This post is long overdue, yet still very timely. I really had planned to write it earlier, but I just haven't had the energy to do so. Most of you already know the big announcement I am finally getting around to making on my blog.
I will be adding another title to my repertoire, and I'm so excited about it! Tomorrow I will be 15 weeks pregnant! With the exception of fighting some cold-like symptoms this week, I feel great! So what I'd like to do now is take you through the journey of the past several months that got me to this point.
I believe it started sometime in May of this year. David and I were beginning to talk more about starting a family in the near future, so we decided to stop all prevention, start the process, and just see what happens. We both had strong feelings that we were very fertile people and that it wouldn't take long for us, but really didn't know for sure since a few of our friends had been trying for a while with no results as of yet. Well, it turned out we were both right about ourselves. The very first time we stopped preventing - not even really "trying", I got pregnant! I had wondered if I did for a couple of weeks. Not too long after we conceived I kept feeling different "symptoms". I would read all about what I thought I was feeling to see if it meant I could be pregnant. Meanwhile I wasn't saying anything to David about it. I wanted it to be a surprise for him. I couldn't wait until I missed my period to find out. I was so anxious! So I bought an early results pregnancy test and tested a couple of days before I was supposed to start. I had so much anticipation about taking the test in the morning that that night I had trouble sleeping and got up multiple times to use the bathroom. I woke up long before my alarm went off and could wait no longer, so I went to the bathroom to secretly take the test. The only problem was I thought I might not have enough urine to make it work properly since I had gone so much in the night. Also it wasn't the "right" kind I thought - you know the strongest, most concentrated morning pee. Anyway, without getting too graphic :), I was able to squeeze out just a little bit and hoped it would be enough. But while waiting for the test results, I kept thinking, "Oh, no! I did it wrong. I didn't have enough, and it's not the right kind! I just know it's not going to work now. I have just wasted this test and now I'm still not going to know!" As I was working myself up over not doing it right, the result showed up.....Pregnant.....I was trying so hard to be quiet, but I nearly hyperventilated! Oh my gosh! I really was pregnant! I wasn't imagining all those symptoms. It was real. I couldn't contain myself any longer. I had waited this long agonizing over am I or am I not? And I hadn't said a word to David. It was all too much. No matter what my original plan was of presenting him with the positive test later in the day, it was all going out the window at that point. So there it was 7am on a Sunday morning and I came creeping back into the room with the positive test in hand. "David?" I loudly whispered, "Are you awake?" Of course he wasn't before I just woke him up, but he said "Yes. What is it?" I proceeded to shakingly, and breathlessly tell him the exciting news with my heart beating 100 mph. I climbed back in bed and just spewed out everything that had been bottled inside me for 45 minutes straight. I think he was dozing off and on during all that because when I was finished, I asked him what he thought or felt, and he said, "I'll be excited later. I just want to go back to sleep now." I said ok and tried to rest too, but I just couldn't. So I just got up and tried to let it all sink in.
Later that afternoon we took a walk and talked about the big change that was about to happen for us. I also explained to him the perfect plan I had to tell our family. We'd wait a couple of weeks, until I was nearly 5 weeks pregnant, and tell them all on Father's day with a Grandfather card. I had found the perfect cards and everything. I was so excited it was going to work out so well. One other thing I was excited about that I had just told David a few days later was that I wouldn't have to have another period for at least 9 months! Little did I know that the next day I would wake up and get mine.
By this time I had told a handful of people that I was pregnant, and I spoke with a couple of my close friends who already have kids about it. One of them told me that with her first baby, she got her period for the first month and that everything was probably fine for me too. I kept trying to believe that, wishing that it would just stop. Her's had been lighter and shorter than normal, but mine continued to be just like normal. I made an appointment to see the Dr. after it was over to be sure that everything was still fine and I was still pregnant, but no matter how positive i tried to be, I just had a bad feeling about it.
Between the time that I started my period to the time I saw the Dr., Father's Day came and went, and along with it went my perfect plans of telling the family with the cute Grandfather cards I had bought. I decided it was best not to say anything until we knew for sure. So in hopes of getting good news at the Dr. I scheduled a dinner with my family. We rarely do this during the week and because of that, I found out later that they expected us to tell them that I was pregnant at this dinner. But that was not to be the news that night. I had just found out earlier that day at the Dr. that I was, in fact, not pregnant anymore, and I must have just had an early miscarriage. I decided against telling my parents about it since I really wanted it to be a happy time when I finally did tell them the good news and not have them worry about me. I knew nothing was wrong with my body and that I would get pregnant again soon, so we just had a nice dinner together without any mention of pregnancy. I later learned that because we didn't give them the news they half expected at that dinner, the next time we planned a dinner to tell them, they were genuinely surprised. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Anyway, we were disappointed, but not too crushed. I don't think we had time to be. It all happened so fast that it really hadn't sunk in all the way I guess. We put it behind us and continued in our marriage as normal, not really "trying" but not preventing either. I reasoned that since I know what it feels like to be pregnant now, I will know when I am again. However this time would prove to be different.
After the very next possible time that we could have gotten pregnant, I felt nothing and told people that I really thought it didn't happen again right away, which is fine. I was sure it would still happen soon. Then came the week that I was supposed to have my period. It never came. I thought that the miscarriage could have possibly messed up my cycle and I researched it online. I went back and counted the number of days in all my cycles over the past 9 months, hoping to see some kind of pattern. Instead of thinking I could be pregnant, I was worried there was something wrong with my cycle. Besides, how could I be pregnant when I didn't feel any of the same symptoms as last time? By the time my period was a week late (which has NEVER happened - I'm so regular), I decided to entertain the idea that I may be pregnant and told David (this time I kept him in the loop about all of it) that I would take a test the next morning. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I probably was pregnant, but I was not nearly as anxious about it this time. I just got up when my alarm went off and calmly took the test. I was half surprised and I had half expected what the result would be. I was pregnant! And having already missed my period put me further along than the last time, so that was good news. I made an appointment to have the blood test done to confirm it, and decided that this time I would wait to tell people. I waited twice as long before telling anyone, but I started taking belly pictures as soon as we found out so I could track the progress. I'll include them in an album at the end of this post so you can see how much I've grown too.
We planned a dinner with my family to tell them when I was 7 weeks. They were so excited, and even though my perfect Father's day card plan didn't work out, it was a great time to tell them. The next weekend we took a beach trip with a bunch of friends and business partners when I was 8 weeks, and I spilled the news to all of them there. I waited until after the first Dr. visit before I posted anything on Facebook though, just to make sure everything was still progressing well. And it is. As I said in the beginning of this post, I have really been feeling good. I didn't really suffer with any morning sickness, and only threw up 3 times in the whole first trimester. The "worst" symptom I guess for me was really fatigue. I was just so tired all the time, and that is my excuse for not writing this sooner. Although, now I am in my second trimester and pretty much over that. We have had two check ups to hear the heartbeat now, and it sounds great! The first time it was 173 bpm, and the second time it sounded about the same, but we got a little bonus - we heard a kick too! I still can't feel anything yet, but I can't wait to start feeling the first little flutters in there very soon. Next month on the 26 of October we have the ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. I can't wait! We are so excited to know what we are having so we can start planning for his/her arrival.
So that is the story of what's been going on these last few months. There has been a lot more that has happened that I need to catch up on too, but this was the most important to write about first.
Click on the link to the album below to see the belly pics from 4 weeks to 14.
Pregnant Belly Pics
