8 Weeks Pregnancy Update

8 Weeks

8 Weeks Pregnancy Update:

 How far along: 8 Weeks

Symtoms: Exhaustion. Headaches. Swollen boobs. My digestive system has slowed way down. I will save you from the details but its not fun on my tummy (which at night already looks 4 months pregnant because I get so bloated and full).  Nausea. Food adversions to everything still. Frequent urination (3 times a night). Difficulty feeling comfortable at night.  In bed until 3 or 4pm with nausea. 

Excited this week: We were going to our first Dr. visit and were going to get to see our little baby and hear its heart beat.  We also got to ask the Dr. all the questions we had been wondering about for the last month.  The baby was healthy and perfect, and our Dr. is the sweetest lady, I feel so thankful my sister found her.  

The Dr. asked me if I wanted a prescription for Zofran for the nausea (constipation being a side effect). I turned her offer down because I wanted to be all natural and do whats best for my baby. My dr. advised that if I was miserable enough to call her at any time for the medicine. She knows I am a working woman and that I had been out of work for a month due to the nausea. I ended up calling her 3 days after our dr. visit because I just couldn't do it anymore.  

Zofran:  MIRACLE drug. Saved me.  I could rave about this for so long.  I was able to eat foods I wasnt able to face for over a month. I was able to get out of bed in the morning at 8am again and feel good.  I could work and hangout with my family, friends and hubby and not be in agony with nausea.  It was wonderful to feel a little more like myself again.  

7 Weeks Pregnancy Update

7 Week Pregnancy Update

How far along: 7 weeks, 5 days

Gender: unknown

Maternity clothes: No, wearing my regular clothes

Stretch marks: No

Sleep: Sleep hasn’t been that great since week 4 ½ when I have to get up every 2 ½-3 hrs to pee due to good old progesterone. I have also been having some pretty crazy and vivid dreams.

Miss Anything: I miss being able to wake up and feel good. I miss making healthy breakfasts, working out in the morning, and being able to have a life. Im sick sick sick, and cant get out of bed until 2 or 3pm most days.

Movement: No, but baby has a heart beat now and we’ve seen it twice and it’s the most precious thing!

Cravings: No cravings, more food adversions than anything. I cant look at chicken, cant cook myself anything (not even soup), I Couldn’t look at salad from week 5-7 but around 7 ½ salads started looking a little less nauseating, bread is all that looks good, so im eating lots of it! I feel really unhealthy the way ive been eating but my doctor said whatever I can stomach, I need to eat.

Symptoms: HUGE boobs, pee every 2 hours, head aches the first few weeks, have to eat every hour and half or im sick, nauseated from when I wake up until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, then I get sick again before bed time, just started throwing up at 7 ½ weeks, not sure if that will continue or not (I only threw up one day in the morning so far).  I get dizzy recently, I have major food adversions, my sense of smell has definitely heightened and I cannot stand pumpkin candles or my hubbys cologne right now or cigarettes.  My abs feel weird when I flex or laugh. My back hurts when I exercise or lay in bed too long. I had really bad cramping the first month and half (like period cramps).  Oh and cant forget, around week 7 I became increasingly more exhausted, I feel like I could sleep 20 hours straight and still wake up tired (ive been sleeping probably 10-12 hrs a day).

Belly Button in or out: In

Mood: Sometimes sad because of the nausea and lack of activity. Im use to being a person always on the go and would work out 6 days a week, and for over 2 weeks I wasn’t allowed any activity due to early spotting (implantation bleeding they think).  I was getting major cabin fever during that time and going stir crazy.  Most of the time im happy, sometimes easily emotional.

Looking forward to:  Exercising and having energy again. Eating healthy and getting back to a normal routine and a LIFE. Excited to go on adventures with my husband again.

Exercise: As I mentioned, I  was not allowed to exercise for a couple weeks.  I just started doing light cardio again probably 2-3 days a week if im lucky with the way im feeling right now.  I haven’t lifted weights since I found out I was pregnant and cant wait to start again (light weights). My doctor has advised me “giving birth is like a marathon, you need endurance and strength and you wouldn’t run a marathon without training, if you have a work out routine, stick to it in moderation and stay active and healthy 30-60 minutes a day. Its nice to have a doctor who values fitness. (:

Nutrition: Out the door right now. Relying on my prenatal vitamins, which I feel awful for. But I cant stomach healthier foods like veggies and getting the right amount of protein. Its so hard. I always thought id be so healthy all throughout my pregnancies but sometimes in the beginning you just have to make sure you are getting calories and get back to being healthy in the 2nd trimester when you have more of an option and the nausea is gone.

Favorite moments this week:  Seeing our baby’s heart beat at our first real Dr’s visit. My best friend is an ultra sound tech and has been letting me get US’s weekly since week 5, so we’ve been blessed to get to see our baby grow week by week! Once i have work again I wont be able to go in every week so I am taking advantage of seeing our little one right now.

Pregnancy Update.. 5 Weeks

Tummy update + Symptoms and more

Pre baby body (taken at 4 weeks pregnant)

Pre baby Body (taken at 4 weeks pregnant)

 5 Weeks Pregnant (above photo)

6 Week baby belly

 Dinner with our friends, my girl friend Kelly is 6mnths ahead of me (im 6 weeks here)

My first trimester of pregancy was very tiring and busy due to it being holiday season.  For this reason I have gotten so behind on blogging and am now just catching up.  I wanted to do weekly posts on all of my symptoms, cravings, what I was feeling emotionally and physically etc: So here it goes with catching up:

How far along: 5 weeks, 4 days:

Woke up to a little spotting in the morning. (Nothing to be worried about, but of course being a new mommy everything made me anxious because you dont know what is normal.  My Dr. said spotting is a very common symptom that plenty of women experience at some point in their pregancy. Most experience this right after implantation in their first weeks of being pregnant. A lot of women mistake it as a light period and then dont even realize until a month later that they had conceived.

Symptoms: Nausea has begun. Spotting. REALLY HUNGRY. Boobs tripled in size from my prebaby boobs.  Exhausted. 

Dr. advised me to not work out and put me on complete pelvic rest due to the spotting just as a precaution. The nurse said specifically "try to not do anything for 7 days, if the spotting is gone for 7 days then you can proceed with activities and intercourse, etc. If the spotting comes back, wait an additional period until you have 7 days go by without spotting. I decided to take 3 weeks off from the gym until I knew for certain our little baby was safe and had a heart beat.  It was a nice break but Im not going to lie, it was hard to wait to be with my husband (we waited only 2 weeks for that), and I was going stir crazy at home, unable to work because my nausea was so awful.  

Food Adversions:  EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING HEALTHY. I couldn't even open the refridgerator or look at it. My husband had to go out and get me every meal 3 times a day because I couldn't cook or be around food in the kitchen. Every meal and every day had to be something different because the food I had eaten the day before would gross me out and nauseate me even more. This was so difficult for me because I was forced to eat foods I'd never usaully eat, especially when keeping the health of my baby in mind..i was eating fast food like taco bell, chick filet, Dafne's, subway, Del Taco, bagels from ILOVE BAGELS and Bruggers.  All I could stomach was carbs. My sweet mom made me spaghetti, macaroni, etc to try to help out.  
Cravings: none, it was more about "what foods can I tolerate? what is not going to make me puke thinking about it"

On Thanksgiving day we decided to tell our families we were pregnant using a fun homemade video with pictures of my husband and I as babies, kids, teens, and then the story of how we met, our engagement video and photos, and then our wedding..ending the video with the BIG SURPRISE of our babies first ultrasound (my best friend is an ultrasound technician so we were able to see our little baby growing at just 5weeks!)
  
The day after Thanksgiving I remember is right about when the nausea came on full force.   My husband and I went on the search for "preggie pops" and ginger capsules. We finally found them at Baby's R US and Mother's market for the capsules. 

EXCITING NEWS!!

We are PREGNANT! Yep, we are having a BABY!

The news came just as shockingly to us one early November morning..

I journaled that week just so I could savor the moment and remember it forever, ever since then I have periodically been journaling to keep track of this FIRST TIME EVER PREGNANCY (for us)! Heres what I jotted down:

When I first found out I was pregnant I was in complete SHOCK. I don’t think I’ve really ever been in shock in that way. I was shocked when I got into Pepperdine, shocked when i got into grad school. Shocked when Taylor proposed, but nothing NOTHING compares to this. In that very moment, I couldn't even understand what THIS MEANT?

I was terrified. I thought, “my husband is going to hate me”. "Im ruining OUR plans",  "we haven't prepared". I don’t know how I blamed myself, when it definitely takes two to make a baby.  I guess I let the enemy take over... fear filled my thoughts instantly. I leaned my head against the bathroom wall and prayed. I prayed for protection, I didn’t really have words but I knew the Holy Spirit knew what I needed, and I remember praying for my husbands reaction for when I walked out the bathroom door to go break the exciting/terrifying news. 

I came out and starting BALLING.  I was overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions, as well hormonal i'm sure. I called for him in a quivering voice.."baaabe". He came rushing toward me and held me in his arms the moment he saw I was crying. “Whats wrong, whats wrong. Babe talk to me,” he said frantically.  I couldn’t say anything. I was in shock.  The words eventually came out after what seemed like forever, “I think im pregnant”.  "What do you mean? How? How do you know?" He didn’t understand, so I led him to look at the two tests, clear as day, on the counter. I burst into even more tears, anticipating his reaction.  He remained completely calm. He took me by my hands and sat me on the floor. As I cried tears of fear and worry, he held my hands in his, looked me in the eyes, and said ever so calmly, ”when I married you, I had every intention of being the father of your children.. yes, we didn’t plan for this right at this moment but God did and we need to accept that and be grateful for this blessing. I want you to be excited. Im going to do everything I can to protect you and take care of you”.  Talk about PERFECT.  Husband, yes, you are perfection. I am such a blessed lady.

      "You’re just saying this cuz im crying and emotional?” 

       "No Tess, I mean it. I feel completely at peace. This is Gods plan.  Lets go to the store and get another test, a digital one, so we know for sure and we can take it from there". 

 We ate breakfast, I calmed down and then we got into the car to go to the store.  After we picked up the digital test he pulled up to our house and told me ”when you go inside I want you to take the test, and whatever the results are I want you to be happy, don’t look back, just look forward knowing God has  plan and we can be excited, He's got us hunny.”  

"PREGNANT". No doubt about it. It showed up within seconds on the digital test.  At this point I was so thrilled to see that I was.  We smiled, hugged, kissed, were tearful (this time, happy excited tears of joy).  We went back to the store, got prenatal vitamins, iron, and body butter..  We walked over to barnes & noble and picked up “what to expect when you’re expecting”.  We wanted to look forward and be excited! No more tears, no more not trusting the Lord.  My husband was my rock that day. He always is. He keeps me grounded, he reminds me to believe in God and believe His plans are far greater than ours.  Together we threw our plans to the wind and gave them to Him.   Together we realized kids have always been what we want, it just wasn't the timing we thought our first baby would come by.  But its also not the timing of two parents who have been trying for a baby for 5 years and have yet to conceive.  So let me just say how grateful we are. We know this is by far the biggest blessing God has ever given us in our marriage and we couldn't be more thrilled.  We haven't looked back since that split second that I allowed the enemy to flood my mind with fear. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon thinking of fun things like baby names, and talked about what our future would be like from now on.  We knew everything was going to change.  I started to get more and more excited as the day went on.  The days following were surreal..is this really happening.. all the pregnancy symptoms came on FULL FORCE.  Waking up 3-4 times a night to pee.  Exhausted and could barely walk, let alone work out.  HUNGRY all the time, even right after i had eaten. I researched every vitamin and had to stop taking most things.  Morning sickness came at around 5 1/2 weeks. I was and am in complete protective mommy mode. 

I was not ready for this. Nor did I think I could be a mom any time soon, but the moment you find out you are pregnant you truly do become a mom. I think its different for men, I think they need to feel the baby move or see it before they understand how real this is.  We started reading all about the changes our baby goes through weekly as it grows, as well as what mommy goes through each week.  We pray morning and night with our hands on our new famiy member. Its nuts, and happened so quickly but we both feel at peace now and feel so so so very thankful for this precious gift of life.

Ive been reading baby blogs... I have become a mommy-blog-aholic! I read so many blogs now all about pregnancy, what they went through, and find it soothing to be amongst women who have experienced exactly what I am experiencing. I find it so facinating! So I have decided to blog, as often as I can. This way other pregnant women can relate and read my story, just as I read other's and feel more sane along this crazy journey. AND, I will have a neat diary of my entire pregnancy to look back on one day. 

So here it goes..

<3



I hope our story of fear, excitement, love, laughter, and hope can be inspiring to someone else.

HONEYMOONING IN ST. LUCIA

                    HONEYMOONING IN ST. LUCIA

 The night after out wedding we set out to St. Lucia for our honeymoon.  We stayed for 6 nights, 7 days and had the best time together. It was so nice to be alone with each other as husband and wife. We had the nicest time relaxing in the ocean, lying on the beach talking about our future, hiking, going on walks along the shore, watching the sunset with our feet in the water, eating an incredible amount of food, going on once in a life time excursions, and just enjoying being newlyweds. We were able to soak it all in and start our journey together on the most beautiful, fun, stress free note a couple could dream of.  We didn't want to leave and talked about staying on the island forever.  I know if we didn't have two incredible families we would be leaving behind, and wonderful friendships, we would easily move away just the two of us to a remote island where we could just enjoy one another and slower paced, more relaxed life.  We talk about going back to St. Lucia all of the time and hopefully will plan a trip back soon.

The most fun of the trip: going zip lining
The most romantic: having a suite to share with my new hubby
The most beautiful thing I experienced: The breath taking sunsets along side of my husband
The best food: Dinner-Gordon's on the Pier (had to have butler service to eat here... we got on the list by a dear friend)  Lunch-Barefoot by the Sea
The best company: OF COURSE MY HUBS
The best entertainment:" The Queen" our tour guide for one of our excursions.
The most memerable moment: The entire trip! I will never forget anything about this trip. I would say a very sweet moment that sticks out in my mind is when the two of us were lying by the pool and Taylor pulled up the song (on his phone) he surprised me with and wrote me for our wedding. I had only heard it at our wedding in front of 230 guests so I wasnt able to fully take in the lyrics at the time. Now by ourselves, married, at the most beautiful place in the world, I was in tears on a lounge chair listening to the most incredible thing i'd ever heard.
The worst part: Leaving. Although, we were so excited to live together, begin our lives, move into our new place, etc,it was still really hard to leave.
The most intersting: we went on an excursion to see the drive in volcano (SOOO FUN, and the mud bath is the best part of it all), afterwards you get to go eat lunch at a tiny little restaurant in the jungle and have some home cooked carribean st. lucian food. SO SO YUMMY & SPICY!

 There you have it! We can't wait to go back!

We're Married!

Officially Mr. & Mrs. Armstrong!! 9/22/12 marks the best day of our lives.  That day could not have been more of a perfect dream.  I will never forget waking up so excited and nervous to meet Taylor at the end of the aisle.  I couldn't sleep that night and remember waking up several times looking a the clock to see if it was time to get ready yet.  Around 8am I finally popped out of bed and went out onto the balcony of our suite at the St. Regist Resort to look at the weather.  Instantly I saw them setting up on the grand lawn below us and my excitement jumped from a 10 to off the charts. I was so eager to put on the dress, say I do, and run away with the man I'd dreamed of all of my life. This day meant so much to me, but spending forever with him is what I feel like I was created for.  

Getting ready was so much fun! I always worried something would go wrong on the one day every girl dreams will be perfect. NOTHING did. Everything went absolutely seemless and smooth.   

I spent time alone drinking coffee that morning and prayed. I opened my devotional and tried to listen to what God had to say about this huge step we were taking.  For 3o days I had been praying over different vereses for my husband.  Our mentor couple had given me a neat packet of scripture to pray for your husband and I had decided to read one verese each day for the 30 days leading up to our wedding day. It was such a neat experience that kept me focused on what really mattered, becoming One with this man, making this covenant committment between him, myself and God.  And then looking at what that means, what that really means.  It was not about the flowers, the dress, the food..it was all about how to prepare myself for making this committment for the rest of our lives.  I couldn't wait for that!  Since the moment we met I knew he was it. I had no doubts, no fears, I just wanted to make sure I fully understood what Gods view of marriage is and how to live that out obediently and fulfill my duties as a wife to my husband.

I will always remember the look on his face when he first saw me and hold it in my memory, his smile and eyes made every nerve flee my body. I felt nothing but warmth and peace right when I turned that corner and we locked eyes. Thats what he does to me, he makes me feel at home. He will never take the place in my heart that my Lord fills up, but I see him as an angel that God gave a special ownership over my heart that only he could fill.  I couldn't picture my life without him, and I beleive God gave me this way of seeing things, because he is my forever, and we are now one.  

His vows to me are eternally engraved into my heart, the way we kissed that first moment as husband and wife will be something I will forever try to live up to, I will do my best to live out each vow and pledge that I made to him that day, and remember every moment that passes that he is a gift, a true blessing, and he saved me. I am thankful to the Lord for giving me such a generous man with the most loving heart, and I will make sure to do my best to treat him as the special child of God that he is.

I love thee, and "not even death shall part me from you".

My next post will be memories from our honeymoon. 

We're Engaged!

For years we knew we had found our soul mate.  So when the day came that we would take that next step to plan a wedding, it was the best day of our lives to date.  I'm sure you've had a chance to look back and read the story of how God wove our paths together to finally meet, but here is the story of how my prince charming, my best friend, the love of my life planned out how he would ask me the biggest question of our lives: "Will you marry me.."?

Taylor and I love taking walks on the beach during the summer time.  We live in such a beautiful location in Southern California, we enjoy taking advantage of the warm weather and love to talk with each other one on one while getting in some fun exercise.  We have had countless conversations for years along the beach about our dreams, our goals, and our plans to spend our future with each other.  On April 22nd, 2012 we were going on our normal Sunday stroll but this time we brought along some lunch to picnic.  It was an overcast day and it was supposed to rain.  We decided we would give the beach a shot anyhow.  I didn't suspect anything because he hadn't been acting any differently at church or in the car on our way to the beach.  He even said, if "I wanted to we could stay inside and watch a movie since it might rain".  He completely through me off by appearing so nonchalant and as though he didn't have a plan.  You see, I am the most difficult person to try to surprise.  It's nearly impossible to get anything by me because I am a very curious person and extremely observant.  Well, he sure pulled it off.  

We landed a spot at Salt Creek beach in Dana Point on a grassy slope.  Taylor laid our blankets down while I held onto our lunch.  He was laying the second blanket down when I just barely sat down..  He was already on his knees and as he extended his right leg forward in "traditional proposal position", he simultaneously took a beautiful red wooden box out of his jacket pocket, "babe, you might want to stand up for this".  My stomach dropped.  I didn't know what to think.  I was in shock, and so happy and nervous all at once.  I had JUST barely sat down, as in, my butt had not even hit the ground, and here I am quickly popping back up like an overdone pop tart.  I leaned in ever-so-intently to listen to the next words that would leave his lips...those words that would change our entire future.  Before he could say anything though, out of my mouth came, "I'm gunna to throw up" , oh gooodnessss ...nervous babble.  Way to be romantic, right?  Couldn't I have said something else or just stayed quiet? Nope! Typical me, blurting out ever so comfortably everything that pops up in my mind.  I guess it makes for a better story. We aren't perfect, so our proposal should match that imperfection as well, or so I tell myself.   Back to the romance, I will never forget the look on Taylor's face, unlike the words he said.  I wish so badly I could remember every last word he said.   But I was so ecstatic and it was such a magical exciting moment that my brain froze.  I was in shock. Utterly surprized. Completely captivated by the moment and gazing into my      h u s b a n d s  eyes.  Yes, my husband. My forever.  Thank God I do remember the most important part, this part stuck with me, this part was thee best moment of all the moments in my life that I have ever experienced, "Tess, I want you to be my wife, will you marry me?". Gassssssp. "Yes!!!!! YES YES YES YES! Yes! Today tomorrow and forever. OF COURSE, with all the certainty I've ever known, yes!"  Okay, so I didn't say all of that...but I was thinking it and have every single day since.

Later in the evening Taylor repeated back to me those beautiful words he had said, so I could hold on to them forever and never forget, "You are my best friend, I love every moment we spend together, I want you in my life for the rest of my life, I want you to be my wife, will you marry me?"  I said "YES, OF COURSE" and jumped on him! After 5 minutes of tears, hugs, "i love you's", "is this real?!", and kisses...he said, "babe don't you want to put on the ring".  HE STILL HADN'T EVEN PUT THE RING ON! I jumped on him and was hugging him so tight, he had been patiently kneeling there down on the ground holding on to it waiting to slip it onto my finger.  So finally, I stood up and he slowly put the ring on, it was stunning!  This ring was so absolutely beautiful, it took my breathe away, and my words.  Which, is nearly i m p o s s i b l e.  Haha! He shared with me the meaning behind the ring, why he chose the diamond he chose and how a piece of this ring, our ring, will forever symbolize his Granny's legacy.  I couldn't feel more honored to accept this ring and wear it for the rest of our eternity together.  

Right away we sat back down and I rested my head on his chest, we prayed together for our future, embraced the moment of sitting there staring out into the ocean, and processing all that had just happened.  These moments I will remember for the rest of our lives.  That prayer will be eternally engraved into my inner most being.  He said with such new strength as the leader of this new home, "Lord, thank you for my fiance', thank you for this woman you've put in my life, thank you for where You've brought us today in our journey.  I pray for protection for our marriage and during this time of planning a wedding.  I pray that You would bless our union and our lives together.  We are so grateful for one another and thank You for the love only You give, Amen".   

We picked up the phone to call our families, take pictures, and went back home to get ready to go to a fabulous dinner party with all of our closest friends and family members at Tortilla Flats in Mission Viejo on the lake.   It was the perfect day.  I will never forget it.  I felt so special and so unbelievably happy that I get to spend the rest of my life with the man I am so madly and deeply in love with.  We are so grateful to our families and friends for their support and encouragement to take this next step in our journey together.  And we feel SOOO blessed the Lord has gifted us with each other!