Almost the End of 1st Tri!

We are right on the brink of being able to finally tell people. It has been really hard keeping the secret when we are so excited to be able to share with people! ACK!

Matt caved and told his lab group during Anatomy, and they were pretty excited (oh, and by the way - so thankful that he didn't smell terrible through that whole cadaver dissection thing. That would have been miserable!). I'm pretty sure my mom has no idea what's going on. Liz hinted at it, but I'm not sure if she was serious or not.

We're going to start telling next weekend. Can't wait - going to explode!

I went crazy this weekend and decorated the entire house. We moved in a year and a half ago (almost) and there was still nothing hanging on the walls. Well, now the walls are 100% decorated. It makes a substantial difference in feeling like home. I might have been a little nuts with the whole nesting thing, but Matt was studying for his last Anatomy test, so I needed something to do. :)

Tiredness is another symptom I've been struggling with. I did the entire last unit with my students as a self-directed set of stations because I wanted to just sit at my desk and feel nauseous. They are taking a test this week, so we'll see how that strategy worked out. :)

Belly Buddy

I went to see a friend this weekend who is teaching a block (one month course) at our undergrad (Colorado College). I was debating whether I should tell her or not, but before I went down I called to check in on the plans and she let slip that she's pregnant, so I told her. Our due dates are only 5 days apart. Amazing!

We spent the weekend not drinking (kind of annoying since it was Homecoming/Reunion weekend and it would have been more fun to face those people with free beer) and feeling bloated together. We ate all kinds of delicious things (thank goodness the nausea gave me a temporary reprieve!) and bought maternity clothes and went to see a girlie movie about raising a baby (Life As We Know It). Gotta say, really glad I have someone to go through this with!

I also told my favorite college professor with her there, and he said "you two never did like to do anything alone, did you?" Hilarious.

The nausea thing has kicked into full gear over the past few weeks, and has resulted in a very unhappy me, and probably a relatively unhappy husband. It's the worst first thing in the morning. I can get breakfast down if I do it without really thinking about it, but packing a lunch has been an exercise in gag control. I've bailed on lunch a few times and gone out to grab something instead.

The evening is the second worst time, so there have been many occasions where I've had to bail on cooking dinner and eat plain pasta while Matt fends for himself. This makes me feel terrible, but I guess that's the way of things.

Then there's been the snacking issue. Certain snacks are awesome...for about 2 days, and then they're not anymore. I'm going through healthy snacks faster than I can come up with new ones. And the idea of fruit or veggies is not acceptable right now. The worst of it was when I was headed home and starving, and the ONLY thing that didn't make me gag was Taco Bell. I don't even LIKE Taco Bell. And yet, when I drove by, the stomach lurched a little and I gave in. I had a bean burrito and it definitely calmed the ickies. I'm saddened to admit that the next week the same thing happened, but this time a bean burrito wouldn't do - it HAD to be a burrito supreme. I snarfed it in the car and did the walk of shame into the house with my empty taco bell bag.

There have been a few days at work where I've been so hungry that I've eaten my entire lunch before 11 and had to go through the school lunch line because I didn't have any other options. Pathetic.

I've been drinking more than my fair share of ginger ale (at 180 calories a can...) and have learned that the smell of lemon and Spearmint Eucalyptus body lotion from bath and body works will calm the stomach. That was a glorious revelation.

The greatest blessing is that 1) I haven't actually puked, and 2) strong symptoms assure me that everything is still ok with the wee one. But I'm praying that my body knocks it off when the second trimester comes around.

Still in there!

We went back for our normal first appointment this week with the nurse practitioner, and the baby is still in there with an even stronger heartbeat now! Our due date is set at May 2, though I suspect it'll be a little later than that.

I've purchased a B-band - this elastic thingie to cover my pants if I unbotton them - because I am SO bloated. I've still been getting a little sick unless I eat all the time, so I'm gaining weight faster than I should be. Which sucks, but is better than the alternative.

So excited for the next step and being able to start telling people!!!

Drama

That morning sickness thing is for real. Any time I get hungry, I get super nauseous. Not the most fun I've ever had.

These last few weeks have been a little dramatic. On Wednesday right after we found out I was pregnant, I started spotting. There was a little red blood and then brown. The doctor's office wasn't too concerned but made an appointment for me to come in early - the following Thursday - for an appointment.

While I was waiting for that, I went to visit Liz in Clovis for her Birthday. Her mother in law was there, so I decided not to share the news yet. It was a little tough to keep the secret, but I concocted an elaborate story about being on a killer antibiotic for a bladder infection that made me unable to drink anything but water and made me nauseous and tired. She bought it, and the weekend was fun!

As the appointment rolled around last week, I was

getting nervous and bracing myself for the worst. Basically, the best case scenario would have been to see a heartbeat on an ultrasound. However, I'd only be 6 weeks, and 6 weeks is still a little early for that. Basically, even not seeing anything wouldn't have necessarily meant anything. But, lucky for us, there was a little heartbeat there flickering away! It was SUCH a relief. Amazing. He also looked at my ovaries and stuff to try and locate the bleeding (the egg came from the left ovary - good to know!), but in the end said he was pretty sure it was just my cervix adjusting to the new hormones. He said the bleeding should stop soon.

And the bleeding did stop this week, about 2 weeks after it began. HUGE sigh of relief. Hoping it stays away because I don't want to live with stress like that all along!!

We've managed not to tell anyone else, and after getting through those first few days, it got a lot easier. I did have a weird need to eat bagels which Julie helped me with by bringing several bagels over to the house for me, but that too has passed. Let's see what else this time has in store for me!

A Bun in the Oven!

So, I'm pregnant! I took the test this morning and the second line immediately appeared, very dark and very definite. From what I can see on the internet, this means I've been officially pregnant for a few days, presumably. Though it weirds me out that right now I'm actually 33 days pregnant since they base the start of a pregnancy on the first day of my last period. Anyway...

If there's anyone for whom this comes as a surprise, let me tell you that yes, we were trying. When Matt got in to medical school, we realized that our best chance for Matt to be able to be there with me during the pregnancy and birth as well as the first few months of a little one's life would be if I was pregnant during his first year of school and had the baby that summer. We've been planning to start trying since February. I went to the doctor in March and went off the pill then too. I started taking my temperature and charting my cycle in May. We started trying at the end of June and got pregnant on our second try!

I was more than a little surprised that this was the month for us because I expected it to take longer and I've always expected to have a difficult time getting pregnant. We were both really busy with Matt starting school and me starting a new teaching job and our timing wasn't great. Plus, this month I was certain my period had started and my temperature had gone way down - it turns out it was just implantation bleeding and an implantation dip!

I had been feeling really hungry at the end of the week, but then didn't really eat much when I did eat. I also was having strange twinge-like cramps - not like normal cramps, but definitely noticeable. I'd spotted for a few days but then stopped, and my temperature had stayed up (except the dip). By this morning, I was 5 days late for my period.

I was chicken to test too early and also wanted to be with Matt if it was positive, so I waited until Saturday to test so we could be together all day afterward. I also didn't want Matt to try and get through a day of med school with that fresh news, and I didn't want to face a day of teaching with news one way or another. So I woke up at 6:45 this morning, being pretty firmly convinced that it'd be positive but still bracing myself for a negative, and it was definitely positive. When I got up to test I was convinced that I'd go back to sleep, but that obviously didn't happen. I woke Matt up and told him the good news, and then HE fell back asleep and I went outside to play with Wally and a stray dog that was stuck in our fence (I got her out first) and to stain our coffee table.

Based on the dates of my ovulation and last period, our due date should be around May 2. I am going to call Monday to make an appointment to go in. I've had an awesome day of already trying to milk my pregnancy for all it's worth. Matt didn't want to share his Reese's Pieces with me, and I told him that I was nurturing his spawn so he had to. He said he didn't want to share, and I pointed out that I have no choice but to share with it so he can't have a choice either. He gave in. According to some internet site I found, the flap of tissue that will become the baby's head is developing right now, so I told him that it was hard work growing a head. :)

Day 1 of knowing I'm pregnant is now officially down. No one knew we were trying, and now no one knows we are pregnant. I might tell my best friend Liz next weekend when I go see her for her Birthday (a surprise visit). I'm going to visit my parents at the end of October, which will also be the end of the first trimester, so I'll tell them in person then. Oh - and my friend Julie knows because I see her too often to keep secrets from her. :) But she's a better secret keeper than I am.

Now off to bed because I'm totally wiped out. Praying that this baby stays healthy and comes to join us at the beginning of May!!