Faith, trust & pixie dust

Let's talk about the second trimester! It is seriously the best!

I started to feel Lucy move around a few weeks ago and it has progressively gotten stronger. It is the BEST feeling in the entire world. I love feeling this little peanut move around. I actually got to go to an ultrasound today and see her. Turns out Lucy is half ninja. She is constantly kicking and moving her arms. She moves around so much it was really hard to get some good pictures.

"Please, no pictures."

I was originally supposed to go for my ultrasound tomorrow but it turns out being a nurse is really dangerous. I knew going into my career that I would be exposed to all kinds of scary diseases (like ebola or TB). But there are some things in the NICU nurses can be exposed to that can actually hurt my baby (some of the TORCH diseases). Our charge nurses are pretty awesome and try not to assign any pregnant nurses to those kinds of babies though. Sadly we don't always know when a baby has a TORCH so we use universal precautions with every baby. The likelihood of me already have been exposed to CMV before I was pregnant was probably pretty high though which means both me and baby would be immune. And even though I feel SOOO much better after meeting with my doctor and him telling me that he knows my baby is fine and that because the ultrasound is perfect he is not even the littlest worried about it, I still can't wait for the results to come back for the blood work. Just so I have some peace of mind.

Although hearing my little girl has a perfect ultrasound truly makes me feel good. Today they tried to do the anatomy scan but they couldn't see her heart. She was scrunched up in a ball and moving around too much. So now I get to go back in about 1 month and meet with the fetal cardiologist where they will do their own anatomy scan to make sure her heart is great. Which is super awesome. And even though I am not a high risk for having a cardiac kiddo they apparently offer this scan to everyone who sees the high risk doctor (perks!).

I've been meaning to blog about each week of my pregnancy but obviously that has not happened. I am hoping to get better at it starting with this week (especially now because I am starting to show really good)! 

So for now here is just a summary of the last few weeks:

15 weeks!

16 weeks!

17 weeks! This is also by far my favorite picture I've taken while being pregnant.

18 weeks!

Lucy in the sky with diamonds

It's official!!! Tyler & I are expecting a sweet baby girl!!! 

Her name is Lucy Kay Brox. I've always loved the name Lucy. It is a classic vintage name (much like my name). And Kay is my mom's middle name. It just seemed like the perfect name for our sweet little peanut.

Turns out old wives tales aren't all right. My cravings have been super spicy foods, steak, french fries, and brownies. YUM! But to be perfectly honest what normal person doesn't crave those foods on a regular basis!! Also I didn't have morning sickness too bad. I was nauseous mostly at night and dry heaved a few times but I never actually threw up. Because of that EVERYONE except like 5 people were sure I was having a boy.

When I first got pregnant I thought for sure it was a girl, but then I thought well maybe that's just what I want. So then I started to convince myself it is a boy! So when we went to our first ultrasound Baby Brox decided she was going to be sleeping, with her legs closed, and in a position where it was impossible to see ANYTHING.

She was sleeping with her legs in indian style crossed and hunched over with her head resting on the placenta. Which instantly made me laugh because I sleep EXACTLY like that. I knew then she must have been a girl because she was being shy (like her mom). But Tyler and I decided to take our gender reveal pictures anyway. My friend Amy took them for us and they turned out SUPER cute. We took one with each color balloon so that way we could use whichever color applied.

Luckily we got to go back the next day. I drank a nice cold and sugary smoothie and it woke her right up! She was hanging out upside down and then flipped all around. It was very cute.

As soon as the ultra sound tech told it was a girl I cried, and so did Tyler. Even though nothing had changed our sweet baby finally had a name and a gender, we could starting calling her by her name instead of baby Brox. She is the most beautiful little person I've ever seen and I am just so in love with her.

We are thrilled to continue the journey of pregnancy and reach the next mile stones (kicking!!!).

Popping (baby) bottles!

By now I think everyone knows

TYLER AND I ARE HAVING A BABY!
Due January 1, 2016!!

That's right! We finally decided now was a good time. We thought about waiting to tell people until I was past the first trimester but because I have the clotting disorder I am considered high risk the entire pregnancy. So we reasoned that if we told people we would get more prayers (we were right! and we are so thankful for them!!)

I knew I was pregnant before I tested positive on a test. Tylers mom made these delicious peanut butter chocolate cookies (she is seriously the best baker) but for some reason the idea of those cookies made me want to throw up! It was super weird and it made think something is up. The next morning I decided I would take a pregnancy test. After 5 minutes of waiting there was a very faint second line! I quickly woke up Tyler and had him confirm he saw the second line too! Over the next few days I took quite a few more other tests (just to be sure).

Because of the high risk I was immediately started on Lovenox injections (blood thinner shots). Giving yourself a shot is not the easiest task but it is worth it to know it is for a healthy baby and to keep me healthy too!

baby was the size of a poppy seed (those are poppy flowers)

Side note how cute is this Preggers shirt from ILY Couture

it is SOOO soft and so comfy! I love it.

We went to an appointment when I was only about 4 weeks but it was too early to see anything. So they rescheduled me to come back on May 8th. This was a hard day for me because it is the anniversary of my dads death. But we went and saw a tiny blueberry with a healthy beating heart. It was so wonderful. 

We scheduled another appointment in 2 weeks (today) to see the doctor to make sure everything is still going good. It is! The baby is growing (it's a strawberry now) and still has a strong beating heart! We are scheduled to go back again at the 12 week mark! I can't wait. It is so exciting to see this little baby grow. Tyler & I both think we are having a boy (even though it's too early to know). Either way we will be VERY happy! 

Catching up

SO much has happened since my last post. Life has been crazy, out of control, I'm talking marathon after marathon... on  netflix. :) I have truly been enjoying the relaxing life that comes after graduation. Also my energy levels have been completely depleted lately, probably from all of those marathons...

I guess I'll start with talking about graduation though! It was one of the best days. I finally survived completed nursing school and graduated with a 4.0 Bachelors of Science in nursing. A few weeks after I graduated I took the NCLEX and somehow managed to pass even though it was all a blur of tears and stress.

After I passed NCLEX I officially accepted my first big girl job! I will be starting in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in May!! I am so thrilled to be starting in my dream unit, especially as a new grad!

We celebrated Easter with family and had a super fun easter egg hunt! My nieces were just too cute and very good at finding the eggs.

No normal pictures... EVER :P

Tyler & I really wanted to go to Disneyland to celebrate me graduating and before I started working and things got crazy again. So we booked a trip and invited Kylan to come with us too. It was so much fun! Disneyland is my absolute favorite place in the world, I would pick going to Disneyland over anywhere else. It was a lot of fun and I already can't wait to go back this summer for the DIAMOND anniversary!! Oh and for the churros.