A time to live...

So, in case you missed it, I'm pregnant.
When John decided to reenlist in the Army, again, we agreed our future was secure enough, Brynlee was getting older esp when you add nine months gestation, and well...we weren't really getting younger either, so despite the big move pretty much camped out in our backyard, we decided when we got to Europe we'd purposely try once we were there and settled.
I got off the pill while he was in ALC in Missouri thinking between then and our move would be plenty of time to get out of my system and honestly didn't give any of it another thought.

Months went by.
It wasn't until literally two weeks before the packers/movers were scheduled to come pack up our house that one of my Bragg girls I've known virtually my whole time there, called me out asking if I could be pregnant.
I thought it was possible I could be late, but maybe only by a few days.
However, I had so much going on at the time with the move and family I didn't even consider already being pregnant because of all the "sets" of distraction.
I brushed it off, but Steph kept asking me about it (I swear she really knew all along, haha) to the point where I finally went to my calendar to investigate.

Sure enough I was late....
Weeks late, albeit months late and had absolutely no clue.
Woman/mom of the year, right here.
Considering how late I was, there was no other explanation in my opinion, so the next day I went out and bought a pair of tests.
On August 4th, during B's nap time, when John happened to be working from home, I took the test and it immediately came up positive.
I brought it out and showed him and pretty sure that little pee stick could have knocked him flat on his face if he had been standing.
He was in such shock he didn't say a word to me.
He laid down on the couch, staring at the ceiling, muttering Lord knows what....for about an hour til B woke up.
I took the second test the next morning and sent John a pic of the "YES +" test results.
When he came home that night he admitted he was truly very happy and excited it just totally blindsided him, happening so quickly, and with everything going on, couldn't help but think how complicated this made everything concerning our move.
Hmmmm, well, your welcome? ;)

Fortunately for me, I already had an appointment to get my women's wellness exam, so they ordered a blood test and were able to confirm I was indeed pregnant.
It seems the day it was confirmed via the doctor, the nausea set in.
This is something I never experienced with B in any way, so oh my goodness, what a kick in the gut.
Quite literally.
This also included motion sickness riding in the car.
All day, all night, I could never find the happy medium between eating enough and not overeating to the point of sickness. There were days when I needed to be sorting, packing, cleaning and all I managed to do was to keep my food down by laying on the couch with B all day surviving solely off ramen, ritz and sprite.
The week before we left Bragg, I managed to get in to the doctor one more time.
I couldn't imagine, feeling the way I did, driving, flying, dealing with all I had to deal with, without some medical intervention.
People that know me, know I'm not a big doc person-at all.
Well, I camped out on the phone begging the scheduling people on base to get me in to anyone that could possibly help me before I left in a few days.

The day I found out!
No idea how many weeks.
Sigh.....

I finally got in and was given B12 and Unisom to get me through until I could see a "real" doctor in Europe. I also got "the memo"stating I was medically insured and positively pregnant in case I needed it during national and international travels.

The one thing these doc visits didn't do was tell me how far along I was and that was something I would actually not figure out for at least another month later once we got to Europe.

So, now what.....? Well, tell the family of course!
Unlike with Brynlee, we were heading home to Colorado, so we decided to keep the news to ourselves so we could tell everyone in person-except for two special people.
Before I even got the blood test to confirm, I sat down and finally sent an email, I had rewritten over and over, to my Aunt Karla and Uncle Rick sharing with them some personal thoughts and also telling them the news.
My Uncle Rick had been battling cancer for two years at that point, I knew his time was precious and I wanted him to know, just in case.
My Uncle Rick Buchanan passed away in his home ten days later.