8 Weeks

It is Christmas Eve! Yay! We will be telling the rest of my family on Christmas that we are pregnant...so excited!!! :) I can't wait to see their expressions! This week I am starting to see a little "bump" which makes me happy...it is not just bloating...I can actually feel my uterus getting hard and tight. Once my family knows the big news, I will go ahead and tell the public...I just can't hold it in any longer...it has been SO hard.

Things I've Been Experiencing This Week:

• I can see a slight "bump" :)
• My OB had me increase my thyroid medication...baby must be taking my energy ;)
• Continuing to take my Zofran once a day to ease nausea
• Already up two bra sizes...not used to having a larger chest!!!
• Less heartburn

Facts About Baby This Week:

• Your baby is growing like mad, putting on about a millimeter every day and continuing to straighten out in the trunk. Though you can't feel it yet, baby is moving those little arms, legs and (now only slightly) webbed fingers and toes like crazy

7 Weeks

Although I do not have a picture this week (due to busyness), I am definitely one to say I'm started to feel a change in my body. I can't even fit in my bra anymore and it is becoming more and more difficult to button my pants...again, this is probably just water retention, but I definitely feel "bigger". :) My baby is the size of a blueberry :)

Things I've Been Experiencing This Week:

• Needing to take Zofran at least once a day for nausea
• Needing a new bra
• Heartburn at night
• Tighter pants (feels like water retention)

Facts About Baby This Week:

• Baby's brain -- both hemispheres! -- is growing fast, generating about 100 new cells every minute. Arms and legs are emerging as joints start to form, and a permanent set of kidneys (baby's third!) is now in place.

6 Weeks

So...if you can tell I had to re-label my pictures with the correct weeks. I must have ovulated later in my cycle because for WEEKS I thought the baby was 2 weeks older due to my LMP. Well, after our ultrasound today on December 14 :) they told us our little baby Wade was just around 6 weeks 5 days. When I saw the baby for the first time, tears just started flowing. There it was.......so tiny......but WE SAW A HEARTBEAT. For only 6 1/2 weeks, it was a little active thing: 135 beats per minute. Michael said "She's dancing" (Have I mentioned he thinks it's a girl already?) haha. Tears were just rolling down my cheeks as soon as the lady said "And there is the baby, and oh look...a definite heartbeat". A heartbeat....those were the words I had been WAITING to hear. It doesn't bother me that my cycle had my due date WAY off. Now instead of a July baby, we are having an AUGUST BABY. Due date officially August 4, 2012. We just need more and more prayers that the first trimester goes smoothly. I know the Lord has so much in store for us...we are trusting in HIM! :) Here is the baby's first PICTURE...ladies and gentlemen...meet BABY WADE. Just the size of a sweet pea...already, my little angel.

What I've Been Experiencing This Week:

• Nauseous throughout the day (Threw up twice this week...bummer)
• Heartburn, especially at night
• Tingling in my feet (I read it's due to swelling?)
• Sore Chest (worse than last week)

Facts About Baby This Week:

• Growing like crazy, baby is starting to sprout eyes, ears, nose, cheeks and chin. Those little hands and feet- still webbed like paddles- might wiggle by week's end, the heart is beating (almost twice as fast as yours!), and blood is starting to circulate.

5 Weeks

Well, I finally started feeling sick. Bummer...but our ultrasound is in a week and a half, so that is something to look forward to! Yeah, "morning sickness" is so not MORNING ONLY sickness. Last night at work I had to continuously eat every 1-2 hours in order to keep my stomach from churning. I haven't thrown up yet, so that's a plus! That is my only new symptom. I don't feel as tired this week, which is a blessing. Work has been SO stressful lately. However, I just accepted an offer from a company in Franklin that is a day-shift position :) What a blessing that it came at this time. Starting January, I won't be on my feet all day, and I will be able to have more time with my husband. I am very excited! Although, I am very sad to leave my girls at Baptist. The Lord really has given me peace about the decision to leave, though. I just know this new schedule will be better for me and my baby! Still...hardly a difference in my tummy. Just very bloated! Baby Wade is the size of an appleseed!

What I'm Been Experiencing This Week:

• Bloating
• Sore Chest (Hard to sleep on tummy)
• Nausea
• Heartburn

Facts About Baby This Week:

• Your embryo (looking kind of like a tadpole) is starting to form major organs (heart, kidney, liver, stomach) and systems (nervous, circulatory, digestive). Baby's presence in your uterus triggers production of hCG (the hormone detected by pregnancy tests)... which triggers production of other hormones like estrogen and progesterone... which trigger all those great symptoms you've probably been noticing!

My baby, a Vols fan

Today I did a little Christmas shopping and while in Hallmark, I saw these cute newborn booties. I HAD to buy them! I decided we would wrap these up and have my dad and stepmom (who don't know I'm pregnant yet) open them on Christmas. My dad is a huge UT fan...and now, so is Baby Wade...SURPRISE... :)

4 Weeks

Well, I'm 4 weeks...so far my symptoms haven't really changed. I am still exhausted and a little weak if I don't eat every 3-4 hours. However, no morning sickness yet. I hear it's definitely not JUST a "morning" thing, so hopefully I won't have much of that! Oh, one thing that HAS changed would be my sense of smell. I smell EVERYTHING. The other night, a man walked past me and his cologne was SO strong that I just about coughed up a lung. Yuck. But the fact that I haven't been running to the bathroom sick is the one thing I'm thankful for...I can deal with the smells....at least for now. I hear that the strong smells are eventually what MAKE YOU SICK. Great. My husband says i'm becoming "curvier" which is fine because my baby is worth it. I wouldn't call it curvy though...I would call it bloated and I actually have a chest now haha. But all this bloating going on....when most don't know I'm pregnant is annoying. I can't wait to actually have a bump...my friend Melissa said that for weeks people would just stare at her with a questionable look wondering if she was or wasn't pregnant. Well, yes......I'm pregnant. And, no...you can't tell. Yet. :) Michael has been hanging up Christmas lights like crazy around our rental house. It looks great and I'm so thankful for him! I can't wait to see what he will do when we decorate the baby room (even though he says I'm in charge of that) haha. December 14 is our first prenatal appointment and ultrasound. I am so thrilled. I can't wait to see the tiny flicker of a heartbeat! Michael and I plan on telling more family members the good news over Christmas! We can't wait to see their faces...

We're Pregnant!

On November 22, after a long 6 days of waiting, a pregnancy test finally showed what we had been hoping for...WE ARE HAVING A BABY. Now, I would love to tell you that the one test had me running to Michael jumping up and down with the good news. However, because I can never do things simply, I had to run to the dollar store and buy 8 tests total to confirm the already positive test I received with the expensive First Response test. Pregnancy tests are very interesting (Ok, weird). Even though all of them had a second pink line, not one was the same. One would be super light, one dark, one so light you had to squint. But...nevertheless, a second pink line is a SECOND PINK LINE.

Success. I ran downstairs with a few in my hand to show Michael. He was very suspicious by the different colors each time I held up a test. "Don't you see it? Look! Look!,  I said loudly. When he finally realized that this was not a time to joke and act like he didn't see anything...he hugged me and said, "Sweetie. I knew after the first test that you were pregnant. I even knew a few days ago you were pregnant after you went to bed every night this week at 7pm." Immediately, I ran back upstairs, continuing to stare at the positive tests, and called my OB/GYN office to set up my ultrasound appointment. After I hung up, I fell to my knees and started sobbing...I couldn't control my tears. We were having a baby...I was going to be a MOM.

Did I mention this all happened at my parents home while visiting for Thanksgiving? Luckily my mom was out getting highlights and stepdad was at work or else I would have ruined the big surprise. We decided we were going to tell only close friends and my parents first. It would be the next night over our "day early" Thanksgiving feast (had to return to Nashville to work on Thanksgiving night). Reid, my brother, would be there and it would be a perfect time.

The next night as we ate our food, we went around the table saying what we were thankful for...I was last. I told everyone how I was thankful for my job, my husband, the wonderful wedding my parents paid for at the beginning of the year, my friends, and most of all I was thankful for the life inside of me. I said, "WE ARE PREGNANT". My mom's face was priceless. We got it all on video, too.

Needless to say, I still can't believe it. The first month we tried to conceive, God blessed us with a baby. So far I am 3 weeks, 4 days. Great Thanksgiving for sure...currently no pregnancy symptoms except being EXTREMELY TIRED and a little weak when up moving around. I have the tiniest little bump, but it may have just been the Thanksgiving meal we just ate. Pictures to come next week of my progress!