pregnancy

I took my first pregnancy test as early as possible, and the faintest blue line showed up. Naturally, I googled what it could mean, and I decided to give my body's HCG time to increase.

Two days later, the blue line was only slightly less faint.

At that point I was out of pregnancy tests, and decided to spring for Clearblue, because there's no guesswork; it says either "pregnant" or "not pregnant."

Can't get any clearer than that...

Andy and I were thrilled to find out I was pregnant. That moment of realization that my lifelong dream of becoming a momma was in the process of happening is one of my happiest memories. Ever. We were so excited we wanted to shout it from the rooftops, but we knew it would be best to wait. Besides, it was a lot of fun having it be our little secret for a while.

Andy's sister Sadie got home from her mission at the very end of March, and we found that spending a lot of time with his family and not telling them about Baby Dunc was a lot harder than we had imagined it would be.

We went to GC with Andy's family and didn't
breathe a word about baby.

Our first ultrasound happened right at 12 weeks, and seeing the little bean move + hearing the fast little heartbeat was so incredible + emotional.

our first look at our first baby

In the meantime, I was so tired. All the time. All I wanted to do was sleep. Nausea hit at about seven or eight weeks, but it was hit and miss. I threw up, sometimes four or five times a day, sometimes once or twice, some days never. If I wasn't feeling like throwing up, though, I felt like eating. I would eat a meal and then be something near famished an hour later. I felt gloriously gluttonous. Seriously. I could out-eat Andy and I didn't even care.

I enjoyed my cravings. My most frequent and intense cravings involved Mexican food (especially tacos), watermelon, and lemon Noosa yogurt with fresh strawberries. AND JELL-O. (There really is always room for Jell-o!)

I turned into a fiery furnace; all that extra blood coursing through my body made me so dang hot that I often froze Andy out at our apartment. I'd keep the AC going at night with a light blanket on top of me + my feet sticking out, frequently flipping to the cool side of the pillow...and there was Andy, an extra blanket on top of him + snuggling into me for warmth. (Oh, how the roles reversed!) #sorryAndy

Also: heartburn. I experienced heartburn for the first time at the beginning of my second trimester and it lasted (and got worse) throughout the entire pregnancy. Man, I hate heartburn. I ate a thousand Tums and drank my weight in chocolate milk.

I was told that my horrendous fatigue would let up when I hit my second trimester, and it did...for about two glorious weeks. But besides being ridiculously sleepy + heartburny + having to pee all the time, second trimester was smooth sailing--especially since I had the summer off and I could nap every. single. day.

I was so excited when my tummy started poking out.

feeling the baby move was my favorite thing about pregnancy

We found out the gender of Baby Dunc on July 7, and that was another really special day. We'd had a name picked out for either gender, and when we found out he was a boy, it was fun to start calling him by name, praying for him by name.

In mid-July, Andy and I took a trip to Seattle to celebrate our first anniversary, but we called it a baby-moon. It was so much fun! I was extra tired  because pregnancy fatigue + I was used to daily naps, but overall, I feel like I hit the ground running pretty hard.

A family portrait at Snoqualmie

Me and Tommy at a Mariners game

I was pregnant at the same time as two of my sisters-in-law, Mary, and Hailey. And my friends Tracie and Charley, too. I highly recommend being pregnant with friends! We texted each other about weird, gross pregnancy symptoms + updated each other on doctor appointments + griped about how hot we always were. It was great fun!

Me (+ Tommy), Hailey (+ Harrison), Mary (+ Gunner)
at the Duncan family reunion at Bear Lake in August

The summer disappeared all too quickly (like it does), and I found myself back to work at the tail end of my second trimester. I didn't mind coming back to work; I like my job. But, man, I missed my daily naps.

definitely pregnant

At work, the district brought a Speech-Language Technician to be my friend so that she could take over when I was on maternity leave. I was super nervous that I'd be spending literally my entire workday with another human, but I freaking love her and it couldn't have turned out better. Jessica asked great questions + was quick to learn + picked up stuff that I dropped so I wouldn't have to bend over + I basically love her like a sister.

I think I was ridiculously tired for 90% of my pregnancy.

Somewhere in my third trimester, I started getting uncomfortable. And sore. My feet ached all the time, but most especially in the morning; I hated putting weight on my feet first thing in the morning. I had cankles. My fingers were swollen + my knuckles hurt. (I know that's super weird, but it went away after I had Tommy, so I'm calling it a pregnancy symptom.) Also, I got the weirdest, lightning-sharp pain up near my ribs. And my back hurt all the time.

Pregnancy is not for the faint-of-heart, man.

Feeling him move was magical;
watching him move was fascinating and straight-up crazy.

check out my cankles

Andy was a real prince and would rub/tickle my back + give me foot massages. And, guys? Andy gives amazing foot massages. Also, I took a hot bath every single night, sometimes twice on Saturdays.

this was mid-October, and I was regularly praying
that Tommy would come healthy + strong + EARLY

we had the bags packed by about 37 weeks

I remember talking to my mom one day around week 37, whining a bit about how achy and uncomfortable I was, telling her I just wanted Tommy to come. My mom told me that there were people on the other side that loved him and were going to miss him, so I just needed to be patient and let him say his goodbyes. Totally made me cry. I pictured him sitting on my Grandma Rigby's lap, taking in her sweet smell; I pictured him getting bounced around on his Grandpa Duncan's knee, and getting some last-minute advice from all sorts of family. That helped me to cool my jets about rushing Tommy to earth before he was quite ready to leave his family over there.

desperate times call for desperate measures

At my 37 week checkup with Dr. Horsley, I was dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced, so my hopes were super high that I'd be far enough along that he could strip my membrane the following week. Alas, my numbers hadn't changed at all and I was so sad; I was officially ready to be done with pregnancy and finally meet my little boy. 

As week 39 approached, Andy and I decided to go for a drive up Logan Canyon to see if a change in elevation might help Thomas along. As we approached Bear Lake, we stopped at the Limber Mine Trailhead and went for a hike to really get my blood pumping. (Honestly, for Andy it was more of a nature walk, but for a gal who was nine months pregnant and larger than she'd ever been in her life, it was a legitimate hike.) I think I must've been expecting him to come crashing out of me that night or something, because I woke up the next day feeling pretty disappointed that my water hadn't broken, or that crazy contractions hadn't started. I was kind of bummed to wake up and go to work.

As it turns out, I wouldn't have to wait much longer to meet him, but that story deserves its own post....