Next week is our 3 year anniversary. Somehow this time around, our wedding day doesn't seem so long ago. 3 years may feel like a small lifetime, but it sounds very much shorter to me this time. For our first anniversary we spent a couple days in St. Louis, shopping and walking the strip in downtown St. Charles. For our second anniversary we stayed home, since Jase was between jobs and it was a struggle just to make ends meet, much less take a trip. I suppose this anniversary will be spent at home also...and that's ok, because this time around we have a new blessing to celebrate...
...we are now THREE! We are so excited to meet our little boy, Baby "A", early this fall. I'm due October 28th which happens to also be my Grandma's birthday. As of today I am exactly 18 weeks and 5 days. Almost halfway there!
Baby 'A' has been making his presence a little more known in the last few days especially. I've had a nice little bump now for a few weeks, but over the last week, I've felt him rumbling around here and there. It's kind of an odd feeling, but I'm getting used to it and looking forward to feeling him more and more over the next few weeks.
Rewind to February....
We found out about Baby at 5 1/2 weeks. Yeah, I know that's a little late, but I kept putting off testing, thinking that I was just having one of my 'normal' longer cycles that happen 2 or 3 times a year. Nothing felt out of the ordinary or different from any other month, so I was sure that nothing was different. I mean, we had been married for 2 years and 8 months at that point and it hadn't happened so I had no reason to think that it would happen now. Also, I had only been using Prolief (a hormonal balancing cream from Arbonne) for about 3 months at that point and I was not expecting it to make a difference that fast, considering that I had spent the last 2 years on progesterone creams and cleanses and diet changes and charting, etc, with no marked difference and no resulting viable pregnancy.
Finally, on Feb 29th, I broke down and headed to the Dollar Store where I purchased three $1 tests. Since I was still in denial that I was pregnant, I was not interested in giving Walmart my hard earned money for one of their ridiculously overpriced tests, when I knew that a cheap test would do the same trick. We got home later that evening and I tested first thing. And sure enough, 2 strong clear lines showed up within seconds. I pulled out another test and took it. The same thing happened. To be honest, we weren't really sure how to react. I called Jase over and just held it up for him to see. And we just stared at it. And then back at each other. And then back at the test. For I don't know how long. Then I cleaned the test off and took it to our desk and for the next two days I would stop and stare at it everytime I walked by. Lol.
Two days later, we called both sets of parents and gave them the exciting news, but we opted to wait a while longer before telling all the kids. The same night that we told the parents, I had some spotting which continued over the course of that weekend. It was more than a little stressful. On Sunday, because I was still having some spotting, we opted to go ahead and tell the rest of the family so that they could be praying. The next day we met our midwife at the clinic an hour away and had our first ultrasound. At that point I was 6 weeks and 1 day along, and she was unable to catch heart tones, but baby was there on the screen, the right size and moving around like crazy. He has apparently been extremely active since day one. :)
Around week 7 the morning sickness started in. It wasn't too terrible at first, but enough to just really feel out of it and want to spend most of my days on the couch. By week 9 it was stronger and worst in the evenings. By week 11 it shifted around a little and my mornings were a bit more miserable. On the weekend before my 12 week mark I had some really good days and hoped that maybe I had gotten off relatively easily and that that was the last of it. Unfortunately, it wasn't so. For exactly 2 weeks, from my 12 week mark to my 14 week mark, I was the sickest I have ever been. Morning, afternoon, evening, middle of the night. I felt like barfing 24/7. So miserable. Fortunately, 2 weeks was the extent of that and by the time I was into my 15 week I only had mild waves of sickness that got lighter and further apart each time. By about week 16, my energy was starting to return as well as my appetite.
At 11 weeks and 2 days we went in for our 2nd ultrasound to make sure things were still looking ok. I had several bouts of spotting throughout my first trimester and at that point I still did not have a doppler to check on Baby's heartbeat, so it was nice to do a quick check in and get a few first pictures.
At 16 1/2 weeks, we got to go with my parents to a 3D 4D ultrasound and found out that Baby is a boy! His heartbeat measured at 151 and he was wonderfully cooperative for the techinician. We walked out with about 30 min of video and 140 beautiful pictures. That same evening we threw a gender reveal party for immediate and extended family. I'll add a couple pics of that later.
I'm feeling so much better these days, though I still will have a draggy, headachey day here and there. It tends to depend on how much sleep I get each night. The weeks are starting to fly by and I'm counting down the days until we go back for my medical scan and we get to see Baby 'A' again. It's only a couple weeks away and it will be in 3D again.
I'm sure that this summer will be wonderful (besides being miserably hot and fat) and that we'll make a lot of fun memories...but October really cannot come fast enough.
:)
