It's Time to Get Back to Blogging! {& a big announcement!}

It's been since October since I blogged last! what?! I promise I will get better...& now I have a really great excuse to start blogging again!

{we're having a baby!}

We found out on March 14, and it was definitely the best news we have ever received! After a year of trying, we were getting a little discouraged, but we always knew that it would happen, all in God's plan. Boy, did He ever have a plan! 

Here is the story about how we found out, and the week leading up to & the weeks after March 14:

I knew that it was getting very close to the time for me to take a pregnancy test. I decided to take one of those early detection tests on Thursday, March 7, and it was negative. I cried & cried that morning because we really had a good feeling about this month. I was so confused and just wanted answers! I told myself I wasn't going to take another test for another few days, but of course those crazy tests come in packs of two, so I had another one & had to take it on Friday. Again, it was negative. At this point, I just told myself that it wasn't going to be this month (month #11 of trying), & I was going to have to get over it. 

So I waited. Tuesday, March 12 ("the day") came & went. I am & always have been on time, so I questioned it but still kept telling myself, nope, not this month. Wednesday came, mother nature was still yet to arrive, which was exciting, but I was trying not to get my hopes up. In the meantime, I was having headaches & unexplained heartburn! :o)

Thursday arrived, and I knew that if I was going to take a test, I needed to take it soon. I was going out of town with my mom to Stone Mountatin, GA, for the weekend, and John T. was going into work Thursday evening, and I wouldn't see him again until Sunday. Before I left for work, I sat down & read my devotional. I had been reading a lot of devotionals lately that related directly to our situation, but this one, while great, didn't relate that much. However, as I was reading the verse that went along with the devotional, a passage that I had highlighted months ago caught my eye because it was on the same page. I looked down & saw the verse in pink:

This was definitely one of those moments in my life where I felt like God was sitting right next to me on that couch, speaking straight to me. I knew at the moment that I had to be pregnant. (I also just "knew" at this moment that one of my best friends, Amber, was, too, but I wouldn't find this out for another week.)

 My friend Christina, who was about 7 weeks pregnant at the time, texted me while I was at work to see how I was doing because she (along with my other girlfriends) had been with me through this entire journey. I told her that I was two days late, but I had not taken a test yet! If her text could have screamed, it would have! She told me I had to take a test that night! :o)

So, after work, I headed to Wal-Mart to pick up some tests. I got a box of two digital tests & a box of two of the "line tests". 

I got home around 4:30, and John T. had to leave for work at 5:30, so right when I walked in the door, I headed for the bathroom! :o) I took the first digital test & went in the living room to wait. While waiting, we watched some of the Vols basketball game. I couldn't tell you one thing about who we were playing, the score, anything! I was just so nervous to see that test! 

Finally, about 3 minutes passed, and I told John T. that HE was going to look at the test. I had seen way too many negative tests over the past 11 months, and I was just not wanting to see another one! I heard him pick up the test & not say a word...the next thing I knew he walked to where I was & put the test where I could see it & he said "what does this say?!"

We were literally over the moon with excitement! We just stood there & hugged each other for like five minutes! We prayed & thanked God for answering our prayers that we had been praying for so long! Over the past month, I felt like I was begging God to allow us to get pregnant. I am so glad that He was always there & has entrusted us to raise this sweet child!

Before John T. left, I took another test, & then I may have taken one more after he left! :o) 

I went to work the next morning & called my OB's office to make my first appointments as soon as the office opened! After I made those appointments, I called my primary care doctor to see if I could come in that day to take one of their tests. The lady laughed at me because I had already taken 3 positive tests, but she told me to come in anyways. I left work at lunch & took another positive test at the office. Another confirmation! I think that made it real for me! (but it was still so hard to believe!)

I always had these big elaborate plans in my mind about telling our families that we were having a baby. Well, all of that pretty much went out the door! My mom was picking me up from work on Friday, and we were heading to Georgia. I knew I would never be able to make it to Georgia without telling her, so while I was driving, I told her she was going to need to save more money for Christmas presents this year because I was pregnant! She is so thrilled, & I cannot wait to see her be a grandma/mimi/gigi, whatever the baby decides to call her! :o) I told my dad when we got back on Saturday, & we told John T.'s family on Sunday afternoon. We told everyone to please keep it a secret, at least until my first appointment. You would have thought we had asked people to move to Africa or something because they all had the hardest time keeping it a secret! 

To tell John T.'s family, I wrote this inside a kid's book I bought forever ago through Kelly's Korner Blog for our future kiddos.

Here is a clip from a video Taleah took of us telling his family (John T. had told her on Friday, so she helped with our plan!):

Before we found out we were pregnant, we knew that two of my best friends, Christina & Brittany were pregnant. Then...after we found out we were pregnant, we also found out that our friends Amber & Tim were pregnant (we later found out they are pregnant with twins & we are due the exact same day, November 20!!!) Amber & I had went through this whole "can't get pregnant thing" for the exact amount of time. God definitely knew exactly what He was doing (doesn't He always?). I have been able to share this pregnancy with 3 of my besets friends, which is such a blessing! We are all due within weeks of each other in October & November!

We had a check-up appointment today, which went great! The baby seems happy & healthy, and I could not be more blessed with how my pregnancy has gone so far. I haven't been sick at all. I have just had extreme fatigue, mostly in the afternoons/nights, but that's it! Baby Armes' heartbeat was in the 160s today! So far, the heart rates have been 176, 140s, 171 & today 160s. Everyone says that since I haven't been sick, that it is a boy. Other people say that a high heart rate equals a girl. :o) We shall see in a few short weeks! We absolutely cannot wait until we find out what little bit is! 

I will be 13 weeks tomorrow, and I am planning to do weekly updates from here on out. So excited about this & to be back to blogging! :o)

Here are my weekly pics so far:

{weeks 8-12}

Also, here is the picture Amber & I took to announce our pregnancies to our families & friends via Facebook. :o)