A little Carter!

Now that our secret is officially out, I can blog about it! :) Zac and I are expecting a baby! The baby is due to join our family Sunday March 6, 2010, which just happens to be Zac's birthday! He might get one of the best birthday presents ever. Zac was also born on a Sunday, so it would be pretty Twilight Zone-ish if this little one came to us on his/her due date.
A lot of people have asked if this baby was a surprise, since Zac and I are both in school. Originally our plan was to get off birth control around our one year anniversary, since 9 months later, I will be graduated and more able to have a baby. One day in the temple in June, we both had strong confirmations that we couldn't wait and needed to get off birth control immediately. I was hesitant because of school, but was hopeful it would take at least a month to even get pregnant. Boy, was I wrong! We were pregnant the week after we stopped birth control. Guess someone up in heaven really was ready to come down! So it was a planned surprise pregnancy! Surprise in that it was SO fast!
Overall, I'm not too worried about having a baby mid-semester. I'll be in my last semester of nursing school, doing my capstone rotation. It scares me a little, thinking how tired and busy we'll be, but mostly I am at peace because it was the right time to get pregnant and we'll have a sweet spirit in our family soon. I count my blessings knowing my mom, sister, and mother-in-law are all close by and willing to help babysit while I'm finishing up clinical hours. Things will be just fine. :)
So far, the pregnancy has gone well. I'm seeing a group of certified Nurse Midwives for my prenatal care. I had the opportunity to do a clinical rotation with them last semester and was so impressed. We heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time this week. It is the most amazing sound in the whole world! It took a few minutes for the midwife to find it, but she did and the world stopped! All of a sudden the whole pregnancy became more real! We really are having a baby! Unfortunately, we only heard it for a second before the little one moved and we couldn't find it again. He/She is already a stinker - which makes me love he/she even more! I can't wait for my next appointment so I can hear it again!
I am 12 weeks today, so just starting into my second trimester. I can't believe I'm already a third of the way done! It went really fast! I felt great until around week 7, when I felt the first wave of nausea. Since then I have thrown up a couple dozen times, which is just the worst. Most days I handle feeling sick fairly well because I know it's all for the little one I'm carrying inside. But some days, I just get annoyed (like today!). It's days like today I wish I didn't have responsibilities at church(or anywhere for that matter) so I could just stay home! I've tried a lot of different remedies - peppermint oil, eating crackers before I even lift my head off the pillow, getting enough sleep, keeping my tummy full by eating every 1.5-2 hours...etc. So if anyone has any other tricks, I would love to try them! :)
I am so excited for the next couple months. I want to feel the baby move! Right now, you can't tell I'm pregnant at all...my little pooch is tiny! Zac thinks it's all in my head, but I feel like I'm bloated. It probably doesn't help that I've lost 8 pounds since I got pregnant! The other day, one of my sweet friends, who didn't know I was pregnant, told me I looked SO good! That I looked the skinniest she had ever seen me! That was a self esteem boost for sure! :) I've been worried about not being able to eat enough or keep down vitamins or exercise, cause I know these are all good things for me and the baby. My midwife made me feel better when she said, Nothing in the first trimester counts! She told me to try to eat what I could - even if it's just a candy bar a day! Now that my hormones are balancing out, hopefully my nausea will lessen and I can eat again. That will be a wonderful day because I love food!!
Through it all, I'm still beyond excited. I have a wonderful husband who takes such good care of me, who waits by the toilet with paper towels and water, who does dishes and buys air fresheners so the smells don't make me sick, who brings me whatever I want in bed - ice cream, crackers, water, fruit, etc., who scratches my back at night to help me relax. I am so lucky. He is a wonderful, perfect husband and is going to be an amazing daddy! We can't wait! :)