Our Journey to Baby Thompson

I am so beyond excited that I am pregnant! I mean seriously, you have no idea. Here is a little background on our journey:

Tim and I have been married for 3 years, by the time baby comes it will be a few weeks shy of 4 year anniversary. I have ALWAYS wanted to start having children right away. You know how you just know that you are supposed to do something? Well, being a care taker/teacher to children is mine, and the pull to be a mom has been even greater. First things first, become a teacher a billion 5 year olds. Done.

Tim has always wanted to wait, so we settled on waiting 1 year. That came and went, and still no budging on his side. We decided to start trying in November/December of 2009, and I kind of thought it would just happen. Just like that. I mean, Tim and I are in our mid 20's, healthy, home owners, I am a college graduate, we both have stable jobs. Come on, what else is there?

Ugh. Yeah right. The first 6 months go by and nobody really knows that we are 'trying'. I am not charting, taking ovulation tests, buying pregnancy tests, nada. Then I realize, wait, it's been six months! That is quite a while. Time keeps ticking by and I start a little researching. I go to a doctor, and she says, "Keep trying". Great, thanks lady! We try a little longer, and still nothing. Finally, I go all in. Basal Thermometer? Check. Charts? Check. 100 packs of ovulation tests from Amazon? check. 50 pack of pregnancy tests? Check. Do we have timing? I thought so. Seriously, I really thought so.

Finally we hit the 16 month mark, and I am ready to start saving for IVF. I go to another doctor, who I LOVE and she lets me try Clomid. Have you ever tried that stuff? Not my fave. I had hot flashes, I was a big grump to everyone, and it made my stomach hurt, and when you finally did start your period those cramps would just about send you to the ER. Ugh. I was on that for 3 cycles, with still NADA happening in my uterus.

August 2011. I call the doctor up refill my prescription for Clomid for one more month, but she won't unless I can come in for a visit. I can't because you have to go on day 1-5 of you cycle, and what would you know, school JUST started. Yeah right, take off a day the first week ok school? Pshhhh..... fun stuff to be had for all involved! I tell them, you know what? We are just going to take a break. I really had that in my head, too! I promise!

I start the new school year, same as always, I even had stopped trying hard enough to buy a HORSE. Thats for another post, get ready. On September 13, I woke up, took my morning pee, and thought, "Hey, this is day 29 may as well take a test." I took the test, laid it on the counter, and continued to get ready for the day. About 30 minutes later I take a look and see the faintest faint line. I am literally rubbing my eyes. I text a picture of it to one of my best friends who tells me to take another one and send the picture ASAP! I do, and get the same faint line. If you have ever had any trouble trying to conceive, then you know the routine. You get so used to seeing negative tests that you don't even care to look at the results, you just know they are not going to be positive. When you see anything other than the stark white emptiness before the control line, you know it, even if the line is so faint that you need a microscope to see it.

I texted the next picture to April and she saw it, too. With her being on this TTC journey kind of along side me, she knows the difference between the negative and positive. BUT- being ever so smart, she told me to get a digital and get my booty to school (where we both teach). Once I got to school, I grabbed a paper cup, took to the kindergarten bathroom, and got to testing. April hid it from me, so that I wouldn't go crazy for that 3 minute wait. I wish I could have a picture of her face when she looked at the stick. She was so genuinely happy for me, I just knew what it meant. There, right in my kindergarten classroom, I found out that I was pregnant. Like, for reals pregnant. (disclaimer- this all happened BEFORE school hours.)

I always said that I wouldn't know what I would do with myself if I ever did get pregnant, and I was right. I can't believe that God has blessed me like this. I think the journey has made this baby even more special. It almost seems like a miracle. It is a miracle that many people take for granted. I mean, you have  teenagers and crackheads getting pregnant at the drop if a hat. Sometimes they even have the audacity to make it seem inconvenient. And me? I took a pregnancy test almost every day for a month just to make sure I was still pregnant. I love my heartburn, my morning sickness, achy and tired body more than I have ever loved my tan bikini beach body. I will NOT ever complain. I know some of you know what I am talking about.

Here was my growing line of tests, see how the line gets darker and darker?

When my husband asked why I was taking so many tests when I was 6 weeks pregnant, it finally hit me. I am now a mother. When your 5 year old leaves for kindergarten, you worry. When your 10 year old leaves for a sleepover, you worry. When your 16 year old daughter leaves for a first date, you worry. I am now a mother, and I can't see my baby, hold my baby, make sure he/she is ok, and I worry.

That day after work, I run to Target to find some cute 'daddy' onesies. One for a boy and one for a girl. I also found a card with a little girl standing next to a huge Great Dane. On the inside I wrote, "This could be our household in a few years". It seemed to take him forever to get home. Once he did, he walked right past my 'display', and into the closet to get changed. I bounced along behind him trying to seem interested in whatever he was blabbing about until he came back out where he would for sure see the goodies. He could tell something was up, so I pulled him into the bedroom and told him to look. It took him about 5 seconds, and said, "Are you kidding me?" It took him about 10 minutes to believe me for real, then his shock, happiness, shock, happiness pattern began. He was excited, but then would get worried about this new human being that we were growing. It was actually kind of cute.

The next day, I cancelled my riding lesson so we could go over to my parents house. They were sitting by the pool so we sat at the table with them. My plan was so pull out the little baggie with the test (which now had a little darker line) and say, "I found this, do you know what it is?" Well, she started talking and talking. I swear, I tried to look interested, but all I could think about with this exciting news! My dad also started talking to Tim about fishing, and I was wanting a break in both of our conversations to slip it in there. I finally gave her the baggie, and said, "Look at this". Not quite what I had planned, but it worked the same. She looked a second or two, then squealed with delight! It was pretty perfect! Of course, my dad has no idea what is going on, and I guess Tim never thought to tell him. When my mom finally let go of me, she gave the baggie to my dad. I am sure he loved that. Looking at his little girl's peed on pregnancy stick, haha! Anyways, he caught on, and was overjoyed!

We are all SO excited!! This is the first grand baby on my side, and oh my goodness, is this going to be one spoiled baby!!

There. In a nutshell. Our journey. Just kidding. That was way more than a nutshell!

Coming Soon... Baby Thompson!

We could name our growing fetus "Baby H" since both our boy and girl name begin with an 'H', or we could call it "Baby T".... but for some reason, I really like Baby Thompson!

I am 14 weeks (and 3 days... don't you dare forget those!) and I am actually feeling pretty well! I have some nausea almost every evening, and today I started to get raging heartburn! I think I am fairing pretty well, though, since I have only thrown up about 4 times. I have had to run to the bathroom and gag and dry heave over the toilet plenty of times though!

Soon, very soon, hopefully tonight, I will update on my pregnancy so far, our journey trying to conceive, and all things baby, mommy, and daddy related!

Aloha State of Mind

I think I am finally adjusted back to the 5 hour time difference, but I still miss Hawaii. We have only been back for a week, but I am already planning a trip back to the beautiful island of Oahu. Planning it in my mind, of course, haha!

Here are some pictures from the trip, I will try to keep it short, we took SO many pictures, and for each project I have worked on, the number of images has gone down dramatically, from uploading to the computer, making a photo book, putting on facebook, and now onto blogger. I feel like I am leaving too much out if I don't put them all everywhere!

On the TEN hour flight:

Arrival at the airport, the lei smelled so wonderful!

Looking at the beach from the backyard of our house rental:

Paddle Boarding is something that we did a lot of, it was so fun!

Here is Tim standing by "The Duke" on Waikiki beach... he basically invented surfing

 Tim didn't need lessons to surf, he did just fine on his own!

  I, on the other hand, needed surf lessons, but we learned there are lots of positives.... they will help paddle you out, take awesome pictures, and they are a lot of fun!

We went to Pearl Harbor, of course! It was really, really cool, so glad we went even though it took longer than we thought!

This is us in front of USS Missouri, it it the boat on which they signed the declaration to end WWII.

Over this spot is where the table was where signed the actual declaration.

Here is a view of the Mighty Missouri from the USS Arizona

 This is the memorial over the USS Arizona, the first ship sank in the attack on Pearl Harbor. You ride a boat over to this part, and can walk around and see parts of the actual ship which are sticking up from the water. You can also see some of the oil that is still leaking from the ship, they estimate that it will not run out of oil for about 50 more years.

 We also got to go on a tour of a submarine, very similar to one that Tim's grandfather was on. It was so cramped, I hated every minute of it. I loved seeing the place where men worked and slept, but once you are in, you are IN. There is only enough room in the walkway for one person so you are in a line, and the doorways are so small, I am not even sure that my 6 ft 4 brother would have really fit through there. I'm glad there were size restrictions back in the day! Of course, there are people in front and behind you, so you are stuck. Kind of like once you get in a drive through at Chick-Fil-A, haha! Anyways, it was hot, cramped, and I was grouchy!

One of the tour guides said something that was really cool to us. He said that the Pearl Harbor Memorial is kind of like seeing the two book ends of the US involvement in the war. The main part, USS Arizona, is what people think of when they think "Pearl Harbor", and it is very important, but it is just one of many battle ships that sank that day. It happens to be the first, and as far as I know, it was unrecoverable. The men aboard went down with the ship. It was essentially the start of the US involvement in the war. The ship that you can go on (pictures above), the USS Missouri... AKA Mighty MO, is the ship on which war was ended. You can see where the war started and ended at the same time. Very cool.

One day in the week, we took a drive, looking for different beaches, and we found this really cool scenic point on the highway. 

We also went to this really cool beach, the kind of beach where you are the only one there, the water, waves, and sand are gorgeous!

We also took one day to drive to the North Shore. The North Shore of Oahu is where the waves get to about 50 feet tall in the winter, and where all of the tournaments are (in the winter, of course).... I think it is even where they filmed Blue Crush, haha! In the summer, the beaches are still just as beautiful, but not as dangerous. We decided to go to Sharks Cove, because everyone says that this is the best place on the island to snorkel. It wasn't what we were expecting, but cool nonetheless. There are rocks all around that you have to cross over to get to the place that you can snorkel. The day that we went was kind of overcast and sprinkly, so the cold water felt extra cold! We only stayed on the outer perimeter of the rocks, and I am wishing that we hadn't because later on we AGAIN heard that it is hands down, the best place to snorkel. Maybe next time!

We also heard all about Matsumoto's. It is a shaved ice place, and they are supposed to be the best. We thought they were ok, but nothing to go on and on about. 

 Even Tom Hanks has been to Matsumoto's!

We also stopped at a shrimp truck called Macky's. Apparently the North Shore is known for great shrimp trucks, but especially Mackey's. The fruit plate was delicious, and Tim's shrimp looked great too! Since I don't eat shrimp, I can't say how good they are, but the pictures speak for themselves, haha!

On the way out I begged Tim to stop at Matsumoto's again, so we could have one for the ride home. We stopped, and the line was out to door and around the corner! Way too long to wait in, especially since we already had one a few hours before. I was in luck though because right next door was another place called Aoki's. Since we weren't head over heels in love with the first one, we decided to try this place and NOT wait in line. I am so glad that we did, this was the best shaved ice we have ever had! It was like eating soft snow! So delicious!!

There was our trip to Hawaii in a nutshell, you can bet that we will make it back. I am in love with Hawaii!!