The End of the Road

I can't believe that there's only two weeks and two days left in this pregnancy! I can't believe there are only two weeks and two days until I can meet my little baby!

How far along?  37 weeks and 5 days!

Total weight gain/measurements: I'm hovering at 25 lbs, which is exactly as much as my midwife told me I could/should gain.

Maternity clothes: All the time. And now nursing bras, for comfort mostly.

Stretch marks: Same as before; they're definitely there, but they're not getting any worse.

Sleep: I want it so bad, but it seems to be escaping me. I have really bad heartburn at night now, and every time I roll over I feel like I'm going to throw up. And my hips hurt from only being able to sleep on my sides. And also I feel like I'm burning up all night long.

Best moment this week: My midwife appointment yesterday, finding out that I was 50% effaced and 1/2 cm dilated, baby's in -2 station, and we're making progress towards labor! ALSO (I have two because I can), I had an ultrasound last Friday because the midwife was concerned that at 36 weeks pregnant my belly was measuring 40 weeks. We got to see baby's sweet little face and found out that baby's weighing-in at about 7 lbs!

Miss anything? Sleeping on my belly!

Movement: Yes, although it's a lot more smooth, rolling type movement vice early kicks and punches.

Food cravings: Power of suggestion!

Anything making you queasy or sick? Heart burn. Bleugh.

Gender: Unknown, still! 

Labor signs: Lots of BH contractions and the stuff I mentioned before.

Symptoms: Heartburn and BHs. Lots of cervical pressure (read: lightening crotch). Giddiness and anxiety. Senioritis for pregnant people.

Belly button in or out? Out-ish. It's most flat except in a few spots where it kinda sticks out.

Wedding rings on or off? On 

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy but tired, which makes me kinda cranky.

Looking forward to: My mom comes in a week and a day to be here for baby's big entrance! It's crazy that she'll be here so soon!

Wanna see some updated pictures? How about a sonogram?

34

I will be 34 weeks tomorrow. You know what's the most 'holy crap' about that? That if I go into labor any time after two weeks from tomorrow, they won't try to stop me. Anytime after two weeks from tomorrow, I could have this baby. I mean, I most likely won't, but still. That's an overwhelming thought...

How far along?  34 WEEKS tomorrow!

Total weight gain/measurements: Roughly 21 lbs. as of my last midwife appointment.

Maternity clothes: As usual.

Stretch marks: Yes, they are come. Just a few at the bottom-most bit of my belly, so I can't even really see them. It also seems like I may be getting two parenthetical stretch marks on either side of my belly button. I just keep slathering on the butter and oil!

Sleep: Oh, it's so weird at this point. I can fall asleep on the couch, no problem. But one I'm in bed with all my fluffy pillows, and my Snoogle, and my cozy covers, I just cannot get comfortable and I cannot get to sleep. Once I am asleep, I'm good for quite a few hours until I need to roll over. And then the whole shenanigans being again.

Best moment this week: It hasn't yet happened, but it will this weekend! BABY SHOWER PART II!

Miss anything? My midwife has me on a bit of a carb modified diet as the end of this pregnancy approaches, so I'm missing my mac and cheese.

Movement: Always. 

Food cravings: Power of suggestion!

Anything making you queasy or sick? YES! What the heck is going on? Third trimester morning sickness? It's apparently a thing, but it really sucks.

Gender: Unknown, still! 

Labor signs: Definitely experiencing Braxton Hicks, lots of tightening going on.

Symptoms: Heartburn, exhaustion, morning sickness, and the BHs.

Belly button in or out? In-ish. It's protruding, but there's still a hole.

Wedding rings on or off? On 

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy but tired, which makes me kinda cranky.

Looking forward to: Midwife appointment this Friday. This is when we'll determine whether or not I actually NEED another ultrasound. The original thought was that I would because baby would be too small, but now it seems baby is measuring big, so they may check to see about how much baby will weigh! We will see!

Also, here's a sneak peek of the nursery! We still don't have the crib, and I do have things left to hang on the wall, but I'm holding off on a full 'reveal' until it's completed!

Every Two Weeks

I cannot believe that this Thursday coming marks 30 weeks pregnant. I cannot believe I'm at the point where I can see body parts moving around inside of me. I cannot believe that less than two months is full-term. I cannot believe that I'm now at the point where I'm seeing the midwife every two weeks. Time is absolutely flying by and is going to keep moving ever so swiftly. I want to meet this baby so badly and there's not that much time left until he/she is here.

How far along?  29 weeks last Thursday! 

Total weight gain/measurements: No clue, actually. I haven't weighed in in a while. 

Maternity clothes: Yup. 

Stretch marks: Nope. I've been using a combination of the following, but also I pretty luckily have some good genetics. My mom got saggy from three pregnancies, one with twins, but she never got stretch marks.

Cocoa butter, as part of my morning routine.

BioOil, as part of my evening routine.

Sleep: I'm now being woken by baby movements. Previously, baby was keeping me awake, but I could sleep through it. Now, no way. This kid likes to kick when I'm sound asleep at 4 am. 

Best moment this week:Making some serious nursery progress! I'm very excited about this! 

Miss anything? Not particularly, this week. Except maybe sleeping on my tummy. I've found myself attempting to sleep on my belly as much as I physically can. It involves a lot of pillow finagling that I seem to do in my sleep.

Movement: Always. 

Food cravings: Nothing in particular. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? Not really, except for the early morning teeth brushing. But that's been uncomfortable since the beginning. 

Gender: Unknown, still! 

Labor signs: I experience what I think was my first ever contraction yesterday morning. Not so much of an ouch, but tight and ache-y. It was unexpected, for sure! 

Symptoms: Still heartburn. And weirdly nice skin. 

Belly button in or out? Still in. I'm wondering how long this innie will be hanging around for. 

Wedding rings on or off? On 

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy! 

Looking forward to: My next ultrasound! Coming soon!

I'm Still Here

I pinky swear I'm not dead. And everything is okay with baby, I promise. I have been so busy I can hardly see straight. I've had work up to my eyeballs, but everything should be back on track now, and I will be able to regularly update on a weekly basis, as I would like to be able to.

How far along?  28 weeks. This means 9 weeks until full term. Holy crap. That's single digits.

Total weight gain/measurements: Now officially 12 lbs.

Maternity clothes: Yup.

Stretch marks: Nope.

Sleep: So now baby has taken to really moving and grooving as I'm trying to fall asleep and at about 1:30 in the morning. It's great that baby is active...

Best moment this week: This. This was the first outwardly visible baby body bit. I'm pretty sure it's a butt.

Miss anything? Breathing normally. Baby is kicking the lungs a lot these days.

Movement: So, so much movement.

Food cravings: Purple popsicles.

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope.

Gender: No, no clue!

Labor signs: No, thankfully.

Symptoms: Heartburn. Oh, and gas. That's what you wanted to know.

Belly button in or out?Still in, but so very close to being out. I think.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy except when I'm tired, and then I'm crying.

Looking forward to: Making some nursery progress. Pictures in the next couple of weeks!

Here's the most recent belly shot! Growing big!

Playing Catch Up

Okay, so life has been crazy messy (literally, my house has been a disaster/construction zone) for the last three weeks. But here are the last three bump shots:

 And now for the proper update...

How far along?  24 weeks

Total weight gain/measurements: 7 lbs. Still.

Maternity clothes: Yup. Everything in the above pictures is maternity!

Stretch marks: No new developments. I've been using BioOil, Palmer's Shea Oil, and Palmer's Cocoa Butter for Stretch marks. They seem to be doing their job.

Sleep: Getting worse. I only slept 3 hours last Thursday night, which made Friday HORRIBLE. Like go-home-in-the-middle-of-the-day and sleep-almost-all-of-Saturday horrible. And also, I can no longer roll over without much concerted effort.

Best moment this week: FINISHING THE BATHROOM! Absolutely the best...now I can pee in the middle of the night without climbing Mt. Everest.

So this only shows the installed toilet, but that's the important part here. It's actually all done!

Miss anything? Wine. I really wanted a glass of wine last week.

Movement: Yes, lots of movement. Specifically, lots of hiccups!

Food cravings: Chocolate. And fruit. All the fruit. And carrots. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? Doing a-okay on this front!

Gender: We don't know, and we don't plan to find out!

Labor signs: Nope, none of those, although I had a bit of a weird moment last week. Maybe Braxton Hicks are starting?

Symptoms: LEAKING BOOBS! I almost for got that this happened. I had an existential crisis Thursday (EVERYTHING HAPPENED ON THURSDAY, MY TURNOVER DAY) as I was using the toilet. I realized that some day my puppy won't be with me anymore, and I sat on the toilet crying. And then, because the towels were all in the laundry, I wiped my eyes with my shirt. And then I cried some more, so I left my shirt up around my neck. And then I noticed that my left boob was wet, and I thought I had cried on myself, but I wiped it off and it was NOT a tear. So leaky boobs. That's new.

Belly button in or out? In, but so very very weird and shallow.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy mostly...except for when I'm having bathroom crises and crying.

Looking forward to: Being able to roll over and get up by myself.

Little Stinker

 This kid is a mover and a shaker and clearly already a ninja. I'm getting kicked like woah! It's fun, though. I like knowing that kiddo is doing well. I can't believe we're already at 23 weeks; time is flying! I've got a lot of reading and planning to do, and Pete and I have to get started on this nursery. Soon. We've had my brother and his girlfriend with us this past week, which has been nice, but they've been in the nursery room so we haven't had a chance to do any of the work there. Our bathroom is almost done, and my brother has done a lot of work in our yard for us. So we're definitely making progress.

How far along?  223 weeks

Total weight gain/measurements: 7 lbs. But really only 2 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. Maybe I'll only count from there.

Maternity clothes: Yup. And lots of leggings that aren't but they're comfy anyway. I mean, look at this belly:

I'm feeling HUGE for 23 weeks. This is only gonna get worse.

Stretch marks: So far no movement either way from last week. That one Pete saw is still hanging out on my right hip, but it's not worse and there's nothing new!

Sleep: It's been okay. The dreams are getting weird though. And kind of sad. Apparently, whatever I dreamed about two nights ago had me crying in my sleep, enough so that I woke Pete up.

Best moment this week: My parents and sisters came to visit on Tuesday! I took the day off of work, we went to the beach, and everyone got to feel baby kick! Also, my parents got us our stroller, so we opened that and played with it. It's the Uppababy Vista, and it's super nice.

Miss anything? I can't see my lady bits anymore...bye bye grooming!

Movement: Absolutely! So much movement, in fact, that at my midwife appointment on Wednesday, the midwife couldn't find the heartbeat. I was freaking out, and she started laughing. My reaction was all 'what is wrong with you!?!' and she said "Listen, do you hear that? That's the sound of your baby moving!" She finally did get the heartbeat: a steady 140.

Food cravings: Freeze pops.

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nothing in particular

Gender: We don't know, and we don't plan to find out!

Labor signs: Nope, none of those!

Symptoms: Exhaustion and movement are my top two, closely followed by nausea and hunger. I am a walking conundrum.

Belly button in or out? In, but so close to being out.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time: Very happy!

Looking forward to: Still getting started on the nursery!

How's this for an actual update?

I am realizing that my weekly updates have been quite slack in actually updating anyone on anything baby related! So I searched and found an update template that a couple other mommy bloggers have used, and I'm going to build my updates off of that from now on. Since today is OFFICIALLY 22 weeks, I figured I would start there.

How far along?  22 weeks

Total weight gain/measurements: 6 lbs. But that's a little misleading I suppose because I lost weight in my first trimester (thanks morning sickness).

Maternity clothes: Definitely. Always, always in maternity clothes. Here's my 20 weeks picture (that wouldn't upload on Monday - so now I owe you both 21 and 22 weeks) and you can see that my regular t-shirts were starting to be a bit tight at 20 weeks. And now I'm bigger. I can still fit into most of my dresses though, so that's nice for work!

I know, I'm cute.

Stretch marks: Well, I thought I was doing okay and that those nasty buggers I had when I was bigger were being held at bay, but hanging out last night on the couch, my husband pointed one of them out to me. It seems that they are not going to be held at bay for much longer...time for belly butter!

Sleep: Yes, I'm sleeping. Mostly well, at that. However, that middle-of-the-night trip to the bathroom is really disrupting. And it's worse now than it has been the past couple of weeks because this is the state of my upstairs bathroom, the one that's closest to me: 

That means that in addition to getting up in the middle of the night to pee, I have to trek downstairs and back upstairs, which gets the blood pumping and, unfortunately, keeps me awake!

Best moment this week: Yesterday morning. I was laying in bed, on my right side, after having snoozed my alarm. I could feel baby moving around a lot and was wondering if I could feel it from the outside. I shifted on to my back, and put my hand where I could feel a spot of pressure, on the upper left of my uterus. And baby kicked! Not a little fluttering of movement, but a very solid kick! And then last night, after Pete pointed out my stretch mark, I could see my belly moving, and Pete put his hand in just the right spot at just the right moment and he got kicked too!

Miss anything? I'm missing liking bacon. I really liked bacon before I got pregnant...

Movement: A ton.

Food cravings: Just food. Like I said on Monday, I'm just always hungry.

Anything making you queasy or sick? Brushing my teeth.

Gender: We don't know, and we don't plan to find out!

Labor signs: Nope, none of those!

Symptoms: Heartburn. Stretch marks (as mentioned above!). Fatigue. Shortness of breath. Back-ache. And this new feeling is starting to take over me...I think it's nesting...that would be why my husband has ripped out my bathroom and why I made this over the weekend:

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time: Mostly happy. Only grumpy when I'm tired.

Looking forward to: Getting started on the nursery!

Hungry Hungry Hippo

I'm 21 weeks pregnant and I'm so freaking hungry. Like all the time hungry, feed me all the food all the time, hungry!

Baby is kicking a LOT, which is nice and very comforting. I have my next appointment next week, and I'm very much excited to hear baby's heartbeat again.

I don't really have much else to update on. Baby is growing, I am growing, and I have the appetite to prove it!

A Week Late and Likely a Few Dollars Short

It's been an interesting two weeks and that has a lot to do with how all of a sudden I feel like my temperature is up and everything I do, even waking up, is making me exhausted.

Here's last weeks bumpdate shot.

So my most recent symptoms include swelling, often from too much standing, exhaustion, as previously mentioned, and lots and lots of kicking! Tonight was the first time Pete felt the baby, and it was quite magical for the both of us! Tears in my eyes kind of magical! I can't believe there's really a tiny human inside of that tummy of mine, even though as I'm typing this I'm 20 and one half weeks. Which is more than halfway, so I really should believe this by now.

Another thing that has been going on for me recently is that I joined Rodan + Fields and now sell their wonderful skincare. Checkout these results!

And look who endorses these products! One of my all time favorite people in the world, Ellen Degeneres!

Check out my website at https://keighleyjohnson.myrandf.com/ if you're interested in any of the products!

18 Weeks and Definitely Growing!

Today was our 18 weeks anatomy scan and good golly! There's a baby inside of me! It's felt pretty real for a couple weeks now, but I totally had a 'fast forward to the future' moment this afternoon in that exam room. I could see my baby squirming around, throwing his/her hands in the air, legs cross-cross-applesauce sitting square on my bladder, and it was so surreal!

Good news: baby is 100% normal!

Bad news: we still don't know the sex. And you know what? That's fine with us because we've decided we don't want to know! There aren't many real surprises in the world, but this? This is something everyone can guess at but nobody can know until the end, when baby is well and truly cooked and ready to make his/her grand appearance.

Here's what I looked like at 18 weeks:

And here is what baby looked like:

And this:

And I totally saw this:

That's all for today! See you next week!

BONUS!

Here's the announcement we posted on FB, as well as the growing bump!

All credit for this goes to the hubs! It was his adorable idea!

Taken this evening. I am a rose.

Other bump pictures can be found here!

17 Week Movement! and more reveals...

Before I wasn't sure, but I am SO sure now that I am feeling tiny baby movements! It's weird to describe: kinda ticklish, a little flippy, like someone is making pancakes, and mostly comforting! It's nice to know, when I can't see or hear what's going on inside me, that everything seems to be okay.

So in an effort to wrap up the family telling, here's how we told my siblings:
We were in VA visiting for my brother's college graduation (eek!), and we were all together kinda camping in a cabin, mostly because all the hotels were booked. It was the night before my brother's graduation (please note: I was NOT trying to steal any thunder...people keep getting mad at me for that. I was just WAY too obviously emotional and excited!) and we were all sitting outside having pizza for dinner. I kind of casually brought up Christmas vacation for 2014 and invited my brother and sisters to come up to RI. My sister (I honestly don't remember which one, but my mom has it on video somewhere) asked 'why?' 'Because I'm sure you'll want to meet your new niece or nephew!' Little did I know, my brother had been too focused on his girlfriend to hear what I had said, and I was sobbing by now, and my sisters were looking at me like I had two heads (in the happiest way possible) so I had to ugly-crying repeat myself. I don't think the three of them have ever squeezed me tighter. The best/worst reaction to a pregnancy announcement of all time? My sister Aileen: 'So there's a baby under all that fat??' Thank, sis.

How we told Pete's siblings:
We happened to be going to NH to visit Pete's parents/babysit for our nephews the weekend after we got back from VA. This was great because it meant that my parents didn't have to keep the secret from Pete's parents for too long. We told them as described in previous post...first of Pete's sisters to find out was his eldest sister, Amy. We were with her boys, babysitting, while she was at a Kentucky Derby party. When she got back, Pete just laid it out for her: 'We're having a baby!' As she's 13 years older than Pete, she immediately cried and hugged her baby brother and was all emotional and such. It was super sweet and had me in tears too! We told our BIL and nephews. It's fun to tell kids about new babies because you never know what kind of reaction you're gonna get. From the boys, we got 'Okay' and 'Where is it?' Cute! We then went straight from one sister's house to the others, because one couldn't know for too long without the other knowing. Andrea, who has our two nieces, was just having a chill night at home with our BIL, Scott, and the girls. She was telling us about how she had been going through all the baby stuff the girls had grown out of and was gonna pass it on to her friend who was having a girl. Pete just said, very naturally in the conversation, 'Well don't give it all away!' She looked at us for a second, and Pete added 'We don't know what we're having yet!' More tears, more baby brother hugs, and some very happy in-laws!

I wish we had videotaped all these, I really do, but as I said last week things get too exciting and spur of the moment. Plus, a camera or phone pointed at someone's face will often give you away! Also, we told way too many friends to tell all those reveals. Needless to say, it was a ton of fun, and I was super relieved to hear that everyone was excited for us! Yay! I'll be back next week following an anatomy ultrasound, where we will check-up on baby's growth and NOT find out the gender!

16 Weeks & Pregnant: The Great Parental Tell All

So it's time to divulge the way I told my parents, in laws, siblings, friends, etc! I had high hopes for all kinds of cute, video taped pregnancy reveals, but it turns out that when you're overcome with excitement, you just kinda wing it and hope for the best! I have a feeling this is going to take a couple posts to cover everyone...

So after I told hubs, I shared that I really wanted to tell my parents first, as this was their first grandchild. I wasn't sure exactly how, but I knew that about a month and a half after we found out, we were going to VA to visit them. Like I was saying about excitement though, I was having a very hard time keeping the secret! That's when I realized we had a golden opportunity: my parents would in MA around the time of my first ultrasound! My mom could come to RI to come along! So we made the trip out to MA to tell them. It was very difficult to get them alone because, daggonnit, they both had things they had to do. Finally, I just said to both of them 'Stop it! Come here!' And they did. I asked my mom her schedule for the coming week and if she thought she would be free on Thursday, May 1st. She looked at me quizzically, as did my dad, and I said '...because I was wondering if you wanted to come to my first ultrasound.' It took an obvious second for the realization to hit her. My dad's arms were the first around Pete and I, and then my mom joined in with an 'OH!' They both cried, my dad more so than my mom, and we went to Pizza Hut for lunch. With all my aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, family friends, just everyone. My mom had an ear to ear smile on her face, and my daddy couldn't stop looking at me. It was awesome and special and emotional.

Pete's parents are old pros at kids. Not only is my MIL a midwife who has delivered a couple thousand babies, but she and my FIL have 4 grand kids, courtesy of my SILs. For Mother's Day, we got my MIL a 'Grandmother' card, and an Alex and Ani 'Grandmother' bracelet. She didn't get it at first, because of course she's a grandmother, and then she went to open the card. An ultrasound fell out. She stopped, said 'Uh!', and just stared at it for what felt like forever. And then, because my FIL didn't realize this was an important moment and was in a different room, she hollered for 'Charlie!' She quickly put the ultrasound back in the card and brought it over to show Charlie. He read the front of the card, unimpressed because of course she's a grandmother, and then he opened the card. 'Is this you guys?' he stared dumbfounded for a good two minutes before kind of half laughing. The two of them were absolutely flabbergasted! It was hilarious!

I'll post more reveal stories next week! I'm off to lie on my side now after dinner, which is sitting weirdly...

The 15 Week Wrap-Up

I'm quickly approaching week 16 and realizing that I didn't take advantage of posting anything during week 15! What was I thinking? Very soon I will have to include the weekly 'bumpdate' pictures my husband has been taking, but I haven't done that yet. Week 15 was normal but intense. Here's what is going on: I've been deemed high-risk.

About week 10, I found a spot on my hip, which I now know is commonly referred to as a herald spot. It didn't bother me, I didn't notice any other symptoms or spots, and I wasn't worried. Roughly week 12, I noticed a couple of similar looking spots on my left side and a couple in my right elbow pit. I went to my primary care, and he decided I needed to see a dermatologist. So almost 2 weeks ago, to a dermatologist I went. He diagnosed me with a condition called pityriasis rosea.

About 7 years ago, if I had been pregnant and diagnosed with pityriasis rosea (PR), I would have been told 'no big deal, it will clear up within 3 to 6 months.' But about 7 years ago, a study was performed that concluded these 3 things about pregnancy and PR:

1. It triples your risk of miscarriage.
2. It increases your risk of preterm labor.
3. It increases the risk of low birth weight, hypotonia, and weak motion.

So that was a terrifying thing for me to hear. Comforting was the fact that the study was only conducted on people with severe PR and my dermatologist indicated I had one of the most mild cases he had seen. He sent me to a high-risk OB, who comforted me also by telling me that she would classify me as the least risk high-risk case possible. And then she proceeded to find the baby's heartbeat so we could hear it.

So my hubby and I are feeling okay. We know we've got a host of doctors keeping an eye on us and Tiny and a legion of prayer warriors in our corner. We're doing okay. We will see what week 16 brings.

And so it grows...

It's officially official! I am 14 weeks pregnant, completely out of the first trimester by everyone's standards. Now to blog the next 26 weeks or so...

Finding Out:
It was Sunday, April 6th. My husband had gone out for a run and I was getting ready to do a DVD workout. I was kind of puttering around, wasting time, when it suddenly dawned on me that my period was about 4 days late. I mean, it wasn't really all that sudden because I had been off the pill for 5 months and had pretty regular cycles up until this point. I knew what was going on, but a war of devils and angels was raging on my shoulders. 'Oh my gosh...OH MY GOSH...I'm totally pregnant. Like, totally up the spout.' 'No, there's no way. There's absolutely no way. This is a fluke, don't get too excited, you're gonna start bleeding any second.' 'But I'm LATE. I'm days late. This could be for real.' 'Seriously? Don't be an idiot. You're gonna be very disappointed.' Standing in my bedroom, folding laundry so I had an excuse for not working out yet, I realized I had to pee and that this was an opportune time to take a pregnancy test. So I pulled out my secret stash.

The first test I dipped was a cheapy strip test. I dunked and ran. I wanted to keep myself busy for those three minutes, so back to laundry I went. And guess what? I managed to forget all about the pregnancy test. For 20 minutes. And when I went to check BAM! Very, very positive. But I was in  disbelief. So I took two more tests. I waited this time, and within 30 seconds BAM! Positive! All three of them. But I still didn't believe it. Nope, not even a little bit. So I pulled out the big guns: a ClearBlue Digital Pregnancy Test with Weeks Estimator. And there is was: pregnant, 1-2 weeks. Spelled out for me so I couldn't deny it.

It's hard to see the top two, but the bottom two are pretty clear!

Telling my Husband:
As I mentioned, Pete was on a run when I found out. I thought I had prepared myself well in advance. I thought I would be cool as a cucumber and I could surprise him in some cute, YouTube worthy way. Absolutely the opposite. I was shaking like a leaf, and I just wanted him to be home already! I had stocked up, in hopes of an eventual positive result, so I had this shirt:

And I had these two books:

I laid all this stuff out on the bed, clutched the positive test in my right hand. And stood in the corner shaking. Every 15 seconds or so, I would check the window to see if Pete was running home. Twenty minutes later, I saw the forest green of a shirt I hoped was Pete's bobbing it's way down our road. I retreated to my corner and waited to hear the door open. Forever later, it did, and I expected to hear him making his way up the stairs to me and the puppy. He didn't. 'HONEY!' I yelled down to him. 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' I absolutely could not contain myself. I was jumping out of my skin. 'Uh...' he called up to me, his crazy wife. 'I'm gonna stretch...and get some water. Did you need something?' 'I NEED YOUR HELP!' I needed him to get his butt upstairs, pronto. I had been standing in a corner for twenty minutes, waiting for him to walk through that damn door. I heard him deep sigh in an imitation of Eeyore, and the gate on the stairs clanged. Walking into the bedroom, he looked at me, his crazy wife, standing in the corner. 'What's up?' 'LOOK AT THE BED.' Time slowed to molasses drip speed. His eyes moved from my face to the bed and scanned for whatever it was I needed help with. I saw them widen as he took in the books and shirt. Then they slow-snapped back up to me and the word that dripped from his lips was 'Really?' My response? My eloquent, well thought out, pulled together wife response? 'These test can't all be wrong!' My sweet husband held me while I cried, and together we rejoiced in the new life we had created.

Rejoicing.

Stay tuned to hear more about telling our families, my symptoms the past 7 weeks, as well as the trials we're facing as this pregnancy progresses.