A year ago yesterday, January 4, 2016, I found out I was pregnant. I decided to write down a few thoughts and things about my pregnancy, just so I remember.
During my pregnancy I wasn't sick or anything. Those first few weeks of being pregnant, I only had one symptom (missed period.) It was the first day back at school after Christmas break and I randomly decided to take a pregnancy test. I didn't even tell Bryant I was taking it. I got out of the bath that night and took one and it was positive! I walked out of the bathroom and said "Bryant..." and he replied, "Did you take a pregnancy test!?" I was so excited, and Bryant was too, but he was a little skeptical and went to the store the next day to buy a different brand of tests, just to be sure. I took three total tests, and sure enough they were all positive!
That following weekend we traveled to Lousiana for Bryant's younger brother's wedding. Like I said before, I never was sick, but the one and only time I felt nauseous during my pregnancy was around 5:00 in the morning at the airport in New Orleans. There were a few comments made by Bryant that weekend + running back and forth to the bathroom thinking I was going to throw up, I for sure thought someone would realize I was pregnant.
My first appointment with my doctor was a few weeks later. I did blood work and all that good stuff to be sure that I was pregnant. They gave me a due date of August 15 and I would come back in a few weeks, when I was 12 weeks along, for my first ultrasound and genetic testing.
The first time we saw our baby was on February 3rd. It was so amazing to see and hear his little heart, and his little body moving around.
In order to do the genetic testing, the baby had to be between 12-14 weeks. Based on his measurements, I wasn't as far along as they had originally thought, and was only 9 weeks along. They pushed my due date back to September 3rd. I was so bummed to have to wait longer to meet our baby, but I got to have another ultra sound three weeks later to actually do the genetic testing then.
After our first ultrasound, we told our families. Our oldest nephew, Reggie, was getting baptized that weekend so we told all of Bryant's family then. We FaceTimed my sisters and parents individually to tell them. Court thought I was FaceTiming her on accident because we never FaceTime, but her reaction was one of my favorite. I don't think I could even finish telling her I was pregnant before she started crying! It was so sweet.
2nd ultrasound at 12 weeks
I had a great pregnancy so far. I told my class when I was around 16 weeks and it was so fun to see their reactions. One kid even said he was going to cry! Haha.
Around this time Bryant and I also started talking about names for the baby. We were watching this show, "Chrisley Knows Best," and his son's name is Grayson. One night I said, "Hmmm, that's kind of cute." A few days later Bryant said he liked that name too and ever since then (even before we knew if we were having a boy or girl), our baby was Grayson or Gray.
We went in for the gender ultrasound on April 6, when I was 18 weeks. Most of our families thought I was having a boy and Bryant wanted a boy SO bad. I thought everyone would jinx it, and we'd be having a girl, but sure enough, he was a boy! Bryant literally cheered out loud when the ultrasound tech told us. I would have been excited either way, but was glad to have the first baby boy on my side of the family :)
Our baby boy!
I first felt Grayson move when I was was exactly 20 weeks along. It was a Saturday morning and I had just woken up and was still in bed. At first I thought it was Bryant poking me in the stomach because it came out of now where and happened really fast. A little while later it happened again and I realized that it was the baby! I was so excited and couldn't stop smiling the rest of the day. After that, I didn't feel him too often. I think Bryant only felt him move like twice. I would get so paranoid and there would be nights where I would just pray and pray to feel him so I knew that something hadn't happened to him.
The rest of my pregnancy was smooth sailing until the last month. I was so hot all the time, getting swollen, and gaining weight FAST. I was miserable and ended up being induced two and a half weeks early because of my high blood pressure. We met our perfect baby boy on August 18, which ended up being closer to the first due date they gave me than to my actual due date! It was a
wild and crazy labor, and nothing how I imagined, but Grayson and I were both healthy, which I was glad for. Life is so much better with him here, I can't believe I've known him for a whole year now!
