The most amazing experience!

I had my 12-week doctor's appointment today, and because we are going through the university hospital, there are a lot of students who shadow the nurses/midwives while they earn their grad degrees. I got the chance to have an extra ultrasound today so one of the students could practice. Because she was practicing and receiving instruction, John and I got to watch our baby for a good 20 minutes, plus hear the heartbeat! It was such an amazing experience! Baby has arms, legs, hands and feet. We even got to see baby's profile and watch him/her kick, flip, bounce and roll over. I have never seen anything this amazing before. I totally understand how women can fall in love with their children before they are even born. I mean, look at this little guy! SO cute. And he/she is ours! We made that!

12 Weeks

 How far along: 12 weeks
Total weight gain: None so far
Maternity clothes: None yet, but I did purchase a couple of Belly Button Bands to make my jeans more comfortable. They are so worth it! I highly recommend. Also, leggings are my new best friend.
Stretch marks: None yet. I've been using Burt's Bees Belly Butter to help prevent.
Sleep: So far so good, although I have to pee with a vengeance every morning.
Best moment of this week: Going in for my 12-week check up and getting to a surprise ultrasound thanks to some U of U students needing to practice! More on that ultrasound later.
Miss anything: My old eating habits. I've gotten really picky and don't really enjoy meals that much.
Movement: None that I can feel, but my 12-week ultrasound proved that baby is very energetic! Kicks, flips, bounces, etc.
Food cravings: I started out my pregnancy craving protein (eggs, hamburgers, etc.), but haven't had many cravings lately. I have eaten a lot of buttered toast, drank a lot of juice, and had a lot more mac n cheese than any person should though.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Certain smells, like John's beard oil (sorry honey!) and I usually get a wave of nausea during every meal. But luckily, no throwing up.
Have you started to show yet: See above...I think I definitely am. I mostly look bloated, but there's a definite bump there.
Gender: Don't know yet. John wants a boy, and I don't care!
Labor signs: Nope. Way too early.
Belly button in or out: In. Let's hope it stays that way for a while, haha.
Wedding rings on or off: On.
Happy or moody most of the time: I think I've been pretty good emotionally. I would say I'm happy most of the time, with the occasional cry session. But it's not me...it's my hormones! ;-)
Looking forward to: Cleaning out our storage room so that we can start moving things from our guest room into it so that we can convert it into a nursery. And Halloween. I got a cute shirt to wear since I'm pregnant. I'll post pics after Halloween.

And just for fun...here's John's 12 week bump shot:

Finding out!

Finding out I was pregnant is kind of a funny story. We found out I was pregnant on Sept. 2, 2014.

 

Over FOUR years ago, when John and I got married, one of my best friends got us everything we'd need for a medicine cabinet...including pregnancy tests (Thanks, Ash!). Back then we thought it was pretty funny and they got put into a storage closet where we kind of forgot we had them. Well, when I starting to think that maybe I could be pregnant (no symptoms really, I was just late and had a feeling), I decided to dig them out. Turns out, they had expired over two years ago...but we decided to try them anyway. I took one before work that morning and it immediately turned up positive. We both shrugged it off, figured because it was expired it would give a false positive, and decided to buy more after work. I did my best to concentrate that day at work but it was tough! After work, we stopped at Walmart and picked up a couple more tests. When we got home, I took one right away. It turned up positive too! That's when we knew for sure! I am not going to lie, my initial reaction to learning I was pregnant was panic, fear and stress. Our whole lives were/are going to change! It was a lot to take in. After letting it sink in for a couple of hours, I finally got excited. I could not believe that there was an actual human being growing inside of me (Well, technically it was a blastocyst at that time). I asked myself and John several times up until my first doctor's appointment...am I really pregnant? John has been ready to be a dad for probably a couple of years now, so he was excited from the beginning. He is also a very laid back person who rarely stresses out or panics. I guess that's why we work together well. He was really supportive while I processed and had my mini-panic attack. Now that I'm in the thick of my pregnancy (no pun intended, but seriously...I think I'm starting to get a little thick around the middle), I'm SO excited and can't wait to meet our little baby.

 

 

Me with 2 of the 4 tests I took...shocked!

Kind of gross since I peed on these, but here are the positive tests.

And here's John with the tests! Shocked and awed!

Oh Baby!

It's official....John and I are going to be parents!! Announcing Baby Madison, due May 10, 2015!!

Here's my first ultrasound, taken during week 9. Baby was just 3 centimeters long and had a heart rate of 173. I am going to do my best to document my pregnancy on my blog, along with pictures of my growing belly. I think it'll be fun to look back on in the future...so here's to hoping I can actually keep up with it! I'm 12 weeks along now, and I plan to do the updates weekly starting with this week. Now off to take some selfies of my belly in the mirror.... Stay tuned!!