Pregnancy so far.

First 4 weeks: I didn't even know I was pregnant so that month went well. I have my fears though, since I didn't know that I was pregnant I wasn't taking prenatal vitamins or watching my fish intake and things like that. So far so good though.

Weeks 4-8: The main three things I noticed, especially after week 6 were the nausea, increased number of times I went to the bathroom, and being tired all the time. During this time period Andrew and I were mostly just stressed about the whole thing and it didn't leave much room to be excited. We went on a family vacation with the Titensors down to St. George that I spent laying around or hovering over toilet, bush, or car window. I did hike Pine Creek which wasn't the easiest 6 hours of my life but it will be fun to tell little miss _______ that she's already been

down a technical slot. ;) Andrew and I were also applying for medicaid during this time. We were both still on our parents insurance and planned to be till June when Andrew turns 26 and can no longer bum off the parents. This was a great plan until we got pregnant and found out that I had no maternity coverage what so ever. This was probably the source of all our stress and worry. As we did more and more research it seemed hopeless and that we would be paying for our baby for the next 10 years.

Weeks 8-12: Still nauseated. I had to quit teaching my Friday morning Zumba class because of

how nauseated and tired I was. At this point I started going to bed at 9 and woke up around 10 or 11 because it was pretty much pointless to try and do anything else during these hours. Andrew and I went on another family vacation to Disneyland, something I will probably never do again while pregnant. I spent the entire time sick, worried about getting sick, or worried the crazy rides would harm the baby. One of the things I love most about Disneyland is eating and I definitely did not do enough of that because nothing sounded good, well besides a big huge giant corn dog at ten in the morning, something I as well will rethink in the future. We found out during these weeks that we were denied medicaid which is no surprise after finding out that you have to make less than $500 dollars a month to qualify. Still, I thought our life was coming to an end, it certainly felt like it. Neither Andrew or I have any debt and I wanted to keep it that wa

y as long as possible. The first debt we planned on taking on was a house in 2 or 3 years and I was not excited for that to be put off. I was actually really mad because we had been praying so

hard and being as faithful as we could but nothing was coming our way. It really seemed as though we couldn't catch a break and was definitely depressed.

Weeks 12-16: My nausea had subsided by this point and I was starting to get more energy. While talking to Andrew's mom one day about our situation with the insurance she offered some wonderful advice. She said that we might just want to try talking to my dad's insurance broker to see if he could do anything for us since I was previously on a plan. So my Dad talked to his broker and sure enough he said it wouldn't be to big of a problem and that he could wave the

waiting period that come with any previous conditions. It was an answer to our prayers and a relief to all our worries. I was finally able to be really truly excited about having a baby and now I'm as attached as ever. At 15 1/2 weeks we found out that we would be having a girl and that, as far as they could see, she was developing perfectly.

picture of 14 weeks obviously

Weeks 16-18: I've recently developed some pretty uncomfortable back pain which I blame on getting hit by a car as a pedestrian in high school. After the accident I saw a physical therapist who told me that I can strengthen my back and core to decrease my pain but that if I ever gained a lot of weight, like during a pregnancy, that the pain may come back and that I might have to deal with things like bed rest and limited activity. Well he wasn't lying because it's the same pain I experienced for about a year after the accident till I finally strengthened my core. Although I personally don't thing bed rest is the answer in this case. On the days that I work out, stretch, and use my back a lot it actually seems to feel better longer, only hurting in the evenings. On days that I only walk around a bit I have pretty bad discomfort in my lower and upper back. Occasionally I feel a big pop in my lower back where I broke my L5 vertebrae which causes me extreme pain. It's as well really annoying that I can't lay flat on my back since it seems to be the most comfortable position.

I'm starting to show and people are beginning to notice that I could actually be pregnant and not just gaining weight. My starting weight was 123 lbs and I'm now currently 134 lbs so I've gained about 10 lbs total. We still don't have a name for our little girl although we've been switching between 3 to see which one 'feels' right. We'll let you know when we've finally decided but that may not be until she has actually arrived.

I'm now almost to 19 weeks and could swear I've felt a little flutter in my tummy a couple times. I'm looking forward to being able to feel her more and more as she grows, although my placenta is on the front side which I guess means I may not be able to feel her as well as someone whose placenta is placed differently.

My goals for the upcoming months:

-Do some reading on childcare so I'm prepared for when she actually is here.

-Take some kind of birthing class since I'm planning on going as far as I can naturally.

-Relax and enjoy this time instead of waiting anxiously for the next big thing.