Bright Sycamore: In which I provide a mid-point update on this whole pregnancy thing.

We're halfway there, folks. It's hard to believe that we've made it this far, and we couldn't be more excited about it.

Our 20-week appointment and ultrasound were great! We got a call just a few hours after the ultrasound to let us know that everything looked perfect. The ultrasound tech was so helpful and informative, and she told us every step she took and every item she measured. I couldn't believe how much our little bug squirmed and moved around during the procedure, too. She told us that it had been awhile since she'd seen a baby so feisty. And, yes, we did find out the sex and we're thrilled, but since baby will still be a mystery to y'all, we've come up with the perfect nickname.

Please say hello to Lil' Feisty!

More pictures are at the bottom of the post. Perhaps you can enjoy some of the links on your way there, or if you're just here for some pics then go ahead and scroll straight down. I'll never know, don't worry!

So today's post is a brief recap of where we've been so far on this journey. The miscarriage problems the year before. The struggles and hard thoughts while we waited to get pregnant again. The excitement and desire for total transparency when it did happen. The plans and the preparations once we were in the swing of things. And the weekly changes occurring with my body. It's all here.

One might think that the beginning would be 20 weeks ago. One would be wrong. The beginning was over a year ago. Let's go there now.

April 2014

Levi and I finally begin TTC (that's internet lingo for Trying to Conceive).

May 2014

Amazingly, we find out that we're pregnant. Naturally, we assume that some incredible genes are at play here.

June 2014

Complications begin with the pregnancy. Long story short, I began bleeding at 5 weeks and just . . . didn't stop.

July 2014 - September 2014

We had our first miscarriage. At the time, this blog wasn't something I kept up with. I'd been going in fits and starts. After a few months to ponder what we'd been through, I realized that my experience with miscarriage and TTC could be helpful for some women, or it could just be that honest place a woman could visit. I decided to begin to blog again, this time with unflinching honesty about miscarriage.

October 2014

I began to write new posts, including the one linked above, detailing my first miscarriage in rather, um, graphic detail. I also began to write about those feelings a woman gets when she has been denied pregnancy in one form or another:

Why I decided to share my pregnancy news with the world as soon as we knew.

How weird it feels to be ready for motherhood when I never cared before.

November 2014

Technically, we found out about our second pregnancy at the end of October, but I had just barely begun to process the fact that we were pregnant again when I ended up spending a night doubled over in intense pain. I began to bleed the next day. After a week of waiting for labs to confirm it, we had our answer.

We'd had a second miscarriage.

I did a lot of avoiding the subject over the next weeks. I found a ton of new projects to focus on. I decorated for Christmas early as a distraction. I made things out of wood and nails.

Then I finally processed all of the thoughts I'd been having about pregnancy and miscarriage.

January 2015

I started wondering exactly how to describe our childless state to people when they ask us, "Do you have any kids?"

March 2015

This happened:

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From there . . .

All of these things have been going on:

I began detailing every little thing I could think of each week. I included a few different sections in each post. I wrote about the weekly developments and changes occurring in Our Baby. Then I wrote about the things all the pregnancy books say I (traditionally) would experience. I followed that with the things I (actually) experienced. I included some thoughts and anecdotes from each week, and made sure to document any Freak-Out Moments. Here are all the weeks, thus far, compiled for your easy browsing pleasure.

I've also started to document a few of the things we really want to have for our baby, from products to furniture to transportation. More will appear as we get closer and closer to our due date, but these were some of the things we knew we wanted from the very beginning.

And finally . . .

I have done a small amount of baby prep, but I haven't posted much about it. A lot more of that will be coming in the second half of this pregnancy. So far, I've made a nursery mood board that I'm pretty proud of.

Well, that was quite a post! It's been a long year full of ups and downs, and we're so incredibly grateful for where we are right now. Thank goodness for this Lil' Feisty who likes to play peek-a-boo with us.