So that's what that was!

For about 2-3 weeks now I have been feeling "something" in my belly. At my 20 week appointment the Dr. asked if I was feeling movement yet and my answer was "maybe??". Seeing that I haven't felt it before, I really didn't know what it would feel like.

Well, now Noelle (yes, that's her name and no, we aren't looking for opinions) has been moving a lot and a few days ago I actualy saw a big kick! Now we have a little game where she starts kicking and I'll lightly poke and she'll keep it going. In my world this is a fun game. I'm sure in her world, it is thoroughly annoying. But hey, I'm mom, and I'm bound to annoy her one way or another :)

I have to say that this is a whole new level of joy to actually feel her and to know I have a tiny little human growing inside of me. The ultrasounds are great because I can see her, but this is just something different that I can't describe...but I know all that have been pregnant understand what I am saying.

Only 18 more weeks and we get to meet her! Last night I had a dream that she was born at 2 AM (no date in my dream)...we'll see how that goes!

A long time coming

Hello-

It has been a long, long time. 5 months...and here I said I was going to take a picture every day. The break was partially due to work and a very busy schedule, but it is mostly due to my pregnancy. You see, I've known I was pregnant since March 23rd and since then, the only things I wanted to write about were 100% baby related. However, I have been so terrified of losing the baby that I didn't want to put anything out there which would later pain me if the worst case scenario were to play out. Now that I am 20 weeks and at the halfway point, I'm feeling more safe and really letting it sink in that I have a daughter on the way.

Just a quick background - it wasn't an easy path for us to get pregnant. I won't go into details, but due to a condition I have, a "natural" pregnancy is next to impossible for us to achieve. I went through the highs and lows of treatment, with the ultimate high being the day I got the call to tell me my blood test showed I was pregnant! I had taken a test the previous day, which was negative, so this call was totally unexpected. The happiness, while always present, was quickly overshadowed by my fears of all that could go wrong as a result of the condition I have which made it difficult to conceive in the first place.

Seeing a heartbeat on April 16th helped me to relax a little and when I passed that first trimester mark with another ultrasound showing a healthy baby, I finally shared the news with everyone.

So now here we are at 20 weeks and we just saw our baby girl yesterday and she was bouncing around, kicking her feet, and had an arm up over head...which, oddly enough, was the exact position I was in at the time. I think about her all the time and find that my happiest moments are those when I see her or hear her heartbeat and know that she is doing ok. She is growing and developing as expected and I can't wait to meet her.

Now that I have finally put this out there, I promise to write more often! Lots of happy moments to document in the next few months, and really, for the rest of our lives with our daughter :)

Here I am at 20 weeks!