A First Trimester Recap

Before I start this post, I want to say that if you are not in the right head space to read a post about someone else’s pregnancy, please don’t.  Just click out.  Lord knows I wasn’t for an entire year, so I get it.  What I will tell you instead it that when we had been trying for about a year, I had an appointment with my regular doctor for a routine physical and when I told her we might be facing some infertility she told me she’d been through it too and that her best advice was to have a good support system.  I told my mom and my sister and my best friend that week and she was right, so you do the same ♥

We found out the day before Valentine’s Day (the happiest Valentine’s Day ever, to be honest!).  The bad part about having an IUI and doctors watching over the outcome is that you can’t really put off finding out the results.  I took a home pregnancy test and even though Joey and I had promised to wait and look together, I could see that second pink line pop up even as I basically ran out of the bathroom.  To be honest, I had already talked myself out of having any luck on our first try so even though we were both teary-eyed with happiness, the biggest emotion I felt was still disbelief.  The good part about getting pregnant at a fertility clinic is that they monitor you a lot earlier and a lot closer.  Which means I had bloodwork to confirm the pregnancy done that day, plus two days later and an ultrasound at both seven and nine weeks, where we got to both see and hear the baby.  All of those appointments are so nerve-wracking but also so truly amazing and magical ♥

We told all our parents and siblings on Valentine’s Day — you can only stall so long when they know the exact day that you’ll find out the results — and yes, both mothers were all tears 🙂  Also, we got to tell Hannah and Josh about a week after and guys, I can’t make this up, my best friend and I are pregnant together!

I’m out of the woods of the first trimester now, but all in all it wasn’t horrible.  Around Week 7, I started to feel really tired.  Like debilitatingly tired.  I was only in the office for a couple of weeks before things with COVID-19 got scary and I started working from home so I only had to struggle through a few days of desperately needing but not being able to take a nap at my desk, but from then until what feels like three weeks ago, Joey was doing EVERYTHING for us.  I didn’t help cook, I didn’t help clean the house, I didn’t wash a single dish and I went to bed at 8 PM.  My guilt was at an all time high, but gosh I’m so thankful for him!  There were only a couple of times where I was actually sick but I had food aversion to so many things and they changed on a daily basis.  Oh and I completely stopped working out.  You hear about those people who stay active through their entire pregnancy but um, that was not me.

Joey continues to make me pose for a weekly photo and now that I’m starting to have something to show, it’s okay but during the first trimester, when I was tired and would have to change out of my pajamas, I basically acted like it was the worst thing to ever happen to me.  Never not dramatic, this one 😛  Okay, I think that’s about all I have to report.  I’m feeling much more myself in this second trimester, so that should be a more fun post 🙂

Recently Consumed: Quarantine Edition

Yes, it now takes me three weeks to rack up enough content to write a post.  Sadly, I have not grown better at capturing the moments that have been lifting us up and keeping us occupied.  We have watched a ton of movies, I’ve actually gotten back to reading, we celebrated my sister’s birthday (six feet apart and with masks in a big outdoor area) and this weekend, the weather was so so nice and we spent lots of time outside.  Yet, my camera roll is just pictures of Andi and Cream of Wheat.  What is wrong with me??

Anyway, since my life is now just a list of things I’ve consumed, I thought I’d just break it down into some categories: things watched, things read, things eaten.  Here we go!

Things Watched:

  • I think we’ve talked about watching The Sopranos for ten years, but we finally pulled the trigger (no pun intended :P) and are already a few episodes into Season 2!
  • Can you believe we’d never seen any of the Lord of the Rings films?  In my mind, it seemed like some big time commitment and I’d made it my whole life without them, so it didn’t feel pressing but we plowed through them a couple weekends ago and I LOVED them!  The plot was interesting, the graphics really held up (Helm’s Deep is how you do a nighttime battle scene, Game of Thrones) and Orlando Bloom really made being a fairy seem cool.  Halfway through Return of the King, I told Joey “if one of these hobbitses die, I will lose it!”  Why did I wait so long??
  • My sister told me I needed to watch Broad City and she was right!  Every time Joey would catch part of an episode, he’d laugh the entire time.  It really is funny.
  • Joey flew through Misery so after he finished, I promised I’d watch the movie with him.  He wouldn’t even tell me if there were more torture scenes than that one torture scene, but I survived and actually thought it was pretty good.
  • We’ve watched like a thousand other things, but I’ll end here 🙂

Things Read:

  • In all honesty, though I’ve technically read parts of three books during this quarantine, two of them I’d started way earlier and I’m only halfway through the third one.  Don’t be like me and get into a habit of looking at your phone instead of reading at night!
  • The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip.  Unless you count Harry Potter, I don’t think I’ve read a true fantasy story maybe ever?  I got this one at our book swap in December and vowed to actually give it a go.  I didn’t love it, to be honest, but I’m glad I gave it a chance.
  • Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.  If you know me, you know I love Taylor Jenkins Reid.  This one wasn’t as good as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but I still really liked it.  She has such an knack for creating characters that feel so real I often find myself wanting to Google them before I remember they’re fictional.  
  • Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver.  I’m only halfway through and something like ten years removed from the last time I read a Barbara Kingsolver book, but I really like this one!

Things Eaten:

  • Asparagus Quiche with a Polenta Crust.  When your mom already makes the best classic quiche, it’s best not to even try making something similar, so polenta quiche it is!  We’ve been making this for years and it’s truly creamy and delicious.
  • Kale Caesar Salad.  We’ve definitely forgone our weekly salad-in-a-jar habit, but we’ve been trying to throw in a dinner salad here and there.  This one is old and I actually made the recipe up myself, but it’s delicious and the only update I’ve made is this technique for homemade croutons (they are crazy good!).
  • Sesame Soba Noodles.  Joey made these for us and then I think I ate the leftovers four days in a row.
  • We’ve also ordered a lot of take out.  Ramen from Uncle will never get old!

A pup who likes to sleep with his tongue out // A blossom update // A snowstorm that ruined all those blossoms // Aforementioned polenta quiche

In other news, we close on our house this Thursday (and it’s in person, ugh!!!), so that’s something to look forward too 🙂