Week 13: Here we go!

Hi Pregnancy and Newborn readers, my name is Rachel and I am thrilled to be the newest Knocked Up blogger for P&N!  I just wanted to introduce myself and share a bit of my background in my first post—it’s only right that we get to know each other a bit before I start sharing tips on fiber pills.
I have been happily married since August 2012 to my wonderful husband Dan. We live in the ‘burbs of Baltimore in a little one bedroom condo that we call “our treehouse” because you literally can’t see anything from any of the windows except for trees. We love it—and are enjoying it even more now that we have a baby on the way and know that soon, we will have to find a bigger place. Dan will be graduating from the University of Maryland, School of Social Work with a Masters of Social Work next month. Part of the reason we waited until now to get pregnant is so Dan will have a steady job once the baby arrives and I can take 12 glorious weeks of FMLA (is it wrong that I am already excited for that?).
So, on to the pregnancy and the reason why I’m here! I am now 13 weeks, so I’m officially into the second trimester! This is our first baby, and we are both STILL shocked that I got pregnant so quickly! I stopped taking my birth control in November, and we took an approach to getting pregnant along the lines of the “stop birth control and see what happens”. With many friends my age now pregnant or recently having babies, I’ve had a “baby on the brain” for the last six months, getting more and more anxious as time went by.
My past struggles with endometriosis and fibroids were a huge stressor every time I started thinking about having a baby. My thought when discontinuing birth control was, “They tell you to try to get pregnant for at least one year before they will start on fertility treatments, so we better start the “year of trying” as soon as possible if we want to have kids anytime soon.” I was legitimately worried; my mom tried to conceive for five years before getting pregnant with me, her only child, and my OB/GYN had warned me that my endometriosis would cause fertility issues. For this reason, Dan and I were not expecting to get pregnant right away. In my mind, I was fully prepared for the fertility treatment route; I had already priced IVF on my health insurance plan.
Imagine my surprise when my period was a week late! I had only stopped birth control for two months-tops. I did not chart my ovulation days or take my temperature each morning. There was no bloodwork involved. When we saw the positive test, our reaction was one of shock! Then elation. Then more shock (but mostly elation). I am so excited to share my pregnancy journey here and hopefully my experience will help you in some way.