The Big Announcement

By now you've probably heard the good news! Brent and I are expecting! While this has been an exciting time for us, it has equally been as nerve wrecking. This baby was conceived around the end of May and was a total shock to us. I'll spill the details on how we found out down below. Finding out I was pregnant was complete validation that opening up and starting these series of posts were necessary. I knew no matter the outcome of this pregnancy, there would be someone out there who might relate and benefit from hearing our journey. The "M" word is always in the back of my mind, I won't lie. But I will say one thing, each day feels like a total blessing to be getting to experience something that could be taken from me tomorrow. When you live for so long with constant disappointment, it seems natural to prepare yourself for the worst possible scenario, so each day that passes I'm thankful for.

I will get straight into how we found out! The weekend of June 10th, I felt crampy, which I attributed to my period starting soon. It's typical for me to feel this way. I was a few days late, but again, typical. So I went about that week knowing I had my yearly pap on June 14th. Never once did pregnancy or taking a test cross my mind. There comes a point were you just can't let your mind go there and can't handle another negative test, so I typically just waited for aunt flow to arrive. The morning of my appointment day, Brent just wasn't feeling the idea of going to work, so he decided to use a personal day. That afternoon rolled around and Brent decided he would go to Zanesville with me, which looking back it was definitely God in control of this day because this is not typical Brent behavior to offer to spend hours of his day off sitting at a doctor appointment that he didn't need to be at. So, I arrive at my appointment on time and go in. The doctor was running 30-45 minutes behind so I signed in and told the staff I was going back out to my car because the waiting room was full. Brent and I spent some quality time in the car before I decided to head back in about 35 minutes after my appointment time. When I got called back, I gave the typical urine sample for urinalysis, updated my health history, told them my last menstral period and went into a room and put on a gown. Within five minutes of being in the room, I heard a knock on the door. Surely it wasn't the doctor, I just got into the room. It wasn't. The nurse practitioner popped her head in, then her whole body and said " your urine pregnancy test came back positive!" Uhhh, excuse me? Positive? What does that even mean? I remember saying "Noooo" in total disbelief atleast ten times. Then I said "How does this happen?" To which I laugh at thinking about it now. Duh, I knew how it happened, but how did this happen FOR US. Then she asked me if I was happy, to which tears welled up as I said YES! Holding a positive test for the first time ever felt surreal. I immediately called Brent who was waiting in the car and asked him to come into the office. He came in the room and sat and I immediately handed him the positive test. I'm not sure either of us have experienced a shock like this one ever. This was NOT how I expected this appointment to go. After a good bit of sitting around and smiling at each other in disbelief, the doctor came in and congratulated us and said "I told you you would have increased fertility after the hsg test!"

We drove home in utter shock. How do you try for so long, spend so much money on fertility procedures and medications and BAM. When would seem the most unlikely timing, it happens. Brent hadn't been back on Clomid but a few days when this would have happened. The only earthly explanation is that the hsg test cleared my fallopian tubes enough that his weaker than average swimmers could make the journey successfully. Isn't it funny how God's timing is so different than the timing we would have chosen?

We had mentally prepared ourselves before the ultrasound that it might not go as we hoped, but this was a milestone for us no matter the outcome.

Monday, July 3rd we got to see our little person for the first time and see its little heart fluttering at 157 bmp on ultrasound. Again, surreal moment. I jokingly told Brent that it looked just like him. He and the tech just chuckled. The baby was measuring at 7 weeks 3 days, right in line with my last period. We left with a few pictures and we felt a little more at peace.

And again, July 24th, we got to see our little miracle on ultrasound at our first prenatal visit. The baby was measuring right on track at 10 weeks 3 days and a heart rate of 167 bpm. This time things felt much more real. Just when I thought things couldn't get more surreal feeling, they did. We could see its little arms wiggling all around and its facial profile. I had never seen Brent's face light up with so much excitement as he filmed the monitor.

Thank you all again for your continued support and sharing in our excitement that this otherwise painful journey has become! It means the world to us knowing so many people care.
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