My Journey through Breast Cancer

On October 11, 2013, I was diagnosed with Stage II Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) ... or as we like to call it, extreme measures for a nap (EMFN). For a while, this blog will be my cancer journal. Enter at your own risk.

16 January 2009

thoughts on being half-way there

Tomorrow marks 20 weeks pregnant. Which, if everything goes EXACTLY according to plan, I'm half way there. But only 4% of women actually deliver ON their due date, so I'm either already past half way or still have a few days/weeks to go. Apparently when my mom was pregnant with me I was due around the same time Josie is, and I didn't come until June 25 (a solid two weeks late). If Josie waits that long, she's so in trouble.

Things are going well, and since this week's ultra sound, for the first time since I found out I was pregnant, I can answer the question "Are you excited?" with an honest "Yes, I am." Up until now I was mostly just scared and weirded out by the whole thing. But now that I know she's a she and she has a name, some little switch within me was turned on and I'm starting to get really excited about planning out her life. Well, her bedroom, anyway.

The second trimester has definitely been great. I didn't have any serious symptoms during the first trimester, nothing to the extent of a few friends of mine who are also currently pregnant. But there's still a difference with the second trimester. I have more energy and zero sickness. The main thing I'm learning is how to dress. I'm getting just big enough to have outgrown all my regular clothes, but not so big that I'm filling out maternity clothes just yet. Even so, I've finally switched to a mostly maternity-clothing wardrobe. Fortunately, thanks to some great stores and some pregnant fashionistas somewhere in the world, there's actually a lot of cute stuff out there. Oh, and a huge thanks to friends and family who've been loaning me maternity clothes. Its a huge help! I'll try and get pics this weekend and post them. For now there's a positively horrible picture of me on my sister's blog you can check out, if you absolutely must.

Its strange to think that just another 4 1/2 months from now Caleb and I will be caring for an infant. Do you know the last time I changed a diaper? Yeah, me neither. Some time in high school I think. Don't worry, we've signed up for the classes at the hospital that will teach us everything we need to know. Everything.

I know this baby girl is going to turn out lives upside down and change everything we know into something we don't. And yet, even though I know it, I'm also still painfully aware of how much I really DON'T know it. Its like the Grand Canyon .... for as many pictures as you may have seen, nothing prepares for you the real thing. That's what Baby Josie is, she's the Grand Canyon. Fortunately for her, I love the high desert.

2 comments:

Gretchen said...

It's so fun to see a picture of your baby belly! You look great by the way. =0)

Amy Louise Stokke said...

Hey, I doctored that picture as best I could. Maybe it's not the photographer . . .