I'm a Blessed Girl

Yesterday was such an amazing day. I am so blessed and thankful to have an amazing husband, the best family, and great friends. It was truly a day of just that. We had Thanksgiving at our place for the 6th year in a row. Once again i've been blessed to have a husband who's amazing at everything he does, one of which happens to be cooking delicous food that you would normally have to pay big bucks for. So that was basically the day. A day of celebrating being together with a lot of delicious food. I was a big distracted this year and didn't take as many photos, so here are just a few from our day.

This is Not a Dream

Even before I got pregnant I knew that I wanted to have a doula attend my birth. Just to have another body there who's gone this the whole process to make me feel okay will really help put my mind at ease. Lucky for me I have a very unfased, stress-free husband that I know will be helpful in this same way.

I've been doing my research online, looking for potential doulas in my area whom I could meet and see if the connection is there. Last week I was lucky enough to meet the lady who has now become our doula. As soon as we introduced ourselves it was as if we had met several times before. I got a great feeling from her right away. Of course, I had my list of questions to ask her in which to see if she was on the same page with what I had in mind. I was lucky enough to find out that she did. It was really great how much we did have in common. Amir and I left that meeting knowing that she would be the one who would attend our child's birth.

Things couldn't be coming along any better I feel. I have a midwife that I really trust and know has my concerns at heart, and now I have a doula that Amir and I adore. With the 5th month soon approaching i'm starting to get more and more excited. It's becoming more real to me everyday. Today we went to visit my family and they gave us our first child's gift. A shirt with Jimi Hendrix on it!! When I saw that it made everything even more real. This is not a dream. In 6 months I will have a child that will be wearing this shirt and taking all of my time!!! My life isn't just gonna be my life anymore. It's gonna be ours. Amir and I are gonna have a family member that has our own blood running through it. The thought is amazing to me.

Meeting the Midwife

So i'm a bit behind on writing this, as i've been in my own world lately. I wanted to still write and talk about how I have a new doctor. A midwife to be exact. From all that i've been reading i've just really been wanting to find a midwife because if I were to find the right one, they would be on the same birth wavelength that I am.
When I got to her office I noticed something so great about the office decore. They had an entire bulletin board set up of photos of babies and their mothers. It was so great to see that. Such a bulletin board of happiness and recognition. The place had a much warmer feeling to it than did the place I had previously gone to. Soon I was brought to a room and the midwife pretty quickly after came in. She came in and introduced herself with a warm greeting and immediately told me congratulations. As soon as I met her and we started talking I felt completely comfortable with her. I started asking her questions from my page long list and she was happy and gracious to answer every single one of them. Something that I really loved was that i'd ask her one question and she'd answer like 3 or 4 of them in just one response. Her answers were corresponded very much with what i'm wanting for my birth, and it didn't take me long to decide that she would be the one. I left the office so happy that I had made an appointment to meet her and that I had a midwife who seemed as though she actually cared about my well being.
That was the first time since I first went to the doctor the first month that i've actually begun to feel good about the birth of this baby. I think that we are going to be okay.

Part 2

So i've been told that once you get going into the second trimester you're supposed to start getting a portion of your energy back. This has yet to happen for me yet. True, I am only a little over a week into it, but i'm still really looking forward to feeling like "the old me" again. Lately i've been feeling pretty run down and am wishing I could have a few cups of coffee to make myself a little more lively.
Hence, this doesn't take away the fact that I am getting a little bit more excited about this whole process. This week we have a full week ahead of us with birth activities. I've been reading quite a lot and decided that I absolutely want a midwife, so i've made an apppointment with one on Friday, and hope that she will be the one I could fall in love with. The place that I have been going to has just not been doing it for me. There are 5 obstetricians who work in the practice and I wasn't in love with any of them. I need to feel comfortable while i'm giving birth so the search is on!
We are also hopefully meeting with our potential doula this week too, who I also can't wait to meet. I am starting to feel like things are begining to come together a bit more now and am becoming about the whole birthing process. I can't believe that at this time next year I will have a little one on my arm.

14 weeks 4 days

11 weeks 6 days

A few weeks ago, Amir took a bunch of photos of me so that we can start documenting my ever expanding belly during these next 9 months.

The Secret is Out

So, yes, i've been gone for quite some time. I guess it was because I felt as though there wasn't a whole lot to say, as has changed now. This summer was amazing. Although the summer weather here never really came, we still were able to make the most of it. We had a wonderful time visiting LA and seeing old friends. I love that city more than any other in the US and always will. After a week there we took a road trip up to San Francisco for another week of just relaxing and hanging out in one of our other favorite city's. I didn't want to ever come back from my California dream.
Upon arriving back in IL about a week into it we were lucky enough to make it to Lollapalooza to have our final blowout of the summer. It was the hottest weekend of the summer, and I was sad to see it come to and end.
A few weeks after that I found something out that was to change our lives forever. One day I was feeling extra sick at work and left early, only to come home and take a pregnancy test(well maybe 2). It was positive and I could and couldn't believe it all at the same time.
So up until this past week I was keeping it a secret from most everyone until I made it safely through the first trimester. I have just heard the horror stories of quite a few ladies I know not making it through. I can only imagine telling a bunch of people then later having to go back and tell them the horrible news. So as of last week we heard the baby's heartbeat and saw it dancing around like crazy. I thought it might be okay to let the secret out, even though i'm still a little nervous. It's definitely nice to have people know and tell you how excited they are for you. There are at least 7 other ladies I know who are pregnant right now too, so it's really great to be able to talk about it with them too.
This whole experience is still so unreal. I haven't gained a lot of weight yet, and haven't felt the baby move so i'm not sure it has completely hit me yet. Yesterday I bought a book by Ina Mays Gaskin called "Guide to Childbirth", which is comprised of a lot of different women talking about their births and i'm just excited to be learning again.
Mostly i'm SOO glad that the secret is out because that was one of the hardest things i've had to keep in my life.