Where do we start?!

Hello, everyone! 

Thanks so much for taking the time to read all of my ramble that this blog will consist of. I have high hopes of making this a regular thing, and hope you all will join me on this blog-tastic journey! 

So where should we begin?! Pregnancy? Holiday shopping hopes/wants? Make-up favorites or tips? I will be including all of these things, as time goes on. But lets start where I think people are the most curious; PREGNANCY! 

If any of you are visiting my blog from Facebook, some of you have the scoop- but for those that are new- I am currently approaching my 15th week of pregnancy! Exciting! 

Let's start at the beginning. How did I find out?! Well, what an interesting story. I had woken up one afternoon from a short nap in terrible pain. Pain that I described as someone stabbing me in my lower right abdomen. I couldn't stand straight, I could hardly walk and every time I took a deep breath the pain only intensified. Crummy, huh? Well, me being the stubborn person I am, I just decided that it was nothing and would pass as the evening went on. NOT. It was coming close to midnight and I was still in terrible pain and my sister finally convinced me to go to the Emergency Room. I was expecting that my appendix was being mean, or since I had experienced this pain before, that it was a possible cyst. Blood work, urine samples and 3 or 4 hours later, the doctor finally came in to discuss what was going on. I was literally expecting her to say something like "Oh, you're just gassy" or something ridiculous and be on my way. Oh dear was I wrong. I will never forget this moment. The doctor is standing at her computer with her back facing me, my sister sitting in a chair next to me munching on some skittles, and she begins to explain my test results; "Your bloodwork looks great, your white blood cell count is perfect, your hemoglobin is great, your pregnancy is positive!". After that moment I don't remember a single word she said. All I remember is hearing my sister yell "HOLY SHIT" and drop her skittles on the floor. Poor thing! I cant even explain all of the thoughts and emotions that went through my head at that moment. As tears began to pour, I just couldn't believe it. ME? I'M PREGNANT? ARE YOU SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT INFORMATION? It was the biggest shock of my life. She then began to explain that the pain could have been due to an Ectopic pregnancy, meaning that the baby could have been in one of my fallopian tubes. So from there we went on to ultrasounds and other tests to see what was going on. I was just barely 4 weeks when I found out, so there was really no way for them to determine anything at that moment, so I had to wait for blood test results to determine if my hormone levels were increasing like a normal pregnancy. I saw so many doctors that week trying to figure out what was going on. That mixed with the initial shock that HOLY CRAP I'M HAVING A BABY, caused for one hell of a week. But alas, everything was perfectly normal. There really wasn't much explanation for the pain.

So! Then came the fun part of telling my family and close friends. I think every member of my family was in just as much shock as I was. I was bombarded with the normal questions, but mostly "Well, what are you going to do?". And at the risk of grinding the gears of many people, I honestly didn't know what I was going to do. Was I fit to be a mother? Did I really want kids? Am I emotionally stable enough to handle this? I'm only 22! Every thought that you could imagine thinking, I thought it. After being told that some people just couldn't see me as a mom, I was sure that I couldn't do it. I felt so lost, so overwhelmed. Then I think I had a little bit of sense knocked into my head. WHAT WAS I THINKING? OF COURSE I CAN DO IT! I started to imagine my baby growing inside of me, and having dreams of them as they got older and couldn't bear the thought of not having them in my life. I mean, hello! I've been given the greatest gift any woman could ever hope for! It was an emotional roller coaster, that's for sure. 

So now that I've caught you up on every thought, feeling, etc. Let's get to the fun part! But lets be honest, the first trimester is anything but fun. Aside from the excitement of telling your family and friends, having your first doctors appointments, hearing and seeing your baby for the first time, everything else is pretty blah. Blah is the perfect word to describe all of my feelings over the past 15 weeks. I thank the sweet heavens that I was lucky enough to not experience the dreaded morning sickness, but boy did I get hit with exhaustion HARD. There was a point where I was sleeping at least 15 hours out of each day, sometimes more. I would be asleep by 9pm, wake at noon and be back to sleep for a nap just an hour or so later. I didn't want to leave my house, eat, or shower (I feel terrible for anyone that was around me). I just wanted to sleep! I also experienced the worst dizziness imaginable. I was constantly spinning, nauseous and emotional because I couldn't get it to stop. You know those terrible moments in life when you're like "OH MY GOSH WILL THIS EVER END?" that was one of them for me because there was really nothing I could do to prevent it. Luckily it passed in just a few days. Otherwise, I had a week or five where I could hardly eat. I would try, but less than halfway through I would be running to the bathroom. And no, not to vomit. IT WAS TERRIBLE. I still have eating issues where I can hardly finish anything I begin to eat without feeling gross or extremely full extremely fast. But hey, if that's really the only issue I'm dealing with, aside from peeing every hour, I think I can handle that. 

Pregnancy is a crazy thing! Your body is changing in ways I didn't even think possible. Both inside and out and I've loved watching that process. I mean, pregnancy boobs are no joke! I think most of the 4lb weight gain, so far, has been right in the girls. I'm sure I'll sound ridiculous, but I swear I feel prettier now than I have my entire life. Maybe it's because I'm appreciating my body more? I'm literally growing a human! My body is my child's home. How could I hate something that's protecting something so special to me?!

I'll find out the gender *crossing my fingers* at 16 weeks, if all goes as planned. If not, I'll find out the week of Christmas! What a cool gift, right? Baby names are already picked! I'm just ready to know. I think it's a girl, but everyone else seems to think otherwise. I guess we'll see!

I figured I would leave you with a few exciting photos based on everything I rambled about. 

-10 week ultrasound-

-13 week ultrasound-

-And of course the bump!-

I've been on an extremely wild ride over these past weeks, and I truly thank everyone who's reached out to congratulate me, or just sent positive thoughts. Having a support system is extremely important during such an exciting time! 

Please feel free to leave comments or questions about some of the things I discussed, or even things you're more curious about! I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving! I know I have a lot to be thankful for this year.

xo