There is nothing like an exposed nerve in your mouth. Every drink, bite and breath has the chance of sending you into mind numbing pain. It’s such a sensitive area that all of the joys of eating come with the chance that you’ll be weeping in pain. My wife is 5 weeks pregnant and this whole experience is my raw nerve.

You see when she was pregnant with our son Logan we were going through our senior year of high school. Yes, I went to all of the doctor appointments but nothing about the experience effected me too much. I was an immature 17 year old who took far too long to grow up. Now there is something about that mindset that I’m a bit envious of.

It must be the countless negative pregnancy tests we’ve had over the years that has conditioned me into this mindset. Now that the little stick (all 3 of them) finally says positive I’m a little shell shocked. I’m just waiting for someone to wake me up from a dream that I never want to end. If these next nine months could go by in a blink I’m not sure I would complain too much.

Due to this mentality every little thing means the world to me for better or worse. Today when my wife’s initial blood tests came back and her hormone level confirmed the pregnancy it was another step towards me realizing that this is all very real, so beautifully real. With every step we take I also realize how blessed I am to be going through this with my warrior of a wife.

My journey to 300 by 30 isn’t mine alone. Suffering from gestational diabetes my wife has vowed to control her blood sugars through her diet. Within three days and a fairly strict hold on what we eat she has not only put our family on the path towards a healthy pregnancy and life but also gotten her sugar levels under control. Not only has she put focus in our diets but also with her exercise and was worried that the doctor would tell her to limit her work outs. Those workouts are something she loves and they have become bitter sweet to me.

With every piece of asparagus and every step on the treadmill I push back the shadowy thoughts that tell me I’m going to wake up one day and realize this is all a fantasy. With every denial of a candy bar and every minute of sweat my focus falls from all of the things that could go wrong and reminds me of all the things I’m doing right. I realize now just how important doing all of the right things are. At this age I’m fully aware of how precious and fragile a pregnancy can be. At 5 weeks our baby is no bigger than a sesame seed and I’m slowly realizing that, like the changes we are making for our health, is very very real.