How it all began... Part II

In case you missed it, Baby Elmer is on the way!

I'll be honest and say that I knew I was pregnant from the start. I shared my thoughts with Sam, and while he was hopeful he wasn't quite as sure as I was.

I spent the next two weeks waiting. But my excitement turned to anxiety, and my surety began to waiver. As my period approached, I began to fear that I was delusional and the few symptoms I had I'd only imagined.

Then I didn't get my period. I'd planned to wait a few days before taking a test, but the day after I should've started, I woke up at 3:25am and just couldn't wait anymore. I peed on the stick and checked the time on my FitBit and resisted the urge to hold my breath.

At 3:30am I got my answer in the form of two pink lines. One clear and one faint, but two lines!

I was over the moon!

I immediately jumped on the bed and bounced Sam up and down before I told him he was going to be a daddy. While he did not open his eyes, a big smile spread across his face.

"Really?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Great. What time is it?"

I told him it was 3:30am and then he went back to sleep.

I, on the other hand, could not, so I went downstairs to watch a movie for awhile. I texted Victoria and Alexa a pic of the test, mostly because I just couldn't wait to tell them.

After the sun came up, I told my parents. The next day we told Sam's parents.

I called the doctor and scheduled an appointment, and downloaded a pregnancy app. Needless to say, Sam and I began to feel overwhelmed, but tried to help each other by talking one another off the ledge. We made a deal that we had to take turns freaking out.

By Tuesday, I was starting to doubt myself. I had one pregnancy test left, so I decided to take it just for the heck of it. As I watched the test, it didn't even hit halfway through the three minutes before two very clear lines appeared. I exhaled, relieved that it wasn't all in my head.

From then on, lots of other symptoms made themselves known. Nausea, hit me the worst in the afternoon. Headaches, also hit in the afternoon. Fatigue, but then also the inability to sleep through the night. Finally, high emotion, that one is probably my least favorite. Everything makes me cry, so watching movies is now a huge challenge because whether it's happy/sad or just plain weird, I cry.

I've been buried in What to Expect When You're Expecting for weeks now, and there is just so much information to take in.

As I entered into my 8th week, I started to wonder about the gender of the baby. I'd had really strong impressions that it was a girl, something I wasn't afraid to admit to anyone.

I also began to wonder what my baby would look like. Would she have more of me or of Sam? In my internet research, I found that my baby has a greater chance of inheriting traits from my parents instead of us, which means she's got a greater change of being more like my mom and Lisa.

Other traits that will be taken from Sam and I are:

• Eye Color 
• Hair Color and Texture 
• Body shape 
• A great singing voice 

I dreamed she'd have brown eyes, only because my brown eyes are dominant compared to Sam's hazel, but my dad and three of my grandparents have blue eyes, so who knows?

I also dreamed she'd have Sam's hair. I've often had dreams that our first daughter would be brunette with straight hair, while the only son I've dreamt about has curly blonde hair like me.

With any luck they'll have my singing voice AND Sam's wicked piano skills. Maybe we could even have a family band some day.

Anyway, we took the SneakPeak Gender Reveal blood test shortly after my first prenatal appointment   at 10 weeks and got the the results a few days later.

The results were emailed to me when I was at work, and it took all of my strength to not read the email. Sam was insistent that we open it together, so I let Scoshi read it and mark it as unread. Knowing that she knew made me feel less anxious and helped me make it to the end of the day when Sam finally got home.

We pulled up the email and saw this:

"We're having a boy!?" I said slowly.

I looked at Sam, and we were both stunned.

We had been so sure it was a girl, and finding out we had been wrong was so surreal. Not gonna lie though, seeing this caused a wave of relief to wash over me. We had been talking about boy names recently, just because we only had one in mind. My original choice had been Leo, but lately I'd been leaning toward the name Charlie.

Suddenly Sam declared that he was going to have a son and had such a big smile on his face. He began raving about taking our son to Priesthood session and pinewood derby, and it dawned on me that having a boy was exactly what we needed.

I called my parents, we called the Elmers (Bob, Lisa, Jake, and Alexa), and then I called Victoria. We chatted for a few minutes, and she pointed out that she could feel all the anxiety I was feeling at the idea of having a girl. I had no idea it was making me to anxious.

I had no idea I'd put so much pressure on my baby to be a girl. I was happy, don't get me wrong. But I just hadn't taken the time to think about a boy because I had been so sure about a girl. I started to think about shopping for boy clothes, and all the other cliched "boy things" that were now part of my future.

This doesn't mean I wouldn't have planned on exposing my daughter to the same things, but I'm not very girly, and I don't have the same pressure to teach girlyness to my baby.

The idea that I get to raise my own little Prince Charming is actually quite heartwarming. I keep thinking about how much fun I had with Max when he was a baby.

Me and him were, and remain to this day, very close. We have a very special relationship and I love him so very much. I think if I can do all right with him, I'll be okay to do it a second time.

I'm going to have a son! He will grow up with Alexa's son (due August) and Kait's son (due September), and be best friends with Adam's 2nd baby boy due next month (and of course all of Victoria's boys). My little guy is going to have so many friends!!!

Currently we are leaning toward the name Charlie B Elmer, but we will see what happens!

I get a son for my birthday!!!