Saturday, December 29, 2007

The concerns and worries about what lies ahead

11 weeks pregnant!

As I mentioned before, along with the thrill of the first pregnancy comes a lot of concern and worry about what lies ahead. I know that our lives are going to change in just about every way from here on out which is both a nice thought and a scary one. We both love kids, and I have a special relationship with my best friend Karen's 8 year old daughter, Michelle, who seems to like to spend time with me, but how will I be as a mother to my own baby? I wonder if every soon-to-be mom has these same thoughts. Ted and I also really love to spend time with our neices and nephews; I love how our twin neices Julia and Olivia's faces light up when they see us and they love to be silly with their Uncle Ted!





When I first found out that I was pregnant and due right in the middle of the busy season at my work, I panicked. I love my job and really thrive on the action that goes on in the summer. I know that me having a baby right in the middle of all that is really going to make things difficult for me, my boss and of course my co-workers. Add that to the fact that the BBQ season is in full swing that time of year, and I was one freaked out chick when they told me I was due on July 22nd. Well, I've never been known for my timing, I guess. I hope it doesn't say horrible things about me that I initially worried about my job and the BBQ team before anything else. I hope it was just the fact that I was totally blindsided by this.


I am embracing this pregnancy fully now. I can't wait to find out the sex of the baby and feel him or her kick and move around. Ted and I walked through the kid's section at Macy's recently and prior to Christmas I spent an awful lot of time in Toys R Us, and I can't wait to start buying things for this baby. I know, I know...there are plenty of difficult times and sleepless nights ahead of me, too, but I can at least be looking forward to the fun stuff, right?



Thursday, December 27, 2007

They warned me about morning sickness, but this is ridiculous....

10 weeks and 3 days pregnant!

Whoever said that I'm the exception to all rules never expected me to get pregnant, apparantly. My symptoms so far have been "textbook"; if you read about it in "What to Expect When You're Expecting", I probably have it or feel it. Morning / Afternoon / Evening sickness? I've got it. Insomnia? Got it. Adversion to specific foods? Sleepiness? Thickness in the waist? Nasal stuffiness? Yep, I've got those too. All of a sudden I can't even look at red meat, I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat and yet I wake up an hour later and can't fall back to sleep to save my life, I can barely fit into any of my work pants and a morning doesn't pass where I don't feel sick to my stomach. All of this, and yet I'm still going into work every day and I'm still SO excited about this baby. Everyone is saying that this will all get better when I move into the second trimester, and I really hope they are right.

I'm starting to get a little ahead of myself by thinking of themes for the nursery, names for boys and girls, and planning maternity outfits to wear to the orientations I have to go to for work in the winter and spring. Luckily, my co-workers will be more than ready to do a fair share of the orientations so I'll have fewer to do this year then I've done in the past; for the past 3 years or so I had to travel to over 12 orientations and the schedule was pretty grueling. This year I'll only have to do 7 or so which is a huge improvement for me. My last one on the schedule is in Wyoming in the end of April, so I should be good and huge by then. I already feel bad for whoever has to sit next to me on the planes for that trip!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

My First Post


Hi everyone!

My husband Ted has been bothering me for a while to get back to writing, and my excuse has always been that I didn't have anything to write about....until now! On December 4th, after 3 positive home pregnancy tests, my OB/GYN confirmed that I was going to have a baby. When I first heard, "You're definately pregnant", I was shocked and a little dazed. This is definately not something we planned!! They estimated my due date at July 22nd which is just horrible timing with work and with mine and Ted's hobby of participating in BBQ competitions. But, my boss was wonderfully supportive and Ted's enthusiasm about this pregnancy eased my mind about him stressing about missing some major competitions. So, it was time for me to get excited about it which came a few days after finding out.
I initially had some bleeding which worried me enough to speak to some of my girlfriends in the office for advice, and they urged me to call the doctor. The nurse told me to come in right away so I left the office early (again, my boss is pretty great about this stuff) and headed in to find out what was going on. After the doctor briefed me on all the different scenarios of what he could find out from the ultrasound, (best and worst cases and pretty much everything in between) I took a deep breath and waited to see some indication of what was going on in my belly. Almost immediately, he said "Everything looks perfect", switched on the sound and I heard my baby's heartbeat for the very first time. I can't wait for Ted to hear this noise; there is truly nothing like it in the world. At that instant, I bonded with this little being inside me and just wanted it to be healthy and ok. Of course, with the thrill of the first pregnancy comes the fear of realizing that I'm actually going to be responsible for another human being, but I'll save all that for another time. I found out that I was 7 weeks and one day pregnant and as I walked out of the office with the baby's first "photos" I was happy, excited, scared and amazed at what had just happened.
The following week I had the "interview" with the nurse and my regularly scheduled OB appointment. I met another doctor in the group whom I liked very much. She did a second ultrasound and again said everything seemed to be going as planned which was great news. She said the bleeding seemed to be originating from the base of my cervix and wasn't related to the pregnancy at all which I was relieved to hear. After the exam she briefed me on the various tests they will take, some of which are due to my age (no comments from the peanut gallery, please) and answered all of my questions very patiently and thoroughly. After work I was feeling like I needed to get cracking on learning about what was going on in my body, so I went to the store and bought "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and signed on to various pregnancy websites. I've been learning so much, and now I feel armed with info! Every week as the baby grows I give Ted the update: "Our baby is the size of a blueberry!" (He still refers to the baby as "my blueberry") "Our baby is the size of a grape!" "Our baby is the size of a walnut!" So, now my job is just to take care of myself and this blueberry...and of course, Ted and the cats since we all have a lot of adjusting to do!
I'll post later with how I've been feeling and such....I promise I won't drone on and on about the bad stuff!