Featured on TheBump.com!

I started the Sweet Leigh Mama blog after having the opportunity to write a post for TheBump.com (from the creators of TheKnot.com). I had so much fun writing about my pregnancy, that I thought I would keep on documenting it. Check out my entry on TheBump.com here: http://bit.ly/xEqyw

Enjoy!

My Body is Not My Own: Reality Setting In

At the 12 week mark, it was very clear to me that my body was quickly changing. Bye bye skinny jeans and pencil skirts, hello elastic waistbands. Along with my expanding waistline, my skin had reverted back to the age of 15 with pimples, and my hair seemed to jump to age 50 with the amount of grays that were quickly sprouting. However, I convinced myself that I was the only one who was noticing – that was until one fateful day at the Target Photo Center. As I picked up my wedding thank-you photo cards, I took one out of the box to make sure it looked good before I paid. The clerk took a glance at the photo too, and said sweetly, “The bride is so pretty! Who is she?” to which I responded, “Thanks! It’s me!” The clerk giggled a little as if I were joking and then proceeded to say, “No really… is that your younger sister?” It was like she had slapped me in the face – I was in complete shock! I ran immediately to look for low-ammonia hair dye and the strongest facewash I could get my hands on. This was going to be a long 40 weeks!

4 Pregnancy Tests Don’t Lie

My husband, Daniel, and I were married on April 18, 2009. The wedding day was a complete dream, as was the honeymoon in Mexico that followed. But the most interesting dream came on the night we returned from our honeymoon. Back in Atlanta, I tossed and turned all night with a crazy dream that I was pregnant. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I told Daniel about my dream, and we both laughed – there was no way I was already pregnant! Daniel convinced me to take a pregnancy test just to clear my mind. I remember sitting in the bathroom, starring intently at the white stick as the first horizontal blue line appeared… and then the second vertical line appeared creating the telltale “plus” sign. I literally screamed in shock. I came out of the bathroom – pregnancy test in hand -- and Daniel was frozen on the couch. He knew before I even said it. We just stared at each other, jaws on the ground, for what felt like hours. When we finally snapped back to reality, we decided it must be a fluke, and went to the drugstore to buy three more pregnancy tests. Guzzling fluids, for the next three hours I took a pregnancy test. And one by one, they each popped up “PREGNANT”! So much for that post-wedding relaxation we planned on. I went to the doctor the next day and found out I was 6 weeks along. I immediately bought every pregnancy book I could get my hands on – and that’s when it became real. I was carrying a little baby. OUR little baby. It was at that moment that I officially felt like a Mama.