The Details

You guys are awesome.

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on my "coming out" post. To old friends who offered their support as they always do, thank you. And to new friends who took the time to say, "Congrats!" and "I understand!", thank you, too.

I'm a really lucky girl.

I'm lucky for lots of reasons. I'm lucky to have a husband who truly cherishes our child. I'm lucky to have parents who absolutely adore their grandson. I'm lucky to have a fantastic support system (both online & in real life) to get me through times of uncertainty. And, I'm lucky that all of these people will be cheering me on along this new chapter in our life.

So, on to the details!

No. We weren't on birth control & we were not trying to get pregnant. I was still breastfeeding Liam (although not often enough to use this as a birth control method, I knew that) and my period had not returned since giving birth to him-- Actually, I haven't had my period since Nov 2009 & it looks like I probably won't get it for another year or so at least. We had discussed possibly trying for baby #2 when Liam was around a year old & because of the trouble we had the first time, I did not want to take any hormonal birth control that might mess up my cycles once they returned.

So, how did I find out I was pregnant?

Several weeks ago, my sister in law Barbara called. You might remember she was pregnant with Jack while I was pregnant with Liam. I couldn't get to the phone when she called, so she left a message. I have a feature on my phone that translates voicemail messages into texts. It's terrible and it gets 90% of the words wrong-- the one word it did understand was PREGNANT. I called her back immediately & she told me that my brother in law's vasectomy (done the day before) went well...but that it was a few weeks too late because just took a test and found out she's pregnant!

She was shocked. I was shocked. I tried to offer some encouraging words...I said things like, "This baby was meant to be!" & "It's a blessing in disguise." I asked her how she had suspected that she might be pregnant & she said that not only had her period been late but also she had been really hungry and her skin had been different.

I hung up the phone.

Then I thought about the whole carton of Girl Scout Cookie Ice Cream I had eaten the week before (Samoas, mmmm) and how terrible my skin had looked. Still, I wrote it off. A few hours later, I just had this nagging feeling that I needed to put to rest, so I decided to take a test.

I didn't have any HPTs-- all I had were some left over OPKs, so I decided to take one of those. It turned positive immediately. The whole time we were trying to get pregnant, I NEVER ONCE saw that damn digital smiley face, yet there it was. I came out of the bathroom (probably white as a ghost) and told Rob. He said, "Don't you think that you're probably just ovulating? Aren't the chances better that you're ovulating than you're pregnant?" No. Since you only ovulate for about 24 hours in a cycle, the chances that I chose test on the exact day were pretty slim. There was about a 1/30 chance I was ovulating-- and about a 29/30 chance I was pregnant.

We already had plans to go to the park with Liam for a picnic, so we went ahead. I tried to put it out of my mind. We had a great time & even went out for ice cream after. On our drive home, I stopped at the drug store and picked up two boxes of tests. When we got home, I considered waiting until first thing the next morning, but I rationalized that I had four tests, so if it was negative, I'd just test again in the morning to confirm.

Oh, but it wasn't negative...See that line? It's faint, but it's there.

I texted the pic to Barb who called me and wanted me to get the digital to confirm. (Something I never did with Liam.) So, I did & this is what I saw:

Stunned. We didn't really say much in those first few moments. Then Rob said that while this was a surprise, it was ultimately great news. (He's had a great attitude about this!) I started crying, flooded with all kinds of emotions: happiness, guilt, excitement, fear. It was a lot to take in. Over the next few days I took 4 more tests to confirm.

Monday morning I called my ob/gyn and asked to be seen. They had me in for a beta which came back at 112. They then told me that they'd see me in a month for my first appointment.

Um, what?! I guess I got spoiled handling the beginning of my first pregnancy with our RE, who I adore... I know that this is their standard practice with ob patients, but it wasn't enough for me. I asked them to do another beta so that I could confirm my numbers were doubling. They refused! When I asked why, the nurse said that it was not necessary because I did not have a history of miscarriage. No, but I do have a history of infertility and anxiety!! I explained that I was having a hard enough time with this surprise pregnancy and that I really would like some reassurance that things are progressing normally (so far). Again, the nurse refused.

I hung up and called my RE. I explained that I was a former patient & that I had a surprise pregnancy. I told them that I wasn't happy with the care I was getting from my ob & asked if they'd do a beta. Their response? Of course! I went in that day for a second beta and the result was 193. I was a little worried about this number (my betas more than doubled with Liam) but the nurse said that as long as the numbers increased by at least 60%, they were fine. Anything over 175 would be acceptable-- she also mentioned that since the bloodwork was done in two different labs, there could be a slight discrepancy in the measurements.

When they called with the results, they scheduled an ultrasound for two weeks later-- hallelujah! Since my doc is only in on Mon & Tues, and two weeks would have fallen on a Thurs, we had to push it to the next Monday--so that's April 4th. Not as early as I'd hoped, but it's still a full week before my ob/gyn appointment.

So that's where we are...trying to wait patiently for April 4th. I'm staying really busy & it's helping keep my mind off of things. I have a baby shower for a friend's twin girls on Saturday & the baby shower I'm hosting is the next weekend. (I'll post some pics of projects soon.) Liam & work keep me busy enough that there's not a lot of idle time to wonder how things are going in there. I hope the little bean is growing perfectly!

Since I haven't had a period, I can't say for sure how far along I am until the ultrasound dates the pregnancy, but I believe I'm around 6 weeks now. I'm starting to feel tired & my stomach is staying pretty unhappy, but neither are as bad as they were when I was pregnant with Liam... Although, I may just not be far enough along yet to really feel it.

I'll keep you posted with any updates!

Thanks again, friends.