The Surprised Ecstasy

Hello Friends and Family!

Since most of you are farther rather than nearer, I wanted to keep a blog of our recent discovery! Hopefully I will stay current so that we can all share in the joy together. Andy and I are keeping our pregnancy a secret from most of the world right now, but will open up and share it once we are further along! We were initially planning to wait until January 2013 to start trying for a baby, but Baby is coming a few months early :) My rationale for wanting to wait was that I had my heart set on an October baby. I still have my October baby, though ;) 

The past few weeks I have been driving Andy crazy (even though he kindly denies that) with my up-and-down roller coaster emotions. After the pendulum mood swings and weird cramping, I did some research. Per an article on FitPregnancy.com (I have been subscribing to their magazine since August), I met 90% of their "early pregnancy signs". Apparently the first trimester is the when all of the hormones are breaking out and running wild in preparation for the little one. Trust me when I say that my body has been extra sensitive to all of the nausea, cramping, food aversions, frequent bathroom breaks and random tastes in my mouth. I am not complaining one bit! I am enjoying it! :) This is all for Baby, and I love it!

Once I discovered that I had signs or pregnancy, I took a home test which gave me a positive! Andy had already left for work and my heart was butterflies and nerves (thanks to a very emotional morning). I called Andy and he was equally as speechless. We decided that I should call the doctor and see what they said. Since this was the day after Hurricane Sandy hit, my OB/GYN office was a bit delayed in opening. I eventually spoke with the receptionist and was told to go in after work for a test there. Well, I tested positive at the doctor's office, too! The nurse said that I was "light", but was showing up as four weeks pregnant! :) I called Andy and (after the initial shock wore off through the day) he was very excited, too! Our next appointment is scheduled for Thanksgiving Eve, and I am hopeful that we will hear Baby's heartbeat! So now I have been reading up on what I need to do, and daydreaming about our glorious future! 

The other day we got a coupon in the mail from Buy Buy Baby so I think that we will head out there and peruse the myriad things that we will "need". We are not planning on buying anything for Baby yet, just a thing or two to help with pregnancy. We have the coupon so why not use it? We will need the pregnancy stuff pretty soon ;) Of course there is always a risk of a miscarriage, but that is only 10-15%. I am trying not to think that it will happen, and I am trusting in God to bring our Baby here safely! 

We did see a Chinese Gender Chart on TheBump.com which claims to be 90% accurate. For entertainment purposes only, we input my age and month of conception to see what the chart "predicts". Per the Chinese, we are going to have a boy! That is my hope, but either a boy or girl will be such a blessing! We will see in several months!

As you who are reading this blog have been "invited" to view it, I would appreciate if you would work alongside us in not telling anyone new about our pregnancy. We will make a grand announcement on Facebook as soon as we are sure that Baby is healthy and growing. Right now Baby is between the size of a poppyseed and an appleseed! How cool is that? To think that that tiny mass will become a human being blows my mind! We love you all and look forward to sharing our journey with you!

-Ashley