The Pregnancy Journey (First Trimester)

The last 8 months have been a wild and wonderful adventure and we are highly anticipating the arrival of Miss Brinley Kate. It all started with a positive pregnancy test on August 28th, which was shortly after returning home from our Australian adventure, which made us about 4 weeks pregnant. Being in the medical field made us realize that this was a very tough time of the pregnancy because of the high risk of miscarriage, so we decided that we were not going to announce anything until we had reached the 12 week mark. This only lasted about 2 weeks because it was extremely hard talking to my parents because I had some of the most exciting news of my life and I wasn't able to tell them. Jennifer and I decided that since we would be going home in a couple weeks and both our families would be there that we would only tell the grandparents to be. We decided that since a picture is worth a thousand words we would get each set of grandparents a picture frame with a picture letting them know what was in store for them. Grandpa Mike and Grandma Shelia got a picture of a hamburger bun in the oven, just a little outside the box way of telling them. Jennifer's mom, Mimi, got a picture of the positive pregnancy test. All the grandparents were really excited about the news, however we told them that we wanted to keep it a secret for just a little while longer. This really let some of the pressure off our shoulders because we knew that there was now a few other people praying and thinking about that precious little baby that Jennifer was growing.



Jennifer at our 1st doctors appointment

We had decided to go ahead and tell people before our original 12 week decision to wait because a few people had already found out. When heading into our 1st ultrasound we happened to park next to a couple, Tigre and Scott, who happened to have a doctors appointment that day. I tried to talk my way out of it, but I couldn't get out of telling them the truth because it was a women's health clinic they saw us walking into. They swore secrecy and I knew that they were good for their word, but it was a close call. Some of Jennifer's co-workers found out early too because one night Jennifer went into work and was assigned a patient with CMV, which is a virus that can cross the placenta barrier, so pregnant women do not need to take care of them. Jennifer had to ask someone to trade with her for the night and then had to put "no CMV" by her name on the schedule. We made our pregnancy official by the only way we knew how, by posting it on facebook. We posted it on October 10, 2011 which was exactly 11 years to the day after we started dating. I posted this ultrasound picture with the caption "Jen smuggled back one last little souvenir from our Australian adventure! Too bad I have to wait till May!

1st Ultrasound at 8 weeks

At our 1st ultrasound, as soon as the technician found Brinley on the screen we saw the above image and it appeared that she was waving her little arm at us as to say hello! It seemed that she was just as happy to meet us as we were to finally see a picture of her. Of course at the time we had no idea whether she was a boy or girl. The first trimester is usually the worst because of all the morning sickness, but we were really fortunate that Jennifer really didn't get sick. We had been expecting the worst because of everyone's horror stories of how bad the first trimester had been for them. Jennifer became a big fan of Pinterest and found an idea to share with our family about the development of Brinley. Here is the first picture that was taken at 10 weeks.

Our first picture day!

Since Jennifer had been doing so good we decided to take an early "baby" moon. Jennifer had discovered this new trend while doing her pregnancy research online. We decided to try and go somewhere within driving distance because Jennifer didn't want to fly anywhere. This was right during the middle of football season, so all the options that we came up with were relatively close to an NFL game that we could attend. My sister Andrea and her boyfriend Chris were planning a trip to Buffalo around the same time, so I talked Jennifer into letting me go watch the Bills play. That decided it. Our baby moon would be a trip to Niagara Falls. We decided to stay on the Canadian side, then make the trip to Buffalo for a few days so that I could go watch the Buffalo Bills play. A few days before the trip was to begin I actually talked Jennifer into another side trip to Philadelphia to watch the Eagles play. Jennifer finally agreed, so we set off on our baby moon with sports weekend.

Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian side

After exploring Niagara Falls, Canada we came back to the American side so that we could experience the falls from both sides. The only thing we didn't get to do was ride on the Maid of  the Mist and that was because it was closed during the winter months. The Canadian side is the prettier side because you get to see a panoramic view of both the American and Canadian falls. However, on the American side you get to be up close to the falls and see the power and force of the water as it cascades over the edge.

Jennifer and I at Niagara Falls, USA

Up close view of the falls from the American side

We then made our way down to Buffalo and had our best meal of the trip at the famous Anchor Bar in Buffalo. This is the place were the Buffalo Wing was created and it was hands down some of the best wings that I have ever had.

They were good!

Sunday was game day in Buffalo and Jennifer decided to sit this one out and rest at the hotel. I went to the game and had a great time at Ralph Wilson Stadium watching the Jets and Bills with Andrea, Chris and some of their friends. Monday morning Jennifer and I packed up and made the next leg of the trip to Philly to catch the Monday Night Football game between the Eagles and Bears. Before heading to the stadium we decided to try out the famous Philly cheese steak, so of course we went to Geno's and Pat's. We really needed a third member of our party because I liked Geno's and Jennifer liked Pat's better. After filling up on cheese steaks we headed to Lincoln Financial Field for the game. Jennifer was a good sport and pretended to enjoy the game, but I know she was mostly excited about the hot chocolate. (I really hope Brinley loves sports like her Dad.)

Picture after the game from our seats

Tuesday we headed back home. This baby moon officially wrapped up our first trimester. It was great to know that we were 1/3 of the way done, but there was still a lot to do before our child was to arrive. Thanks for reading and God Bless!