Discovering I was pregnant, and the first couple of weeks

This is a long one, so if you don’t care, skip it.  I promise I won’t write about pregnancy every day, but I have some catching up to do.

On discovering I was knocked up…

I kind of always worried that I would find out I was pregnant after a vacation or a week when I had been drinking a ton.  I know that in the early weeks of pregnancy, the baby isn’t getting nutrients from the mother yet, but it still also didn’t seem like a good plan.  I’ve never really had any valid pregnancy “scares” (whether before we were ready or after).  I don’t even really understand how accidental pregnancies happen.  99% of the time, you take birth control (whatever your preferred method), do it, and don’t get pregnant.  There was one time a few years ago that I thought I was a week or so late and I think I even called my doctor (I didn’t realize at that time that you just take a test at home first).  The doctor told me to take a test and call back if positive.  I bought one on the way home from work and when I walked in the door to our place, I remembered that I actually had my cycle the week before and had forgotten.  See that week before I had PRK, which is a more painful version of LASIK eye surgery with a 4-5 day recovery time, and I was on plenty of meds and sleeping for 3-4 days, so I had totally forgotten about it.  I was pretty embarrassed that I’d already called the doctor and it turns out I’d just forgotten I had a period a week after it happened.

Anyway, when I actually was pregnant this time, I pretty much knew as soon as possible.  I started to get a feeling that I was, so I tested about 4-5 days before my cycle.  With the first test, I forgot to look at it within the 10 minutes (who does that?!) and then I couldn’t tell if what I could see was a shadow or evaporation line, so I tried not to get too excited by it.  I took the second test the next day and the was definitely darker, so I was pretty sure I was pregnant.  Lo was at a hockey game, so I took some pictures of Boof making the announcement so I could tell him the next day.  I still wanted to take one more test – using digital this time so there could be no mistake.  I would have hated to tell him and then it turn out that I was wrong – even though I was pretty certain that I already was based on the fact that I couldn’t keep my eyes open by the end of the day already.  Boof wasn’t super impressed with taking the photo and until I got a treat to tempt her with, she wasn’t participating.

But I finally got a decent one, though she’s clearly concerned about getting the tiny piece of carrot I was holding.

I bought a digital test to take the next morning just to make sure.  It was positive!  I wanted to wait until after work to tell him so I didn’t have to spring it on him first thing in the morning before work and we could actually enjoy the moment.  It was hard to keep it to myself all day and I was so tempted to just tell someone, but obviously I thought he should be the first to know.  When we got home he was going to finish putting his car back together.  I wanted to have dinner ready for him and then was going to text him the picture of Boof with her sign.  About halfway through the evening, I realized I was getting the flu.  What I initially thought was muscle soreness from workouts was getting worse and worse, and I started to get chilled.  He came in to get something and I said “bad news – I’m getting the flu”.  He said “are you pregnant?”.  I knew I couldn’t lie and then tell him that I was in an hour, so I just said, “well, actually I am – I had a whole plan to tell you”.  He was so excited and shocked and completely forgot what he came in to look for.  He had no reason to suspect that I was pregnant except that in the 7 years he’s known me, I’ve only had the flu once – I don’t get sick often and being pregnant ruins your immune system.  By the time he finished up his car, I was useless.  I was wearing flannel pjs and a thick full length robe and I was freezing.  So he had to make his own pasta (the sauce was made the night before) and take care of me instead of me surprising him with a nice dinner and good news!  I was about 4 weeks at that point.

The first people we told were Chuck and Kelley over the weekend.  We knew we had to tell them early on because we are with them a ton and I usually drink.  Not having a margarita at a Mexican place would have been pretty obvious.  I showed them the picture of Boof with her sign and they weren’t sure what to think right away.  Their first thought was that we were getting another dog, but they figured it out pretty quickly and were so happy for us.  We don’t plan to tell anyone else until after our appointment on March 1.  We are very realistic that every pregnancy doesn’t make it to term unfortunately.  We can’t control what’s going to happen, and can only hope for the best!

Week 5:  Feb 12-18

Baby size: Apple seed
Sleep: I need it constantly.  It was actually my first sign that I was pregnant even before I was late.  I pretty much have to nap once a day or I can’t function.  Luckily I can almost always ride to work with Lo, so I can sneak a nap in on the ride to and from work, and sometimes I have to nap in my office during lunch.  Other times I have to nap right when I get home, especially if I’m really nauseous.
Symptoms: Constant need for sleep, sore boobs.  Midway through week five, my arm brushed my chest when I woke up at night and I thought I had a lump because it was sticking out where it shouldn’t have been.  As it turns out, my boobs grew overnight.  I swear it was overnight because I hold my chest when I’m running down the stairs into the basement, and I went down in the basement 3 times the night before and they felt normal.  Crazy.  I only get small bouts of nausea, usually if I don’t eat soon enough after I’m hungry.  I also get full really quickly and when I don’t stop eating, I feel terrible for a little while.
Workouts:  The fatigue and nausea has me skipping some workouts, but I managed a few workouts, volleyball, and yoga.
Best moment of the week:  Realizing that I can still enjoy parties without drinking (though I was drinking alcohol-free wine to trick some friends).  I assumed I could enjoy without drinking, but I didn’t often do that before – which is also why I was fake drinking because it would be a dead giveaway if I didn’t drink at this specific gathering.  Luckily, the others were drinking enough that they probably wouldn’t have noticed anyway!
Movement: Nothing for a few more months
Food cravings: Nothing specific.  I wanted ice cream a couple of times, but I like ice cream anytime.  Oh – and cottage cheese – but I also regularly eat that.
Food aversions: Nothing, though I find myself being turned off by sweets at times (but not at other times).
What I miss: Sleeping through the night without peeing, enjoying food
What I’m looking forward to: Our first appointment and ultrasound in two weeks.  As I told Lo this week “this pregnancy is taking forever!”  I know, it doesn’t bode well for how much longer I have.  I think it being a secret is what’s so hard.
Milestones:  Nothing comes to mind – being pregnant is a pretty big milestone to begin with!

Week 6:  Feb 19-25

How big is baby? Sweet pea
Maternity Clothes: Nope.  I’m also fortunate (?) that sometime between week 1 and week 6 I lost about 5 lbs, so I have room to grow in my clothes.  I don’t know when the weight loss happened exactly, but if I had to guess, it has to do with the nausea/food aversions recently.  Oh, and maybe not drinking too.
Sleep: I need it constantly still.  Naps all of the time.
Workouts:  I’ve had to skip some workouts because of nausea or necessary naps, but I had two volleyball games, did heated yoga twice, and another standard workout or two.
Symptoms: Constant need for sleep, sore knockers, constant nausea (but no puking), having to pee at night (which totally sucks), I get out of breath at odd times and slightly more than usually (which I guess is all the hormones, not because I’m suddenly out of shape).  The nausea has become pretty constant.  I thought since I wasn’t puking it wasn’t so bad – JUST KIDDING!  Constant nausea is terrible because there isn’t even a few minutes of relief.  Usually by dinnertime, my nausea subsides enough for me to have a good meal, only to return shortly after I eat.  I asked Lo how many weeks I was the other day (he has more pregnancy apps on his phone than I do) and he said 6 weeks and my response was “this is taking FOREVER”!  That doesn’t bode well for the next 34 weeks!
Best moment of the week? Having a three day weekend, which means extra sleep.  And extra sleep means I get to sleep through some nausea.  Also, my husband and I don’t cuddle during sleep, but before I fell asleep one night (but after he was asleep), he rolled over and spooned me and was holding his hand on my belly.  He didn’t know he was doing it, but it was sweet.  I probably wouldn’t have been able to fall asleep like, but a few minutes later he woke up rolled over.  The next day I asked if he was awake when he did that and he said no – that he woke up and thought “oh- I guess we’re spooning”.
Movement: Nothing for a few more months.
Food cravings: Very little.  Plaintain chips.  Once I thought I wanted a milkshake when Lo was stopping at Chick-fil-A for dinner, but that was a mistake and it made my stomach hurt.  The food was fantastic though.  Fries and ketchup sounded good a couple of times.  Luckily we usually make frozen fries at home, so they aren’t as bad as fast food fries.
Food aversions: Almost everything.  I hate eating because I don’t know if I’m hungry or feeling nauseous, so I don’t know if I’ll feel better or worse after.  Dinner is my only “safe” meal.
What I miss: Sleeping through the night without peeing, enjoying food.  Not feeling sick
What I’m looking forward to: Our first appointment and ultrasound in next week.  I need to see that there’s actually something in there!  Then we can start to tell our families too!
Milestones:  I found a couple of gluten-free, but cooked rolls at our favorite sushi place that were decent.  That’s harder than it sounds, because so many cooked rolls also have tempura.  I told some people that I gave up drinking for Lent so I don’t have to explain when we are in social situations.