January 26, 2013... my 28th birthday. Marc had planned a dinner out at the Iberian Pig with my friends. The past two weeks had not been easy; I lost my dear cousin to cancer, and two days later we had a very difficult time closing on our new house which I had to deal with by myself as Marc was traveling for work up until our closing date. Two days after closing, I flew to Chicago to be with my family during this difficult time. I hadn't slept, felt very stressed, and extremely nauseous as I boarded the red eye to Chicago. I had felt so off the two days I was gone. I return to work on Friday, the day before my birthday, and my teammate told me I looked like I was 'glowing' considering all of the stress I had just been through. Come Saturday (my birthday), a manicure and pedicure was surely in order. I relaxed, enjoyed, but something just felt different. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. A friend of mine suggested that I take a pregnancy test, as she just had a baby three weeks before and just knew that I was pregnant. So, I did.
I was NOT prepared for what I was about to experience. I headed upstairs to get ready for my birthday dinner, and really didn't think anything about the test. But a part of me told me not to wait until tomorrow, just take it while the shower warms up. So I did... and as I was about to step into the shower, I saw those two pink lines. I thought I was going to faint. I was not at all expecting to see that. My heart was racing and I felt like my stomach was going to fall out of my butt. I kept looking at it, back at the box, and back at the stick. Seriously?! Was this for real!? I jumped in the shower and put myself back together. I wasn't shocked in a sad way; I was shocked in an "Oh my God, that was fast. Too fast? Easy? Why was it so easy? I didn't think it was supposed to be that easy? How do I tell Marc? I had a beer last night! How do we get through tonight without drinking...we are going to Brickstore after dinner. I always drink at least 10 beers at Brickstore." You know, the important things.
I put on my robe, and slowly walk downstairs to where Marc was. This walk was the most drawn out scary walk - not like a "walk of shame" kind of walk, but "my life is about to change and I might fall down the stairs" kind of walk. (Thankfully, four years of sorority recruitment helped me get down the stairs just fine.)
"Marc, can you put the iPad down for a second?"
"Am I in trouble?"
"No. I just took a pregnancy test."
"And?"
"I'm pregnant."
"Wait. Seriously? How did that happen? You had a beer last night."
(He clearly knew the right questions to ask.)
"I'm fine. A little nervous/anxious/excited... what are you thinking?"
"That this is amazing! But we can't have your birthday dinner. I'm calling everyone to cancel."
"Marc, I'm pregnant, not dying. You're not canceling my birthday dinner."
"But everyone will know something is up when you don't drink 10 beers at Brickstore."
"I'll order a beer, and you'll sneak it away from me."
...continue a conversation (that was longer than it needed to be) in regards to how we would fool my friends at dinner.
Since we had just moved into the house, we didn't have internet yet. I could NOT tell our parents without seeing their faces and reactions via FaceTime. So, I had to wait 4 long and agonizing days before we could share the news. Now, most people keep this kind of news to themselves until they go to the doctor to have the real test done. Not me. I am the most impatient person in the world. So, we told our parents in a fun way. We FaceTimed (can't believe that is a verb) and took our parents on a tour of the house. Downstairs, main floor, upstairs... "Wait, there is one more room to show you." ::show the kind-of-small-bedroom-with-junk-and-no-furniture-in-it:: "Here it is!" ::silence:: "Nice...room?" "It doesn't look like much now, but in about 8 months, it's going to be a nursery!" ::Begin parental tears and questions and over excitement::
So that's how we found out the big news. We were not prepared and had no idea what to expect... hooray for best friends who have had a baby 3 weeks prior! The next 8-9 months were a constant surprise. You hear stories about how pregnancy should be, but until you go through it, those stories are crap.
First Trimester:
Our first ultrasound put me at 8 weeks with a due date of September 30, but then changed to about 6 weeks and October 5. It was real. There was a heartbeat (and it was the most beautiful symphony I've every heard.) My Mom came up for the 2nd ultrasound at 13 weeks - the wait up until then was TERRIBLE. I was so stressed/anxious that something had gone wrong and I didn't know it... but physically, I was totally fine. No bleeding, no morning sickness (except for a bit of nausea) but a TON of exhaustion. The moment I got home from work, I slept. But that little heartbeat was the only thing on my mind at all times. The anxiety was awful. That 13 week ultrasound was beautiful. A healthy heartbeat and a beautiful profile - it was a real baby! No more gummy bear! Our tech told us she was "75% sure it was a girl" and Marc was instantly terrified. Finally, we could tell the world!!!
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| Our first meeting with our little piglet when he was 8 weeks old! |
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| A family picture in the park... the only way you can tell Jack is present is the lack of beer in my hand. |
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| Piglet at 13 weeks... our "little girl"... |
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| Easter Sunday at Piedmont Park... just before spilling the news to everyone! |
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| How we told 'the world'... |
Second Trimester:
Continue feeling great - even better! Not having to hide the news at work anymore was a huge relief. My students were so awesome and treated me so wonderfully. I wasn't showing much yet, so I wasn't getting much slack from the public (that's why girls get pregnant - for the attention and slack given to you by strangers, right?) Around 16 weeks I got a TERRIBLE stomach bug (thank you eighth grader) while Marc was in San Fransisco for work. I seriously thought I was going to die. I even called my doctor and told her "I seriously think I'm going to die" and she told me "No, you just have a stomach bug while pregnant. You aren't going to die." But, I lost about 5 pounds and after losing that pudge - you could see a real preggo bump! Just after the bug, we went to get our gender ultrasound. Even though we thought we knew it was a girl, we wanted to see our piglet again. To our surprise, this tech told us very different news - it's a boy! Totally shocked, but not sold - we would confirm this at our 20 week appointment. Our anatomy scan at 20 weeks confirmed that our little piglet was surely a boy - we got a pretty good money shot. The name Jack came to us quite easily, absolutely no argument! Now, a middle name... When I was 21 weeks, Marc and I went to California for a friend's wedding. Since he was busy doing wedding things, I took it upon myself to stroll around beautiful Santa Barbara and eat pretty much everything I saw. Example: In one afternoon stroll down the main street, I ate Pinkberry, a bratwurst, popcorn, some awesome pastry, and Pinkberry again. And then I ate 5 cupcakes at the wedding. Needless to say, my doctor wasn't too pleased with my weight gain. Finally, I have experienced a negative effect of pregnancy. I was being watched.
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| Marc, Jack and I in Santa Barbara, California |
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| The money shot! (Jack will not be happy about this in 14 years.) |
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| Dad starting work in the nursery! |
And this is when I finally started to feel the pains of pregnancy. They say the first trimester is the worst, but I beg to differ. My body felt like it was falling apart (mostly because enormous Jack was constantly slaying dragons and giants inside of me). I could tell THE DAY I hit the third trimester that this was going to be rough. I started hurting, couldn't sleep but was terribly exhausted (mostly from work), I was HUGE, wanted to eat everything but couldn't (but did anyway), and even got some morning sickness. I pushed through the first few weeks, but once I hit about 32 weeks, I was miserable. I couldn't believe I still had 8 more weeks. My doctors kept telling me that there was no way I'd make it to October (Jack showed them wrong.) Work was a major struggle. I was so happy when summer came, but I was teaching summer school and if you aren't aware, Georgia is MISERABLY hot in the summer. Marc and my friends hated being in my house. ("Oh, brunch at Lindsay's? Bring your winter coat.") I slept with 3 fans pointed directly at me. I couldn't move. The only thing getting me through life was Yogurtland (a lot of it). Thankfully, my summer school administrator cut me some slack and let me sit...a lot. My kids were great too. Once that was over, parents come up for pre-baby visits to help us get ready and 4D ultrasounds. Lots of cleaning and washing baby clothes. So many baby clothes. My baby shower was incredible - so blessed that my Mom and Jessica could make it from Chicago and my closest friends could be there with me. Jack was surely spoiled!
School started back up, and from the first day of school, I knew that these next two months would be absolute hell. I was right. Everyday was painful, I was having pretty bad Braxton Hicks contractions and I could barely get through the day. My blood pressure was high (not shocking) and I physically couldn't handle much more. At 36 weeks, my doctor pulled me from work. She felt that the high stress environment was not helping my blood pressure and she needed to see it go down. My fluids were also low which was a cause for concern. While I was quite bored for the next three and a half weeks, it was nice to have some down time before the craziness began. I used this time to get everything possible ready for Jack. I even nested (finally!) and cleaned like crazy. As my weekly appointments came (36 weeks), my doctor noticed that Jack was "quite big" and thought I could easily go into labor early.
Finally, my 38 week appointment came (Friday) and I left majorly disappointed. After doctor's telling me every week that he had dropped and they expected him to come anytime, I wasn't dilated at all. I was so disappointed. My doctor could tell, and was also a bit concerned that my blood pressure was still pretty high even after not being at work. She wanted to see me on Tuesday, because she needed to keep an eye on my blood pressure. I feel like she knew that Tuesday would be a good day to induce if necessary.
Come Tuesday, I painfully got ready for my appointment. I had been nauseous all night/morning, had a bad headache, and was hurting SO BAD. I felt like my pelvis was ripping in half. My plan was to go get my nails done after my appointment and beg them to massage the pressure points in my feet and ankles so I could PLEASE go into labor. Marc and I get to the doctor, I assume I won't be dilated and I'll have to wait even longer. Less than two minutes into the appointment, Dr. Marshall says "Your blood pressure is very high, and I'm concerned about your nausea and headache. I'm going to need you to go to the hospital and get admitted."
"...huh? Like, right now?" ::quickly look at Marc thinking OMG.::
"Yes, right now. We need to do some blood tests. We may need to induce you today."
"Okay..." ::she leaves the room:: "MARC. I need to get my nails done. I can't have the baby and have bad nails."
We make our way to the hospital and I am a total mess. I am not prepared for this. I need my Mommy, stat. We called her and told her to get on a plane, because this is happening...even with unmanicured nails.
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| My amazing baby shower! |
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| Excited brothers! |
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| The 80% completed nursery! |
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| Dad is excited! |
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| My baby boy at 29 weeks. So much love, and looking like a Weldy already... Edit: I failed to mention my number one nemesis during pregnancy: my boobs. If you had any interaction with me at all during these 9 months, you know exactly how angry they made me. That is all I'm going to say about that, but I felt that they needed to be mentioned as I complained about them at least 3 times a day, every day. |
