And so begins the process.

My mind is still having a hard time wrapping around the fact that I'm pregnant. It just doesn't feel real at all. (Except for the nausea I'm experiencing at the moment. That feels quite real, indeed.) On the whole, I'm not really having any "for real" symptoms yet. I get queasy after I eat, and if I get hungry, but there's definitely no "morning sickness" yet. "Yet" being the operative word. I have little twinges of cramps sporadically, but they're not as frequent anymore and they don't feel the same. These have started feeling more like stretching. Is this my imagination? Isn't it too early for my uterus to be stretching? According to my caluculations, I'm 4 weeks and 4 days along. The little guy or girl is now the size of an apple seed, supposedly. (Deep down, I am totally convinced that it's a girl. But we'll see! I'm completely happy with either.)

So far, we've told my mom and aunt, my best friend Charlotte via Skype, (she's in France) and we'll tell DH's parents this weekend. I'm honestly really nervous about that. It's not that I think his mom will freak out or be really unhappy, but I really don't have a good idea about how they'll react, at least to our faces. There's also no good way to tell them. If we ask to speak to them privately, they'll probably automatically suspect. I think his dad will be thrilled to bits, and I think his mom will stress herself sick about it. Oh, and we also told our preacher and his wife. It never hurts to have extra prayers for the health and safety of the baby and myself, and we really like them anyhow. They were both really excited for us and I think they're looking forward to having more babies at church.

Did I mention that I still just can't believe that this is finally happening? The verse that keeps going through my head is 1 Samuel 1:27 - "For this child I prayed, and the Lord granted me my petition which I asked of Him." Before I found out that we were going to be parents, I prayed so hard that God would bless us with a baby. Now that I'm pregnant, I haven't stopped praying that this baby will be strong and healthy, and that it will stay put. The last few days have been the happiest ever. I'm looking forward to the next 9 months.