I'M PREGNANT!!!

The last blog I wrote was so hard, because I had found out on Friday morning, August 20th, exactly 1 year from my surgery, that I WAS PREGNANT!!!! I had maybe suspected that this might be the case from a few symptoms I had been feeling, so Chris and I agreed to take the test that Friday, so it would be a special date to remember, for more than one reason. :) My parents were in town that week, and Chris told them the night before that I might be pregnant (which we'd thought oh so many times before) and that if they got a call from us really early the next morning, that would be why.

On Friday morning, I woke up a little earlier than normal to use the bathroom, around 5:35 or so. I had laid the pregnancy test on the counter, the night before, so I remembered that I was supposed to take the test with my first urine. As I sat there, I recalled a dream I had just woken up from, where I found out I was pregnant. I watched the test, and it immediately showed two little blue lines in the correct circles. I shook my head in disbelief, and went to check the box. Sure enough, this test said I was pregnant! I took out another test from under the sink, a different brand, and tried that one too. This one was pink, and showed a positive test as well. With tears in my eyes, I went to wake up Chris, and told him the awesome news. He sprang out of bed, and came to view the evidence. We stood in the bathroom and hugged, and I cried, for about 5 minutes, checking the tests over and over again. Then the calling began. :)

Since we had been waiting so long for this, everyone had told us that they wanted to be called the moment we found out. We called my parents, and no one answered. We tried Chris's parents, and again got the machine. (It was around 6:00a.m. at this point!) My parents called us back, and we shared the happy news. They were ecstatic!! Then we tried Chris's parents again, and they were ecstatic too! What wonderful news that has been so long in the waiting. After that we called our sisters, grandparents, and other family members and close friends. I could not believe it was true, and I kept going back to check the tests over and over that morning.

At school that day, it was track out day, and it was all I could do to stop myself from grinning ear to ear. Luckily, I'm a pretty happy person normally, so no one suspected anything was up. ;) I called and made my doctor's appt, thinking they would want to confirm the pregnancy, but they said they just wanted to see me at my 9 week point. On that Friday, I was about 5 weeks in.

Chris and I kept texting and calling each other all day and our moms did too! ;) We were able to celebrate in person with everyone that night, since my parents were in town, and then I tracked out, so at least I would be able to keep the secret for a little while without too much trouble.

Since I found out, I have been feeling really good for my first trimester. I have some breast tenderness and feel sleepy a lot, but I haven't had any morning sickness. I've been walking more, and my food intake continues to be good and normal. I had my yearly appt. with my surgeon, and he was happy with the news. I got my bloodwork back, and everything looks phenominal! My blood pressure, cholesterol, and trigycerides are all so low, and all of my vitamin levels are great.

This is obviously the right time in our lives for me to get pregnant. I'm the healthiest I've been in my whole adult life. I'm due April 20th, which is perfect as far as school goes. I'll take about 6 weeks of sick leave, and have a 3 week track out in between, and then I can start the new year with a new class. I do plan on going back to work once the baby is born, but it will be nice to be home for a few months first. And...I'll be pregnant mainly in the winter, which will be nice as far as weather and feeling hot goes. :)

So...I did not take any new photos at the one year mark, because now I'm gaining. My lowest loss is basically still the last photo I took, where I think I had lost around 85 lbs. I am looking to gain a healthy weight with this pregnancy, and luckily, I can't really overeat anyway, since my stomach is still pretty small.

I am definitely going to find out the sex of the baby, which will be at about the end of November. We've picked out some names, but don't have any firm choices yet. I think I want to do a bee theme for the nursery, for a boy or a girl. I found some cute patterns that would work for both.

So...I just wanted to share our thrilling news with you! Attached is my first ultrasound from my appt. today. We could see the heartbeat, and the doctor said everything looked normal. I fell in love at first sight. It was so cool to see this tiny baby inside me. We've been nicknaming the baby by whatever fruit the books say it's about the size of. At 7 weeks, we called it "blueb" for blueberry, 8 weeks was "Razz" for raspberry, and now it's "olive". :) I am at 9 weeks and 3 days, which is where I measured I would be based on my last period.

We look forward to taking you along this new journey with us--pregnancy!! I couldn't be happier to be here now. Love to you all!