Positive +

Backing up a bit… 

In March I started to feel tired.

Although we'd been trying to get pregnant, Devin and I decided to wait a full week (which felt like forever) after I'd missed my period to take a test - we didn't want to get our hopes up too soon.  And actually, even after the positive test we remained cautiously optimistic about the result.  But as I became increasingly tired and sick it was pretty evident that something was happening.      

Positive test from March 25th!  

When I took the test I was 5 weeks and 1 day pregnant and the little being was the size of a sesame seed.  Devin and I were both home, making dinner, and before we sat down to eat I went and peed on the "stick."  About half-way through our meal I went to the bathroom to retrieve said stick and returned with the positive result.  We were happy but quiet - we'd gone through this before.

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As a side note, I would recommend to all women taking a pregnancy test: use a digital test.  The (+ /-) thing is just too damn confusing.  "Is the line there?  Is that a plus sign?  What does the line mean?"  Just go with something that will tell you "pregnant" or "not pregnant."

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We told our parents they were going to be GRANDparents around week 7 (blueberry.)  Earlier than we'd planned, but it was really hard to keep quiet about such news.  Once we told them we started to let our own excitement bloom a bit.  (Jill was informed right away - you can't keep things like this from your sister.) 

We went in for our first OB appointment on April 20th, at nine weeks (grape), and heard the little heart beating for the first time.  I had tears streaming down my face and that's when it kicked in - if things continued to progress, Devin and I would be parents before the end of the year!

May 6 ultrasound - 11 weeks - fig.

Our first ultrasound was on May 6th and everything looked good.  Based on size and dates, my due date was set for November 24th.  Our little person would be a Sagittarius if on time, or a Scorpio if a few days early.  Being as it is my child, the chance that the baby will be early are slim.

I started to notice physical changes in May and I was showing by June.  I was not the "glowing" pregnant woman from TV and movies, that's for sure.  I was nauseous all the time and throwing up at least once every day.  At that point I was only slightly emotionally attached to the little thing because I couldn't feel movement and I didn't know how to think about it; the fetus was just a little thing growing inside me, making me tired and sick.  (My "morning sickness" lasted until mid-August.)

Emotional changes began on July 3, at 19.5 weeks (grapefruit), when we had our "anatomy" ultrasound and learned that we were going to have a baby boy!  As soon as the ultrasound tech told us the news I started crying and crying - I couldn't stop.  I had no way of knowing, but up to that point, whenever I thought of us with a child, I imagined a boy.

I still have no clue how she knew... 

After this appointment we hopped on a plane to Alaska, now knowing that we were going to have a little boy.  I could think about "it" as "him," and for me, that made all the difference in the world.  No matter how sick he made me, I loved him.

We shared our "it's a boy!" news with family and friends while we were in Alaska (week 20 - mango), and then really got the reality ball rolling with THREE baby showers when we went home to Minnesota at the end of July…