Halfway There!

"Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was a chance in life to assist God in a miracle." - Erma Bombeck

Oooo-ooh! We're halfway there! (Come on, I can't be the only one singing Bon Jovi in my head right now.)  Today is the official halfway mark- 20 weeks down, 20 weeks to go.  Aside from the fact that it recently started looking like I swallowed a volleyball, suprisingly little has changed in my life in the last twenty weeks.  Here's a quick recap on the first half of my pregnancy experience:



April 27th- 4 weeks pregnant.  God knows something I don't (as is always the case).

April 30th: Come home from work, take a pregnancy test.  Take the trash and recycling to the curb, and check the mail.  My heart is pounding as I go back upstairs a few minutes later to check on the test, knowing in my gut what it should say, but scared of disappointment.  Two lines.  It's finally happened.  No tears, just disbelief and shock.  Matt comes home five minutes later and I barely let him walk in the door before I tell him.  We're too excited to eat dinner.  I do manage to have a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch later that evening, mainly out of guilt that I shouldn't let my newly discovered embryo starve.

May 21st: After what feels like the longest three weeks of my life, I have my first doctor's appointment.  They confirm a tiny blob about 7 weeks and 4 days old, a precious little human inside me.  I get to hear the heartbeat, a moment I will never forget and never fully be able to describe.  Now there are tears.

June 5th, 3:30 a.m.: I throw up.  This is the first and only time so far in the pregnancy that I've been sick.

June 30th: We take a roadtrip to share the news with our families that our family is growing.

July: I read a lot of books about pregnancy and babies.  They all say different things.  The only thing the books seem to agree on is that, "Every baby is different.  Only you will discover and know what works best for your child.  A parent's intuition is most often right."  It makes me wonder why they bother writing the books and why I bothered reading them.

August: A bump emerges! It takes me twice as long to get dressed in the morning because I go through so many different outfits until I find something that fits, feels comfortable, and doesn't look funny.  For the first time ever, gaining weight is not a reason to panic.  We continue researching products and brands of baby gear, polling other parents for advice, and begin a list of items we will want to register for soon... and things I hope no one ever gives us or any child they know:



Onesies that make references to feces are gross, not cute. 

August 28th:  Except for baby's birthday, this might be the biggest day of the pregnancy, and it's coming up very soon.  The day we find out if we are having a son or daughter.  If the next chapter of our lives will be filled with tutus and dress up or forts and super heroes.  If I will get to go prom dress shopping someday or if I will be getting grass stains out of clothes.

Funny how the big dreams I have for my child (that they are healthy, happy, love and know God, smart, kind, etc.) have nothing to do with gender... yet the specifics and the way I imagine our life as a little family are completely different depending on if it's a boy or girl.  Will I constantly be picking up Barbies or race cars off the floor?  Will I get to watch The Little Mermaid over and over or Batman? 



Will Matt have a little buddy to wrestle (like Gunnar) or a sweet girl to build a sand castle for (like Ellie)?

Only 12 days until we find out the sex of the baby, and as bonus get another peek inside to make sure everything's coming along as it should.  The next 20 weeks will be full of preparations and anticipation and we'll start the new year with a new baby and new roles as parents!  Thanks for all the sweet words of encouragement, support, and prayers for us and baby during this time, it means so much to me that so many of you already love our baby too!

Only 57 days until basketball season and Baby Wheeler is excited

Let's hope the second half of this pregnancy is as great as the first one was!