11 Weeks

Today we are 11 weeks into our 40 week journey. Here are a few notes on how it's been so far:

Week 4

This is when we found out we were pregnant! I felt extremely tired and couldn't stop wondering if we were pregnant. So I grabbed a test and it came back positive! In an instant my body started overheating and sweating... after a few months of seeing negative tests I think my body went into shock :) And just to be sure I wasn't imagining things I took 2 more tests.

This whole time Matt was working on fixing our bathroom fans with two buddies. I had to wait for Matt to finish working, go drop something off, take a shower and then we ate dinner all before I felt like it was an opportune time to share the news with him... it was a long few hours!!

Since it was just past Christmas I decided to wrap up one of the tests and a card that said SURPRISE. I gave it to him after dinner. At first I think he was wondering why I was giving him a Christmas gift but (I found out later) he soon began to wonder if I was telling him we were pregnant. It was a great moment with hugs, tears and a bunch of "WOW's" :)

Week 9

Up until week 9 I was suffering from some nausea but mostly fatigue. I was so utterly exhausted by anything. And I started to crave foods. It wasn't the iconic pregnant type of cravings; it was mainly me getting really hungry and wanting one particular thing with a very strong urgency to have it.

In our 9th week we had our first appointment with our doctor. I had never met him before and was pretty nervous about liking or feeling comfortable with him. The key word in all this is "him". I was a little leary of it being a "him" but he was the only doctor under our insurance that was in Grayslake and delivers at Condell. SO, I decided we would go to the first appointment and decide afterwards if we would continue to see him. I got close to just switching doctors anyway and almost didn't want to bother with "trying it out". But I am SO SO SO glad I have him for a doctor. I'm serious when I say that I don't think I could have a better doctor. He is very kind, patient and spends tons of time with you if you need it. One of the first things he said was that the downside to his practice is that he spends a lot of time with his patients. He explained that he usually runs a little late because he will spend as much time as he needs. But the upside to all of that is he will always be very attentive and wants to hear all my crazy questions. I wish you all could meet him! Best doctor I've met, hands down. (Except my uncle of course... uncles beat out other doctors any day of the week ;)

At our appointment he confirmed our due date to be September 3rd and we got to see our baby's heartbeat!! It was such a precious moment, I will never forget it. It was a little blog with a super fast fluttering heart in the middle of it... super cute! :) The miracle of life and the gift our Lord has given us blew me away. I felt so humbled to be carrying and soon be caring for such a delicate baby. I love my little squishy :)

Week 11

Here we are half way through our 11th week. Nausea has gone done but cravings have gone up. Not only that but I am always so hungry! My new routine includes second breakfasts and many snacks throughout the day. All this eating amounts to a very puffed up tummy by bedtime. I guess I am making space for baby... at least thats how I see it ;) Usually by morning my tummy is back to normal but I have noticed that it stays just a little pouchier every day. It's nothing anyone else might notice but I can see some changes in my waistline.

This week baby squishy is about the size of a fig! It's kicking and moving around... apparently. I'm told I won't feel any of this for a few months, seems too far away. Baby has completed most of its development of major organs and we are hitting the growing phase. By next week he/she will grow from 2 inches to 2.4 inches and just think, 6 weeks ago it was roughly the size of a sesame seed! Our God is so creative and awesome!

God's Plan

Dear Friends and Family,

We have officially made it public... we are expecting our first child! We are absolutely thrilled to share this news with you and invite you to join us on this beautiful journey as we blog our way through the next 7 months.

It starts at the beginning...

Truth is that Matt and I said we would wait until we were married 5 years to start building our family. This May we will be married 4 years, close but not exactly 5. So why the change of mind? A few things. #1 I caught the bug. I have always wanted kids and just a little over a year ago I was really feeling ready. #2 Some of you might have done the math and made the connection of me catching the bug to our nephew Caleb's entrance into the world. Thank you, Amanda and Eddy, for helping us see that "sometime in the future"/"when we grow up" has turned into TODAY.

Lots of business meetings

Matt and I frequently have serious conversations about life. This started early in our relationship. We quickly titled these talks as our "business meetings". It's a time for both of us to share what's on our minds about where we are and where we are heading in life. October 2010 marked the start to a long series of baby business meetings. We wrestled through all the typical topics that are effected by babies: finances, marriage, housing, jobs, family, etc. And after our first few times talking about all things baby we decided to table the conversation to see where God was really leading our hearts in the matter.

Enter Caleb

November 27, 2010 our awesome nephew entered the world. I definitely didn't need warming up to the idea of a baby, however, Matt has had little experience with babies. I was really banking on Caleb to show Matt the ropes. And sure enough Matt started to melt. You can't help but love our precious nephew. As the weeks and months passed Matt and I took a turn in our baby business meetings; we were seriously considering starting our own family in the near future.

Summer and Maternity Coverage

One very important piece of the baby puzzle that had to be sorted out before taking this big step was making sure we had maternity coverage. Since starting our own business Matt and I have been paying for our own insurance, which won't give you maternity coverage until 365 days after your first day of coverage. Yikes! Fortunately we like to plan ahead and elected for the coverage in June 2010. And wouldn't you know it, we decided to start trying to give ourselves an excuse to use this coverage in June 2011.

A house and 7 months later

I wasn't sure what to expect when we starting trying. I starting asking myself a host of questions that I am sure goes through every hopeful couple. Do we get pregnancy right away? Will this take a while? Will we be able to get pregnant ever? And as the months and negative tests passed I was beginning to really wonder. But I knew to be patient, we were wanting to try for 1 year before we started to ask serious questions. Then one day Matt came home and told me we should go looking at houses to buy. I was thrilled but questioned if he was being serious. I tried to keep my head level. But before I could blink we found a great house for an amazing price and God basically handed it to us in 45 days. November 15, 2011 (my birthday) was our signing and a few days later we moved in. For the holidays we found ourselves in a pretty big empty house with no sign of a baby. But God clearly wanted us to have this home and we were putting our trust in His provision for all things. And POOF we were pregnant the next month!

God's Sovereignty

I am in no way saying that buying a home was the formula for getting pregnant. And I definitely don't think you need to have a spare room in order to bring a child into the world. Remember, we started trying to build our family while renting a 2nd floor condo and were happy to host our family there for as long as God would desire. But what I am saying is that God knows the plans He has for our lives. I believe all our efforts were failing because He, for some reason, needed us to be in this home first. NO IDEA WHY! But I hope that in all life's confusion I will always submit to His ways because they are far better and sweeter than my imagination could ever dream. And now I can say with my whole heart that my plans failed but God's plans were perfect in bringing us the good news of a coming baby.

Thanks for reading the story God wrote for us. Hope you enjoy the next months of updates on how our little "bun" is doing.

Blessings