A few days ago John had this crazy idea that we should do a 'Spa' day this week. We've had this planned for a while but just never got a chance to do it. We were in the car one day earlier this week and he was like "how does a spa day sound? You get your eyebrows done and I get a haircut, and we'll both get a pedi together?" I was in complete utter shock when he said we can get a pedi together! You see, for the past let say 13 years, Ive been trying to convince him to get a pedicure done with me (he obviously didn't have to paint his nails) but just to join for a relaxing day. He always turned down my offers because he has a thing about people touching his feet. Im not even allowed to touch his feet. So for him to finally say 'lets get one together' was a big surprise! Of course I couldn't turn down the offer. I guess he figured now that Im pregnant, I'll be getting my toes done more than usual because at some point I wont be able to do them myself. The last time I got a pedicure from a salon was 2 years ago. Im not the kind of girl who goes and gets her nails and toes done all the time. I just don't like to put my money towards something I can do myself. But it doesn't hurt to pamper yourself once in a while. I'd like to label myself as 'low-maintenance' and I know John loves that about me. Haha!

John says it was weird but he said it felt good and his feet felt a lot smoother and lighter than it was. I knew he'd enjoy it! I got a french pedicure cuz I couldnt decide on a color, so to play it safe I went french instead. While I was getting my eyebrows done, the lady goes "are you pregnant?" and it caught me off guard and started giggling and asked her what made her think I am. She said "just curious. Do you have kids?" I'm thinking thats a pretty personal thing to ask someone you just met. If i had been going to her for years I wouldn't have mind sharing that bit of info about me, but sorry girl we're not that close! Haha! It was just funny though cuz Im sure she didnt mean any harm by the question, but it just made me wonder what made her ask such question. Was my tiny belly bump that obvious already? I mean it just looked like I was bloated! 

Im sure this wont be the last pedicure date John and I will have together this year! He said he's down to join me again the next time I want to get my toes done. It probably wont be until we head to San Diego. Ugh! I cant wait to be in my hometown!! 

Xo,

Jenn 

Oh gloomy days! Its been gloomy and chilly today (pretty odd for the end of April) and now its raining. John was out cleaning the garage after we came home from errands and eating lunch with friends, while I tried to take a nap. I have been feeling miserable the last week and a half and not because of nausea, but because of allergies and what could possibly be 'pregnancy rhinitis' as well. I know when its allergies because my eyes and face start to itch as well. But lately my nose has just been stuffed and so I looked it up and there's such thing as 'pregnancy rhinitis,' so Im definitely going to have to ask my OB about it because I have difficulty breathing and its frustrating! I have nasal congestion and leaves my nose all stuffed, so at night Ive been sleeping with my mouth open so Id wake up with dry mouth. But I keep telling myself all of this will be worth it. John bought me a humidifier the other day to help ease any irritation I may have at night. I have been able to sleep better lately and getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep, and just waking up once in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.

Lets get carried away together! A few days ago I stumbled upon this pregnancy app! It has been my favorite of the 4 apps I have! Its called Ovia Pregnancy. My favorite thing about it is the calendar and the milestones! I love how easy it is to track anything. I also love the cute hand size thing! Lately I've only been going on this app and the Bump app for pregnancy infos. I like the group section in the Bump app because theres one for December 2015 Mommas. I havent posted on the social groups yet, but I like reading some peoples experiences that are similar to mine.

Fatigue still gets me during the day, so taking any jobs right now is a struggle because by noon all I want to do is sleep, plus not being able to breathe has been making me a little moody too. I struggle to get up in the morning, but I have to force myself because I'm usually super hungry or I really have to pee either one will get me up. So lately the struggle has been trying to breathe, and the choice between sleep or satisfying my hunger. The joys of pregnancy! :) I try not to google too much also because I just freak myself out and worry and I dont need any of that right now. Every pregnancy is different so I shouldn't base my experience on someone else's pregnancy journey. 

My cravings lately has been donuts and carne asada and carnitas tacos from Pelons. We have gone there 5 times within the past 10 days. Oh my goodness! Just thinking about it now makes me want some! Ugh. Ive also been thinking about Jack in the Box's Monster Tacos! Oh my! I can not wait til June! This is when I wish I was home in San Diego: 1. Both our families are there 2. All the amazing food! 3. Beautiful weather. Sigh. 

I have been having weird cramps, like I feel like my skin is stretching. I dont know how to explain it. Its just weird and very mild. It comes and goes and last for a few seconds. I have so many questions and concerns but since we have not spread the news yet, I have no one to turn to (except google, which I try not to do). I can't wait til our first OB appointment which is on May 18th with a new OBGYN office. We decided to switch to this one because of the hospital they deliver at. We wanted some where closer to us but the hospital nearby has really small post-delivery rooms and I would definitely want John to stay the night with me. I can't wait to see our little bub (thats what we call it for now, since we dont know if its a boy or a girl). 

I almost forgot to mention that I went to get my blood test done two days after my doctor's appointment. Waiting for the results was torture! It felt like forever, it was really only 24 hours. Ha! So I finally called in and they said I am indeed pregnant. My beta was 362 so the nurse said that their guess of 1-2 weeks (or 3-4 weeks) pregnant was on point. So now, Im not sure if Im 5 weeks and some days or just hitting 6 weeks because I ovulate later than the normal 14 days because my average cycle days are 31, therefore I must've ovulated around day 17 or 18 or 19, one of those. Haha! So complicating. The only way to really know is that ultrasound at our first appointment. All the waiting is torture! Then I think about it, this is going to feel like one long journey to the finish line! But I can not wait! 

Happy National Parks weekend! We spent ours in the good 'ol outdoors! I didn't even know it was National Park weekend until John mentioned it! He said "How perfect is it that were headed to Blue Ridge Parkway on National Parks weekend?!" Haha! Anyway, this was the trip we were suppose to go on a month ago and had to postpone due to surgery. I cant believe its been a month! This trip almost didn't happen because something came up, but Im so glad it did! Ok, back to our trip... We got a late start to our day. My original plan was to leave before sunrise because it was a 4 hour drive and I didn't want to hike at noon with the expected weather to be 80 degrees! It was definitely a long drive, I was starting to get carsick. If you didn't know, I used to get car sick as a kid and has sorta grown out of it. However, when there are a lot of zig-zags on the road, I start to get queasy! So I decided to nap but couldn't breathe because of all the pollen clouds we were driving through! Oh my goodness, if we had put the windows down I would've been dead. Haha! We arrived at the Blue Ridge Parkway area around 11, and got to our actual destination, Peaks of Otter, at exactly noon and decided to rest for a bit before hiking. 

[Pax has been cuddling next to my tummy more than usual. I dont even have to call him, he just comes! I think he knows!]

I got up way too early today. My doctor's appointment wasn't until 8:45 but I was up at 4:45 because I had to pee, and after that I just couldn't fall back asleep.  I was just tossing and turning. When John finally got up to get ready for work at 5:30, I think I finally fell asleep for like an hour because I woke up again at 6:35 when he was kissing me and my belly goodbye. After that I gave up trying to sleep and just laid in bed with a bazillion thoughts running through my mind. I got up at 7:30 to eat breakfast and do mine and Pax's morning routine. I haven't been working the past few days because of the pregnancy news! Oh well, I'll start working again next week. Im no longer a long term sub anyway, so I can accept them whenever I need to. I have my teaching license and I am just waiting for a permanent teaching position at the district I applied for. But now that the news of pregnancy is here, Im not sure if I should accept one this year because its a contract basis. Without family around I want to be the one to raise my baby. But anyway, I'll think about this later on down the road!

Today was the big day that John would find out! It's only been 24hr since I found out, but of course I couldn't wait any longer to share the news with him! He had to stay at work overnight, which was perfect because it gave me plenty of time to plan. Last night after I blogged, I found the perfect way to tell him. I found an "adventure is out there" pregnancy announcement poem by Erika Jackson who wrote it for her husband when she announced her pregnancy. So I typed it up on to photoshop and added the famous "Up" house! After I had saved it, I was thinking about how I was going to go about presenting it to him, then I remembered we had a shadow box that we bought 2 years ago and never used. 

[Note: For previous blogs relating/leading to this post, head over to TTC Journey :)]

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Bare with me if I'm all over the place. I still don't know how to wrap my head around this news but earlier this morning at around 3:30 am I woke up because I was feeling so nauseous and I thought it was another tummy bug (I had to go to the ER a month ago for a tummy flu), so I thought "Crap! Here I go again!" I laid in bed for another 10 minutes before finally getting up to rush to the bathroom, but when I go to the sink nothing came out. I was just gagging. So I was a little frustrated because I still felt sick. Then I suddenly had to pee. BUT! Before I peed, I said "something doesn't feel right, let me just take a pregnancy test." So I grabbed the ones I recently bought, and peed on it, and just like any other time I pee one of these things, I left it there and assumed it'd be negative. When I looked down after I peed, there was only one line. I knew it would be, so just like any other time, I pick it up to throw it away. But something inside me told me to wait a little longer. So I put it back down and sat on the toilet and waited. A minute later and there was still nothing, or so I thought. I picked it up and was shocked at what I saw. A SECOND LINE!! A faint one, but it was there!! At first I thought maybe its just my eyes messing with me because I was still somewhat half asleep. I stared at it for a good minute, in shock, before tears slowly started to fall. I panicked a little. I remembered the first time I found out I was pregnant 3 years ago, my entire life flashed before me. That didn't happen this time, it was a delayed reaction. I put the test down, got up to wash my hands and as I was washing my hands, I heard John tossing and turning on the bed and I froze! I saw him peek his head over the blanket to see what I was doing, but quickly went back to bed. Whew! You see, for the past 3 years, I had planned out how I wanted to tell him. So as much as I wanted to break the news to him at that minute, I resisted. It was hard. Heck, I still couldn't believe it myself. It has only been a month since my laparascopy to remove polyps and endo, as well as check that my tubes were fine (read about it on the blog link above). All the results to that surgery came out good, obviously! Ha!

So I decided to hide the test in the cabinet under my side of the sink and hoping John wouldn't need anything from there. I went back to bed a little shaken and John held me and ask if I was okay, to which I replied "Yeah, I just feel a little sick I think it was your Bao!" and then giggled. He whispered, it can't be cuz I feel fine. So he drifted back to sleep as I tried my hardest to fall back asleep. I mean, how can I go back to sleep after that?! John had to get up an hour later (and yes, I was still up!) It was 4:45 am when John got up to get ready for work. It was perfect because it gave me the entire day to think about all of this and what my plan was gonna be. I think I drifted off to sleep around 6:00 am before getting up at 8:30am. I had to pee really bad. So to make sure I wasnt just dreaming about the test, I grabbed another test (different brand) and peed again. Good thing I stocked up on tests! lol! Before I could even finish peeing, that test turned positive. And I about lost it in the bathroom, cuz instead of just a little cry, I was bawling! I first prayed and Thanked God! Then got up to wash my hands, then do my morning routines. I got ready for church, and for the first time, I got there 15 minutes before the actual mass started! It was perfect cuz they were doing the rosary. I sat there and prayed and thanked him for the most wonderful blessing. We have prayed about it for the past 3 years (since my miscarry), and its finally here. I was filled with so much joy and emotion. I cried in church. 

I decided to head to commissary to get groceries because I knew I was gonna need to stock up on food and snacks and crackers. I also went to Navy Exchange to buy my own Hydroflask so I can have cold water at all times. John has one and i love that thing! Expensive, but worth it! Anyway,  as I was driving there, I put on 'A Thousand Years (Part 2)' by Christina Perri and I couldnt control the tears. Oh my goodness! I cried throughout the entire song!! I always said that if we ever get pregnant again, this was gonna be the song Id listen to. 'A thousand years' is how long it feels like we've been waiting for this miracle. My favorite part now is 'All along I believed I would find you, Time has brought your hear to me, I have loved you for a thousand years.' I know, this is more of a wedding song, but it just fit. I listened to it a couple of more times after that and still cried. What a baby I was!

After my trip to nex and commissary, I went home cuz I was so tired I couldnt keep my eyes open. I took a quick nap before doing house chores. Then I went about my regular routine before heading up stairs to get ready for bed. I sat in bed trying to think of ideas for John's surprise. There were so many possible ways I was getting tired just thinking about it. So now Im here writing this post. Forgive if there are a lot of errors and what not because my heads kind of all over the place at the moment!

The best is yet to come.

xo,

Jenn