The first trimester

So obviously I'm a little slow in getting this blog up and running.  I'm currently at 23 weeks, closer to trimester three than one, and just now posting about the first several weeks of the pregnancy.  Oh well, such is life.  Hopefully I'll do a better job of keeping up for the next several weeks!

We learned that we were becoming a family of three in mid-April.  The two weeks leading up to this revelation I was battling extreme fatigue and felt like I could barely function some days.  I was coming home from work and going to bed at 7:30 some nights.  The first week of it, I thought it was because my department at work was short staffed -- we were going through a staffing transition -- and my boss was on vacation that week which always means that stuff that she normally handles ends up rolling across my desk.  I attributed my exhaustion to these environmental factors, never even imagining that it could mean I was pregnant.

By the end of the following week, I decided to take a test and that's when my exhaustion made a little more sense.  For the second week in a row I was still completely knackered and my boss was back and work load wasn't as intense.  When the test digitally displayed the word "pregnant" things made sense in one way and were suddenly overwhelming in others!  We just looked at each other...baffled, smiling and nervously laughing! :)

From there we scheduled a Dr appointment, which confirmed our test was correct and began our journey.  They gave me a book to read about the basics of pregnancy and scheduled more regular pre-natal visits. 

This pregnancy has been by the book really as I've experienced most "normal" symptoms in the first trimester -- exhaustion, body changes, morning/other times of day sickness, etc.  Andrew headed home of a trip to see family & friends soon after finding out the news and was able to share the news in person with some which was special! 

We had scheduled a vacation months before for mid-May, which ended up being when I was 8-9 weeks along.  It was sailing in the Bahamas on a 32 ft sailboat.  It was a wonderful and relaxing trip for the most part.  Unfortunately, morning sickness and sea sickness don't really go well together.  And we got stuck in a few not-so-nice weather situations.  We enjoyed getting away for a week and the fresh ocean air and the company of our friends (who were experienced sailors).

We decided we'd wait to really begin sharing our news with friends/family until we were about 12 weeks, which normal recommendation.  At around 11 weeks we were able to hear the heartbeat for the first time, which was strong -- 144 bpm -- so we slowly started sharing our news, a little early feeling good about where things were. 

By the end of the first trimester I was feeling good about the pregnancy and it felt like it was actually soaking in for both of us that, "Yes! This REALLY WAS happening...we were going to have a baby by the end of the year!"  And we were excited about it! :)