We're Pregnant!!

Our first baby is due somewhere around October 10!

The positive home pregnancy test was Friday morning, February 1. Still, it seems like a zillion things have happened in the last 4 days. I'll try to recap. (But there will not be daily updates for the next 36 weeks. I promise.)


Thursday, January 31
I was entering some back data of basal body temperatures into fertilityfriend.com, and on Jan 27th there was a temp dip. I knew my recent temps had been high, so as soon as I typed that in, my stomach and jaw dropped as my brain screamed "Oh god. Implantation dip!" And it WAS. But I was determined not to test until Saturday morning - if it was positive, I didn't want Dennis to have to rush off to work immediately afterwards.

Friday, February 1
Snow day! Because we had eight inches of snow on the ground, I worked from home on Friday and, of course, slept in a bit. Dennis was long gone by the time I got up. that morning, I had an unusual dream that I'm sure I'll never forget, and it compelled me to test a day earlier than I had intended to. Up to this point, I've been very good about waiting until Saturday to test.

It took a few seconds for the 2nd line to show up on the test, but it was really impossible to ignore. It was there. Not incredibly dark, but there. And it showed up way too soon to be an evaporation line. Of course, that didn't make it any easier to believe. We weren't supposed to get pregnant this month! After 8 months of trying, it was all on hold until March so we could eat and drink and celebrate during our fabulous vacation in India.

Later in the day, I took five more tests just to make sure. Yes, it's overkill. But I had the tests, so why not? I wanted to take a digital test, but the driveway was covered in 8" of snow, so I couldn't go out and get one. Besides, 6 positives is plenty. There was really no denying it now.

I wanted to go get some baby books, and *someone* had to shovel the driveway. So there I was, 4 weeks pregnant, outside with the snow shovel. Tom & Sue did loan us their snowblower, thank god! (Of course, I was sore from the shoveling later that night and for the next couple of days and couldn't take any Advil. Brilliant, Danielle.) I had a 30% off coupon for Borders, so I sprung for an actual book purchase. (Also, the library only had "What to Eat While You're Expecting" from 1986 and "Pregnancy and Birth" from 2000.)

Dennis worked a little late on Friday. Of course I was itching to tell him. I mounted all of the positive tests on a piece of cardboard and just told him to close his eyes, that I had a surprise for him. He obliged, and I put the cardboard-o-pregnancy-tests in his hands. He opened his eyes and said, as only he does, "Oh my!" Then he put them down and hugged me tight. (Good job, Dennis. Very good.) Then he said something like, "I guess you really made sure, huh?" and "That is what you're trying to tell me, right? These are positive?" He must have been truly shocked to ask such a crazy question. But really, I don't think he had looked at the lines - just that I had handed him a bunch of tests. In all, a very good reaction. (Somehow, I neglected to record said reaction either with video or still photos. I regret that already, thus the early beginnings of the blog to help prevent other lapses.)

Later, he took my shoes off and had me stand in the kitchen. Ha! Get it? I was barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. He thought this was hilarious. I will admit to being mildly amused.

That night we started perusing the pregnancy books I'd gotten, and I think we learned quite a bit. Apparently there's a little more to it than "don't drink, smoke, or eat raw fish." Who knew?

Friday night was not good for sleeping. I think I was mostly just anxious about the whole thing, and maybe my body was rebelling from the adrenaline rush of the whole day. I was awake for several hours when I shouldn't have been.

Saturday, February 2
Dennis made me breakfast in bed. A tasty egg sandwich with portobello swiss. (He would have made me breakfast anyway. He's a good guy.)

Late in the morning, we left. Dennis had to stop at work; I sat in the lobby and read Your Pregnancy, Week by Week for about 45 minutes. Good stuff.

Then we went to pick out granite countertops for the new house. (Did I mention we were not supposed to be pregnant yet? Who gets pregnant in the middle of building a house?) I had a headache all day and couldn't do anything about it. (Advil and Aleve are not allowed; we didn't have any Tylenol on hand.)

I was also starving all day, despite eating fairly consistently. That might or might not be baby-related.

Saturday night we went out with Sarah and Ali & Joe. We told them, since Sarah & Ali are internet friends in addition to being real-life friends. They were excited. I got to practice turning down alcoholic beverages. (Thankfully the chocolate martini place was closed! That would have been torture.)

Sunday, February 3
Mostly uneventful. I was more lethargic because of the weather than because of the pregnancy. (The baby is a whopping 150 cells right now - surely it can't be affecting me that much.)

Later in the evening, Dennis managed to get us both motivated to get off of the sofa and onto the treadmill. It wasn't a bad way to watch the last part of the super bowl. So yay! My first known pregnant exercise. 30 minutes walking at 4.5 mph. If I can keep that up with some regularity, I will be beyond thrilled.

Sunday night was again very bad for sleeping. I had cramps so bad they actually woke me up. I'd actually had some pretty bad cramps on Friday and Saturday, too, but this was crazy. Even though all the books say it's OK as long as there's no bleeding, I was not 100% sure. So I was awake from 4:00 am - 6:30 am. This means I'm 1 for 3 on good-night's-sleep with this baby. Not a good pace.

Monday, February 4
Largely uneventful. I did call the doctor on Monday to get things set up. We scheduled an appointment for March 6, but when I brought up my 8 million questions about being pregnant on the India trip, the nurse considered that maybe the doctor would want to see me before we leave. So I went in on Monday for a blood test to confirm the pregnancy.

Monday night, I slept well! And the cramping was much less.

Tuesday, February 5
Again, largely uneventful. The doctor called back with the test results. I am indeed pregnant. (Thanks. The six pregnancy tests had me convinced, but I guess it's always good to get confirmation.) The HCG levels were in the low 600s. (613? 630? I can't even remember, and I threw away the piece of paper so no one at the office would see it and know I am pregnant.) If you do the math that it doubles every 48 hours or so, that puts conception right about where I thought it was.

And they did say the doc would want to see me before we leave, so we now have an appointment for February 14! (awwwwww) That should put us right at six weeks, give or take a day, so we have a reasonably good chance of hearing the heartbeat.

I exercised again for 30 minutes on the treadmill. If that's not regularity, I don't know what is. :) Here's hoping I'm not awakened by severe uterine cramps again tonight like I was the last time I exercised.

After that, I took my "before" belly picture. I have a little paunch, but trust me, it's just regular fat. That's what happens when you start your pregnancy almost 30 pounds overweight. I'm determined not to go crazy with the eating and be as consistent as possible with the moderate exercise - hopefully the baby doesn't have other ideas.