The Discovery

Rachel discovered that she was pregnant with our baby while we were on a 2-week vacation in China. Here is the note she handed me to let me know that there was a new family member on the way.

It was the evening of November 13, 2002. We had just gotten back from an exciting day of touring, seeing the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall during the day and then a Chinese acrobatics show in the evening. We were staying at the Palace Hotel in Beijing, and Rachel had just gone down to the hotel lobby to mail some postcards we had written to friends and family back home. While at the front desk, she asked the concierge to write out the Chinese characters with the Pinyin (Roman alphabet transliteration) on the note. Once she returned to our room, she handed the note to me and told me that someone had sent a message, and that the Chinese ("Nin Hao, Ba Ba") meant "Hello Daddy".

I stared at the note for a couple seconds before saying something stupid (in typical clueless-guy fashion) like "so who is this from?" Rachel then replied, "It's from our baby!"

Wow.

Surprising our Parents

On Sunday, November 24, 2002, the day after we got back from our trip to China, we visited both of our parents to give them the good news. We also stopped by Emily & Bill's place to pick up our dogs and guinea pigs (who had been boarding there during our trip) and give them the news at the same time.

Rachel thought of a cute way to make it a fun surprise. She baked little sugar-cookie dolls, and decorated them with blue boys' and pink girls' clothes, and put question marks on each head.

We first stopped by at Len & Mary Lou's. Rachel had told them that we wanted to stop by and visit, since we had just gotten back from our trip to China. Interestingly, Mary Lou had an idea that we might be bringing news of a baby, although she had the notion that perhaps we had adopted a baby from China while there! When Rachel told them to open the "present", they saw the cookies. It took a few seconds for it to register, but soon enough they realized what we were telling them, and that they had another grandchild on the way!

Later, we stopped by at Emily & Bill's house. When we pulled up, Emily came racing out to the car, looking for a carseat! She was also suspicious that we had "picked up" a baby while in China. Hiding her disappointment, she and Bill and the girls were excited a short time later when the cookies were unveiled.

Later we stopped by Jeff's parents' place. Stacy was there, too. This time there was no adoption suspicion (perhaps since having gone through two adoptions, they know how long adoptions really take and how hard it would be to keep it a secret!) When the cookies were given, again there was a short delay before Jeff's mom figured out what was going on.

The First Photo

On November 27, 2002, we had the privilege to see our first pictures of our newest family member.

This ultrasound picture (click for a bigger version) doesn't show much detail, but during the procedure we could actually see the little heart beating. It was an awe-inspiring experience for us, and really brought home the fact that in not too many months from now, we will have a baby to care for.

The Announcement

On November 29, 2002, I sent out an email announcement of our pregnancy to friends and family. Here is the text of the email:

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeffrey R. Olson [mailto:jeff@olsonzoo.com]
Sent: Friday, November 29, 2002 10:46 PM
Subject: Baby Olson on the way!

Hello friends and family,

Just wanted to share with you some exciting news...Rachel and I 
are expecting a new member of the family, expected arrival date 
of July 23, 2003.  We are thankful to God for the opportunity 
to be parents, and we ask for your prayers to prepare us for 
this exciting responsibility!

Attached is a photo of "Baby Olson", taken earlier this week 
(at about 6 weeks after conception).  I personally found it 
amazing to see the little heart beating.

Jeff

Attached was the ultrasound picture shown above.

A Bun in the Oven

During the pregnancy, Rachel and I got to have quite a few more chances to see pictures of Laura (known to us at the time only as "Baby Olson"). Here are a few of the ultrasound photos.

March 7, 2003 (20 weeks)

Jeff called this "The Alien Picture".
He got punched for that.

Laura seemed to like her hands even at this point.

April 14, 2003 (25 weeks)

(Also daddy's 32nd birthday!)

A cute look at Laura's profile.
Notice her little upper lip.

May 27, 2003 (32 weeks)

This ultrasound was a few days after Rachel had been put on bedrest because of possible early labor. Mom and mom-in-law were both in attendance.

A closeup of Laura's little "rosebud" mouth.
This is the picture that convinced Laura's grandmothers
that the baby was a girl.

Laura poses for the camera.

June 24, 2003 (36 weeks)

This ended up being just four days before Laura was born.

Another mug shot.

Laura's tiny feet were pretty rough on mommy's ribs!