How We Discovered the Existence of Baby

I thought I'd have more exciting news to write about today, thinking that we would get to do another ultrasound and be able to confirm our baby's gender. Alas, it was not to be! Apparently, we have to wait for our 19-to-20 week visit to get the ultrasound then. Both S. and I were very disappointed at the news, but it was still a good OB/GYN visit as we got to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time, so loud and strong. :)

In lieu of the gender news, I thought I'd take this blog entry to write about how we found out that we were having a baby in the first place!

It was New Year's Eve, and S. and I were busily driving from store to store, shopping for last minute items for the party we were hosting that night. As we were driving through the San Antonio Shopping Center, it suddenly occurred to me that 1) I was about four days late for my period, and 2) we were planning to have lots of alcoholic drinks at the party. Not that I am much of a drinker these days, but I had planned on at least tasting a bit of each concoction during the night; the thought that I might be pregnant made me take pause.

S. and I had been disappointed before though. My period had been late to come the month before, and we had been so excited to take the test and see that positive sign on it that when the test came out negative, I think both of us felt more than a little let down. Therefore, even though we went and bought a box of the pregnancy tests that afternoon, I think both of us weren't expecting much from it.

Well, we got home, and I went to the bathroom to take the test. I tried really hard not to have any expectations whatsoever. Unlike the last time though, where I agonizingly stared at the indicator for the full two minutes, expecting the "+" to appear, I took the test and just left it on the counter, trying not to psyche myself out on the result. S. kept me company as we waited in the bedroom, talking about last minute tasks to complete for the party that night. I finally went to take a look (making S. wait in the bedroom while I did so), and low and behold, a "+"! I was stunned speechless, and I remember this well of emotion filling my heart and blanking out every thought except for "WOW!" The immediate second thought was "How should I tell S.???"

You see, months before, I'd been joking with him that if I did find out that I were pregnant, I would probably not tell him and see how long it took for him to figure it out. :) I would never have followed through on that threat, but that didn't mean that I didn't want to announce it as a surprise of some sort. But how was I to accomplish the surprise now, especially with him standing just beyond the open door of the bathroom with me and the test just a few steps away?

I took a deep breath, schooled my expression, and turned towards him. "I'm not pregnant," I said in a low voice. I deliberately put the test back down on the counter, and walked out to him, holding my arms out for a hug. He held me soothingly and said, "It's okay... We can try again." From his tone, I could tell that he'd probably also been trying not to have any expectations this time around. I looked up at him and said softly, "Maybe you should look at it, too. Maybe I made a mistake or something. I dunno." I was trying so hard not to sound suspicious as I said this! :) He went into the bathroom and picked up the test.

He looked at the test for a few seconds, and his brow furrowed. He then looked at the instructions on the box, then back at the test. "Wait a minute...," he said, as he did another double-take between the test and the instructions. He looked up at me. "You're pregnant!" Hahaha... And thus I was able to surprise him. :)

We managed to keep the news a secret that night, except for a quick call to my mom to tell her. I asked her not to tell anyone yet though, since it was so early. However, come New Year's Day, we both had agreed that it was too much good news to contain, so we ended up telling some of our closest family and friends. It really was probably the best way we've ever rung in a New Year before. <3

Baby Thoughts - First Trimester Recap

We are expecting a baby early September, and the days are passing by way too quickly. How am I in my second trimester already??

I wanted to try to capture key thoughts/feelings from the last three months so I can come back to this and remember it all. Here goes:

- The fatigue that hit me during the first trimester was pretty hefty. I would barely make it through the work day and would be absolutely useless til I took a nap as soon as I got home. For someone who is used to having loads of energy, the huge change in energy levels took some getting used to. I didn't feel like seeing people, I didn't feel like organizing anything... Basically, I was in a state of sleep, wake up, eat, work, eat, work, sleep, eat, sleep for days on end.

- The amount of weight I put on in such a short amount of time was staggering. I read that body changes are different with each pregnancy, but to see myself gain 10 pounds within a month's time in January was shocking. I've gained 17 pounds since the beginning of January, and I am so determined to try to regiment future weight gain by being more active and eating better. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how much of the weight gain thus far can actually be attributed to my pregnancy and how much of it was just me being low energy the last few months and eating whatever suited my mood. I will do better!

- I learned pretty quickly that I needed to have food in my stomach at all times to prevent nausea. I ate almost every 2 to 3 hours, and I began to carry around snacks (which I never used to do as I was used to only eating three meals a day). If I was ever caught without food around, I felt pretty gaggy, but it was speedily rectified with food in my stomach.

- Strangely, since I'd heard so much about this, I had no weird food cravings. The only thing I really noticed was an increased tolerance and desire for spicy food. Good thing spicy food was not something I had to avoid!

- Also, strangely, the two food items I thought I'd have a hard time quitting for a year didn't end up being so hard to quit. Somehow my body/baby must know what is good for it because coffee and the smell of coffee didn't tempt me anymore (I noticed this even back in December when I didn't even know I was pregnant yet), and I don't crave sushi, which is something that I used to crave at least once a week or every other week. I do still have coffee every now and again, but I can't seem to make myself want black coffee anymore, which is the only way I would drink coffee in the past. Instead, I'll order extra milky latte if I order coffee at all.

I can't believe that we're already at the point where we'll find out the sex of our baby at the next doctor's visit! S. and I don't have a preference for either sex, but we are excited to find out so that we can start addressing the baby properly by name when we talk to him/her. (Yeah, we had started doing that even as early as the first day that we found out I was pregnant.) We already have names in mind for both sexes, but as most people have recommended, we're not sharing til the baby's born! We can't wait for the day. :)