How and when did we find out? I had taken a pregnancy test on 3/27 and it was negative...and it was supposed to be like 80-some percent accurate. So I basically take out my jump to conclusions map and just took that as 100% accurate and was all mopey and annoyed that I was not pregnant. So on Wednesday 3/30 I had Jury Duty- and I am a big weirdo who loves when I get called for duty...so I go there and can just feel that I'm going to get my period, only I forgot to bring tampons with me....and the bathroom there had none to buy! Eek! Then I get seated in the front row and the whole time I'm thinking this is just great- I'm going to get my period, I have nothing here, everyone is going to laugh at me, ugh. So every break possible I'm in the bathroom checking and breathing a sigh of relief. Finally they dismiss us early afternoon cause they reached a settlement, so I go home. I have this huge surge of energy and go crazy cleaning out the kitchen cabinets and doing all sorts of housework. Dustin comes home and asks if I got my period....cause today should have been the day and I always get it on time....and I mope and tell him no, but it's coming so don't get his hopes up. So he has to meet up with a co-worker in town for drinks that night. He gets home and before bed, he's like you just need to take the test....so I'm like, well I guess I'll do it again. I do it and I see this (looking back, probably should have wiped this off before the picture, but your mind just isn't thinking straight...so sorry if this disgusts anyone!):
I think all I can say is, "OH MY GOD- NO WAY!" So dustin hears me and runs into the bathroom and once he realizes it is good, he just has the happiest look on his face ever! Then he has to remind me, our lives are forever changed at this point.
Who we told and when? I really didn't want to tell anyone until I went to the first 8-week appt just to be sure. However, my sister and I had plans to go to dallas in about 2 weeks for her 30th birthday...so we obviously had to tell her so she wouldn't wonder why I refused to have any delicious alcohol! I got her a frame that said I LOVE MY AUNT since this will be her first niece/nephew. Next up was my parents because they were in town for Easter, so we felt like we had to take advantage of telling them in person. We went to dinner at Favazza's on the hill and everyone was exchanging gifts for birthdays, so it wasn't really odd that we had brought some gifts. We had just got them kids books that tied into Grandma and Grandpa, since this will be their first grandchild. We then told Dustin's mother and family on Mother's day and his Dad and family that same week at dinner. We then told our first friends on 5.22 because we were going the Bon Jovi concert, so was going to be a little fishy possibly if I wasn't drinking and everyone else was. It was really cool though cause our good friends told us the same news- that they are expecting a baby like the week before us! I told work after my 12-week appt on 5.26.2011. Since then we have been trying to let family and some friends know...and now I'll post on my blog and facebook for everyone else!
How I've felt? I started out just feeling great and so energetic that I didn't believe I really could be pregnant. Then, 2 days before leaving for Dallas it hit me like a brick wall. I think for 2 days I worked from home and lived off of 7up and crackers....and it SUCKED! I have never thrown up, but just felt very naseaus at times. Since then it has just been hit or miss with feeling bad, but I've never felt as bad as I did those 2 days. Lately I've had bad headaches, so the doctor prescribed me some meds last week. Unfortunately you can not take Excederin while pregnant, which is what works wonders for my headaches.
What I'm most nervous about? Um, DELIVERY! Not nervous about anything with the pregnancy or dealing with a newborn baby....just the entire painful delivery process.
What I'm most excited about? At this point, I just can't wait to find out if it's a girl or boy. July 8th is hopefully when we find out, so that can not come soon enough! I want a girl and Dustin wants a boy. We are waiting to start thinking about names until we know the sex.
Resources? I have a book called the Mother of All Pregnancy Books that is a good reference tool. We've really enjoyed the book Your Pregnancy Week by Week...I'm trying to remember each week to bring the book to bed and have us jointly read through the upcoming week. I am reading so much, that I want Dustin to at least hear some of this stuff....and the only way to do that is basically hold his hand and force it! I also am part of a small online local community that are a pretty reliable source for anything and everything. I also recommend the book Taking Charge of your Fertility for those trying to conceive and you just want to learn the basics cause you are like me and if you ever learned this in Health class 15 years ago, it is long out of your brain! We would probably still be trying if it wasn't for this book educating me.
Diet Changes? First, taking pre-natal vitamins, so hopefully those mostly do the job. But I've also tried to start paying a little more attention to what I eat. I'm not a big fruit-eater, so been trying to incorporate more of that either by having a bowl of cereal and loading it with fruit or drinking juice or bringing a banana to work. The dr. also said based on my bloodwork it would be good to eat a little more red meat (at which I made a puke face at her...seriously)...but we have been doing that by making sloppy joes and casseroles where the meat is crumbled up and more edible than just eating a steak or burger.
Any cravings or aversions? no
8-Week Dr. Appt
Date: 4.26.2011
Weight: 131 lbs.
Blood Pressure: 102/62
Baby's Heartbeat: 170
Baby's length: .75 inch
Description: Dustin attended the appointment with me and it was extra special since it was on my 32nd birthday! I really wasn't too nervous-- I would just say a normal amount of excitement/nerves for a person in the situation. We had to wait over an hour in the waiting room, so that was not making us too happy since we were there on our lunch hour and didn't have all the time in the world. We finally were called and went back to the ultrasound room. We got a bag of free goodies, coupons, literature, etc. Luckily our wait was not very long for Dr. Botney. So she starts the ultrasound process of looking for the baby and I'm watching the screen waiting for something to appear. I'm watching....and watching....and watching....and nothing. I start to get a little more nervous and am looking at Dustin but he is clueless that anything is possibly not right. So then the Doctor stops and is looking at my chart and asking, so when did you take a pregnancy test....and did you just take one? Well, she FINALLY finds the baby and then tells me that my uterus is just in an odd place so she couldn't find it....but that is no big deal and it won't cause any issues later. She said about 30% of people have their uterus tilted further back like mine. Ok, good to know! So then we see our little blob on the screen:
Some of the big things we learned at the appointment were #1- I was not supposed to be drinking diet soda cause of the artificial sweeteners...oopsie! Gus lives off her diet soda! She recommended to try Mendota Water instead-- this stuff should be banned it is so disgusting. #2- My dr. needs to have some corrective surgery, so she can not perform any deliveries, which we decided doesn't really matter cause we'll most likely get the doctor on call, so would have been slim chance we got our dr. anyways. #3- My dr. doesn't want more than 30 minutes of exercise done at a time and for my heartrate to go over 140. Another oopsie! I had to walk way slower than normal on the treadmill in order not to go over 140 that I don't even feel like I get a workout anymore! I asked her again about this cause I know several other people that do not cut back their exercise routine when pregnant, but she felt very strongly cause said the baby can not regulate its body temperature, so you have to make sure yours doesn't get too high.
12-Week Dr. Appt
Date: 5.20.2011 Ultrasound and 5.25.2011 Appt
Weight: 132 lbs. (+1)
Blood Pressure: 102/62 (No change)
Baby's Heartbeat: 175
Baby's length: 4 cm (from what I remember- not really sure)
Description: I was told for the Ultrasound that I needed to drink 32-40 oz of water by 11am. I'm not a big water guzzler normally, so I decided to start at 7:30 when I got up and drink about 8 oz. each hour. Well 10:15 comes and I have to pee so unbelievably bad, so decide I have to go to the bathroom and then start this all over :( But it ended up being fine and I was able to quickly drink a bunch, so now I know how to do it next time! We got into our appt very quickly this time and our tech was awesome. The blob had started looking like a human! We could see the head, arms, legs, eyes, etc. It was moving around like crazy, which I couldn't believe how active it was. My Dr. had requested this ultrasound cause the baby was a little smaller than expected at the first one, so they were predicting my due date about a week later than what I had calculated. Now the baby was a good size and matched my date, so the due date was moved from 12/12 to 12/6. We then went the following week to the Dr. Appt where she just used a doppler to hear the heartbeat through my stomach...which you could makeout what was a beat, but kinda just sounded like flipping through all the static radio stations. I was happy to confirm that I can occasionally have my favorite soda- Caffeine free Diet Ski- it uses sucralose which is safe for pregnant women.
So here is a good side view of the little bubbas:
And here is a view from the back of the butt and legs:
I do feel in the last week or so my stomach has gotten a little pooch-like...may just be from my lack of exercising too! This will be as close to a starting point as I have documented. This picture was taken at 13W1D (13 Weeks 1 Day):
