Our Harper Grace Whitlock
The story of how I found out:
I had just taken my state board tests to graduate from Paul Mitchell, I assumed that's why I was having heart burn and feeling slightly nauseated..turns out I was wrong. A girl friend at school convinced me to try an at home test just to be sure. Since I was stuck at school for thirteen hours a day I stupidly decided to just take a test quick in between clients..right there, at Paul Mitchell the School Provo. To say I was surprised when those two pink lines showed up would be an understatement. I was still slightly convinced the test was just a false positive so I wrapped it up in paper towel and shoved it back into the box. As soon as I opened the bathroom door I was made aware from one of the school staff that my client had arrived for their haircut...I can say with confidence that I didn't manage any conversation with that poor client for the whole service. I finally got to go home and went straight to the bathroom and took three more tests. They all turned positive immediately. I laid all four positive pee sticks out on the counter and called Preston into the bathroom. I just stood there staring at all these little pink lines and positive plus signs. Preston finally looked at the counter and said, "what is that? What does all that mean? What are those symbols?" So I explained it meant he was going to be a dad. He went silent for a minute and then sat down and the first thing he said was,"I hope it's a girl so we can put lots of big bows on her head."
So that's the story. In my head growing up I always assumed it would be this big moment in my life and I would have a huge dramatic plan of how I was going to break the news to my husband. The reality was I was in complete shock, I felt suddenly very scared but also completely at peace. It was just a stillness that sort of happened as I tried to wrap my head around the idea that I was carrying a little human. I couldn't come up with some awesome idea of how to tell Preston, I just told him as soon as I could, standing in our slightly dirty bathroom. It wasn't anything too special or romantic or anything but it was simply a moment in our lives that happened but, we will most definitely never forget it.
Here are some pictures of our little miss as she's developed over the last seven months. My doctor is amazing and has no qualms about letting her moms have ultrasounds to see their little ones whenever they want. I have loved it and I feel very spoiled that I have gotten to peak at my little squishy as often as have.
Here she is at our first ultrasound (9 weeks gestation)
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Here is little miss at 15 weeks
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Here we are at 20 weeks...Halfway done!!!
And our most recent ultrasound at 27 weeks
I love this cute little face so much already, we are so excited to meet her! At this point we only have about ten weeks left until her due date. It's been a lot of fun getting ready for her. We have been very blessed to be living in Provo, Utah while preparing for our first child. Turns out it's the baby capital of the World so we have gotten a lot of our baby needs met by those who have gone before us. It has saved us so much money which has been nice. I definitely recommend trying to get as many big items used as possible, especially since everything we have gotten looks pretty much brand new!
Everyone has been so sweet and constantly asking me how I am doing with the pregnancy. My first trimester was honestly terrible. I hated it, I got really depressed and felt almost defeated because I hated being pregnant so bad in the beginning. (cue tiny violin, I know...) But it was in fact the furthest thing from the joyous, glowing, happy time I was always told it was going to be. I knew I should expect some unpleasant effects from the pregnancy, like morning sickness and heartburn maybe some headaches. But I had no idea just how much "fun" those effects were really going to be. I felt pretty good for about the first two weeks after those positive pee sticks but right around week six of my pregnancy the nausea set it. It was terrible. I REALLY hate throwing up, so I fight it until the very end, which doesn't do you any good with morning sickness. In fact I think it made it worse. I had the pleasure of getting so sick I would find myself dehydrated and at one point in the ER so they could replenish my fluids and give me anti nausea medication through an IV so that I couldn't throw it up. I found everyone...literally everyone, had some magical cure they thought would work to help my morning sickness....I tried every single one and none of them worked. I found a little relief in Phenegren which was an anti nausea pill my doctor prescribed me. I had to take it about every 3 hours instead of six since I would get sick the minute it started to lose its powers. "SeaBands" also helped me a little bit, whether that was because they actually medically work or they have a happy placebo effect I'll never know, but I did form a slight crush on them. My nauseous days finally left me at about seventeen weeks and I became suddenly a much happier me. We found out the gender of the baby and after that I really started feeling that bond to my little fetus that I hadn't before. That's something I definitely didn't expect. I thought I would pee on that stupid stick and it would turn positive and I would immediately have this magical mother bond to the tiny little cell cluster living inside of me but that didn't happen. I didn't feel pregnant at first and it didn't seem real. Luckily all my lovey dovey feelings came later on.
My second trimester was fine, being pregnant is really just an experience you just have to get through for most moms I've learned. There are a few rare moms who feel glorious and sexy and FABULOUS when pregnant but those people are pretty much as common as unicorns I've decided.
My Third trimester has also been pretty good so far...even though it just started. I have some normal aches and pains and sometimes my ribs get seriously abused by tiny feet but it's nothing too bad. I secretly love it when strangers randomly touch my belly. I think it's nice sometimes that other people can find joy in such a happy little miracle here on Earth.
Preston has been incredible for this little journey. I know it can't be too fun having to deal with a pregnant wife. It's probably not fun listening to me throw up over and over again, or dealing with my monthly break down, or watching your wife eat enough to feed a small army, or even listening to her snore like a baby rhino. But he has been great and very supportive. I love watching him with his 6'4" body and deep voice in baby stores holding up tiny pink tutus and flower headbands with a big smile on his face. I know he'll make a great dad and we are very lucky girls to have him.
I realize no one probably cares to know this many details of my experience thus far but someday I'll want to look back and remember these things, and I won't kid myself into thinking I'll actually manage to keep a journal going for more than five days.
Thanks for reading!
