Thank you so much for all your kind words yesterday. We felt so loved. But in the midst of all the attention, I was suddenly convicted… this is not about me. I did nothing. Really, nothing {it took us two weeks to get pregnant… We can’t even really say we “tried.”}. This is about God. He created a human being. And while we are incredibly excited and honored to be chosen as parents, and we are so happy to share the news with all our friends and family, I want to remember that God creates life and sustains life… and He is the one who deserves attention and praise for our growing family! Just a reminder for myself… a repenting attention-seeker! But thank you, thank you for all the love!
And now for the details…
On getting pregnant and finding out…
As I mentioned above, we got pregnant right away. I know we were not entitled to such a quick and easy conception, nor do we deserve a baby at all, so I just want to throw up a huge thank you to the Father for His timing and also give grace and encouragement to those who are trying to conceive. God is good no matter what. {And if you want a hopeful story, one of my best friends is due two weeks after me, after battling with some fertility issues for one and a half years. God is good, even in times of waiting. God is good in hope fulfilled. God is good in times of grief and times of joy.} When we found out… I happened to take a test at the beginning of a Seahawks playoff game when Micah had guys over. After the game, he conveniently decided to go to a movie with one of the guys, so I waited from noon until probably 9pm at night to tell him the the news! I should also mention that he didn’t believe me when I told him… and he continued to not believe me, despite the evidence of two pregnancy tests, until two weeks later when we saw the baby’s precious little heartbeat at our first ultrasound. Since then, he’s possibly been more excited than I am… and it’s pretty darn cute.
How far along am I?
I will be 16 weeks tomorrow! We waited a crazy long time to tell people ONLY because we wanted to tell our parents first and in person {first-time grandparents on both sides}, which is difficult since our families live in different states. However, we knew we had this rare opportunity to see all of our parents during the same weekend in March, which meant we waited eight excruciatingly long weeks after finding out to tell anyone. Although it felt painful to keep such an exciting secret at times {and it did lead to me weeping on my bed one day because I was upset I hadn’t told my best friends yet}, it was totally worth it to surprise our families. I will post pictures and a hilarious video of the reveal tomorrow.
Have I been sick?
Not at all. Again, praise the Lord. When I found out I was pregnant in mid-January, I got really nervous. I happen to be in the midst of my hardest semester of all of grad school, and when I thought about how crazy my schedule was going to be in February and March, I felt overwhelmed by the thought of being sick. But then it never happened… I woke up each morning between weeks six and eight thinking “How do I feel? Am I going to puke? Can I get out of bed?” And then I quickly realized I felt fine. On some mornings though, I would wander to the kitchen and eat a Saltine cracker… just in case. I finally stopped this craziness when my nurse told me at my first appointment that if I hadn’t gotten sick by week eight I probably wouldn’t get sick at all. I am so incredibly thankful for a peaceful first trimester and a really healthy pregnancy so far. I’ve hardly even felt tired and I still work out 3-4 days a week. Although my groin ligaments are stretching now, and sometimes I limp a little bit after leaving the gym… but if that’s my worst symptom, I’ll take it!
Are we finding out the gender?
Nope! At least I don’t think so… I love surprises and always thought it would be fun to not find out, but I always figured that whoever I married would want to find out, so I never tied myself to the idea. However, Micah is shocking me and he doesn’t want to find out either. You must know that Micah HATES surprises. I can’t even take him to a surprise restaurant for dinner. He has to know where we are going, what we are doing, and what we are eating at all times. But for some reason he is all about being surprised with the baby’s gender, so, of course, I am happy to play along. The ultrasound tech had a guess at our 13 week screening, but we wouldn’t let her tell us. Now we will see if Micah holds strong during our anatomy ultrasound in a couple weeks…
Any cravings or food aversions?
I haven’t had any lasting aversions; I just find myself being picky and impulsive about what sounds good or bad at any particular time {one night tacos sound great and a burger sounds gross and the next night it’s the exact opposite}. One day I brought a peanut butter sandwich to school {no jelly because I don’t like it, preggo or not} and the thought of eating it disgusted me all day. I thought maybe it was the idea of eating peanut butter, but PB and apples sounded great, while peanut butter on bread sound like the grossest thing in the world. As far as cravings, I have been loving mac and cheese and just cheese in general. The week after we found out, I bought a wedge of gouda from Trader Joe’s and ate about 3/4 of the thing in a single night… with crackers of course. My SIL watched me do it and she might be forever disgusted with me! But I need a lot of calcium during pregnancy, right???
Just wanted to answer the most frequently asked questions for you! I’ll be back tomorrow to share about telling the grandparents!
Again, so happy for you two adorable people AND your family and friends. To God all the glory + praise, what a blessing to share this experience with you. As if you already did not know, you are a BEAUTIFUL mama-to-be. Geeesh, I don't think you could GLOW any brighter!!! Big hugs, Friends. =)
Aww look at that little bump!! You are glowing mama š
Congrats! You are so pretty!
i'm like, kinda, sorta, totally, absolutely, you know, super into, obsessed with your blog right now! can't get enough details!! š
^^ that was me! š
I want more more more! Seriously this is my favorite part of reading about pregnancy… how you found out and how you told people. I cant wait to hear how you told Katie!!!!! Praise God you are not sick, some women feel bad when they tell me that but I am so so happy that so many of my friends are having easy pregnancies (and hope one day I do too!). Heck despite being sick I love every moment of growing this boy. I love how from the start you understand and believe that pregnancy is a gift from the Lord and not a right. Being pregnant has deepened my faithfulness in God and made me realize how strong some of my friends going through infertility are. I am so glad you are taking weekly pics! Sometimes I feel like it is overkill but I can't wait to look back on it (and in future pregnancies too). Andn SO fun you aren't finding out the gender… what a thrill!!!! Love you and that baby!
Again, SO excited for you two. Having followed along with your blog, you and Micah are just even more wonderful than when I knew you (years ago š ) and I just know you will make amazing parents. Your baby is so blessed to have such an amazing family of support also. Good luck on your pregnancy and journey into parenthood, I look forward to sneak peeks! I am also so glad you have been feeling well!!
You are beautiful!! Pregnancy looks so good on you and there's not even (much of a) bump to dress up yet!! I am so thrilled for you guys. So excited to be able to pray with and for you and your sweet baby during this season. Yay, yay, yay!!
That's awesome!! Congrats again and again! For the most part your experience is sounding like mine did. When we really tried it didn't take long, I wasn't sick, and everything is going well. We did find out what we're having though.. The second the tech asked us my husband couldn't help himself he was so excited to know! haha
yaaay! congratulations!!
Congrats! š
Congrats to you!! I don't really blog anymore…I write from home for work so it's fallen off my priorities, but I'm due on Sept 8th with my second (I also live in AZ lol)!! I think we're like 5 days apart! What is your due date?
I'm really happy to hear you've had such a good pregnancy so far! Definitely a blessing from God š
We have an almost 11 month old girl and just found out last week we are having another girl! I was SO sick with her, and with this pregnancy I've been completely fine, so we really thought it was a boy. I'm excited to have two girls though and always remind myself that we have no say in the gender (I remind my husband of that often, haha, since I know he wanted a boy!).
Anyways, huge congrats to you and your husband!! Babies really are the best š
Congratulations Jen! And praise God! I've missed your blog lately, but its been for a good reason!
Just found your blog through WIWW! Congrats! Also, the same thing happened to us! We did not even 'try' and are expecting! I know it is an answer and quite the blessing from God.
Also funny to me that you live in AZ and we currently live in Seattle but up until a month ago I went to AZ for work every month!
we didn't find out the sex of either one of our babes and it was so exciting. it was an amazing moment for my husband (and me) because he got to be the one to tell me if it was a boy or girl and he got to tell our family. it was his big moment of glory since i got the whole pregnancy š