Emily and Laura. This one is for you.

I have been reading a lot of other blogs lately and have been thinking oh that is something that I should do... later... like when I do something really cool and have a picture of it. Then, I am like, "I don't EVER take pictures." So then I thought I should maybe start it up when my baby gets here. HAHA  Oh yea, news flash other people who might be reading this, I am pregnant. 25 weeks pregnant to be precise. But anyway, then I decided with the help of two pregnant blogging cousins who live far away from me that I really enjoy reading and hearing about their lives via the internet and blogs and such and they probably would like to hear about mine as well. So this will hopefully be a treat for friends and family everywhere to read about my experience being pregnant. 

Okay so quick catch-up on the whole getting pregnant thing... Riley and I tried for 1 year and 9 months to get pregnant before we actually did. So hurray! I actually had gone into the OB at like 1 year 8 months to get tested for infertility and such and about a month later I received a call to report on my lab work from blood tests they had done and they were like, "well your levels are a little low but we think we should do some more testing before we start administering drugs to assist..." I was SUPER bummed after they called so on my way home from work I purchased a two-pack of pregnancy tests and was determined to make sure I wasn't actually pregnant. You see, the weekend before "the call" I had had some spotting which I perceived to be a really light period but then had read that sometimes you get light bleeding when the egg is implanting in the uterus. Having taken several negative pregnancy tests earlier though I was discouraged from taking yet another one and crushing my and Riley's dreams. So I didn't tell Riley. I went home and took the test. I left it in the bathroom and went out and said a little prayer and then went back into the bathroom to read the results.... heart pounding... I looked down and it said I was pregnant!!!! I maybe cried a little to myself and I knew that Riley was going to be home within minutes so I hurriedly grabbed the test and placed it out in the open on the kitchen counter for Riley to see when he walked in the house with groceries. When he saw it he just said, "Well what does that mean? I don't understand those things." As if he couldn't tell already from my beaming smile and giddy attitude what the plus sign meant. He came and gave me a much deserved high five and then a hug and kiss and we just kept smiling at each other the whole rest of the night. It was wonderful. Our projected due date is June 10th.

So skip ahead another few weeks... MORNING SICKNESS era. BOO.
About week 8 I started feeling really sick to my stomach while on a business trip with Riley to San Francisco. I ended up just staying the hotel room for the majority of the trip because I couldn't function. I couldn't eat or walk or shower or smell anything without wanting to vomit. I came back and had to call in sick to work for about 4 days in a row until they called and said that they would give me a few weeks break off of work to get feeling better which was soooo nice. However, it didn't get better. Not at 12 weeks, not at 15 but finally around week 17 it started to ease up. Phew. I was living on my Phenegran prescriptions to get through my days and just did my best to keep snacking on saltines and veggies and water. I only threw up about once every week. I lost about 8 lbs total during that miserable era.

During this time I did have a few ultrasounds because of some spotting I had while in San Francisco. Turns out I had two fairly large cysts on my right ovary. One was 2 cm in diameter and the other was about 5 cm! The doctors were concerned about it so they did a few extra ultrasounds to keep tabs on them and luckily they both have completely dissolved. Which, in retrospect, the nurse said that may have attributed to my difficulty with getting pregnant since my right ovary was probably not always producing an egg as it should have.

Here is our little one's first picture ever! This is at 9 weeks.

Really it just looks like a little peanut but you can kind of see where the body and the head are. 

Here is the next ultrasound picture that I had at 13 weeks. 

Definitely a lot more definition but still no knowledge of the little one's sex yet... until...

this one taken at my 20 week appointment.

Little boy!!!! Riley and I are way excited. So in this picture he is being a little shy but trust me we got a really good spread eagle glimpse of his goods to confirm a little later in the ultrasound. 

So now here is a quick preview of my belly's growth from the outside. I haven't been very consistent but have taken few so I guess I will show you all the ones I have. 

This is me at 9 weeks

Here I am at either 16 or 17 weeks I believe

And 22 weeks

And here is 24 weeks

And BOOM there you have it. There is a baby in there now. For a while I just felt like I was getting an excessively pudgy tummy. (Okay maybe I still feel like I have one but at least there IS a baby underneath staying nice and toasty warm.)

Other progress in the baby area include that we are pretty set on naming him Bentley Banks but haven't solidified a middle name yet. So from here on out I will just refer to baby #1 as Bentley. The nursery is just getting started tomorrow. We aren't painting the walls but are adding some paneling and a shelf on one side of the room to spice things up a bit in there. I will post a before and after photo when it is all finished. I'm still not sure on colors or theme yet... Ideas are welcomed!

I haven't had any real cravings besides just food all the time and sleep mostly all of the time. I also did start working again in January just one day a week and only HALF day on that day. Can't beat that!! Haha. I have noticed though that I have been extremely bored during my long days at home while Riley is working and especially when he is out of town. It actually gets me pretty down in the dumps some days and even makes me cry at how lonely I feel. Maybe that is the pregnancy hormones making me feel that way but I have determined to at least leave the house at least once a day or speak with someone on the phone or in person at some point in the day to help. Has anyone else had problems with this? I typically am a pretty happy person no matter what but maybe I just never realized how much I rely on others to help boost my spirits. Who knows.

So that is my baby update. There will be more to come soon so please keep checking back. I want to keep this up so I have a good record of my pregnancy experiences. Let me know if you have any questions or things you wanted to know about so I can have something to write about. :-)