Mark’s birthday was on November 3rd.  I was worried about what to get him in the months leading up to his birthday, until I thought up the ultimate gift for my gamer: a gaming headset.  Not just any headset, but a Razer Barracuda 5.1 surround sound gaming headset: four speakers in each ear, noise cancelling mic, LED lights, comfort fit, brilliant.  Best idea ever.  So I order them from the states, work with my mom to have them shipped to her house, and then onto ours.  He absolutely loved them, and admittingly he ended up opening the gift a few days ahead of time. So on November 3rd, all we had planned was to have dinner with his family.

Or so we thought.

Auntie Flo had been nearly four weeks late and each day I anticipated her arrival.  I had taken a few tests the weeks before, all of which came up negative.  In a final test to determine whether or not I could be certain it would be safe to drink again, I got up on the morning of November 3rd and took another test.

And it was positive.

I was speechless. I called Mark into the room and told him we were pregnant.  His face dropped into an open mouth look of disbelief and he said, “well…. happy birthday to me!”  And our lives changed.  We weren’t actively trying, and in fact had only gone without protection once in the previous month.  But by no means was the pregnancy unwanted.

So we told our families later that night.

Fastforward to today and our lives are in overdrive.  I am nine weeks, my first midwife appointment is a week from today, we are looking to get a mortgage and go house hunting (which was our original plan, but now we have a time limit), I’ve passed my Life in the UK test and I’ve nearly completed my next visa to send off, and I am still doing my science course at OU. On top of it all I am nauseas from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep, my boobs hurt, and I get crampy occationally.  I cry over the smallest things, or reach a new level of irritation.  I am exhausted.  Ah, the miracle of life.

So I thought I would start a pregnancy diary on my blog and document the changes I am going through and the things Mark and I come up against as we do this for the first time.  It’s new, scary, and exciting.  But I wouldn’t trade it.

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