"Trying" no more!

Well, it's official! After "trying" to get pregnant for 6 months, the Lord has decided to bless us with our first child! We are so excited, and a little bit surprised that it happened so fast after I got off of birth control. We hope to welcome our baby into the world somewhere around August 5th, 2011!

Here's the story:
The week we moved into our new house in June was the same week that my birth control ran out, and at first, I thought that I would get pregnant immediately. Yeah, not so much. I read books, got on message boards, tried to learn everything I could so that we could finally get pregnant. After about 2 months I started using ovulation tests (they look like pregnancy tests) that show you when you're ovulating to predict the best day to get pregnant.

After these didn't seem to help for a few months, I checked out a book at the library called "Taking Charge of Your Fertility." I didn't like the title at first because I'd rather let Jesus take charge of my fertility... but I learned SO much about my body and how everything works, how God designed it to work in order for us to reproduce. Now mind you, I'm really nerdy when it comes to just about anything health-related, which is another reason why I enjoyed it so immensely. :) I started taking my temperature every morning and charting it, in addition to using ovulation tests to determine the best day to get pregnant... and after 1 month of charting... BOOM! It worked!

How I found out:
I got my first positive pregnancy test the day before Thanksgiving when my parents were actually in town visiting. Let me just tell you-- I'm so glad that I had a LOT of baking to do that day to keep my mind off of things! I was planning to take a preg test the day after Thanksgiving, but for some reason I couldn't wait. I peed on the stick, then set it on the counter and took my shower. Imagine my surprise when I got out, looked at the test and there was a teeeeny tiny faint line! OMG! Can it be????

How I told Mike:
I was worn out from baking all day and of course trying to hide all my internet searches from everyone else (googling pregnancy test, faint line, etc) that I decided to go to bed early. Mike keeps the expensive pregnancy tests locked up in his closet because I was wasting them earlier in the process. I asked him to lock them up because they are so expensive and I was addicted to testing. He was downstairs watching a movie with my dad. I whispered in his ear, asked him to go upstairs and get me a pregnancy test out of the closet. He handed me a whole box of tests and said, "Pee straight!" as I walked off to the bathroom.

Sure enough, it was also positive. I about hit the ceiling. I wrapped up the test in a card that I bought when we first started trying that had a little bear on the outside blowing a trumpet, that said, "Hooray!" Open up the card and it said, "You did it!" When Mike finally came to bed about 2 hours later (as I tried so hard to stay awake!), I gave him the card and he was pretty shocked. I pee on sticks all the time, how could he know that this was the one?

How we told our family:
We waited until Christmas to tell our families. This. Was. So. Stinking. Hard!!!! We told my mom and dad the day after we arrived in Houston (12/19) because I couldn't imagine being in TX almost a week without being able to talk to my Mom about all this. We gave them little frames that said "I love my Grandma/Grandpa" and a card in the middle that said "Coming Soon in August 2011!" They were so surprised, especially my dad. For the rest of the week, he teased me, every time I said something, he would respond, "That's perfectly normal in pregnancy." Silly goose.

We told my sisters and Jake on Christmas morning. Jake & Melissa were totally on to me, and Holly cried. We gave them mugs that said "Aunt" on them. They were ecstatic. We told my Aunt Pat and Mimi that afternoon... I was paranoid about my Aunt Pat because she's an OB nurse so there's no fooling her! We told my Mom's side of the family the day after Christmas, which was a huge shock to everyone.

We told my in-laws when we got back to Indiana the next week. Ryan & Laurel & Kaylee were staying with us, and until we broke the news, I was dying to talk to Laurel about pregnancy and being a mom!! They were all so excited and shocked when we told them. We also gave them grandma/grandpa frames and we gave Kaylee a onesie that said, "I'm going to be a big cousin!"

Other people we told:
Well I let the news loose on facebook last week. Before we told family I confided in 2 friends who are currently pregnant because I really needed some support and advice. I have the best friends!

How I'm feeling:
For the most part, really good. I can hardly complain. The first symptom I had was insane hunger, but absolutely nothing looked good. Food aversions have come and gone, and gotten better over time. I have been nauseous off and on but (Thank you Lord) I haven't thrown up at all, even though I've come close many times. Probably the most difficult one has been the extreme fatige. Wow. Like let me lay down and go to bed at 2pm every day. The funniest symptom has been the voracious appetite. I eat and eat and eat, and before I'm finished eating I'm already thinking about what to eat next. This is totally unlike me, and is really making my Mike laugh a lot. I start week 12 tomorrow and look forward to the journey!

Rachel <><