21 Weeks and Our Journey to Pregnancy

This has been a busy week. Keith and I got to practice parenting this weekend when we watched my three youngest siblings while my parents and sister went to my cousin's wedding. It wasn't terrible but we are very glad the baby won't want to go many places. We are also very happy that we don't have to worry about teenage things for quite awhile.

We have been thinking about buying our own place instead of paying for rent every month. We got the good news this morning that we would be able to get financing for a place. Now we just need to find where we want to live. It is crazy how life goes so fast. We are a little nervous to get our own place but we are also very excited! 

How Far Along: 21 Weeks 1 day

Size of Baby: 10 ½ inches and 3/4 pound. (This is according to Baby Center app)

Cravings: Today it is doughnuts and Jimmy Johns

Sleep: It is getting harder to get to sleep because the baby likes to kick and do gymnastics when I lay down.

Sex of Baby: Boy

Weight Gain: Hopefully a pound or so... we will see at the end of the week

Names: Landon is still what we are thinking

Fetal Movement: Whenever I lay down or try to relax he decides it is time to start moving.

Stretch marks: None

Best moment of the last week: Picking up Britteni! I love having her so close!

Miss Anything: Not having random people coming up to me to touch my stomach and ask me a whole bunch of questions about being pregnant.

Labor Signs: None

Belly Button in or out: In

Wedding rings on or off: On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Generally I'm happy until about 8 at night then I get really tired and crabby

What you are looking forward to this week: Ultra sound on Wednesday and doctor's appointment on Friday to see if everything is ok with the baby. We are a little worried he may have heart issues since both Keith and I have had heart problems in the past.

We decided to tell our story of pregnancy. I will just do a little bit each week. I’ve heard all the comments on how we are crazy for getting pregnant so soon after getting married and that I am way too young to be getting pregnant.  I learned that I will always have time to continue school and to fulfill goals I have for the future but I will not always have the opportunity to be pregnant. Keith and I wanted to have children and we both decided that other things in life can wait. No one is every fully prepared for children so there was really no reason for us to not try even though we knew it was a very small chance that we would get pregnant.

We never expected that we would be able to have a baby of our own. A week after getting engaged my doctor got results back from a surgery I had earlier that month and he said I would probably never be able to get pregnant. If there was a chance that I would get pregnant there was no way that it could happen naturally. Not only did I have a bad case of endometriosis, I had polycystic ovarian syndrome and during the surgery they found pre-cancerous cells in my uterus which would make getting pregnant hard and harder to keep a baby from developing. He also told me that I only had a few years to try to get pregnant before I had to have a hysterectomy. My doctor is great and did his best to help me look on the bright side of everything. He told me to go get other doctors opinions (I did they all said the same thing) and talk with other people who may gone through similar things.

It was all very overwhelming doctor appointment and I was very nervous to go home and tell Keith the news. We were so excited about getting married and I was afraid the news would put a strain on our relationship. He was so loving and caring and told me not to worry that everything would work out how they should. He told me he didn’t mind if we ended up needing to adopt. It was so relieving to know he was still there for me.

Even though I had great support it was still hard to deal with. Here I was twenty years old having to face the fact that I may never be able to be pregnant. It was easy to get jealous of the people out there that were getting pregnant and not even meaning to. There were times where Keith would just let me cry about it and do his best to comfort me. I felt bad having such negative feelings toward people who were able to get pregnant. At the same time I couldn’t help it.

 I just wanted the opportunity to be pregnant once and carry a child that would be mine. Don’t get me wrong I think adoption is a wonderful thing and that it is such an amazing opportunity for people who cannot have a baby. There was just a part of me that wanted the opportunity to be pregnant and have a baby that I had a role in making.

Before getting married my doctor and I discussed all my options and Keith and I decided that we should just go ahead and try for a baby when we got married. My doctor had me come in every few weeks to get tested and see how things were going with all of the problems I had. Every time I went in I always got results that things were just not working like they should. I would come home very upset and Keith would just hold me and comfort me.

Finally in early December the doctor said we needed to get more serious and said we needed to try clomid. Keith and I talked about it and even with the possibility of having multiples we should go for it. Well surprise it didn’t work.  My doctor upped to dosage and all I needed to wait for was the lovely time of the month to start the next clomid cycle.

One night I was so unusually moody and upset with Keith over something stupid. The next morning I decided to take a pregnancy test and I was in shock when it was positive. Keith was out scraping snow and ice off the cars. I quickly ran outside and showed him. We hugged and he apologized for making me so upset the night before. I forgave him and quickly went to the store to get another pregnancy test so that I could make sure this was the real thing.

After four positive tests I was sure that I was pregnant and called my doctor’s office right away. I knew it was very important to get in as soon as possible so that I could make sure the baby would be ok. They got me in later in the day. I got ready and headed up to my parents so that I could tell them the news. They were so excited. It has been very nice to have them close.

I have to say I love my doctor’s office. They are all so friendly and always try to make things as quick as possible. My doctor was very surprised to see me when he came in the room. I told him I was sure I was pregnant. He looked up my labs and they could confirm it. He sat and talked to me and told me what to expect and told me we needed to be very careful because it was a miracle that I was pregnant.  He answered any question I had. I really appreciate that he will take time and answer any questions I have even when he is super busy. He told me how happy he was for us and that he will do everything he can to make this a good pregnancy and make it as easy as possible on me.