15 Weeks

I've officially decided to try and do a weekly post about this pregnancy. We waited so long for this I really want to document it all. We'll try and include a bump picture but I'm not making promises. Anyway onto the rest of the post...

How Far Along: 15 weeks & 4 days

Baby's Size: Navel Orange

Gender: We don't know yet

Sleep: I'm finding it easier to fall asleep on my right side. I am DEFINITELY ready for bed at like 9:00 each night.

Miss Anything: Bug Spray! The gnats are terrible and I can't use anything.

Movement: Nothing yet.

Food Cravings: Salad with crisp crunchy veggies. Strawberries.

Food Aversions: Bananas, Hot Dogs and Corn Dogs.

Happy or Moody Overall: I would say happy, and Jared says he agrees.

Best Moments of the Week: Taking Bo & Sam down to the river to play. Play time with the boys on the practice field. Having our friend MJ over for dinner after we let her date spend the night at our house earlier (he's pretty cute lol).

Looking Forward To: An at home date night with Jared with popcorn and a movie.

The 1st Trimester

Well we are officially in the 2nd Trimester with this little person. Most of the 1st trimester the world didn't know we were even pregnant. So I thought I would share how the 1st trimester went.

MANY people have asked me how I've been feeling or how bad is morning sickness. Well let me tell you. Only 1 time did I have to run to the porcelain throne, and it was while I was trying to eat a banana muffin and it was hardly anything. Ever since then I have avoided bananas. I was nauseous but nothing terrible. I maybe had 3 to 4 days a week where I felt really yucky. I definitely consider myself lucky to not have been sick.

Most of the 1st trimester I didn't believe I was even pregnant. I mean I wasn't really sick and nothing was out of the ordinary. It wasn't until my appointment at 13 weeks that I let myself believe I was pregnant. It's hard to deny you're pregnant when you hear a heartbeat that isn't your own.

So far this pregnancy all I have wanted to eat is fresh fruits and veggies. Apples, grapes and strawberries are my must have fruits. Any crunchy veggies are also a must have. This should be a great thing right? It has been great for my weight, doctor said I lost some weight between my 1st and 2nd appointment. But when you live an hour from your grocery store it's kind of a problem because produce doesn't last as long.

Most women (especially tiny women) start showing a little at the point that I am at, but I was already carrying extra weight around my middle so I don't feel that I look that different. However that hasn't stopped people from touching my large belly, I expect that to just get worse as time goes by. Because of my science background I am aware of the fact of changes and have noticed my uterus reaching up further into my abdominal area (seriously you can feel it which I think is SO cool, yep science nerd). So I no longer comfortably fit in my regular pants, thank goodness for pant extenders which I found on Amazon (thank goodness for Amazon or I'd be so screwed out here in no man's land). Maternity clothes are harder to find down here (unless I go to Farmington NM) so when I head north for my doctor appointments I stop at Ross to see if I can find any maternity pants. I have been able to find a few shorts for summer that are maternity and MANY cute maternity tops. Target does have some maternity clothes, but their selection isn't so much my style though I did get maternity swim suits from there. If you know of any good places where I can find maternity bottoms let me know in the comments.

Anyway that pretty much sums it up. 1 trimester down 2 to go. In 6 months from now we'll be holding our little one in our arms.

Surprise!

So most of you here have read many posts about our struggle to conceive. We saw a infertility specialist, where we learned that I wasn't having optimal ovulatory responses and our swimmers were just not up to snuff and our chances to do this the old fashioned way was 1 in 100. We then saw a Urologist and learned that a simple surgery could make a world of difference. Most men who have this surgery are able to have children naturally. So $1,900 later a surgery was done and we would have to wait 3 months for any real difference to be seen. 3 months, we could do that I mean we had waited well over 2 1/2 years already. Life went on as usual, and we decided to not worry about medication or testing because nothing was going to change until April. Well that next cycle after the surgery was going to be a hectic one. Jared was going to be gone for several days to UMEA (music conference) and then days later I would be gone for a Jamberry conference. And of course we both had crazy things with work. Before all the craziness started we managed to spend some quality time together, though most people wouldn't call grocery shopping and dinner quality time I guess that happens when you live where we do.

Cute huh

Well the weeks went by and I was supposed to start my next cycle on Valentine's Day of all days. But when it didn't start on time I didn't think much of it because I tend to be a little late. But when it had almost been a week (February 20th) I decided I'd just take that pregnancy test just to get things started, I mean it worked every time before then. Plus there was NO WAY I was actually pregnant. What happened next surprised us both.

I thought I was seeing things so I asked Jared to look at it. He saw the same result I did. Positive. Even with seeing those 2 lines I doubted it. So just to be safe I broke out the more expensive digital one, the kind that leaves no question. Plus it gives you a week predictor too so I knew I could trust it. Of course I had to wait several hours to take it. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon here is what we saw...

1 word... pregnant. We cried, we laughed, and we hugged. We were shocked! 

2 months have passed since that moment. Our lives, especially mine, have changed a lot. I lucked out and was hardly sick. My clothes are starting to not fit. I'm tired a lot (no seriously I turn into a pumpkin at like 9:30 every night). But it's been a wonderful 1st trimester. Yep 1 down 2 to go. 13 weeks yesterday! 

Thank you all for your support as we have struggled over the past 3 years. We are glad this trial is over and are excited for our little addition to join us.

A little Video

On Saturday Jared had some time to make a video of our cute boys. We had a surprise for them, so be sure to watch.

February '16

Guess it's time for an update!

February just flew by. We started the month with Jared going to UMEA the 1st Friday and Saturday of the month and leaving me home alone with the boys. Jared always has a great time at UMEA, it is a time for him to learn more and get ideas on how to be an even better music teacher. Jared got back late on Saturday and then it was my turn to leave him alone haha. Though I did leave Bo with him so he wasn't completely alone. Sam and I left on SuperBowl Sunday to spend time watching the game with my family and to wish my baby sister (ok she's 22 so baby may not be the best term but whatever) a happy birthday. My mom is a HUGE Peyton Manning/Broncos fan so it was a lot of fun to watch the game with her. She had everyone wear a shirt. She thought it would help her team win. Guess so because the Broncos won.

Super Bowl Sunday/Kates Bday

(photo credit KJ)

The next day I went to Jamberry Summit in Provo UT. It was the whole reason I went up. I was able to meet members of my Jamberry Team. We had the opportunity to talk to many people from the home office including the President of the company.

Team Bankin the Jams with Jared Richards

Sam loved getting one on one time with me and some much needed time away from his grumpy big brother Bo. He and I went to Petco and got some treats and a new bed for his crate which he loves. We headed back home on Wednesday. It was nice to have a little getaway with my youngest.

Then we had Valentines Day, which is always a good day. We splurged and got steaks for dinner. SO good! I wish beef wasn't so expensive because I could go for steak way more often. My favorite part of the day (besides the steaks) was being able to spend time with my sweetheart. Things had been so crazy and we spent almost a week apart, so it was nice to reconnect. 

The rest of the month we were both busy with work and other activities. Jared had region Speech and Debate the last weekend of the month up in the Salt Lake area, so I headed up too. I was able to spend time helping my grandpa (he has dementia so I try to see him as much as I can). I was able to go wedding dress shopping with Jared's sisters, who are just as much my sisters now. We were able to find Marsha THE DRESS, she is going to knock Eric's socks off that's for sure. It was nice to have some girl time. 

And what do you know that's February! 

We're really excited for March! Lots of exciting things in the works this next month.

January '16

January seemed to just fly by. It was a VERY busy month for both of us. And since things were so busy I took like no photos.

We started January off with Jared going back to work on his birthday (which was on a Thursday), having school cancelled the next day, him working on Monday, then us taking the next 2 days off. Why did we take 2 days off??? Well because Jared had surgery on Tuesday the 12th. If you've read through our Dec 15 post you know that Jared saw Dr Hotaling and scheduled a surgery to repair things. We got to the University of Utah Daybreak Clinic/Hospital at about 9:30 Tuesday morning. We got Jared all checked in and waited for them to take him back. Once they took us back, we talked with nurses (by the way nurses ROCK) and got his vitals and all that stuff. We met with the anesthesiologist and his team (they were awesome too). Then we talked with Dr Hotaling (have I mentioned that he is THE BEST). He explained the procedure and timing and so on. Then he was off to be preparation and they sent me back to the waiting room (though seeing the surgery would have been awesome (yep medical/science nerd) ). About an hour later Dr Hotaling called me back to talk about how things went. He said Jared had 6 varicoceles (the norm is 3). I got some awesome pictures of before and after too. He asked me if I had questions and when I said "No" he had that look of "really why not" so I explained my educational background and then it made sense. The last thing he said to me, and I will NEVER forget it, was "Be sure to send me a baby picture!" See why I say he is AWESOME! So glad that he is our (ok Jared's) doctor. I went back out to the waiting room and waited for Jared to wake up.

Awake after a successful surgery (he'll probably kill me for posting this lol)

After he was awake we waited almost an hour before we could leave. We picked up his pain meds from the pharmacy and headed to Taco Time to grab him something to eat since he hadn't eaten in over 12 hours. We got back to my parents house and parked him on the couch with a bunch of snacks oh and an ice pack. Being in civilization meant I had other errands to run while I had the chance and he was quite content to just veg and watch Netflix. Needless to say Jared was spoiled while recovering, but he SO deserved it. I mean what other guy would have surgery THERE unless it was for something his wife (and he) wanted. The next day we headed back home and Jared went back to work the next day. He was definitely tired the next few days, but had a great recovery.

Then we had a 3 day weekend (LOVE those). 4 day weeks are AWESOME! The next week was Honor Choir and I was able to be a chaperone for those 2 days. This really just meant that I got 2 lunch dates with my husband and spent the whole day with him. PLUS I got to use school internet to work, so a win win all around.

Well that was January. What a whirlwind! And it looks like February is going to follow in its footsteps.

Thank you all for your prayers for us during January as Jared went under the knife, and of course for the continued support.

December '15

December is one of my favorite months, it's a very special time of year.

December was a very busy month for me with work. We gained another person on my team just in time for the other member to go on maternity leave. But I survived :)

December is always busy for Jared because the band has their winter concert and bazaar. It's kind of stressful. The band raised money for them to go on tour this year that night. I also did a fundraiser for the band with Jamberry.

We held a little "Polar Express" party after school got out for the break, and invited all our neighbors. We had lots of goodies. Don't they look delicious?

 COOKIES!!!

                         




                               CANDY!!!

Christmas Eve we had our traditional dinner (ham, funeral potatoes, nog, etc). It's the only time we use placemats, REAL napkins, and a table cloth. It was nice to be in the kitchen cooking this wonderful meal, and yes it was WONDERFUL. The boys were begging for ham all night, though they got a nice dinner of their own. Silly boys!

Christmas Eve is one of my favorite nights of the year. During dinner we listen to old Christmas Records (yes vinyls). We spent the night watching "It's a Wonderful Life" (it's tradition) while coloring (not tradition yet). We then read some books together, including the Nativity. What a wonderful way to remember the birth of our Savior.

Christmas day was pretty relaxed. The boys of course were including in gift giving this year, and once they figured out that things for them came from the paper they wouldn't let us open the things for us. The boys got LOTS of toys and other goodies this year.

The boys got a blue big from their Wonnacott Grandparents. Bo loved it. It may or may not have scared Sam.

Later in the day we took the boys out to play. They got a new frisbee, Sam LOVED it. We also took out Bo's favorite ball. We all had a lot of fun.

 Sam loved catching snow balls.

What a wonderful day, just our little family of 4. I love day like that.

A few days after Christmas we headed up to South Jordan to spend time with my family. While we were in civilization both Jared and I went to doctor appointments. Mine was just a yearly appointment with my OB/GYN. Jared saw a Urologist, Dr Hotaling (he's so AWESOME). While at his appointment Jared learned that he had Varicoceles that are causing some (potentially all) of our infertility, so we scheduled a surgery to get those taken care of. The rest of our time in So Jo was spent playing games and hanging out with my family. New Years Eve we had all of us at my parents house and played games. Lots of fun.

Well that sums up December 2015.