16 weeks, 4 days

Worst. Blogger.Ever. Yep, that's me. Who waits until they are 16 weeks pregnant to start blogging about it?! lol:-) oh well. Better late than never I guess.

Back in December we decided to stop all forms of birth control and just kind of see what happened. In March I decided to take a more proactive approach and start using ovulation tests. Well, that seemed to work:-) On April 15th (I'll always remember that date - Mema's birthday) I decided to take a pregnancy test just on a hunch. I didn't have any really obvious symptoms other than my period being a few days late, which wasn't that unusual. I did have a cold that wouldn't go away though and just felt different. I had taken so many pregnancy tests in the past that turned out negative so I wasn't getting my hopes up. So I pee on the stick, wait 5 minutes and go back and am absolutely shocked to see the "yes-you-are-pregnant" line where I was used to seeing no line! It was very light so I wasn't sure how to take it. Per the package instructions, a line is a line it doesn't matter how light it is but I wasn't convinced. So I took another test the following day...and one the day after...the last test had a much darker line so it was time to go the doctor! 2 days later it was confirmed that I was indeed pregnant.

I always thought it would be neat to tell our parents in some creative way that we were expecting. Yeah, that didn't happen. I was so excited that I called my mom as soon as I left the doctors office. Once we told the parents and Mema we were free to tell everyone, so we did in the fastest way possible - facebook.

I have been blessed to have had no morning sickness. Queasiness, yes. Hugging the porcelain throne, no. I feel like I have gained more weight than I should have by this point but I blame that on eating every couple of hours in my first trimester. It was the only thing that kept the queasiness away. My pre-pregnancy weight was 135 and I am now at 148. Not too worried about it because my weight has always fluctuated, but I did realize how insecure about my weight I have always been. There are some days I have to tell myself over and over "you are pregnant, not fat. you are pregnant, not fat". Those are the days when I have to make myself take a deep breath and realize that this is such a short season in my life and to relax and enjoy it! Other than queasiness I just felt like crap during the first trimester - no energy, felt bloated and gassy all the time and just didn't feel good. Now that I am in my second trimester I am feeling great! I have been walking and running still but that is about it. I try to get in some toning exercises several times a week but I do fall short of that goal. I wasn't expecting the exercising part to be so hard. Since I am still walking and running (well, more of a jog than a run, but whatever) I would love to do another half marathon before baby comes, even if I have to walk most of it.

So far I have had 2 ultrasounds...one at 9 weeks when we found out my due date was moved to Christmas Day and one at 13 weeks when they did one just to make sure everything was ok. I went in for what I thought would be a quick appointment - pee in a cup, have my bp and weight checked and then hear baby's heartbeat with the doppler heart monitor. Well, the med student couldn't find the heartbeat and neither could the nurse. It would have been nice if they would have told me that this was normal. Of course maybe they did and I was just freaking out in my head and didn't hear them. I remember laying there and realizing that I was crying. I tensed up so badly that when I went to take a deep breath it  hurt my back. All day I had been praying because I woke up just hearing the words in my head "you aren't going to hear a heartbeat today". I assumed it was spiritual warfare going on and prayed it off all day....Then, after the nurse couldn't find the heartbeat there was just calm. I just heard God say "your baby is ok". My doctor did an ultrasound and I was thrilled to see baby moving around and finally heard the heartbeat. Turns out my bladder was just full and blocking the heartbeat. Still can't figure out how my bladder was that full as I emptied it when I got to the doctors office.

We find out Monday if we are having a boy or girl! My friend, Katie, and I find out the same day what we are having so we are having a double gender reveal party. I am so excited!!! I have so many friends who are pregnant and due fairly close together and it is nice to be able to experience this with them:-) I have one friend, due in November who, like myself, will be doing childbirth the old fashioned way - without drugs! We do get a lot of "are you crazy?!?" looks but oh well. It's nice to have her for support. I do realize that things happen and that I may be begging for medication but my goal is to do this all natural. We have a Doula and will be taking birthing classes to help prepare us. I read an article that compared natural childbirth to running a marathon and that's when it clicked that hey, I can do this!

Don't think there is much else to write other than I feel sooo blessed! I have not had to buy anything so far! Mike's stepsister is giving us the nursery furniture (from Pottery Barn may I add...something that is definitely NOT in my budget, but nice to be given!), we have been given a travel system, a car seat with 3 bases, high chair , bassinet and lots of maternity clothes. People have been so generous and it has put me in tears on some of my emotional days:-) I pray that one day I could bless someone as much as we've been blessed.

I will try to write more frequently but don't be surprised if the next post is announcing baby's birth near Christmas, lol:-)