AMY ELISE ALLEN: Halfway there...

I have passed the halfway mark in my pregnancy...without blogging about it! So here I go. Brandon and I found out that we were pregnant in August right before school started. We had just come home from New York and my period wasn't more than a couple of days late so I didn't think it was necessary to take a pregnancy test yet but Brandon wanted me to and the excitement of seeing the two lines instead of one, easily persuaded me. The last few months I had taken a couple resulting in one little line and not having any pregnancy symptoms yet, I wasn't getting my hopes up. I left the test in the bathroom and went into the kitchen for a couple of minutes. Walking back to the bathroom I figured it would be another negative that I would throw in the trash and wait anxiously til the next month when I could take another test. I looked down on the counter to find, not one, but two lines! I grabbed it and walked into the laundry room where Brandon was throwing clothes into the dryer and held it up for him to see. I remember it being such a huge surprise to me and we were so excited. I couldn't stop looking at it, making sure it still said positive.

I downplayed my excitement a little because Brandon and I had seen the positive sign before. Twice. Both miscarriages had happened very early on in the pregnancy and I knew there was a chance of it happening again. But the weeks started to pass, I started feeling tired and nauseous almost all of the time...and then my belly started to grow. I didn't have bleeding/spotting like the last two times and at 13 weeks we had our first ultrasound. Baby was healthy and moving and everything looked great. They set our due date for May 12th. Soon after that, I hesitantly shared the news with everyone, knowing it was still early on. We had another appointment a few weeks after that and things were still looking good. It was a quicker appointment and they just drew my blood, weighed me, took my blood pressure and listened to the baby's heartbeat.

Then two days ago on Christmas Eve, it all became more real. Brandon and I got to go to the appointment that we had been waiting for. We were finding out whether we were having a boy or a girl. Brandon wanted a little girl and I was hoping for nothing in particular but a healthy baby. Up until that point though, I was certain it was a boy for some reason. As soon as I saw the picture on the ultrasound, I knew it was a baby girl. The nurse replied with, "Well, you see the legs and there is nothing poking out...you guys are having a girl!" I couldn't help but tear up like I had all week just thinking about finding out. We kept it a secret from our families until the next day. Christmas morning we wrapped a balloon to both of our families and when they opened the box up, the balloon flew out that read, Baby Girl on it. We are so excited and May can't get here fast enough. Brandon and I both graduate at the end of April and I have a feeling these next few months are going to be pretty busy. Below are the few pictures that I have taken related to my pregnancy. The first trimester was hard...not nearly as much documenting as I usually do.

I am so thankful for Brandon and everything he does for me. I feel like without him I would have just curled up in a ball on the couch and died. He let me quit my night job much earlier than I had planned to. My "morning sickness" usually happened around 11pm. I would throw up at work or have to rush out of bed to the bathroom. He always came into the bathroom to make sure I was okay and forced me to get back into bed while he cleaned my throw up from the sink. (Something I'm not sure I could do for him without losing it myself.) He makes me food so that I don't wither away on oatmeal and cereal. Those first few weeks I didn't have the energy to make/do anything. He would come home after a long day at school and work and throw in a load of laundry even when I should have done it. If I got home from school late and didn't look like I felt very good he would just say, "Go get in bed." And would then whip me up a grilled cheese sandwich or make sure I got my veggies for the day. My eyes tear up when I think about how much I love this man. We wake up almost every morning and he asks me, "How's our baby?" It's kind of the cutest thing. I have a hard time sleeping at night now and sometimes Thor will come and sleep way too close to me and I can't move around. He's too heavy for me to move without sitting up and so I poke Brandon and quietly ask him if he will move him and he grabs him and moves him to his side of the bed without me having to ask him twice, every time. Okay, I didn't mean for this to turn into a mushy post that will probably embarrass my husband but these are things I don't want to forget. He is pretty incredible.
One more...
When I shower, I like the water really warm...Brandon thinks I have it at a 90 degree angle towards the hot side. He likes to yell in my direction, "Quit cooking our baby!" It makes me laugh. He's going to be such a good dad.