I am currently 24 weeks pregnant. It's still a little surreal to me sometimes that I have a precious baby growing inside of me. The last 5 1/2 months being pregnant have gone by fairly quickly, yet I can't wait any longer to meet this little girl. Here is a timeline of some of the things that have happened over the last few months.
9/9/15 I took my first pregnancy test. I was so nervous about what the results would show. I wanted to surprise Jared if I was pregnant, but there was, of course, fear that I would be disappointed if it came up negative. Luckily two stripes appeared! I was still somewhat apprehensive that somehow it was giving me a false positive result so I decided I would wait a few days and do another test.
9/12/15 I did another pregnancy test and again, the test was positive. I knew I couldn't hold it in any longer and I wanted to tell Jared. He was gone that weekend on a camp out with the scouts but would be home later that morning. I ran to the Provo Bakery and bought a box of yummy doughnuts. I made a sign that said "EAT UP! Mommy doesn't want to be the only fat one." When he got home and opened the box he sort of sat there for a minute, unsure what to say then looked at the pregnancy test that was sitting next to it. Then we rejoiced together. The only problem is we still had to keep it a secret....
Over the next couple of weeks I started to feel slight changes in my body. Although I hadn't gained any weight and couldn't see any outward physical signs of pregnancy, I could tell.
10/13/15 I had my first OB appointment. It was also the first morning I woke up and threw up from morning sickness. Jared went with me. We sat down with Dr. Wolsey as he pulled out a small ultrasound machine to find our baby's heartbeat. It truly was a miracle hearing that little heart beating and seeing a video of something growing inside of me. He checked the measurements of the baby and confirmed that our due date is May 19th.
11/10/16 OB appointment #2! It was surprising to me how fast this check up was. I don't know what exactly I expected but they weighed me, asked how I was doing, checked for baby's heartbeat, and sent me on my way.
11/26/15 I was 15 weeks pregnant and we finally announced to our families that we are expecting. The secret is out and it feels oh so good. We told my family first. We OF COURSE had to tell them by making one of Jared's dumb movies that he loves. We took a typical pregnancy picture with his hands in a heart over my belly. He then recorded his own lips talking from inside my hands as if he was the baby. It was pretty ridiculous, like all of his videos are, but perfect for my family. My family was super excited and I am due only one month after Angie!
We told Jared's family next. Jared told me that every Thanksgiving someone mentions that we all need to go around in a circle and say what we are thankful for. Jared was certain that Garrett would be the one to start it. We were sitting at Thanksgiving dinner and I think Jared couldn't wait any longer so he just said everyone needed to go around and pointed to Andrea and had her start. Jared told me that he wanted me to be the one who said it to his family because if he announced no one would believe him. That's probably because he has been announcing weekly to family and friends that I am pregnant since before we got married. Who would believe him? So everyone went around and when it got to my turn I said "the thing I am most grateful for this Thanksgiving is that Jared and I are expecting a baby in May!" Everyone sort of gasped and then cheered. Then lots of tears flowed which I didn't expect so it made me teary eyed as well. The Bodines are amazing and made us more excited than before to become parents.
We slowly started telling all of our friends, coworkers, extended family etc. Everyone couldn't believe we had waited until 15 weeks to tell. How did we keep it a secret for so long? In nursing psych class we have "good news minute" and after we share our good news we have to do a "happy dance." I shared that I was pregnant and then my happy dance was a ridiculous belly rub.
I wasn't going to post it on social media.... just because. I eventually realized it is SO much easier to just put it on facebook/instagram because then the news is out and people don't feel awkward asking you about it as you slowly start to get fatter haha. I posted some ridiculous pictures of children doing strange things and said "Well... I guess this is what Jared and I are in for. we can't wait to have a baby in MAY!" It's nice that most people just know now.
12/8/15 Had another doctors appointment. Nothing extraordinary happened today but it's always comforting hearing that little heart beating.
12/25/15 It's Christmas night and I had to go in to work. It was my assigned holiday and I was a little bummed about leaving the family. It ended up being a pretty slow night and I was bored. I then got the best Christmas present ever, I felt our little baby moving inside of me for the first time. I had to pay attention closely but it was definitely movements! Even though I had to be at work, what a special feeling it was. It made my night!
1/6/16 We found out on this day that we are having a little baby girl. This was secretly what Jared was hoping for but I didn't care either way. I love thinking about this sweet little girl that Heavenly Father has chosen to send down to us. Sometimes I feel so ready to become a mom and start this journey, and other times I feel way in over my head. How can you prepare to raise a daughter?
Obviously another big part of the 20 week ultrasound is checking for any abnormal physical growth signs. The ultrasound tech walked us through everything she was doing, which was very interesting. She felt very confident in everything she was seeing and measuring and assured us all with our baby was well!
We were originally going to go to the BYU creamery, buy a blue and pink ice cream cone, and send a cute picture with those announcing the gender of our baby to our families. When we got to the creamery the line was out the door... so we changed plans. We ended up buying a tub of pink ice cream, wrapping it up and heading to my parents house. Hailey was the one who ended up opening it and when she saw the pink she was so excited. I love seeing her reaction.
For the Bodines we bought two big pink and blue suckers. We went to their house and Jared made up the rules. He said we would both put the suckers in our mouth and whoever pulled their sucker out first, that would be what we were having. Well he had the pink in his mouth so when he pulled it out they cheered. Definitely some throw together gender announcements, but we really didn't want to do anything big. Just something cheesy and fun with our families.
2/2/16 Saw Dr. Drewes today for my check up. He is super nice. I talked to him a little about getting some compression stockings because I am SO nervous about getting varicose veins like my mom. I already have some that are starting to appear but never hurt and want to avoid the hurt as much as I can. He gave me a prescription so hopefully that will help. Other than that, all went well at the appointment!
Over the course of this pregnancy I have received so much free baby stuff. We have been so blessed by the generosity of others. Kris Kryscynski is a lady in our ward who, one day, put on facebook that she was getting rid of a bunch of baby stuff. I immediately texted her and got SO much stuff from her. She gave me hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. Some of those things include a crib/changing table, crib sheets, pac n play, stroller, bumbo, 2 infant life jackets, high chair, maternity clothes, diaper bags, cloth diapers (still not sure if I'll use those), door gate, baby monitor, etc. WOW! What a blessing. I have also received some bags of clothes from coworkers, Taryn, and my mom. Jared and I don't have much of an income so we are overwhelmed with gratitude for the things that we have.
New babies are an amazing blessing in this world and Jared and I truly can't wait to be parents!
