Well...to be fair I did WARN that my blogging may not last. In fact, I had given up on blogging all together, deciding to never look back, until most recently I've been inspired by a few friends to get back to it. I suppose I did not have much to say before, I'm much wittier in person than in type. But now that our lives have completely changed I think blogging is TOTALLY in order.
In May of 2010 we decided to start trying to have a baby. What a relief to be off birth control for the first time in a long time and actually be hoping and praying for a little surprise. Even though we had been married for over a year when we started trying, with me being in grad school, an early baby would have presented quite a scheduling dilemma. After 6 months, we finally received the answer to our prayers! I never expected it to take that long, and to be honest, I started to feel extremely discouraged and became obsessed with all things baby, fertility, etc. During that 6 months I acquired an obsession for pregnancy tests, particularly ones at the dollar store. I used to buy 10 or so at a time! I would test one or two times a day, even before the recommended testing time. For some reason I had it in my head that I could WILL the test to be positive. I tried looking at it in lamp light, sun light, fluorescent light..everything. After Glen started figuring out what I was doing he put a stop to it right away, and I wasn't allowed to purchase another test until I had a late period.
Glen's 28th birthday was on November 6th and on the 7th his parents returned from a 2 week trip to Hawaii. We celebrated their return and Glen's birthday at the Japanese Hibachi restaurant Ichiban, here in Grand Rapids. I was due for my period that day. At the end of the meal we all got a fortune cookie, and mine said "You will soon be greeted by a much anticipated guest". As weird as it is, I knew then that I was pregnant. I was only one day late, and I waited ALL day the next day at work for my period. Eating tums by the handful for the awful heartburn I was experiencing. By the end of the day, I still had not started, so on my way home I stopped at the store for a digital test. I had to see it in writing..no interpretative light maneuvers, no opening the thing up to see if I could convince it from the inside to say positive. I had to know. It was POSITIVE. I couldn't contain myself. Glen was due home from work any minute and luckily there was a lingering gift bag sitting on the kitchen table, so I wrapped the test up and told Glen that he had one more gift for his birthday. He couldn't believe it! After all this time we were finally going to have a baby.
Things since then have been wonderful. Sans the vomiting, exhaustion, etc. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I spent my first trimester being VERY averted to foods. Mostly I wanted gummy worms, spaghettios, or McDonald's. I usually went to bed by 8 at the latest, and had very little motivation to do anything else. Luckily, Glen has been an amazing helper. He took over the dishes, the cooking, the cleaning..pretty much everything except my schoolwork and my job so that I could focus on resting.
I am now 16 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I'm starting to show a little bump, and I'm feeling the baby fluttering and flipping around ALL the time. I've always heard of people describing how close they feel to their baby while pregnant..and the fetal movement has really made me aware of this. Obviously we are connected, but it is the most joyful thing in the world to feel that little tickle. We certainly feel very blessed.
The baby and I have been doing some prenatal yoga, and we're looking forward to the snow melting so that we can take some nice walks with Enzo. In another month we get to find out the sex. My Mom and I painted the nursery and Glen put together our furniture. I'm just waiting for the final say on the gender so that I can get to decorating some more. We ended up choosing a gender neutral color for the walls. I love green for both girls and boys (Not so into the girly pepto pink or expected baby blue) and finally settled on Whispering Willow by Valspar at Lowes.
I have to say this is the absolute most exciting time in my life. I am loving every minute of being pregnant, even though that first trimester was rough.
