an “it”.

The puppy's bladder infection didn't seem to be clearing up, and I was in no physical shape to take care of her since I was constantly throwing up. My sense of smell heightened and the scent of urine in our apartment became overwhelming for me. We couldn't leave her in the apartment unattended because she would tend to destroy anything her little mouth could get around. By this point she had eaten several important charging chords like to the laptop, the digital camera, the memory card reader, the cell phone chargers and several others plus our TV remote. Also furniture was not safe such as our chairs and our couch. The puppy started spending more and more time in the crate. I would try to walk her but every time she pulled on the leash I would throw up. Sometimes the sound of her cries would make me sick because of my migraines. John worked long hours in a store that was over an hour away from us, so he was in no mood to take the responsibility off my hands. We eventually decided that the best thing to do for her is to find her a new home while she was still a puppy. We found a sweet elderly couple with a giant backyard, lots of trees and a swimming pool that had just retired and desperately wanted the company to adopt her. It was a hard day for both John and I, because we loved her dearly, but felt that we were doing the right thing for all of us. We still both miss our puppy and are incredibly grateful for the joy she brought us through the beginning of the year, but we both knew in our hearts that this is simply not the best timing to have her. We did feel good that we were able to place her into a loving home and not a shelter. The couple sent us reports about how she adapted right away, and absolutely loves the swimming pool. So we still feel confident that we made the right decision even though it was a very difficult one to make.