|{ Waiting For Movement }|

When you have a miscarriage, something like waiting for your baby move can be super hard.  I just wanted to feel the security of knowing he was still doing well enough to be moving around, but as the weeks passed I just wasn't feeling him.  Or at least I wasn't sure that I was feeling him.

I had been feeling something since about Sept 4th (I was about 19 weeks into my pregnancy) but I could never say for certain that it was the baby and not something else.  I had been told that my placenta was placed anteriorly so that it might take longer for me to feel him.  I talked to my doctor on Sept 24th and she assured me that if I thought I was feeling him, then I was feeling him.

It wasn't until Sept 27th (almost 23 weeks into my pregnancy) that I was positive the movement I had felt was my little boy.  I was sitting at the computer when I felt a little thump.  I placed my hand on my belly and felt him kick my hand! I was so excited.  I then watched my belly and actually saw him kick me as well! I told Jonathan right away, I just couldn't believe it! It was so exciting!!

I have been feeling him move daily since then and I just love it.  It is such a comfort to feel him and it's fun too.  I've been trying to get Jonathan to feel him but he always stops moving when he puts his hand on my belly.  Silly boy.  Hopefully he will get to feel him in the next few weeks!

I have been going into panic mode a bit.  I feel like we have so much to do and no time to do it.  I can't believe that I have less than 4 months to go! Not to mention the Holidays coming up, I just feel like time is going to slip by so fast.  Which is great! But also scary!!

My baby shower is going to be at the end of this month!! Two of my AMAZING friends are throwing it for me and I just can't wait! It's going to be so much fun!

|{ My Baby Story- Part 1 }|

One of the reasons why I haven't blogged in the last few months was because I knew I was pregnant and we weren't ready to tell people yet.  And since that was the biggest thing going on in my life, I had no desire to talk about anything else.  haha!

But now we have told everyone and so I thought I would share our story!

In November I miscarried, I was only around 10 weeks pregnant but it was still devastating.  Even though it is super common, 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage, it was still one of those things that you think "Well that won't happen to me."  It was really hard and there was a lot of pain and sadness.  However, it did bring Jonathan and I even closer together and it meant everything to me to have him there.  I didn't have to go through it alone.

My doctor is INCREDIBLE, and I really appreciated the way she handled the situation and encouraged us for the next time we got pregnant.  We started trying again not too long after that.

The due date from my miscarriage would have been on May 27th, 2013.  As that date drew closer I found myself desperate to be pregnant again.  I wanted to be pregnant before that date came.  I decided that no matter what, I wanted to take a pregnancy test on that day.  It was a little earlier than they recommend you take the test, but I didn't care.  I just had to try on that day, I had to know.

So, expecting failure for another cycle, I took the test that day.  AND IT WAS POSITIVE!! I was shocked! I was sure it was going to be negative, Jonathan was sure it was going to be negative! But we both looked down at that test and it could not be more clear that we were pregnant again! And what could have been a very sad day, turned into a super happy one! We couldn't have been more excited...and worried.

The next few months would be filled with constant worry, worry that I would miscarry again.  We didn't tell anyone this time, though we did end up having to tell our bosses at one point.  We were excited but scared, we didn't want to feel that loss again.

A few days after we found out I had gone in for some blood work and scheduled my first doctors appointment.  About a day or so later I got a call from my doctor.  She was so happy on the phone! She said that she saw my name on her schedule and she was excited for me! She said it totally made her day to see my name! She said my tests came back fine but that she wasn't calling about that, that she just wanted to congratulate us! I love my doctor!

My doctors appointments could not come quickly enough.  Every appointment I had feared that she would not find the heartbeat, that it wouldn't be there anymore, that I would have a repeat experience from last time.  But she never even had to search for my baby, within seconds she had located it, every single time.  It was a relief.

Right around the time that I found out I was pregnant, I got a call from my brother.  Him and his wife were going to start trying for a baby! They had some questions, which I happily answered and I was excited for them! A month after that they called to tell us that they were pregnant!! They had only tried for a month, one cycle, and they were already pregnant! I was a little jealous of course, but super happy for them!!

My due date is January 27th, 2014.
Their due date is February 26th, 2014.
We are almost exactly a month apart.

And they told everyone the day that they took the positive pregnancy test! So now, everyone knows about them but no one knows about us and we are due earlier! Turns out that some members of my family began to wonder if I might be pregnant, mostly due to the fact that I was nothing but ecstatic for my brother, when all of them know how much I wanted to have the first baby on my side of the family (as the oldest).

So we finally made it to my second trimester! We had made it past the point where most miscarriages take place.  My first trimester was fairly easy.  A little nausea but nothing too severe.  I was almost disappointed.  All I wanted was some extra confirmation that I was really pregnant, but in the end I can't really complain.  :)
So we were finally ready to tell our families! We told every one through Skype, we didn't really do anything big this time, but showed them a picture of the ultrasound.  Everyone was thrilled.  Some even cried.  It was so sweet! It was kind of funny to tell my family, and especially my brother and his wife, since we are due before them.

Everything continued to go well! We did our first trimester screen and the chances of our baby having a chromosome abnormality is extremely low! It was a relief.  We have been so happy and excited!

At just before 20 weeks we had our anatomy scan appointment!! It was so awesome how much you could see of our little baby! Every little bone was visible, you could even see all the chambers of the heart! We even counted all 5 toes on one foot! It was so fun!!

We wanted to find out the gender but we didn't want them to tell us there.  So we had them write it down for us! That day we went to Party City with a box and the envelope and asked the worker there to fill the box with the appropriate colored balloons!  We then brought the box home, decorate the outside a little bit and decided to open it in the room that will be the nursery! We opened up the box and found out that

WE ARE HAVING A BOY!!!

Here is the video we made:




I was so excited! I had sort of been hoping for a girl, but as soon as I saw those blue balloons I was nothing but thrilled!! I can't even wait for all the fun things we will be able to do with him!  We had a gender reveal party a few days later and made cupcakes with blue frosting in the middle for everyone to bite into! It was a lot of fun!

As far as names go:  We know his middle name will be Jonathan but that is all we are sure of right now. Naming a person is hard!!

So here I am, halfway through my pregnancy and happy as can be!!

|{ End Of Fall + Bump Update }|

I decided that this last weekend was probably the last weekend of Fall.  Temperatures are definitely dropping over here and I have a feeling (or at least hoping) that we'll get some snow sooner rather than later!! It definitely is starting to feel like winter...and I LOVE it!! :)

We finally made it to the cider mill over the weekend! Definitely later than we would have liked to and most of the leaves are gone so it wasn't very Autumn looking.  I'm sure we would have gone earlier had there been apples to pick, but since it was such a bad harvest year there were no apples to pick.  So we went to Erwin Orchards, got some donuts and cider and went home.  Short trip but at least we made it.  And I actually didn't get cider.... since I'm pregnant and the cider is not pasteurized I had to get hot cocoa instead.  On the plus side, at the least the year that I didn't get cider and the year we couldn't pick apples ended up being in the same year.

On Saturday night we had our ward Halloween party.  We ran out of time and creativity this year when it came to costumes so I ended up at K-mart to buy our 50% off costumes.  At least we still looked pretty cute.  There were so many good costumes at the party! Everyone looked great and it was a lot of fun!

How Far Along:  10 weeks!

How Big Is Baby:  Baby is the size of a prune! (1.2 inches long, weighs .14 ounces)

Total Weight Gain:  I'm at 143 (pre-pregnancy weight was about 140)

Sleep:  Pretty good, though starting to dread the only sleeping on my side thing, it's not gonna be very comfy.

Best Moment Of The Week:  Spending Sunday with my husband eating chili and corn bread, and the Ward Halloween Party!

Food Cravings:  None. 

Food Aversions:  None.

Symptoms: 

Practically none this week.

Nausea- Pretty much gone.

Breakouts- The only thing really bothering me!

Other- Sore boobies, mild fatigue.

Gender:  Getting excited to find out!

What I'm Looking Forward To:  Seeing my family over Christmas! Can't wait to share my pregnancy joy with them! 

What I Miss:  Cider from the Orchard!

Next Doctor Appointment:  Tomorrow!! 

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!!

|{ 9 Week Bump Update }|

I was originally going to start my updates at week 10, but I got too anxious so I decided to start a week early! :)  I had a couple of ideas as to what I wanted to do with these photos, I kind of wanted to do them outside but decided that due to weather it might make it difficult.  Then I thought that maybe I could do them in from of my window so you could still see the change of seasons but I couldn't make the photos look good due to too much background light. So I decided to do them in front of my fireplace, where you can still see the 'change of season' due to my decorations.  

I also am planning to take a nontraditional 'bump' photo each week, I'll start doing that next week.  :) 

So here we go! My first bump update post! 

How Far Along:  9 weeks!

How Big Is Baby:  Baby is the size of a green olive!

Total Weight Gain:  I haven't checked in a while, but last time I checked I was about 4 pounds higher than my pre-pregnancy weight.

Sleep:  Sleep is great! I feel pretty tired during the day so I always sleep just fine.

Best Moment Of The Week:  I started my new job on Monday!! That was exciting! I also got to do my first real pregnancy massage on someone and it went great! :)  It was kind of weird to think that there were 4  people in the massage room instead of just 2. :)

Food Cravings:  I had a friend tell me that he didn't believe pregnancy cravings were real (which I suppose makes sense) so I'm interested to see if I really feel like I am having specific cravings rather than regular non-pregnant cravings.  So far, not craving anything in particular. 

Food Aversions:  Anything with too strong of a smell, like my husbands sardines or hot dogs.  Nothing sounds good when I'm hungry so it's been kind of hard to decide what to eat.

Symptoms: 

Nausea-  Not bad, just a little queasy when I get hungry.  There was one evening this week that was particular bothersome, but still not bad enough to throw up or anything.

Cramping- Very slight, only every once a while.  I still hate when it happens though, I'm afraid something is wrong when I feel it but it's never bad.

Other- Mild fatigue, breakouts, slightly heightened emotions, sore boobies.

Gender:  No idea! When asked what we are hoping for we never have a real answer.  At the moment neither of us have a preference! Just healthy! Please be healthy!!

What I'm Looking Forward To:  I can't wait to start showing!! I want this bump to get bigger! :)

What I Miss:  Not a whole lot yet! I even kind of like my negative symptoms because it means I'm pregnant and I love that!! :)  Not even missing certain foods either because usually nothing sounds good.

Next Doctor Appointment:  October 30th! (Pretty sure it's going to be an ultrasound appointment and I can't wait!)

|{ WE'RE HAVING A BABY!! }|

Hello lovely readers!!

I wanted to share some awesome news today!! Jonathan and I are expecting our first child!!!! We are SO EXCITED!!!

Here is our story!

On Sept. 25th I was supposed to go to the dentist to get my surgery started to get my tooth implant (woohoo!)! I hadn't taken a pregnancy test in a few weeks so I figured I should probably make sure I wasn't pregnant before my appointment (due to chemicals and such).  I was SURE that I wasn't pregnant! I was feeling cramping every once in a while so I was sure that I wasn't.  But I took the test first thing in the morning and then snuggled with Jonathan in bed for a few minutes.  When we got up he came with me and I walked right over to the test and picked it up, sure that it was going to negative.  To my immense surprise there were 2 lines!!! 2 VERY solid pink lines!! I couldn't believe it!

So, I called my dentist and had to cancel my appointment until I'm out of my first trimester and then called the doctor to schedule my first appointment! We had NO idea how far along I was, due to my cycle being so irregular so they had me come in as soon as they could fit me in (the following Monday and again on Tuesday).  On Monday (October 1st) I went in and just met with the nurse and we talked as she gave me lots of information.  Then on Tuesday I came in and saw the doctor and they did an ultrasound to figure out how big the baby was!

We found out I was 6 weeks and 1 day pregnant and my due date is MAY 27TH!!

It was so cool to see the little spot on the ultrasound.  Jonathan and the doctor even got to see a little heart beat flickering (I was too far away).  SO AWESOME!!

After that we spent the next few days cleaning out our spare room, which will now be a nursery!! We cleaned and painted and even went out and bought a few things (stroller and carseat, crib, and dresser to use as a changing table).  I REALLY hated the spare room before but it looks so good now!! It's awesome!!

(Ugly gray walls with our sample paint)

(Painting it white)

(All white! Even the ceiling to match!)

(Yellow stripes)

(Gray stripes plus putting together the crib!)

Then on Saturday the 6th we called our families on Skype and told them we wanted to show them our Halloween decorations and then said we had one more.  We put a sign on the nursery door that said "Get Ready!" and then showed them the room where we had put up a sign announcing that we were pregnant!! Their reactions were AWESOME and we recorded them! Once we put the video together I will definitely post it here! :)

So yeah!! We did it!! I'm pregnant!!! I'm feeling pretty good.  A little nauseated when I get hungry and I am REALLY thirsty for water ALL the time!! But I'm feeling great!! :)  I plan to start taking bump photos starting at 10 weeks! :)  The following photos were taken the day we found out! :)