I’m pregnant. I can’t recall how many times I’ve said that in the past several weeks - to myself, to my husband, family, coworkers, friends, and pretty much anyone who will listen. I’m 12 weeks along, so I’ve already missed out on blogging some milesones. Thus far: I found out I was pregnant on January 24th. By that time, I was about 6 weeks pregnant. Zach and I had been trying for a while, and I was so excited that I couldn’t wait to tell him in some sort of creative way. They say that your first pee in the morning has the highest concentration of the HGB hormone, so when I got up for work, I pulled out the test, took it, and my hands shook when the little digital read-out said pregnant. For the previous seven months whenever I was late for a period I would take the test and then be crushed when it came out negative.
So, unable to contain my excitement, I told Zach as soon as I got out of the shower. Since I had been discussing my conception woes with several women at work, I was also eager to tell them, and of course it didn’t feel right not to tell my family immediately too - I mean, if co-workers know, then family should too! So, I called my sister at home. Her reaction was great. She must have said ‘oh my God!’ 50 times. She asked me a bunch of questions, and told me I had to call Mom at work, which I did. My mother I think was a bit in shock when I told her. She said congratulations and not much else. I think she was also worried about how hurt we would be if things did not go well, but at that point, I was thrilled to know that I was actually able to conceive! I also called Mandy (my sister-in-law), who also had an excellent reaction and was almost reduced to tears on the phone, which of course also almost reduced me to tears. She asked me a few questions, and then let me go so that she could call P.J., Zach’s brother at work and tell him the good news.
After getting the word out, I began to panic that maybe I had spilled the beans too early. I mean, my family has a history of miscarriages, and this is our first attempt, and I was only six weeks along. I began dreading that I might have to go back to everyone I told and tell them that I had miscarried, and then face down pity looks for weeks to follow. So, I tried to think positively. I started taking pre-natal vitamins (apparently they don’t write prescriptions for these anymore, but simply tell you to buy some over-the-counter, which I did). I ate as much fruit as I could tolerate, and made sure that there were vegetables at every meal.
Ginger ale and ginger snaps became my morning routine for many weeks. I discovered that I couldn’t eat first thing in the morning, or I would be face down in the toilet before I walked out the door for work. Now that I am headed out of the first trimester, my morning sickness is slowing down - it is much more sporadic, though some smells (such as pizza) can still set it off. In the first few weeks I craved Big Macs, though I only indulged once or twice. Recently, I can’t get enough strawberries. When I discovered this at the grocery store one day, I couldn’t even wait to get home to eat them - I rinsed them in the restroom sink, and then ate half the pint during the 8 minute drive to my house. I have also threatened friends and family with bodily harm if they get between me and my strawberries - something I didn’t think food would ever influence me to do!
At nine weeks Zach and I went to our first doctor appointment together (I had gone the previous week to meet with the nurse, give a social history and 6 vials of blood for testing). We got to hear the heartbeat which was the most thrilling sound I have heard up to this point. It registered at 174 beats per minute. We went back this month (12 weeks) and got to hear the heartbeat again, slowing down to 166 beats per minute, which is apparently good and normal.
Now that I am at 12 weeks, and out of the biggest danger zone, I feel safe enough to blog about my experiences with the rest of the world. Two weeks ago I had to purchase bigger pants, and I’ve been buying up bigger bras for several weeks now. My breasts are starting to feel more normal, not as tender, though I’m starting to develop a complex about how big they are getting (I’m much more comfortable with smaller breasts). I’m thinking that having a round belly will be somewhat acceptable - I mean at least pregnant women have a good excuse for their larger size. However, I don’t really look pregnant yet, just a little fatter, and that is depressing at the moment.
I return to the doctor next month at 16 weeks for more testing (and more blood taken from me). As I do not have much medical history on my mother’s side, I am eager for any testing they are willing to do. So far, I’ve learned that I do not have any sexually transmitted diseases (no big surprise), and that I’m not a carrier for cystic fibrosis (phew!). Next month they will test for spina bifida and downs syndrome, and hopefully start talking about a sonogram! And yes, Zach and I do want to know the sex of the baby - Zach explains it best: people who don’t want to find out the sex generally say they want the surprise, and in Zach’s mind, what’s the difference between a surprise at 18 weeks and one at 36 weeks? Plus, if you find out early, then you get a surprise at 18 weeks (the gender) and then again at 36 weeks when you find out what the baby looks like. As I am a Type A personality, and need to have everything planned far in advance, I don’t think I could handle waiting until the end (unless the kid doesn’t cooperate and I dont’ have a choice)
So, you can expect about 24 more blog posts on this pregnancy topic - I’ll do my best to blog at least once a week and give everyone an update as to what is going on medically, what Zach and I are talking about, how things are going with nursery planning, and anything else I can think of. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment - I’m happy to answer pretty much anything to do with my pregnancy experience.
baby, pregnacy, conception, pregnant, babies, expecting, birth, child, children, morning sickness
I’m feeling pretty good this week. My morning sickness is pretty much gone, except sometimes when I brush my teeth (I know, it’s kind of weird - sensitive gag reflex…). My stomach continues to grow, which I’m still not ready for. Many of my clothes are too tight for me now. I’m going shopping for maternity clothes this weekend. I’ve picked up a few things here and there, but this is my first shopping excursion. It should be fun (I hope). I’ve been using two pregnancy websites, BabyCenter and PregnancyWeekly. I actually did quite a bit of surfing before I settled on these two. I like PregnancyWeekly because they have an online calendar where I can add journal entry type things to keep track milestones during the pregnancy (which my blog is also doing…). BabyCenter has a good weekly newsletter that I’ve been enjoying. Zach has been entirely patient with me, which has been great. At night when I’m settled in with Oscar (the cat) on my lap, he patiently gets me whatever food I happen to desire (as long as it’s in the house and not entirely complicated). It’s nice having people bring you things - I’m definitely enjoying that part of pregnancy! I’ve also been reading two books, What to Expect When You’re Expecting (of course), which my sister Cait bought for me and The New Pregnancy week-by-week, which my friend Jenny bought for me. The books and websites tell me that the baby is approximately 4-4 1/2 inches long now. He/she has translusent skin and we’re working on growing bone marrow this week. So things seem to be moving along well, and so far the books/websites are right - the second trimester has been much better than the first!
I can’t believe my stomach has already started to pop out. “Pop out” is the correct term as far as I can tell because last week my stomach seemed to have it’s normal amount of roundness that I was able to hide pretty well. This week just about everyone in my office has commented on my newly round surface. I’m just not ready to be this round. From everything I had read, and everything everyone told me, I didn’t expect to seriously start showing until about the 5th month. I haven’t even reached the 4th month yet and already I’m running out of clothes to wear! One woman in my office suggested that perhaps I was having twins. I told her that was not funny and not to even joke about that.