First trimester

I'm not going to lie, no one could have prepared me for how hard it really is to be pregnant. I basically went into hibernation after our cruise. I remember getting off the ship & we were planning on going back through Vegas, staying a night with Terry & Suzi then driving back the next day, but I just could not get home soon enough. So we made the drive straight from the coast back home in one day, and we literally (I joke not) got home just in time for me to puke for the first time in my own toilet. That was 6 1/2 weeks, and my body decided to be super sick all the way through 17 weeks. Then five weeks after that of random pukings but not all the time sickness. I write these details really just for me to look back on as like a journal, not to complain to the world so don't judge me. I really was stoked to be pregnant, I just honestly was not prepared for how truly hard it would be.

I felt so blessed to only have my part-time work training at the gym, and decided to use that first week back from the cruise as a trial run to see if I could even continue doing that. As hard as it would be sometimes to get my butt out of my bed from re-watching all the seasons of One Tree Hill in between puking and sleeping, it actually was good for me to have something to get ready for and out the door each day. My clients were all so understanding of me needing to suck on peppermints or saltines during their sessions, or sitting on the ground while I boss them around instead of being as interactive as I normally was. But I was able to continue with my 2-3 hours of training each day through the pregnancy (without puking on anyone I might ad!) so for that I was grateful!

The doctors appointments were my most exciting events to look forward to! The first one was at 8 weeks on February 7th.

Pictures below are somewhere between 6-8 weeks:

Our 8 week ultra-sound! Everything was looking right on track! Heart beat was really fast (in the 170's) Dr. joked then that that meant a girl. 

It was so exciting to actually see something was really in there, I REALLY was pregnant, not just sick for no reason. This appointment really let it sink in for J and I, I think, that we really were going to have a baby together! 

 I also was super relieved to find out I could get a prescription for Zofran to help with the nausea. This seemed to help a lot, especially at night. Instead of waking up every 2 hours puking up just acid and hating my life, the medicine helped me sleep through the night. I would still throw up about two times a day for that ten week time period, but I didn't feel quite as sick all the time, and any relief to get was amazing. I remember I couldn't even distract myself with Pinterest because the recipes and pictures of food would send be hurling. There was once that J and I were driving home from his parents house (where I had just eaten a whole bunch of blueberries because I was literally starving & nothing else would sit with me) anyways, we were just down the street from our house and Jonathan burps, I get a whiff of it (get mad at him) and the second we pull into the driveway, make a run for the toilet. He was very careful about holding in his burps around me from then on. There were times I couldn't even go in the kitchen because Jonathan had just opened the fridge a minute prior and I would get a lingering smell of  it and make me sick. And who knew the freezer could smell!?! Everything is frozen, it's not supposed to have a smell! But let me tell you, it does! And it can trigger a barfing episode, just in case you were wondering. 

Me at 10 weeks:

 At 12 weeks: At this point I had lost 7lbs. 

We got to have another ultra-sound at our 12 week appointment, this time was  really sweet! It really looked like a little baby this time, not just a gummy bear blob! Our baby had two arms & two legs, and fingers and toes! And the baby did a flip while we were watching, SO COOL! Doctor Lovelace was able to tell us from the ultrasound it didn't look like the baby had any spine issues or abnormalities that ruled out most chances of having things like cleft pallet or down syndrome and a few others I can't remember. So that of course was great to hear we had a healthy babe on our hands!

The next week I was officially done with the first trimester, and even though a lot of those days were tough I do remember thinking it flew by! 

Carnival Cruise

So I'm super sad because all of the pictures I took with my actual camera while on our trip got wiped off my SD card so I only have pictures from my phone. (and when I feel like paying 50 bucks to recover the photo's I'll try to remember to get them back on the blog, but for now this will have to do!)

The trip started off great. We decided to drive to Vegas and stay a night there.

I distracted myself by doing my nails in the car & taking pictures:

 We made it vegas that evening & stayed at a cheap hotel on Freemont street. We got to meet up with Terry & Suzi who took us to dinner, they were in the process of moving so we didn't stay with them like we usually do, so we just enjoyed our delicious Mexican dinner together, then J & I toured the dirty Freemont strip. 

 The next day we made the drive to Long Beach!

 I always get so excited when I see palm trees!

 Not to mention the excitement we get when we got to 70 degree weather and escaped the Idaho winter!

 We made it to Venice beach just in time for the Sunset:

 & J finally got to see Muscle Beach!

 His bodybuilding idol:

 testing out some of the equipment:

 Then we went back to the hotel for the night, got some treats (I love when Jonathan goes on a food vacation too, it makes it more fun for me to have a junk food buddy!) I got some Cherry Garcia, & J got some cake! Then he got chocolate wasted and fell asleep 5 mins into our movie...

 The next morning was time to board the ship! We were pretty excited!

Here is where my picture start to suck at portraying our trip :( with my we only took our dinner pictures so all our touristy things will have to appear some other time when I get the pictures back. But here's a glimpse at our evenings on the ship:

 Dolphins:

We stopped at Catalina Island, and in Ensanada Mexico. It was all fun in games until my nausea started to kick in. We really did have an enjoyable time overall, and tried to do as much touristy things as we could but we both said we were probably a "been there done that" type of couple when it comes to cruises. We didn't love the limited options of entertainment and places to explore at the ports, and with it being January the pools were too freezing to get in (and I couldn't do the hot tub thing being pregnant) Then with the sickness kicking in I honestly just couldn't wait to get off the ship. I started having a bionic sense of smell and could smell the sewer system & dead fish all through the night trying to sleep. The food really started to get to me too, to the point where the last day I just ate mini boxes of cheerios, so if we were to do it all over again I definitely would wait till I was not pregnant & maybe go with a bigger cruise line with bigger ships and better ports. BUT that being said, we did love our time just being alone together all week!   

I'm pregnant?

On January 7th 2013, I decided to take a pregnancy test. I wasn't even late (I should have started in a few days) and it was our second month of trying so I had a leftover test from the month before. It was kind of "burning a whole in my pocket" like I just had to use it, but not actually thinking I was pregnant, or if I was that it wouldn't show anything cause I was taking it too early. Anyway, so I took it, glanced at it & was shocked to see the faintest of lines! Of course I then had to get more tests (though looking back, getting any sort of line even on the cheapest of tests is legit enough to tell ya you're pregnant!) So I text Jonathan a picture of the test (lame way to tell him right!?!) and the dork didn't believe me, what a buzz-kill. He says he was thinking "ehh I don't know about that" mostly because of the faintness of the line. So, I went to the store and got another set of two tests. Still got a faint blue line, took the other test the next day, same thing. Then on Wednesday the 9th, still doubting the tests, Jonathan told me to get one more box of tests and then we'll believe it or not. So I go to the Star Merc (the little store right around the corner from our neighborhood) where the tests are LOCKED in a box that I embarrassingly have to ask someone (an old dude of course...) to unlock, and they're $15 for ONE tests (Rip-off! The dollar store tests do the exact same thing if you're wondering...) Anyways, I get home, take the test & send a picture to Jonathan who FINALLY lets it become real & we believe I'm officially pregnant! Woohoo! Only took 4 tests and 3 days, but we got there eventually.

At this point I was considered 4 weeks pregnant. And had NO clue what was in store for me ;)

We were set to leave for our cruise that I got for Christmas just a week 1/2 later so we decided to tell our families before-hand cause I'm super impatient. We did a google hangout with my fam & shared the picture below with them to share the news. Then when hanging out at J's parents with the whole family we brought over a gift basket with that picture in it, a bunch of 'cry babies' candy, 'sugar babies' & 'baby bottle pops' to make the announcement. It was super fun to see everyone so excited and a great way to leave on our trip!