I never thought I'd be a "blogger"...

As a matter of a fact, I just found out what a "blog" was not too long ago. I mean, I've heard the term a lot but I guess I never cared what it was. I will go ahead and credit my online "knottie" friends for gracing me with the knowledge of what a "blog" actually is. A lot of those girls have blogs so I decided to check them out. It's very voyeuristic in some ways. I feel like I'm being nosy, which I tend to be anyway, so it's fun for me!

So, despite the title of my blog (which was just a lack of creativity), I'm going to attempt to make this about more than just my pregnancy. My goal is to make it about our life in general. But who am I kidding? My whole life is about pregnancy right now, whether I want to admit it or not. It's very mind consuming. I will try, however, to add some general life info!

In a way, I view this whole blogging thing as narcissism. Its basically getting people in your life to read all about YOU, right? It's shallow and self serving, in my opinion. Well, yes, call it what you want but I am also using this to journal. I have always been a big fan of writing and journaling. It has always been a good outlet for me and I'll be honest, pregnancy has caused me to need an outlet, for the bad and the good. So now I can just type instead of getting a hand cramp, AND people who want to read about my life, can. So, enjoy....





I won't bore anyone with what has happened in last few months. I think everyone is familiar with the facts: we got married August 9th in Costa Rica, had the most AMAZING trip of our lives, we got back to Florida and, well...got pregnant!

We were so excited to find out the news. Neither Dustin or I thought it was possible that it could happen so fast! (Yes, I paid attention in sex ed class but let's face it, my eggs are getting a little, um, seasoned.) We just feel very blessed and terribly excited for this baby. I found out super early and we told everyone, even though that is supposed to be taboo, but, we didn't care. We were too excited not to tell. Dustin announced it at our Florida reception on September 27th, so those that didn't know before that, knew then!

I am now 8 weeks and 3 days pregnant. This is the way you gauge pregnancy when you're actually pregnant. Its not "I'm 2 months pregnant", its "I'm 8 weeks". I never understood why the weeks were so important before...now I DEFINITELY do. In my opinion, its all about milestones. At 7 weeks I had my first appointment and we saw the heartbeat via ultrasound (and I think its worth mentioning that I felt like Rachel from "Friends" when she couldn't see the baby on the ultrasound screen). 12 weeks means I'll be in the second trimester, or "out of the miscarrying woods", sort of speak. At 18 weeks, we can find out the sex (which we will). At 27 weeks I'll be in my third trimester and of course, at 40 weeks, I'll be having the baby. My estimated due date is May 28, 2009...which happens to be Dustin's birthday! Oh, and there are all kinds of tests, ultrasounds and appointments in between all of those weeks too! So much mom never told me...

I'm not going to sugar coat it, pregnancy is draining, scary, strange, wonderful, exciting, hopeful, weird, and amazing...all wrapped into one. The question of most days is, "How are you feeling???". The answer: "Like shit", most days. Here are the facts, from my perspective:

• The term "morning sickness" is bullshit. I'm nauseated every.single.day.all.day.long.
  
• I eat every two hours, even in the middle of the night.
• Nothing ever looks or sounds good to me. Food television commercials are the devil.
• The world smells way worse than I ever thought.
• I'm so bloated that I already look 7 months pregnant. Hardly any of my clothes fit me anymore.
• My boobs are absolutely enormous and they hurt like hell (sorry if I'm making anyone uncomfortable).
• I could stay on the couch and nap all day (and night) long.
• I am very emotional.

Everyone keeps saying, "It will get so much better. One day you will wake up and feel GREAT!". Ok. Get me there now, please. I pray that I get mommy Alzheimers so I will have another child. At this point, I don't know how anyone goes through this more than once. Hey, I said I wasn't going to sugar coat. All of my friends have been amazingly wonderful and are probably so sick of hearing me bitch. Jaime, Annie, Jody, Shannon....thank you for reassuring me that this is all worth it. I look at all of your kids and think to myself, "how can this NOT be worth it?".

I know, I know, I'm making it sound horrible. It isn't. It's the furthest thing from horrible. It is truly amazing. Especially when I see what's happening inside of my body.

This is an image inside the womb at 8 weeks:



It's the size of a raspberry! How crazy is that??

Here is what I look like on the outside:



This is what I signed up for: sacrificing my body (temporarily) for this baby. More importantly, our whole lives are changing and its going to be the best adventure we've even been on. Parenthood is just around the corner! Holy shit, that's scary!

The last thing I'm going to talk about regarding pregnany in this entry is my amazing husband. Obviously, God knew that I needed a patient, sweet, energetic, loving, understanding man in my life. That is exactly what I have. He has been running to the store for me, anytime I want anything, he has watched me cry for no reason at all and been very supportive, he has cooked all of his own meals since I cannot stomach it, and he has sacrificed his own social life since I never have the energy to go out at night. Amazing. He'll never know how much I appreciate him. I recommend that every woman marries someone like Dustin.

Needless to say, married life is great so far! We've done some house projects and are planning a small vacation for late winter or early spring. Dustin's next project is a salt water reef tank in our living room. He's been working on it and researching for MONTHS. It will soon become a reality. Probably within the next week or so.

So, there it is. My first blog entry. I apologize if I suck at this. I'm sure I'll get better. Please check back often...or don't and just tell me you do to boost my ego =)