Our first three months

For the first month, you almost don't know you are pregnant. It is crazy! For us, we had been trying so we were pretty tuned in, and still it was a surprise and shock! :)

We spent Thanksgiving with Mark and PJ in Fort Worth, and that was where we first had our suspicions. Just to be safe, I curtailed my wine consumption throughout the weekend....a challenge in itself if you know how much I LOVE wine!

Sunday afternoon, we headed home to Dallas and almost couldn't get there fast enough. We were dying to know if we were correct in our assumption - we were ready for parenthood!

WRONG!

"Pregnant" appeared in the results window, and we both choked....and then laughed....and then I cried, of course. Oh my gosh! We both exchanged this "we're ready, right?" look, hoping for reassurance from the other which was pretty much met with both hysteria and panic.

"Okay....this is real," and "wow! this is real, right???" It seemed like every exclamation was quickly deflated by a question of uncertainty. Having been diagnosed with endometriosis in college, we realistically expected the delay and complications that typically come with trying to conceive. I don't know how or why we beat the odds, but we fully understand what a blessing and gift this pregnancy is and try to never take it for granted no matter how severe the symptoms may be.

Symptoms...hmmmm...here is my version of pregnancy symptoms:

Morning sickness - Doesn't necessarily happen in the morning. Totally misrepresented in its name. I feel sick if I don't eat every 1.5 hours, if I eat too much sugar, if I try to wake up too quickly from sleep (morning or naptime). But, I have learned that if I keep moving, keep eating, and distract myself, then it is very, very manageable. Luckily, I have only had nausea and no vomiting.

Eating - ummmm....yes, please! Did I mention every 1.5 hours? And, unfortunately, I am not one of those people who has developed a distaste for fast food. On the contrary, I crave Lakewood 1st and 10 burgers with American cheese, mustard, ketchup, and lots of pickles. Condiments have become one of my favorite new food groups. The other night I ate a small supper that ended with an awful taste in my mouth...the dreaded mythical metallic flavor...yuck! Well, how do you counteract that, you ask? There certainly is a reason pregnancy is associated with pickles because after a small bowl of delicious, dill pickles, I couldn't have been more satisfied. :) On the other hand, the only thing that I have found that I just can't stomach is raw cashews. Seems very random, but it is nice to be able to go to the grocery or a restaurant without the fear of a trigger food.

Another thing that surprised me, and maybe I missed this with any conversation with my girlfriends that are mothers, but you cannot eat a normal sized meal. There isn't enough room. You really have to eat small meals, but eat often. Planning ahead is essential.

And water - I have practically been a fish my entire life always drinking water in lieu of cokes or tea, but, now, unless it is really cold, it doesn't taste good and is not refreshing at all. But it is certainly more enjoyable to force-drink a lot of water than to be dehydrated.

Fatigue - Definitely! This came on around week 6, and has plagued me since, because, as mentioned earlier, waking up from any form of sleep seems to make me nauseous. And all you want to do is sleep. But, again...all is manageable. For me, it has been better to just be sleepy than sickly.

Weight gain - Hmmmm....well, it didn't help that I ate all I wanted over the holidays so I started out with a layer of padding. Weight-wise I don't think I have really gained any, but I have already been accused of showing as early as my ninth week. In actuality, it was only the holiday feasting and not a baby bump.

Something I wasn't expecting - When we decided to not say anything until everything was confirmed as good by Dr. E, I never expected to feel the "emotion" of solitude. It is not really an emotion I guess...more of a state, but it certainly wasn't loneliness or depression. Adam was with me all the way, but as a woman, he couldn't feel the changes or symptoms and I wasn't at a time where I could share with my girlfriends....so somedays I was just very aware of my state of solitude. It wasn't a negative at all....just an interesting observance that I had never thought or realized I would experience though it seems like every mother must go through that in the beginning.

Another thing I wasn't expecting was to feel quite so overwhelmed! When Adam proposed marriage to me, I practically had the church already booked, colors chosen, and simply had to buy a dress. The details were already sorted out pre-preposal. With pregnancy, I didn't let myself even look at a book or blog or website before it was official. So, when I purchased the infamous "What to Expect When You're Expecting," imagine my conquered feeling when I read the first two chapters only to realize that I was already behind! And, on my first doctor's visit he sent me home with a bag of goodies. In it was 8 different prescription strength prenatal vitamin samples to try to see which worked best for me....not to mention the brochures and magazines of strollers, car seats, cord blood registry sources, etc. It was an overload of products and information. I was totally freaked out!! So, I tried the first prenatal vitamin for two days, decided I could stomach it, and threw the rest away. For me, I needed to simplify all of the complications. Who needs all of those choices?