Bed rest sucks!

I'm 28 weeks pregnant with mine and my husband's first child, a daughter, Brianne Marie, and have now been on bed rest, in the hospital, for 4 days. I'm starting to go crazy already and as the walls were starting to close in on me today, I had an epiphany. I decided to use this free time to my advantage. I decided there's no reason to be depressed or wallow in self pity over this. I am going to start enjoying my pregnancy, even if it isn't the perfect pregnancy I had hoped and planned for, it is still a time I never want to forget. Stressing and crying and worrying are just going to make this more painful for everyone and it can't be good for the baby. So, bed rest or not, hospital room or my own room, preterm delivery or late, I'm going to be the happiest fat girl in the maternity ward tonite... I'm going to document this journey to share with others and my unborn daughter. And so begins the Chronicles of Bri.

My husband Jason and I got married on September 12, 2009, and I was 6 weeks pregnant with Brianne on our wedding day. We were not trying to get pregnant, but we weren't trying not to either. Ironically enough, the first time we threw caution to the wind and "forgot" to use protection was the night Brianne was conceived - August 2nd. It was also the night after my bridal shower. I don't know why, but it just feels like it was meant to be. I knew I was pregnant before I ever even opened that EPT test. I could just feel it (and the fact that my already large chest was expanding exponentially helped some too). So on August 8th I walked to Walgreens on my lunch break and bought a 3-pack of EPT tests. I was so nervous I couldn't wait and decided to go ahead and do the first test at work. I went into the handicapped stall and read the directions, carefully, twice, then proceeded to "take" the test. I was prepared to lay the test strip down on a section of toilet paper I had laid out in preparation, but before I could lay it down, I noticed that pink positive sign in the little window. I grabbed the instructions! It said it took 3 minutes to process, and it had only been like 30 seconds, if that! What was going on? I waited and waited and the little positive sign didn't change! Keep in mind that I was still at work at this point and my husband and I work together, on the same floor, in the same building. I wrapped the test strip up in the toilet paper and ran out to his desk. I know I was glowing and grinning from ear to ear but somehow managed to ask him to take a walk with me. I couldn't even wait till we were outside, the second the elevator doors closed behind us I shouted, "I'm pregnant!" and he smiled, wrapped both arms me and said "I love you".

We were so in shock, that when we got home from work, I decided to take another one of the tests, I mean it was a 3-pack so why not? The exact same thing happened. At this point, I felt sure that it was not a mistake and had to call my parents. You see, I'm 32, and this is my first marriage and my first pregnancy and as an only child, my parents have been waiting (rather impatiently) for their first grandchild so I couldn't make them wait any longer. After breaking the news to them, on speaker phone from our kitchen, we called my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. We didn't want to tell anyone else until I had my doctor confirm, but we couldn't hold it in and I called my best friend to tell her too. I think after sharing our news, we fell asleep holding each other, and when I woke the next morning I was sure it was all just a dream. So, I took the 3rd EPT test out of the package, read the directions again, and took the test again. Same results! I was on the road to mommy-hood and could not have been happier!