Since I’m using this blog as a place to record my experiences in motherhood, I figured it’s only fitting that I start from the beginning and share my pregnancy story.

After getting married, Tommy and I knew we wanted to start a family, but in our minds timing was everything. We wanted to enjoy a few years of just being married, I wanted to finish graduate school, and Tommy wanted us to have more living space.

By April of 2015, we felt like we were ready to seriously start thinking about kids. I would be finished with graduate school in December and we had just purchased our first home. We prayed and decided that we would start trying to conceive.

In my previous post, I mentioned we found out we were pregnant at the end of August. I wasn’t expecting it, but the test was positive! I remember shedding tears of joy and then yelling for Tommy, waking him up way too early. After church I made Tommy take me to the store to get another test. I had to be sure. Test #2 gave the same result, POSITIVE. We were pregnant. We were going to be parents.

We had our first doctor appointment and ultrasound about a month later. At that appointment the pregnancy was confirmed and we heard the heartbeat! I was 8 weeks pregnant and Baby Sullivan was due May 5, 2016.

Early on, my major pregnancy symptoms were fatigue and nausea. I got lucky and never experienced true morning sickness. Throughout the pregnancy my cravings varied from week to week, but the most consistent craving was pizza! I could have eaten pizza every day, but of course, Tommy wouldn’t let that happen. On the other hand, one food that I could not stand was peanut butter. Just the thought of it would make me feel sick.

Right before Christmas we had our 20 week appointment where we learned the sex of our baby. Tommy and I were both super excited! We hoped and prayed we were having a boy. As we sat in the waiting room before the ultrasound, baby began moving and kicking like crazy, apparently, just as excited as we were. During the ultrasound, we closed our eyes as the technician prepared to reveal the sex of our baby. When she found the “money shot” we opened our eyes and there it was, we were having a boy! Our prayers had been answered. A few days later, we brought both of our families together for the big reveal. Everyone was excited to learn we would be adding a baby boy to the family.

Overall, my pregnancy was normal until the beginning of 2016. I ended up in the hospital twice, once in January and once in March, with vomiting and abdominal pain, but the doctors could never determine what was wrong. Thankfully, our baby was okay through it all.

The last few months of pregnancy seemed to go by pretty slow, but Tommy and I did all we could to prepare for baby’s arrival, decorating his nursery, organizing all of our supplies, taking birthing/parenting classes, and packing our hospital bags. Near the end, we felt like we were ready as we could be for his arrival.

At my 37 week check-up I was 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced. At that point, there was no indication that I would go into labor anytime soon. At my 39 week check, I was 2 cm dilated and baby boy was at -1 station. At this point I was anxious about going beyond my due date. However, I didn’t have to worry too long because two days after that appointment our baby boy made his big debut, five days before his due date.

Click here to read my labor and delivery story.