I suppose I’ll just dive right in! The first trimester was hard. I jokingly told my family multiple times that it was, “the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through.” So yes, apparently my life has not been too difficult. But seriously, the first three months were no picnic!

I found out I was pregnant very early. I bought a ton of very cheap pregnancy tests in bulk from Amazon, so I would take them quite often, even if I knew it was way too early. I’m weird, I know! Sam had already left for work that morning. I was about to step into the shower when I decided to take a test, pretty much just for funsies. I took it, set it on the counter, and didn’t even look at the result before I got in the shower – that’s how sure I was that it would be negative. I got out of the shower and happened to glance down and saw TWO lines, which I had never seen before!

So, what did I do? Immediately took another test of course! What’s the second thing? Google! (and pour out the rest of my coffee!) I called my doctor and made an appointment (side note – I wish they just see you right away!) and went to work. Something you should know, I am maybe the worst secret keeper on earth. I remember thinking that day that the whole world must know exactly what was going on because I could not wipe the silly grin from my face. I went to lunch with my co-workers and tried to act as normal as possible. I communicated with Sam like I normally do, trying not to arouse any suspicion. I wanted to wait and tell him in person!

Unfortunately I had several events over the next few weeks where there would be drinking and people potentially noticing that I was not. Sam and I traveled to Dallas for a work party, and I just knew that all of my co-workers would notice I was not imbibing (I usually indulge in my fair share of champs!) Sam and I were able to pull it off with some very creative drink swapping that night, although one of my co-workers did mention my lack of champagne at one point, luckily she did not remember the next day – ha! I remember waking up the morning after that party and thinking, “hmm…I’m kind of nauseous. I guess this is morning sickness.”

Oh, how naive I was. The next few days are still a blur to me. I could keep absolutely nothing down and would vacillate between throwing up, laying on the bathroom floor, and sobbing hysterically. Things were like this until I finally got some meds. It was still pretty bad, but at least I could keep down some crackers and water and manage to drag myself to the office looking like some semblance of a human. I like to refer to this period of time in my life as “the dark times” where nobody except Sam, my mom, and my sister knew my secret. I was sicker than I have ever been with no reprieve, and I couldn’t even share the good news with people!

Time passed by so slowly those first few weeks, and somehow I made it through! Getting to see our little bean at 6 weeks helped me to persevere, and it wouldn’t be long until we could let the world know about our great joy!