Just The Two Of Us: Our Growing Baby

We are still so surprised that we are pregnant! We are going to be parents and couldn't be more ecstatic! Babies truly are miracles and it's amazing how pregnancy works. I still can't believe that there is a baby growing inside me.

We found out I was pregnant shortly after my birthday in February. I had to go the bathroom at 4 in the morning and decided to take two tests. I was so sure they were going to be negative. To my surprise, they were both positive! I woke up Collin and told him about our exciting news. He seemed excited, but he was also mostly asleep. :) Best belated birthday present ever!!! This was just the beginning of our 9 month countdown...

We recently found out the gender of the baby. It's a GIRL!!! We actually were able to find out through the harmony blood test. We were originally going to wait until I was about 20 weeks to find out the gender, but we decided that we wanted to know soon. We technically got our gender result when I was 10 weeks, but we didn't find out the gender until I was 14 weeks. Things just got busy and we wanted to be surprised when the time came. I had a feeling since the beginning that we were having a girl. Collin did too, but decided to guess the opposite of me and say boy. We had some friends in our ward help us out with the gender reveal. We gave them an envelope which had the gender on it and they went out and got balloons to put in a box. We didn't know the gender until we opened the box and were so surprised! It, indeed, was a girl! I guess technically we were both right. We are so excited to have a baby girl and more importantly that she is healthy and well.

I wish I could say that pregnancy has been easy, but for me, it hasn't always been the case. I started feeling nauseous at about 6 weeks. As the weeks went by, the nausea started getting worse. I vomited about 8 times so far during my pregnancy. It was often hard for me to eat certain foods because of my food aversions. In the beginning I was averted mostly to fish, certain meats, spinach, and cashews. I have also been super sensitive to smells. The smell of our food pantry, meat, and fish really made me sick. The foods that I could mostly eat were cereal, crackers, fruits, and toast. I have lost about 10 lbs from being so sick. Eating was such a chore for me. My sickness got to a point where I had to take anti-nausea medicine called Zophran. It's really helped me to keep things down and to feel a little better. I know that there are some women who have it way worse than me and have all day sickness. I really can't complain. If anything, my nausea is a reassurance to me that the baby is healthy. I just hope I'm not sick my whole pregnancy... Also, kudos to Collin for taking good care of me even while doing house chores and working full time at GM. I married a good man. :)

Recently, I left my job as a preschool teacher because I was so sick. It was often hard for me to take care of 17 children in my classroom while being very nauseous. It was also hard for me to leave it, but I knew that I was doing the right thing for me health-wise. In all honesty, I have always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. I know that I will often be exhausted, but it will be the most rewarding job I could ask for. Right now, I am just nesting and getting ready for this baby to come. Now that I am at home, I often take naps because I have been twice as tired. It also helps me feel better to sleep. I go on walks with my dog Chloe to get some exercise. I'm going to try to make it an everyday goal.

I have had a variety of food cravings during this whole pregnancy! It always changes, but I would say that for now, I crave sushi, french fries, Chipotle, and ice cream. In the beginning of my pregnancy, I craved popcorn of different flavors. I feel like this baby will take after her daddy and be a popcorn and pizza fanatic. Since I am eating more and getting bigger, I finally got some maternity clothes. They really are so comfy. I can see why people rave about them.

My mood swings during this pregnancy have been off the chart! Sometimes they come out of nowhere. I would get emotional while watching a movie or TV show. I would even cry for no reason at all. I guess I'm still getting used to all the pregnancy hormones. Not to mention my pregnancy dreams feel so much more real, vivid, and sometimes even random.

Another thing is pregnancy brain!!! That has been in full force in our house since the beginning. I would sometimes be forgetful or say the weirdest things that don't make any sense at all. I love how you can blame all your ditzy moments on pregnancy brain.

Despite all the crazy symptoms, I couldn't be more grateful to be pregnant and to be parents really soon. It's like I said before, I know it will all be worth it. We are so excited to be parents and to welcome our sweet baby girl in the fall!

The first time we found out we were pregnant. We couldn't believe they came out positive right away!

I decided to take more tests a few weeks later just in case. Still going strong. :)

Our first ultrasound seeing our baby. You can barely see anything, but we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. I pretty much burst into tears.