24 Weeks

 It's crazy to think that in 4 weeks I will be in my third trimester! The past few weeks I have actually really enjoyed being pregnant. Our little boy started moving like crazy and Mike was actually able to feel him moving around too. I LOVE feeling this little guy moving around. Every time I feel him move its just a wonderful reminder of the blessing I have to bring a little boy into this world and it makes me more grateful. So far I'm not even annoyed when it happens at 3am....although I'm sure that as I get bigger it will get much harder.

• I am still going to the gym 5 days a week for over an hour. I love exercising and that it gets me out of the house for a little while if I don't have anywhere else to go.
•  I can still wear all of my pre pregnancy clothes and the pants all still fit very comfortably. I have maternity clothes and I will admit that sometimes I will wear one of the shirts just because they are nice and loose :) I love that I still have lots of room to grow.
• I'm still sleeping well at night. I get up a few times but I don't have trouble getting back to sleep which has been great. 

His heartbeat was at 141 bpm. Like I said, he is a very active little boy but in the words of my doctor, "we like them that way" :)

Hopefully we'll get to have an ultrasound and see him again soon but since I'm measuring right where I should be and my weight is stable and we're both healthy....no ultrasound right now :(

We've been starting to get things ready and I've been spending lots and lots of time designing what I want his nursery to look like and I've almost decided.....I think I'm too much of a perfectionist but oh well :)

Valentine's Day

We had a very simple Valentine's Day this year. Mike and I don't really go all out for this holiday. We don't do presents and I beg and plead for him to please not get me any candy or junk and I'm grateful he doesn't. This year Mike was home from school the entire week before Valentines day due to the winter storm. We got a couple inches of snow and the roads were icy (I suppose...we didn't test them) so we were home. I think this was the first time that we were actually able to spend the whole day together which was awesome :)

The roads were really icy in the morning on Valentine's Day so this is what I found in the way of flowers when I got home from my morning workout :)

Honestly, I'm glad he didn't try to go out. I know he knows how to drive in icy conditions but most people around he don't. I also think its sweet that he even thought to do this and honestly I was impressed. I can't make a paper flower to save my life.

After relaxing and doing some shopping during the day. We got all dressed up and Mike took me out to dinner. He surprised me by taking me to Ruby Tuesday. It was delicious! The food was amazing and the service was awesome. Then the manager came out and told us he felt our food had taken too long to get to our table (we didn't think so but hey we won't correct you) so he said our desserts that night would be free. So we proceeded to order cheesecake! It was one of the best slices of cheesecake I've ever had. It was too big to eat there after we had stuffed ourselves with dinner so we took it home.

On our way to dinner :)

Yes that is chocolate sauce covering it and yes I was a very happy pregnant woman that night :) My mouth is watering right now just remembering how yummy it was :)

 I love that I got to spend so much time with my wonderful husband. He spoils me so much and is just the sweetest and most self-less person I know. I'm so grateful for him and I can't wait to see him with our baby boy! I'm grateful that he works so hard to be a good chiropractor and plan ahead for our family so he can take care of us. He puts up with me which right now really makes him a saint because I am not the easiest person to live with these days :) I love you Mike!!!!

A Special Day

 *I know this post is late since I'm already over halfway done being pregnant but I just don't want to forget this special day.

I have spent many years imagining the day that I would find out I was going to be a mom. I imagined how I would tell my husband. I imagined how we would tell our families and when we would tell them. I tried to picture if I would be surprised, scared, happy, sad or maybe a little of everything. The way that this all happened was not at all like I imagined. It was nothing like I thought it would be but it was perfect :)

Since I found out we weren't pregnant the first time we tried, I thought it was only fair that this time Mike get the phone call instead. I was so scared the answer would be no again that I decided I would rather here it from mike than a nurse on the phone. So I took the blood test on October 4, 2013 and went to work. I'm pretty sure that was the least productive day I've ever had. I went through the motions just waiting for 1 o'clock when I could go home. Finally Mike told me he was home and waiting for me and that they had called. So I left work at 1 and drove a little faster than usual home. When I got there, I didn't want to get out of the car. I was so scared. So I sat in the car for about 15 minutes after I got home just trying to get the courage to go into the apartment. Finally, I got out and walked slowly up the stairs. Then I couldn't open the door so Mike started to open it. He kept telling me to just come in and find out. So I opened the door and this was waiting for me....

I couldn't believe it. The only thing I could say for about 2 minutes was "really?" I kept asking if he was kidding. Then he let me listen to the message from our doctor confirming that we were indeed pregnant. I was so excited and shocked. All I could do was hug Mike and jump up and down. We had imagined this for so long that now it was real and honestly had no idea what to do next. All I remember feeling in that moment was gratitude. I was so grateful it had worked and that we had a little miracle on the way.

A part of me wanted to shout to the world that we were expecting but another part of me wanted to keep my secret for as long as I could and just hold it close. It seemed too good to be true and I really just wanted to savor the moment. We knew our parents knew the date of the IUI though so we couldn't really keep it from them. So we bought a cookie cake and wrote 'congratulations grandma and grandpa' on it and drove down to Charleston. 

This day was worth the wait. The moment I found out we were going to be blessed with a baby suddenly made every shot, every blood draw, every ultrasound, every doctor's appt and sleepless and tear filled night worth it. We already love this little boy more than words can describe. I know that the fertility trials made me appreciate the opportunity to be pregnant and become a mother (in a few months) more than I would have otherwise.

Boy or Girl?

Yesterday we finally got to find out the gender of our little baby! I was so excited! I know everyone says they don't care if its a boy or a girl but I honestly did not care one bit. After everything we had to do to get this far a healthy, happy baby boy or girl is all I want in this world. Mike and I both felt like it would be a boy....I mean hello its an Epperson....and so we were just excited to see if we were right.

Most people guessed that we would be having a girl and I think 4 or 5 people guessed boy. So who was right???

It's a....

BOY!!!!

We could not be more excited to be having a boy. I loved watching Mike's reaction, he is so excited! Now we just have to figure out the name. We had a name ready for a girl but for a boy we have a lot of names and nursery ideas that we like. The choices just make it more fun though I think. Once we found out we celebrated by going shopping and we bought him a cute little outfit and Mike and I went to Ruby Tuesday for dessert. I'm so excited right now! I just know he is the perfect addition to our family!

20 Weeks: Halfway!

I can't believe I am halfway through this pregnancy already! It has gone by so fast! I am finally starting to look and feel pregnant. I felt the baby move for the first time (at least that I recognized) a little less than a week ago :) Now I notice it all the time and I love the feeling! Every now and then it hits me how soon baby E will be here!

So now for an update on me and little baby Epperson:

Let's start with baby E:

He or she is 11oz right now, with a heartbeat of 141 BPM. We have a very excited baby in there. We had our anatomy/gender ultrasound today and it took forever to do because little E would not hold still. Finally baby E calmed down so we could see everything :) The baby is doing great as far as we can tell. He or she is healthy and looks great so far!

We have a very active baby :)

 

So how am I doing at 20 weeks?

1. I can still wear my regular clothes. My jeans still fit but aren't too much tighter which has been nice. I can also still wear my normal shirts. I'm sure this won't last too much longer but I'm enjoying it while I can.

*As a side note: A HUGE thank you to Amber for lending me her maternity clothes! They are so cute and I'm excited to really start using them! We appreciate it so much :)

2. I can still eat anything and I still haven't had any sickness! Yippee!

3. Sleeping is still going pretty well. I have always slept on my side so no problems there. Baby definitely likes left side best. Some nights I get up to go to the bathroom a lot but I can usually get back to sleep just fine.

4. I'm still exercising 5 to 6 days a week. I love being able to exercise, its really helping me to be able to relax. I know I probably won't be able to do it for the entire last 20 weeks so I'm enjoying it while I can. 

Overall, I'm feeling wonderful and doing great. I'm measuring exactly where I should be and its wonderful that I haven't been sick. I am constantly thinking about baby E and planning for the big day! 

The first trimester

Now that we have announced that we are pregnant I feel like I can talk about how the first bit of it went. Since we waited til we were 15 weeks to tell people, we knew for about 13 of those weeks that we were expecting. Sometimes it was hard to keep it a secret and sometimes it was so easy that I never wanted to tell anyone.

One of the reasons I didn't want to tell was because I wasn't showing at all. I had no belly until about 14 weeks and even then you could only tell if I wore a couple things. It was kind of fun to see how long I could go without anyone being able to notice :) I don't know if its noticeable now. I feel like it is but maybe you still can't tell.  So because of this, I have no pictures of me at all during this time but we'll start doing it soon. I feel like right now I just look like I ate too much over the holidays.

So, here is what I experienced during my first trimester:

-Extreme tiredness: I don't think that I have ever been as tired as I was for the first 12 weeks or so. I was having to force myself to stay up until 9 but honestly I think I could have gone to bed at 5 and been just fine. However, I'm positive that I will experience much more exhaustion once the baby gets here :) Thankfully though I'm not as tired anymore. 

-Temperature sensitivity: This one surprised me a lot. I had always heard that women were always hot when they were pregnant but I have been freezing constantly since day 1. Seriously, I am always cold. I am always wearing multiple layers and wrapped up in blankets. Even if its warm in the apartment, I will still be cold. 

-Cravings: I think my biggest craving has been for fruit. I LOVE fruit right now! Any kind of fruit will do: apples, grapes, berries, plums, oranges (although for a while I couldn't really eat citrus stuff), melon....you name it. On the flip side another craving I had during the first 12 weeks was pizza. I wanted pizza all the time! I could have eaten it all day and been just fine. I have also made sure we always have pickles in the house...I really like to snack on those too :)
-No morning sickness: I have been so lucky to not have been sick and I know I've had it a lot easier than a lot of women have it. Its made going through my day so much easier. Its also allowed me to continue exercising like I love. The only time I've experienced any nausea at all is if I've eaten too much. Since I've been able to eat anything, sometimes I'll eat too much for dinner but its nothing bad.
I only hope I can experience this with any future pregnancies as well :)

Honestly we have also been so excited! We have been so excited that I didn't want to tell anyone for a while. I just wanted to be excited with Mike and our families. I had a hard time sharing our news. I just think, is this really happening to me?! It is finally my turn?! I want to protect myself and the baby, and while I know its silly I almost felt like if we told everyone and then something were to happen we would disappoint so many people and so I was scared to let my secret out. What people may or may not realize is that we are more excited and happier than we could ever find words to explain. Now we are just waiting, slightly impatiently, to find out if its a boy or a girl!?



 

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Charleston

Yesterday we went to Sullivan's Island to see the Charleston lighthouse and the beach. Its amazing that even though I've lived here for years, I have never seen this lighthouse before. Its not much to look at and you can't walk up it though. We agreed that it looks more like a prison than a lighthouse but still fun to go visit. Then we walked on the beach for a little while. It was a beautiful day in the morning but by the time we got there it was gloomy.

Then we went downtown to the battery to walk around. I love looking at all the old houses that are just so beautiful. We also needed a current picture by the pineapple.