Sweet sunshine: 1st Trimester Recap

We are almost 18 weeks and we still can't believe at times we are actually and truly pregnant! After waiting and praying so hard for this sweet baby, at times we just sit in disbelief at the miracle God has blessed us with. The first trimester felt so long at times (especially as we knew our risk of miscarriage would decrease after 1st trimester) but yet it also felt like it flew by. Here is a recap and our highlights from the first trimester, from finding out about baby to sharing the news of baby's gender:

Appointments/Medical Procedures:

• March 23rd, 2018: We found out we're pregnant! I (Megan) had a couple appointments with fertility care providers later this day and, while I really didn't think I was pregnant, I did want to be sure before going in to see them. So, I took a pregnancy test fully expecting it to be negative...I had always had a hard time with pregnancy tests, as any woman with infertility knows, because they usually only bring disappointment. Imagine my shock when I saw that 2nd line pop up - I remember sinking to the floor because I just couldn't believe it. Surely my eyes were tricking me. So, of course I took one or two more tests to make sure it wasn't a fluke. And more came back positive. So I texted Joelle, who I had seen for fertility care, and asked her "Is there any way you can get false positive pregnancy tests?" because I still just couldn't believe it could actually be true. She immediately called and made sure we hadn't taken any HCG trigger shots (which we hadn't) and said, "No, I definitely think that is a positive!" And of course then I could barely talk from crying - I still cry just thinking about it. So the next couple hours were a whirlwind of trying to find a doctor who would pull a same day blood draw for me to confirm it and start monitoring my HCG levels (and pregnancy in general, given our history). Since the surgeon we'd seen was so far away from us, we followed up with Dr. Jarett's office, who we also loved. They pulled the blood work for me that morning and told me they'd call me that afternoon to let me know what it was and what the plan would be from there. I was a mess all day - and honestly could have used Tim's support while waiting - but I didn't tell him what was going on because I didn't want to have him anxious at work and, after waiting so long, really wanted to tell him in a special way. The clinic called around 2 pm and confirmed that we were in fact pregnant and that my HCG and progesterone looked wonderful! They did say they wanted to preventatively start us on progesterone pills to be safe. I anxiously waited until Tim got home to tell him and surprised him with a "Big sister" bandana on Ali and a "My sibling barks and has a tail" onesie on our chalkboard. When he walked in, of course he didn't notice either one and instead said "How were your appointments?" (I'd fibbed and told him they went "ok" because I didn't want him getting suspicious). I couldn't speak well from tears, so I just pointed to Ali and managed to get out "Look at Ali's bandana"....Tim looked at me in disbelief and said "No way! I thought you thought it for sure didn't work this month!" and I managed to get out a "Well I guess I was wrong!". We both sat in disbelief for a few moments after that... it still amazes us every time we get to see or hear baby that this is really happening. 

 !!!!!

Tim's chalkboard love note

The sweetest message from our surgeon after finding out!

• March 24th-25th: The weekend after we found out we got a freak snow storm (almost 10 inches!) and mama got a sore throat. We relaxed and just enjoyed sharing the news with each other while cozied up inside and watched Father of the Bride II. We did eventually wander out Saturday afternoon, but only to get mama some soup from Panera. 

Snowed in and cozied up

Father of the Bride II

• March 27th: We went back in for same day blood work again to check HCG and progesterone and make sure they were doubling appropriately. Around 1 or 2 pm, I got nervous and decided to take a pregnancy test again just to ease my fears that something could have happened, and of course...it came back negative. I was a wreck for the next 30 minutes as I waited for the doctor's office to call, thinking I knew it would be bad news. Luckily, Tim was working from home and was able to console me. A little while later the office called and informed everything was more than fine - my levels looked perfect! They did ask us to continue progesterone, however, to be safe. After this, they said they checked one more time a week later and informed us everything looked great. Then, we prepared for our 1st appointment with them - and anxiously waited to see our sweet babe on ultrasound! 
• April 5th: We had our first pregnancy appointment and were able to see our sweet babe! We saw the fetal pole, the sac, and we even saw a tiny heartbeat fluttering/flashing! They estimated at that time we were around 6 weeks and that we would deliver around November 29th, 2018. They said everything looked perfect. At this appointment they switched us to progesterone shots, as the pills were making my allergies and sinus pressure worse. 

The sweetest nugget

Progesterone prep

• April 19th: We had our second appointment and got to see baby again on ultrasound! This time he/she was more developed - we saw a head, arms, and body very clearly and got to hear the heartbeat! Baby was very active so the doctor commented it was hard to get a good picture on the ultrasound! They adjusted our due date to December 1st, 2018.

8 week ultrasound

• May 3rd: We had our third (and final) appointment before being discharged to the primary OB - as at this time we were around 9-10 weeks. We got to see baby on ultrasound again and hear the heartbeat again - this time they recorded it around 183 bpm (very close to the doctor's guess, which was 180!). We had had a slight scare a day or two before this - my cramping got sharper...we now believe it was round ligament pain but I can't describe the relief we felt as seeing baby again and hearing the doctor say everything looked perfect - again, baby was very active! Lucky us, at this appointment they told us we could stop the progesterone shots (my hips were so thankful!). 

9.5-10 weeks

• May 31st: After what felt like the longest wait ever, we had our first appointment with our primary OB. It involved a lot of intake forms, blood work, and other lab work...but it also involved another ultrasound to see baby! This time baby was situated with his back to us and despite encouragement from us and the ultrasound tech, he wasn't interested in turning..He did however, give us a great picture of his spine. His daddy said he takes after his mama and is just stubborn...I said he may take after his daddy and not like pictures 😆 At this appointment they readjusted our due date again to November 28th.

14 weeks

• Non-Invasive Prenatal Screening (NIPT): Before leaving the fertility clinic, we were offered this screen at a discounted rate. While the doctor wasn't concerned, they always offer it as an option. While we knew if we found out something was wrong we would still love and cherish this baby, we also knew it would be nice to know if something was wrong to prepare our own hearts to care for this baby in that case as he grew. As an added option with this, you can find out the baby's gender (which of course I immediately wanted to know and Tim was good with!). We went in around 10.5 weeks for the blood draw, which unfortunately came back a week later as inconclusive. Since we'd never heard of this happening to anyone else, it made me a nervous wreck. We had no choice but to re-test. So we went back in a week later and re-tested and got our results. Tim and I decided to find out at home before the gender reveal and then do the gender reveal for our family. Thankfully, everything came back low risk as far as the screen! I had thought since the beginning it was a boy, but after what felt like everyone told me it was a girl, we had both started to feel more like it must be a girl...so we were shocked and excited when we found it we were expecting a baby BOY! Tim is overjoyed and can't wait to teach him to fish when the time comes. I can't wait to love on him - I've heard boys are more affectionate and attached to their mamas and I can't wait to experience that. 

Announcing our news (& the gender!): 

We decided to tell each of our friends/family members in different ways...here are some of the highlights of how we told some of them:

• Tim's parents: We came over to their house one evening to visit and sent Ali in with a big sister bandana. When they saw it, they said "Wait, you're adopting another dog?" (I had told quite a few people if we didn't get pregnant this cycle we would be getting another dog 😏 ). Tim said "No, Megan's pregnant!" and then it clicked. Tim loved telling this story later as a way of announcing to a few of our other close friends and family.

• Kara/Ryan: We went down to visit Kara and Ryan a week or two before we were going to tell my parents and the rest of our extended family. We waited until the kids were in bed (we knew Kinsie wouldn't be able to keep the secret once we told her!) and then feigned that we had gotten them a gift while camping and gave them the "Cousin crew" shirts for the kids and the framed photo with our cousin crew onesie saying "Newest member arriving Dec 2018". They couldn't believe it either and were so excited! Tim laughs now that they didn't pick up on it before we told them that night..I had been very non chalant and vague all day when Kara would ask me about fertility treatments and when we had sushi for dinner that night I asked a million times and ways if it was cooked and if Kara had eaten cooked sushi in her pregnancy. Kara was nice enough to take some "announcement" photos for us while we were there as well.

Walking the bridge with the (3!) kiddos

• Nate: We went on a date night to a DIY pottery place and made Nate a Purdue mug. On the inside in the bottom I had written "You're going to be an uncle (again)!" so when he got to the bottom he'd find out. We invited him over for coffee later that week and, after drinking his cup we served him, he read the bottom and realized! His was one of our sweetest reactions - we can't wait to see him be one of the best uncles to our little guy!
• Megan's parents: We surprised them with a "Grandma & Grandpa Brag Board" that had pictures of Kinsie and Brax wearing their "Cousin crew" shirts and holding a sign reading "Newest member arriving December 2018 (since at that time they'd adjusted our due date to December 1st). It also had a picture of the ultrasound, Ali in her dog bandana, and a few other pictures of Kinsie and Brax. 
• Carlee/Rachel: For two of my best friends, I had framed a picture of a UIndy onesie and put "Newest Greyhound arriving Dec 2018". I then wrapped it and tried to fake that I had found a cute gift for them nonchalantly when I gave it to them...Carlee knew right away and just watched me as she opened it and said "I know what this is..." while smiling and laughing. Rachel I was able to fool a little bit more but she was just as excited 😊

• On Mothers Day, we hosted a lunch for most of our extended family and told them during this. We tried to slyly see who would figure it out by putting a sign by the food that said "Eat up ya'll...my mom can't be the only one with a belly." and writing "What has 10 fingers, 10 toes, and is the size of lime?" on our chalkboard. It was comical to see everyone's reaction as they walked in the door - the ones who got it were mostly just excited and there were a lot of happy tears but there were also a couple people who didn't quite get it and needed some help figuring it out. We used some of our pictures from this day and some pictures Kara had taken to announce to others as well.

My sweet Willow Tree Mother's Day gifts

• Gender Reveal: After we found out the gender, we hosted a gender reveal party at the lake for some of our family. Since Tim loves fishing, we decided to do a fishing theme. We had "Fishing" themed food - goldfish, blue water punch, dirt pudding, etc. We also had everyone "cast" their vote as to whether they thought pink or blue fish. For the reveal, I had sewn a bath bomb in a cream "fish" that would fizz out blue or pink when dropped in water. I had tested the time it took before we did it at a minute, but our family ended up having to be really patient, waiting up to 8 minutes before finally seeing what color our "fish" was! 😛

"Daddy's fishing buddy"

Prior to this day, we had more girl guesses but ended up with more boy day of the reveal

Other milestones:

• At 7 weeks, baby got to go on his first camping trip to Hocking Hills, OH! Mama did really well and hiked a whole lot thanks to minimal nausea from babe. 

• First Mother's Day: As I mentioned earlier, we celebrated this day with family. How thankful we were to celebrate it this year.
• At the end of the first trimester, we went on a camping trip to Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas and the kids and Kara/Ryan came as well during the day/evening when they could and joined us or we went to them. We had so much fun exploring the area with them! 

Now, as we are chugging along in our second trimester, we are praying for healthy baby and healthy mama. I have still been struggling with having daily headaches, but they have decreased a bit these last few weeks and we are hopeful and praying they will continue to do so. We are anxiously awaiting the time when we get to meet this sweet babe of ours in November or December but also enjoying every moment and experience as we walk this journey. How thankful we are to be walking this journey.