Chapter 12: Gender Reveal
May 10: Game 5! I thought this would be another competitive game, but I was wrong. The Suns DOMINATED from start to finish. Maybe the beating in Dallas really shook them up. Or maybe they wanted to put on a show for their newly named coach of the year. OR maybe they finally put all their attention back on the defensive end. They forced the Mavs into just nine assists.
“ Oh, by the way, 13 WEEKS TODAY!!!!! I don’t know why, but I am just so hesitant to get excited. There is just so much time left. All I know is I have to wake up, thank God, lay down for bed, and thank God again. Amen.”
May 11: Travel day. Pretty much a waste of a day honestly, because I don’t get to work, I don’t get to see Joe, and I don’t get to have a free day in a city. But that is the grumpy way to look at it. The other way would be, I am covering basketball for a living, I have a baby inside of me and the most supportive husband in the world!! That is better. I have to adjust my attitude sometimes! Being on the road for over a month straight now, except for going home for my 12-week appointment, has its own challenges, but nothing compared to REAL challenges, like IVF, illness, poverty, and a million other things. I am just really thankful for my health and work. I always come back to that. I ask God daily to set me straight if my mind gets out of wack!! It doesn’t often, but perspective is EVERYTHING.
Today we announced our partnership with Just Made Juice! They made two juices with amazing ingredients for fertility, like beets and watermelon! They are donating a portion of all sales to HCHD and have been amazing to work with. Their juices are just fruit. No added sugar or weird ingredients you can’t pronounce! God is good!
May 12: Another game day! I woke up starving at 6 am because I had an early dinner. Hehe, PREGNANT!! I had an awesome overnight oats bowl, fruit, and a greens juice and got an awesome workout in. Then I had a little bit of spotting again—light brown. When I have sex or work out, it seems always to happen. It was really scary at first. Now it is less scary but still makes me nervous. They say if it is brown and you're not cramping, you’re ok. I just pray every time it happens…please God let me have this amazing baby and let it be healthy! Yes, I am still calling it “it.” We will find out together at 20 weeks via ultrasound, then do a gender reveal for my family during the all-star break! I am so excited!
Ok, soooooo this is Game 6. IF the Suns win, I get to see Joe tomorrow for two days. If the Mavs win, I don't get to see Joe for probably another three weeks. PLEASEEEEEEEE. Not that I am biased toward one team…because I LOVE a good underdog story, trust me!! The Mavs have swag, and I respect that. I would like to see my husband, though!! Every year from March Madness through the end of the NBA playoffs, it’s a lot of time on the road, and it’s a grind. Plus, in that span, we move from Ohio to spring training and to whatever rental in whatever city Joe is playing for. So it’s a lot. But we have it down. And we thank God we get to do what we love for a living. That is the bottom line.
May 15: Game 7 in AZ blowout, fly to San Fran, land, and go to Joe’s hotel! He is playing Oakland!
May 16: I woke up and went to breakfast with Joe! I went into Warriors practice and heard Coach Kerr, Steph, and Andrew Wiggins speak and spoke to Draymond on the side. I went to dinner at Coquette with Moran, who landed today! I snuggled up with Joe after his game.
May 17: I went in for a one-on-one sit-down with Steph! Then I had lunch with Joe. I ordered room service and watched the ECF and his game! Best day! So happy having work AND Joe in the same city!
May 18: Game 1 of the WCF! Warriors blow out. Joe came! Went to Italian dinner after the game with Harlan, PJ, and the ESPN crew. I had the best sex! Joe is in shock over the boob situation.
May 19: Luka was sick all night, so the Mavs gave me Jalen Brunson for my one-on-on interview today! He is great. Class act. Gets it. Shot a report for NBA TV and had a great call with Doich about sponsoring a family! I took a nap and got a massage! I'm still smiling about Joe being here! He flew to Kansas City today! I’ll miss him!
June 6: It was time for another baby appointment! This time with Dr. Chow. He was great. Very thorough. He asked a lot of questions. And even called me later that day to see if I had any follow-up questions!
We didn’t watch, but we LISTENED to the heartbeat today! It sounded strong! We still have a few weeks before we can identify gender on an ultrasound. BUTTTTTT…
“I couldn’t wait until my 20-week ultrasound to know the gender…soooo…today is our gender reveal!”
I wanted it to be intimate with Joe since he doesn’t love intimate moments with many people around. I wanted to remember this moment with him alone! I had our genetic testing center inform my doctor of the gender. She then told my sister AuBree, who planned the big reveal!! She set up a scavenger hunt for us!!”
When we got back from our appointment, there was an envelope on the door that said “Clue #1.”
How fun is that!!! We opened it up, and it read, “Surprise! The time has come-buckle up and ride the tide. Bring your patience (Joe) and hide your pride. Take your FIRST child by your side. And go get some mommy and daddy fuel; you’ll need it for this wild ride! Your morning brew awaits you…take a long walk side by side.”
OMG OMG OMG!! We walked Brantley to the local coffee shop, and Joe found clue number two!!
Number two read: “Now that you have your exercise done and fuel for the day, you can’t forget a treat for Brantley at the entryway. To get there, always remember-no, matter near or far, HOME sweet HOME is where you two are!
We walked back to the apartment, and the woman who works at the reception desk had a treat for Brantley like usual, AND clue number 3!!!
This one got my heart!!! “Always be there for your little one, and give them strength to make it to the TOP. To finally see if they’re a HE or SHE, NO CEILING there can be. Go thank your angels in HEAVEN and get as close to them as can be!!!
We took the elevator up to the 18th floor, and there it was!! A box with a big question mark on it!!!!!!
I opened it up, and there were BLUE BALLOONS!!!! WE ARE HAVING A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!
You should have seen JOE’S face hahahahah. I said, “it's a mini Joe!” And he said, “That’s not good.” Hahahaha
He wanted a little girl so much. His heart is so big. He had the girl's name and a girl in his heart. He went inside and started swinging golf clubs. He was upset but also loving. He will come around. I think he pictured himself more intimate with a little daughter, and now he thinks he has to be a tough dad. He will be an amazing dad no matter what we have. That is what I DO know.
We then drove out to Lake Wayzata to meet the Duffey family with their sweet son Teddy!! They rented a pontoon; we cruised around, ordered food, and had the most relaxing evening!
June 9: Corepower Yoga! I found out the rest of the embryo genders!
June 11: Today was a bucket list day!! The Minnesota Twins asked all of the wives if they would want to race in the 4th inning mascot race at Target Field! I have wanted to do this in Cleveland since I can remember!! This was my chance!!
Everyone in my family told me not to run in this because I am pregnant, but I am not showing yet, I work out regularly, and pregnant women compete in triathlons, for goodness sake!!! This is a 200-yard dash, haha. It was honestly one of the most exciting and fun things I have ever done!! When the gates open and you are in front of a stadium full of fans, the rush is awesome!!!!!! We couldn’t hear the 3,2,1 GO, so one of the wives started early. I got a very late start but made up some ground and got 2nd. Still not happy about that. Haha. I got a great workout in at Orange Theory that morning. I hadn’t done a ton of cardio, but it felt amazing to get a sweat in. After the game, our friends Casey and Lauren and their two kids who drove from Ohio came to our building, and we grilled and let the kids play in the pool. It was an awesome, full day!
June 13: Seattle with Joe
June 14: Got to see Catherine!
June 16: Dinner with Courtney and Jeremy! It was so refreshing to be with great friends! We went to a local Italian place called Tarbell's. After dinner, we watched the end of the NBA Finals. The Golden State Warriors won their 4th championship in 6 years!!
June 22: Today was such a full, incredible day!!! I had my 20-week ultrasound appointment!! Spoiler alert!!
The day started with a special visit to Good Sam. Good Sam is short for “Good Samaritan,” and it is a specialty HD long-term care facility in Minnesota. There are a few of them, which is VERY rare in this country.
“Long-term care is neglected in the HD community. People with Huntington’s Disease reach a point where they need professional care and can not live at home without full-time healthcare, but there are rarely facilities with staff trained to care for HD patients. This is one of those special locations where HD families get the care they deserve. “
Martha Nance, an HD neurologist, Gwen Johnson (the nurse manager), Jessica Marsolek (the Minnesota Chapter Social Worker), and the amazing staff at Good Sam gave us a detailed tour of the facility. We spent an hour game planning how to make a difference in the Minnesota community. It was powerful and fun. They are all heroes!!
Next, the best part of this day!! I met Joe for our big 20-week, hour-long ultrasound!!
The baby was so healthy and big and happy! He was moving a lot, and the ultrasound tech even said, “uh oh, you're in trouble!” They said he was 82 percentile in size and was on track to come a few days early. A small white calcium spot showed up, indicating a slight chance for down syndrome. We already genetically tested our embryos, but in the rare chance the testing was wrong, we drew blood to double check. The doctor, however, was not worried. I weighed 128.8 pounds! I was 123 when we transferred, 125 at our first ultrasound, 127 at our last heartbeat appointment, and now at 19 weeks (I won't be home at 20, so we made the “20-week appointment” today) 128.8. I couldn’t stop smiling. The feeling of relief and happiness is growing each day!
Later that night, Arian (our Director of Development at HCHD) joined me for the Twins game to see Joe play! Tomorrow we are taking a wonderful local donor to the game with her family!
June 23: I Felt the first baby kick at 10:45 pm, lying next to Joe in bed watching TV!!
July 2: Minnesota Twins baby shower day!!! My mom flew in from Atlanta last night; it was an awesome surprise! 7 wives are pregnant on the Minnesota twins team, including me. The team made all of us feel SO special with custom balloons and baskets and candy and gifts for all of us!!! I wore a blue dress for “boy mom” and Joe’s powder blue jersey over it with platform chucks. My mom and I went to happy hour after, then dinner with Joe on Wayzata Bay. It was the most beautiful and perfect day!!
July 4: Mixing in some work with some Joe time and a few HelpCureHD trips! Today I flew to Boston to cover Tampa at Boston BASEBALL tomorrow at Fenway! This will be my first national baseball game, but for some reason, I am not nervous at all. I have been to SO many baseball games; it just feels natural! Joe Underhill is my field producer, who is a great friend, which makes it exciting! I will be calling the game with the legendary Bob Costas, which is also a first for me! Ron Darling is the analyst. He is a friend of Joe’s and an AWESOME guy. Another page for the book! (Which I am never going to write, haha. This blog is as much writing as I am going to do!!)
July 5: Game day!! We had a production meeting at 10, Joe and I got breakfast at noon, and I went into the field around 2:00. Baseball days are LOOONNG days. For open clubhouse, I spoke to a few of the starts for each team, as well as both managers. Fenway is so iconic. The park just smells like history. Our seat was at the end of the Tampa dugout right on field level. It was such an incredible view. It rained nearly the entire game, but we didn’t care because we felt so blessed to be there!! The game went great. I had fun. I had a tight black stretchy dress on, but I tied a jean jacket around my waist, and you couldn’t tell I was pregnant. I did show a few of Joe’s old teammates the bump! Brooks Raley, who he played with in Houston, Rich Hill is who he played with in Cleveland, and the Tampa manager Kevin Cash who was his bullpen coach for one year in Cleveland. Former teammate Corey Kluber was also there, and his wife, who is the sweetest!!!! She is also an IVF warrior.
July 11: Fast forward to baseball game number two! I flew from Minneapolis to St. Louis tonight to prepare for Dodgers/Cardinals tomorrow! Today Joe and I slept in and had an awesome lunch at Cov Wayzata on the water before I flew out. He gets activated on this next home stretch from the IL! My flight was delayed three hours, joy! Flying these days is BRUTAL. Everyone is desperate for workers and understaffed. I landed at 1:45 AM. Yikes! Luckily I was sleeping by 2:30 AM! The baby was kicking like crazy tonight!!!! Probably saying, “go to bed!!”
July 12: Game day! Production meeting at 10 AM, followed by a…NAP. I went to bed at noon and woke up at 2!! I had to go in at 2:30, so I raced to get ready, but I felt SO refreshed! The highlight of today was getting to interview and speak to another one of Joe’s former teammates and a Hall of Famer, playing in his final season after 22 years in the big leagues, Albert Pujols. He remembered me and could not have been nicer. Then, during the game, I was telling a story about him, and he homered!! I got to call the homer!! I also got to interview him after the game! What a broadcaster's dream. I worked the game with Brian Anderson, with whom I cover March Madness, and “Frenchy” or Francoeur, who is an awesome guy! He is a father of 4 and told me he couldn’t imagine life without four!!! That motivated me. I also saw Joe’s former teammate Andrew Heaney. His wife is an IVF warrior as well. We are everywhere! My field producer Jason shared with me that he and his wife had a daughter with a very rare disease. They went through IVF for the rest of their children to ensure they didn’t suffer from the same disease. It is amazing how strong people are. I am thankful that they are willing to share with me. It gives me strength.
I couldn’t sleep much after the game, but the baby was kicking, so I sang to him, prayed, and rested my eyes.
July 14: Week 22 check-up! I weigh 132 (10 more than where I started!) Last night I felt the baby kicking!! He was kicking for a couple of hours on and off while Joe and I watched the first Top Gun in bed. This was around 10:30-midnight! Joe got to feel him kick! We watched the first one before we caught the newest Top Gun in theaters!
