Pregnancy (with Elli)

Planning:

Blake and I decided before we were married decided that we would be open to having children right away. Soon after we were married we felt like we better pray about if we should be more involved with helping our first baby come or if we should let nature take its course. On a Sunday we both came to each other with the answer that we shouldn’t wait but we should be doing everything we can to get our first child here on earth. This baby was ready. We went ahead and tried to get pregnant the first month of being married and it wasn’t time yet. This was hard to face but we knew that the Lord is in charge and He would allow this to happen if it was his will.  The next month we went ahead and tried again. I found that my period was late, wait no it didn’t come! I couldn’t wait to find out if we were blessed with a child. We waited until the end of the week and then rushed to the store. We tried the pregnancy test from the store and then both found out together… It was POSITIVE! We were filled with excitement and unbelief! Could this really be happening to us? Are we really going to be parents? Who is this baby? We retired that night in thanks to our Lord in the opportunity to raise one of his sons or daughters.

First Trimester:

            Going into this pregnancy the feelings of being prepared and educated from all the pregnancies I’ve been around growing up slowly dwindled. I didn’t know a lot about pregnancy. Blake and I decided to wait on telling others our news so it was time to find research other than family.

            Symptoms came quick. The soonest ones were feeling tired, loss of appetite – every time I ate I felt like I had a fever. I had a pretty easy start in the pregnancy. I threw up maybe 1 or 2 times but that was it. Another new thing was that sweets made me feel sick too – my body knew I needed good nutrients and that’s all it wanted. Blake was so great during all this time as I learned I couldn’t turn to others about the pregnancy I completely relied on Blake to take care of me. He jumps right in and help out all he could. The whole pregnancy Blake was very involved and the one I found I could turn to.

 I would see changes in my body over this semester. It was conference weekend that Blake turned to me and said that others could see that I was pregnant with the dress I was wearing. Although it took a lot longer for others to notice because either they weren’t looking closely enough or they didn’t know what I looked like to begin with. But Blake and I could see the change and we loved it! Overall in the first trimester I didn’t gain any weight, if not lost a pound or two but I did gain a few inches. The whole first semester I was able to fit in all my regular clothes the first semester but my pants were getting tight to button.

Blake and I couldn’t wait until we could have our first doctor’s appointment. It was set for week 10 and that was like waiting for Christmas for me. It was just so exciting to start the adventure and that was the next part.  When we had our first appointment our doctor confirmed that we were in fact expecting and than we were able to hear the baby’s heartbeat. It was such a magical moment to hear the baby's heart. Blake never did miss a doctors appointment he attended them all the whole pregnancy.

Second trimester:

            Its time to tell. The plan was to wait until we went home for thanksgiving to my parents house so we could announce in person but we finally decided we didn’t want to hide this great news anymore. Come Halloween time, we carved pumpkins over at the hoovers and celebrated Nicki’s birthday. We announced through a birthday card that we made for Nicki. Everyone was very excited for us. We than called home to Oregon and a lot of people were already at my parents house so we Skype them and made our big announcement. Afterwards we were very happy that others knew but also sad that our secret was out. It had been really neat to have something so great between just Blake and I.

            This semester the scale finally started going up and I was showing some. I felt very big but not many others felt I did. It was that stage where people taught I could be pregnant but they were not going to ask in case they were wrong. I think Blake thought it was funny that a compliment to me was your getting bigger.

            This semester the tiredness and the food eating fevers dwindled away. In fact I went to the point where instead of not having an appetite I had a very big one. I had to eat a lot during school or else I would feel sick. I didn’t have very many symptoms other than growing during this time. This was definitely my easiest trimester but the others weren’t that hard either.

            During this time I started getting a lot of emotions. Including fear of giving birth and making the right choice when it came to natural or epidural. I began to survey many women who had done one or the other and started forming my own opinion. Blake and I also looked up a lot of the medical side on the computer. We than both felt it was right for us to try natural birth. We felt that this would be the best for our baby.

            Other emotions came and these were just crazy emotions. I found that my mood swings would go crazy. I would cry over tv commercials, silly things, over nothing and probably most often I would cry because I was crying. It was so weird how strong and real these emotions came from my body changing. Poor Blake had to deal with my sudden change in moods but he always comforted me. The scariest part to me was that I was acting so different than I normally would and I couldn’t control it. Blake continually reassured me that he knows who I am and knows that this was my hormones going out of wack, this helped calm me down each time.
       Probably the best part of being pregnant started about week 19 for me…feeling the baby kick! This baby is so fun to feel. It moves a lot. Blake was able to feel the baby about the same time I was able to start. Sometimes if I were close enough to Blake the baby would kick him through me. It was also fun to watch my belly move. I could see my belly pop as the baby kicked. It was so great to feel the baby move and know that there is a living being in there. I was taking a drumming class at BYU and it was really fun because when we didn’t drum the baby would not move but as soon as the drumming started the baby would go crazy and kick a lot! This class was fun for me.

            We also had our baby ultrasound this semester. We decided to wait on finding out what the baby’s gender is. It was so great to see our little one on screen. The baby was healthy and diagnosed with long legs. That can’t be from my side, must be from Blake.

           Another fun symptom I got was Motherly Instincts - In the car that is. I suddenly became the biggest back seat driver. In the car I was very on edge as I became protective for this baby inside. I would constantly say slow down, cling on to a handle, scream of fear, etc. Good thing Blake is a good driver or I could of been a lot worst. Sometimes I was just being ridiculous but other times it was a good thing I was on watch.

Third trimester:

            The new symptoms of third trimester was trouble sleeping. I found that I no longer could sleep on my back and it was time to learn to sleep on my side. I also learned that pillows were my good friends. Who knew you needed four pillows instead of one. I would also get hot at night. another symptom I had through out the pregnancy is charlie Horses. In the middle of the night it would attack and Blake would wake fast and push on my foot to make it disappear - what a life savor.
           Sitting in the same position for to long would not do, I constantly would have to change positions to get comfortable. I also would need Blake to help me get up sometimes. In bed I would have to roll over to get up, or just roll off the bed haha.
           Blake and I took a 12 week Bradley Birthing Class this trimester and we loved it. We learned so much that we didn't know. The class took place in Salt lake city so we did the long drive from Provo there each week. It was really nice to have the time in the car to just talk. It seemed like every time on the way home we would run into a storm. Being on that side of the town we visited the Ellis's a lot too. After taking this class it really helped up know more, form our own opinions from the new knowledge, learn to relax and prep for the baby - including exercises and eating habits. The best part was by the end I had lost my big fears of giving birth and gained more and more excitement to do the birth that we had been prepping for and of course to meet our little baby.
         I really started to show in my third trimester - although a lot would say I was still small. I felt big. As I tried to squeeze between people I would accidentally bump them. I could still do a lot though - I walked to school everyday and up the huge hill to campus as well as ran around in between classes. When I say ran I really mean woddle. I definitely couldn't run anymore and had a new step in my walk.
        The week before the baby was born I was attending class, working, and taking finals. one new thing i had the last month was that I would have Braxton Hicks. My tummy tightening really got me curious of what a contraction felt like because my tummy was contracting but it didn't hurt. I was only pregnant until 38.5 weeks along -these last few photos were taken roughly 35 hours before Elli was born!