The 5 Best Moments of Pregnancy (so far)

#1 Finding out I was pregnant!

When I first found out I was pregnant, I wasn't at home. I wasn't with my husband, and I wasn't even alone.
Nope. I was standing in a public bathroom, surrounded by 6 other girls in my nursing school class, and I was shaking harder than a washing machine on spin cycle ;)

On a whim, I bought the pregnancy test on my way to class when I was picking up donuts. A girl in my class saw the pregnancy test in my bag during class and of course the whole class forced me to take it right then and there... (but I'm so glad I did!)

When it showed up as positive, we all started jumping up and down and screaming, and I'm pretty sure I was crying :)

Of course, the day I found out also happened to be the simulation lab with the maternity mannequin. And yes, that's a plastic placenta

It was really fun to have so many girls around me. And it's special because I'll have this baby while I'm still in nursing school, so these girls will go through it all with me!

#2 Telling Zach he's going to be a dad!

I decided to tell Zach by having him open up a gift with a little onesie inside that said "Daddy's sidekick". The hardest part was driving all the way home from Ogden (1.5 hours!), talking on the phone to Zach and not even telling him!

I was sooo worried he wouldn't be surprised at all because I always told him when I tell him I'm pregnant I'm going to film it on my phone. So the whole set up was pretty obvious by the time he sat down. But nevertheless, his reaction was priceless :)

It was such a special moment, when we hugged right after I told him. I just remember thinking, Wow, nothing is ever going to be the same now. And I can't wait.

#3 Hearing our baby's heartbeat for the first time 

Being in the cool family that I married into, I am SET when it comes to maternity care. I have a father-in-law who's an OB/GYN, a sister-in-law who's a nurse midwife, and 2 sisters-in-law who are labor and delivery nurses. (And since I want to be a nurse midwife, did I marry into the right family or what?)

That means I got to hear my baby's heart beat at only 6 weeks! I was really nervous, of course. Everyone worries about not finding the heartbeat on ultrasound the first time,  and I even had some nightmares about it the night before. But the first time I heard that 'lil thump thump thump thump and saw my 'lil bean on the ultrasound screen, I just got this overwhelming feeling of love. I have never loved anything as much as I love our little cheerio.

Here's our 'lil cheerio, only 6 weeks along :)

#4 Telling our family :)

I called both of my sisters right away (I just couldn't wait to tell them!), and they were so excited for me. Then, over the next few weeks, we told both of our families. Here's some of my favorite photos of their reaction to the news:

my parents' reaction. my mom wasn't surprised, but soooooooooooo excited

Zach's parents' reaction: we tried to tell them by taking a picture AS we announced it, but they laughed it off when we first told them because no one believed us! So we had to convince them for a few minutes before they finally realized we were actually pregnant!

Zach's sister, Brittani. She cried.

Zach's sister, Erin. She cried too :)

This is one of my favorites, Zach's sister, Ashley :)

#5 Seeing baby move (&wiggle & kick & dance) for the first time

Terrible picture, I know, but you can see the face profile and the baby's little fist :)

This was at my last prenatal visit, and baby was kicking and punching her arms around like crazy! I don't have a video of it, so I'll keep this one brief. My mom was there, and she and I both got all teary--it was really special. Before we could only see still pictures of the baby, but for some reason seeing the baby move around in realtime made the baby seem more like a baby. I can't wait for Zach to see baby dance around at the next ultrasound! It's just so surreal to know that my baby is growing in me. 

Already, it's the most wonderful thing I have ever done. 

June 17th can't come fast enough!