Well hello again. I almost can't believe I am writing this. Can't believe I am writing again at all. Can't believe I even remember how. It has been A WHILE. I am sorry I kind of went missing on you guys but my life, since the last time I did a blog post, has turned upside down, inside out, and back again. I was in no place mentally to even write a thing, nor have I had the time.

I am not sure if you guys know or not but I work a full-time job at a clinical research company, come home every night and work on Native in Nashville shirts and packaging up orders and in the mean time I was going through a break up, which was VERY hard on me emotionally. I wasn't really ok for awhile. All of that mixed with handling normal responsibilities of being an adult, hardly left any time for me to gather my own thoughts for myself, let alone figure out a way to type them up, or put together any type of anything worth reading.

In other news, fast forward to now, about 15 weeks ago I got the most shocking, terrifying, and what I would come to realize BEST news of my entire life....I found out I was pregnant. If you follow me on Instagram on my @nativeinnashville page, you probably already know this news, but I wanted to give you guys kind of a life update. I try not to post a WHOLE LOT of really personal things on that page and do so a lot more on my personal page @ambi_bambi, but my plan is to start blogging more and tying more pregnancy and mom posts into Native in Nashville. Let me know if and what kinds of things you guys would be interested in seeing. I definitely want to update y'all more than every 20 weeks. ;) I am going to get pretty personal with you guys here, so if you aren't interested please exit now.

These are the most popular questions I have been asked so far.

"How did you find out?"

Well... my boobs started hurting VERY BADLY and I was about 5 days late. My roommate drove me to the store to buy a test because she was convinced that I was pregnant. I went in my bathroom, took the test, and came out after it changed to "positive" within 15 seconds with a ghostly look on my face and shaking. I immediately texted one of my best friends with the words "I'm f'ing pregnant". I could not believe my eyes. I think I was shaking for about an hour straight. I have always wanted to be a mom, but I was not ready for this news at this particular time. I took off work the next day so I could go break the news to dad and because I needed to take an emotional day off. I have taken pregnancy tests before, but when it actually says you are pregnant, its a whole new world.

"Who is the dad?"

This has got to be the single, most annoying, question that I've ever been asked/that people have ever been worried about of my entire life. You guys have no idea what all I have been through with this before people knew who the dad was. I had to learn the hard way about posting really personal relationship things on social media several years ago. I haven't posted pictures of the last three guys I have dated, because it's honestly not everyone's business. I can see why everyone was so curious, but the lengths some of these people were going to to find out who the father of my child is, were extreme and dramatic. I had people accuse me of "not knowing who the father is", I had people using apps where they could text me from a fake phone number, acting like they were friends with me saying things like "whose the lucky dad". I had people calling me from blocked numbers almost every day. I had people calling their friends who they knew had a mutual acquaintance with me asking if they could "please find out who Amber's baby's daddy is". I can't make any of this up you guys. I wish I could. It was a lot to handle, and I am gonna be honest, when you are pregnant and your hormones are running wild, everything and everyone drives you crazy and your fuse gets extra short. That is how it happened for me anyways.

I don't and didn't mind sharing that information, but I wanted to do it when I was ready to, also didn't want his own mother or family to find out from social media. Dad's name is Damon and he is someone that I have seen on and off for literally 10 years. Here are a couple pictures of us from the night we met over 10 years ago when I was just 20. We met at a Predators game and I used a fake ID to get in Tootsie's lol. Cool unicorn shirt I'm wearing, I know. HA. That's enough about that.

"When is your due date?"

August 8th, 2017 !! I absolutely cannot wait even though I am TERRIFIED. I am so lucky that I have so many mama friends that can help me with the 767 questions I need to ask every day.

"Have you been sick?"

OMG YES! Up until about 4 weeks ago I was nauseas almost every day. I wouldn't actually get sick every single day, but I felt like I was going to. The only thing I could think about eating for at least two months was carbs, and wayyyy too many french fries. For some reason french fries and soup were the only things that sounded appealing. On a positive note, I no longer wanted sweets. Coming from a girl who used to embarrassingly eat 2 candy bars almost every single day at work, and felt like I had to have dessert after every meal, this was a VERY good thing. I started out weighing 155 before I got pregnant (yes those candy bars did it to me) which is the heaviest I've ever been, but because of lack of being able to eat much at my 16 week checkup I had lost 12 lbs, at my 20 week appointment this past week I have gained 2 lbs, so i am at 145. Don't worry my baby is growing healthy and fine :) I figured when I went this past time, since I am able to eat again, they would tell me I gained 10, luckily I am eating healthier choices and not near, or even 1/10th as many sweets as I was before.

The past 3-4 weeks have been much better but this week, on Monday, I was having terrible cramps in my stomach to the point where I couldn't even walk, without being hunched all the way over. My first instinct was that something was wrong with my baby, so I ended up having to go to the ER, and be seen in the Labor and Delivery department at almost midnight. They checked every single thing there was to check and hooked me up to an IV of fluids, which helped tremendously, and said some of the pain was caused from round ligament pain. When my nurse was checking for the baby's heartbeat, it took a really long time to find, so naturally I freaked out even further. Once I heard the heartbeat, that alone, made me feel a million times better. The following day was our 20 week ultrasound, the actual appointment where you are supposed to find out the gender of the baby, so seeing all of that made me even better. I can tell you from my experience so far, that from the moment you find out you are pregnant, you never really stop worrying about your child. I am a worrier, anyways, but I have never worried so much as I have about my baby. Aside from that situation, this has been the roughest week of my life and I have been in the bed since Tuesday night with the flu. I am praying for a better tomorrow and better weeks to come.

"How did you pick the name?"

We chose to name HIM, yes it's a him, Denver and his last name will be Dimick. For the first name I wanted something very different and it was my choice for a girl or a boy. I was really set on using it for a girl but I loved it so much and I think it can go either way. We took a little trip to Denver, Colorado to celebrate choosing the name (dad's idea). His name is definitely different, some may say weird, and I can tell that some people don't like it when I tell them, but I really don't care, because I do and luckily for them, they will be able to name their children whatever name they choose ;).

Here are a few more pictures from along our journey.

The Announcement :)
Blanket: Modern Burlap
Lightbox : Heidi Swapp
PC: Jennifer Cody Weddings

Ultrasound taken at 15 weeks. We went to Focused Imaging in Green Hills to find out the gender of our baby early. Apparently Rick who does them, hasn't been wrong in over 13 years. I literally couldn't wait any longer.

Gender Reveal Day :) Valentine's Day 2017
Dress: Rent the Runway
Hair: Dry House Nashville
MUA: Dani Carpenter
Reveal Balloon: Made it myself, please ask if you would like instructions.
PC: Jennifer Cody Weddings

I made a pink and a blue filled balloon, and had the man who did our ultrasound hand us which balloon we needed to pop. NO ONE knew until the minute we popped it. It was the most fun and exciting day ever. I have secretly always wanted to have a baby BOY.

My first baby bump picture taken at 16 weeks. I don't know how you girls get such cute pictures of your baby bumps, but I need to take lessons.

Ultrasound taken at 20 weeks exactly. I feel like he is saying "You can do it mom". I love him so much already!! We are HALF WAY THERE!!

Thank you all for following along with my journey!! I appreciate you reading!! I look forward to sharing more. Now back to online shopping for Denver & having heartburn. Oh the joys of motherhood.

XO,

Amber