Guess what we did in Hawaii...

♥ ♥ ♥

So remember how I got my implant taken out back in November? 

Yeah, I never did have another period.

I kind of figured that since we weren't using any backup prevention that I would probably get pregnant fairly quickly. One of the main reasons I chose Implanon in the first place was because the hormones work the same way as an IUD as far as being able to get pregnant immediately once the device is removed from your body. Just because we didn't want babies at that time doesn't mean I didn't want the option to get pregnant right away once we decided to start trying. There are so many methods of birth control that take months and even years to get out of your system and I didn't want to wait any longer than we had to once we made that decision.

That being said, this wasn't what I would call a planned pregnancy. I got my birth control removed, not because we wanted to have a baby, but because I was sick to death of the heinous side effects and I couldn't wait even one more month for the insurance to kick in. Once it was out though, I found myself feeling very maternal. My entire perspective shifted and I suddenly felt very calm about everything that was going on in my life. It was seriously the strangest thing.

Those of you who know me know that I have been very anti-child for awhile. It's just not a situation that I think should be entered lightly and I just really never felt right about us starting a family at any previous time in our marriage. I accepted that my new found sense of peace was there for a reason, and we decided that if we got pregnant before the insurance allowed me to get on another form of birth control, then it was obviously meant to be. If it didn't happen, then it wasn't supposed to, and I was going to go ahead and get on something else and we would continue on with our lives and that would be that.

I know that Heavenly Father's timing will always be different from mine, and I know that His is always the better choice. Not that I don't sometimes struggle with that, but I do know it. I believe that my husband and I are in the right place at the right time and this is exactly how things are supposed to be right now. I won't lie, there are days when I'm not always 100% sure that I'm okay with it. I definitely have days where I go back and forth with how I feel about starting a family without any real plans in place, but I know that I wouldn't be pregnant if it was still something that we couldn't handle. That's the awesome thing about trusting the Lord - it means you can have peace of mind that everything will turn out the way it's supposed to. You don't have to be the one that worries if you're not the one in charge. ☻


That's enough of the sappy soul-searching confessions for now. Let's get down to business.


There are several different reasons that made me suspect that I got pregnant while we were in Hawaii, but of course I couldn't be entirely sure. You never can be too careful, so as soon as I thought it was a possibility, I abandoned my extreme diet and gave up my intense caffeine addiction. Uh, sort of. That part was unbelievably difficult, yet strangely simple at the same time. The simple part was that Redbulls and Rockstar Recoverys were my weakness (and I mean in a big way; it was rare for me to go even one day without caffeine in one form or another). Well, since they were no longer an option, my habit was basically obliterated. I'm not a big fan of regular soda and I rarely drink it, so it's not like I substituted one for the other. Zero energy drinks = zero caffeine for me. 

The hard part was the fact that I had to get off of it so quickly when I was consuming SO MUCH on a regular basis. I was exhausted and irritable and felt like I was wandering through life via dreaming for a very long time. My body eventually got used to it, and I can honestly say that for the most part, I don't miss it. Don't get me wrong, there are days when I definitely can't go on without a pick-me-up, but they are pretty few and far between. You can safely consume up to 200mg of caffeine/day while you're pregnant, so every now and then I take advantage of the leeway. It usually backfires and leaves me feeling ornery and sluggish, so mostly I just go without. Life is easier that way.

My cute mommy on Christmas morning 2011

After weeks of countless negative tests (I'm impatient!), we finally got a positive one the week before Christmas. We wrapped it up and gave it to each of our families on Christmas morning. Like we re-wrapped it once we were through at my parent's house and brought it with us to his parent's later. Haha! I wasn't able to get a good picture of my mother-in-law's reaction because she was sitting on the floor in front me when while we opened gifts. 
Both sides of the family were thrilled.


My adorable sister had been documenting my weekly progress faithfully in pictures, and she is really good at what she does. If you are so inclined, you can find her page on Facebook under Natalie Perkins Taylor Photography. Seriously, her work is incredible and she loves what she does. I'm so grateful that she's keeping track of this for me. ♥

12.29.12
This is obviously a picture I took on my own (6 weeks along).
I was enjoying some free time after spending the day cleaning and taking down my Christmas decorations.

8 weeks

You can already tell that my waist was starting to get thicker.
I grew sideways pretty quickly.

9 weeks

10 weeks
This is when I really started to feel huge :/

11 weeks

11 weeks
I prefer my sister's version over my tacky bathroom shot,
but I was hiding my ever-growing belly in the other one.

12 weeks
Pink lemonade became a strong contender among my many emerging cravings.

13 weeks
I love both of these shots so much!
The one on the left is one of my favorites because it's completely untouched and unedited.
That particular angle made me feel so much better about the fact that my body has basically exploded.

14 weeks
The baby is roughly the size of a lemon by the time you start your second trimester.

I'm only just barely 15 weeks along as of yesterday, so we haven't done a shoot yet. 
My 12 week appointment was February 9, and everything looks really good. The baby's heartbeat is strong and healthy at 174/min, and all of my vitals and tests look great with my blood pressure being at 104/62. It looks like things are going to continue to go well, and my due date is August 22. ☻ Thanks for reading!