September 25, 2005: We make the big decision (which is actually recorded in my calendar) ... "You wanna have a baby?" "Um, sure, okay." "Let's do it. Let's have sex." "Heh. Sex!"
September 25, 2006: A year later, and we have made no progress ... "Um, are you sure we're doing this right ... we ain't got no baby." "We're doing it right, let's try a little bit longer."
May 2007: Now it's just getting ridiculous ... "Fine, I give up. I'll go see a doctor ... Um, the soonest I can get in is July." "I guess we can have more sex." "Great, more sex."
July 2, 2007: "Sorry, we have to cancel your appointment with the doctor today. How about August 9?" "Greeeaaatttt, more sex." Well, we can try one more time. I mean sex is fun, right?
July 21, 2007: We decide to re-do the small bedroom and create a yarn room since there is no baby in sight. We start the process of wall repair and painting and so on. We don't worry about perfection because fifteen years from now when we finally have a kid via some black market adoption, we will have to redo it again anyway. We adopt a motto of "Better than Before" and chant it during each step of our remodeling.
July 28, 2007: "My period never came today." "That's odd." "Maybe we're pregnant. HAHAHAHA." "Wake me up in the morning before you take the test."
July 29, 2007: It's early in the morning and I totally have to pee ... "You wanted me to wake you up when I had to pee." "M'kay. I'm up." "No period, I'm peeing on a stick." ... tinkle tinkle tinkle ... wait wait wait ... "Um, that's weird, I think it says we're pregnant." I crawl back in bed thinking the stick is messing with me, "You go look." Boo crawls out of bed and glances at the stick ... "Yah, I think you're right. It says you're pregnant. How bout that?" He pees (there is a lot of peeing going on that morning) and comes back to bed. "I'm tired." "Me too" and back to sleep we go. We are more skeptical than excited because come on, our one last chance before I go and get poked and prodded, whatever.
July 30, 2007: I'm still not a believer. "Another test, another positive." "Weird."
August 1, 2007: Still not convinced, I plunk down more of our hard earned money on outrageously expensive home pregnancy tests. "Another test, another positive." "Weird. Do you feel pregnant?" "Nope, I'm bloated like I'm going to get my period." "Huh."
August 4, 2007: We continue to work on the yarn room. We rip up carpet and beginning staining bookcases. We joke that this might all be futile because, haha, this could be a baby's room and maybe stain isn't the best thing in the world for a pregnant person to be inhaling but ha, come on, us and baby. Hardy har har.
August 6, 2007: "Another test, another positive." "Weird. Ya feel pregnant yet??" "Nope!"
August 7, 2007: It is the fifteen year anniversary of our first date. We celebrate with another test, and another positive. "This is so weird." "Maybe we really are knocked up?!?" Then we go to dinner and I have swordfish. I later learn that this is a high mercury fish and that I am an asshole for eating it.
August 9, 2007: We have our first doctor's appointment where the nurse cheerfully tells me that the stick turned pink and I am at the right appointment. We are given a bunch of information and we meet the doctor who looks eerily like my college president, Donna Shalala. "Congrats! Now I need a gallon of blood." We walk out laughing at the thought of Donna Shalala delivering our baby.
We look through the stuff they give us, including the food list and I start mourning the loss of sushi. Then I see that swordfish is bad and wonder how hard it is going to be to raise a child with an extra-ear growing out if its forehead.
August 13, 2007: I finish the yarn room and lurve it. It is, indeed, 'Better than Before.' It is also going to be a huge pain in the arse if we have actually have this kid and have to move it.
August 17, 2007: I'm almost seven weeks along and am sent for my first ultrasound. It seems that yes, there is a baby-to-be in there, though I think it looks like a bird. Or a bean, with a beak. There is only one, and it has a heart beat. I walk out of the office with a wonky, shit-eating grin because hey, I have a bean in my belly! I also wonder if the swordfish gave the bean a beak. I toughen my resolve to avoid sushi.
For the next few weeks I feel exactly the same as I always have. The pregnancy doesn't seem all that real. Sometimes I am a little sleepy, sometimes I am bloated, sometimes I am crampy. But for the most part I feel like me. I think, "This whole pregnancy thing is easy." I'm at a high risk for developing gestational diabetes so I get extra monitoring which is actually nice because I get reinforcement that the bean is still in there and growing.
September 17, 2007: I catch a cold. I realize that the pregnancy thing is not easy since I can't take any decent drugs. I am nasty and grumpy and Boo becomes scared that the next nine months of his life are going to be pure torture.
September 20, 2007: We fly to Florida for BeFri's wedding. I leave my doctor prescribed antibiotics in Connecticut. I am an asshole. Several calls later a new prescription is waiting for me in a twenty-four hour drugstore, in the Miami ghetto. I marvel at the possible irony of getting killed while picking up antibiotics. I survive the antibiotic pick up. Even though we are only twelve weeks, we bring one of the ultrasound pictures and decide to tell my uncle in person that we're having a baby. Even though we tell him and it is very exciting it still doesn't feel all that real. I also miss my mom and aunt and try not to dwell on the fact that they aren't around for the big news and to answer questions and tell me what their experiences were like.
September 24, 2007: We have the first trimester screening ultrasound. The bean is breech and uncooperative but they decide all looks well. Boo is surprised I can't feel all the hurkey jerky movements we see going on during the ultrasound.
October 6, 2007: We are fourteen weeks and out of the first trimester. It still feels unreal, but we go to Jersey to see Boo's family and tell them the news in person. Everyone assumes that we are pregnant and gossips that this is why we are visiting so we tell them we are moving to Ireland. The family is shocked about our move and we are smug. Heh, don't mess with us! We do finally tell them the truth.
Over the next few weeks we tell our friends. I am worried about jinxing things but Boo isn't and tells me to chill. I say I do, but I don't really. I still feel bloated and sometimes crampy. I have some sort of ligament pain which I am told is normal. I'm not stressed over the discomfort because it seems like it is just part of the pregnancy ride. Even acknowledging this whole pregnancy thing doesn't make it any more real. I wonder, shouldn't I feel pregnant?
November 1, 2007: We are eighteen weeks and have our level two screening. We are hoping to learn the baby's gender. Ha! The baby is uncooperative and we don't get gender, or good measurements. We have to go back in a few weeks. Boo, still surprised I can't feel any baby movements when they are so obvious on the ultrasound, thinks maybe I am an alien.
November 7, 2007: My favorite work pants are tight when I sit down. I don't look any different and I haven't gained any weight (but the doctors say this is normal and okay considering I could stand to lose a few anyway) but something must have shifted because the pants don't work when I am sitting.
Around week twenty, I have still not felt the baby move. I conclude that there is no baby. It is all a ploy. Boo thinks I am insane. I conceded that maybe there is a baby and I just can't feel it do to residual numbness from my gall bladder removal surgery or because I have belly flub. Though I don't feel the baby, I have developed a shooting pain in my left hip and butt cheek. My first real pregnancy "symptom" is sciatica. I am not stressed over this new discomfort because, again, it seems like it is just part of the pregnancy thing. I do wonder if, however, my mom or aunt ever had similar pain. I try not to dwell on it. We start getting gifts from friends which is awesome but also weird because hey, are we really having a baby?
November 22, 2007: I am sitting at my vanity getting ready for a trip to Jersey for Thanksgiving dinner and I feel the baby move for the first time. I interrupt Boo's shower to tell him this. We both are psyched. Kind of a cool way to ring in Thanksgiving.
November 28, 2007: Crazy tells me I am developing a gut. Boo who sees me naked on a daily basis disagrees.
November 29, 2007: We have our re-do of the level two screening and are still hoping to learn the baby's gender. Ha! The baby is, yet again, uncooperative and is breech. The ultrasound doctor, overwhelmed by the scent of our desperation, takes pity on us and really works hard. He determines that the bean is a girl bean. She's got "three lines." We giggle. Three lines. Now we must decide on a girl name. We decide we'll each submit a list of ten names come February. Three lines, hehe!
For the next month or so I still feel exactly the same. My sciatic pain has gone away and while I do feel the baby move, I often think it is phantom gall bladder pain, or gas. Every now and then she gets caught on my internal organs and reminds me that, "Yo, woman, I am a baby, NOT a gall bladder." She also likes to do a little River Dance on my cervix. I puke for the first time in the beginning of December, mostly because I messed up the prenatal vitamin taking schedule. Overall though, the pregnancy still doesn't feel real. I think I should feel more different. I feel fine and not-so-preggers. I have gotten stretch marks which is weird since I figured my body had stretched all it could since I have been heavier that I am now. My clothes, with the exception of my favorite work pants, still fit and I can't really tell a difference in how I look. Even my boobs are the same, much to my chagrin. I've had to start testing my sugar every other day and it is typically fine. I learn, however, that Panera Bread and Five Guys Burgers will raise my sugar, no matter what I eat. I still mourn sushi.
January 2, 2008: I wear my jeans and they fit fine. The pregnancy doesn't feel real.
January 3, 2008: I bend over to tie my shoe and vomit. I vow not to mess with the prenatal vitamin schedule ever again.
January 5, 2008: My jeans don't fit. Well, not if I want to sit down and breathe, at the same time. This makes no sense since they fit three days ago. I am confused but figure that I'm at twenty-seven weeks and pretty lucky that I haven't had to buy new clothes yet. I order maternity jeans which are ridiculous and so I return them. I then go through my wardrobe looking for all of my stretchy type pants and pants that were previously too big. I decide I have enough pants for now and so I don't bother looking for new ones to buy.
January 7, 2008: I am just over twenty-seven weeks pregnant and it is the first time a random person has noticed I am pregnant. I guess I am starting to show. Maybe my jeans were telling the truth. My boobs? Not bigger, still the same. Such underachievers.
January 8, 2008: My extra monitoring really kicks in and I have to schedule NSTs and ultrasounds for the next few months. I also start scheduling classes. I figure some of this will make the pregnancy thing feel real. It doesn't.
January 12, 2008: We start the registry process. I am sure this is a jinx and a bad idea but all of the books say we need to get on the ball. The registry process makes me cranky because not only do I fear the jinx, I don't know what any of the shit is and what we'll need. I mean come on, special towels for the baby? She is human right? What is wrong with my towels? We also look at a crib and dresser. We can't decide on anything so we put it off for a week knowing that it could take "up to ten weeks for delivery" and we have eleven weeks until Lady Bean's arrival. We feel no stress since Brian, the sales guy we spoke to, assures us that it usually only takes two weeks for furniture delivery.
January 22, 2008: We make a decision on the dresser and crib. Boo orders the dresser and is told that it will be in by April 5 - our due date. They assure him that it will probably be ready in about two to four weeks but they have to say ten weeks to cover themselves. The crib, however, is in stock so Boo brings it home. We look at the box and then prop it up against the wall. No need to rush to put it together, we have ten plus weeks.
January 23, 2008: We have an ultrasound and learn that Lady Bean is big. Birthable, but big. This is Boo's fault since he was a big baby. Even knowing he was gig, I am somewhat surprised since I haven't gained any weight. Is she sucking the fat out of my ass? Am I making a baby out of butt fat?
January 29, 2008: It is my last girls weekend for a while and I have my first surprise shower. We now have baby stuff. Cool! Um, what do we do with it?
February 7, 2008: We have our first class. On breast-feeding. Nothing like jumping into the deep end. There are some odd ducks in the class with us. I'm impressed that a thousand year old woman can whip out her boob for a doll and not show a thing. I am angry that my peers can't do the same thing. I'm also bummed because I can't have sushi while I'm nursing. I'm just paranoid enough that I will follow the rules ... if only I hadn't had that damn swordfish!
February 9, 2008: We tour the Labor & Delivery area, as well as the Maternity area of the hospital with a group of morons. We realize that we might not know much, but we know more than the people surrounding us. We hope that none of these people end up giving birth when we do. Boo decides that I have somehow signed us into the reject group and is worried about the rest of our classes.
February 11, 2008: I have my first NST. It is easy peasy and I realize I am going to have plenty o' time to knit. We also have an infant care class. We still seem to be attracting the fruit loop contingent as classmates. Nonetheless, we pay attention and manage to put a diaper on a doll. We are so ready for this. If only it felt real!
February 16, 2008: We, and several of the fruit loop rejects, take a childbirth prep class. We watch a video of five births. Boo and I decide that the baby shall not be leaving my womb after all. We are both cool with this. She shall stay in utero until she is eighteen, at which point I will molt my skin like a snake and become and eighteen year old girl. I am told this is not possible. I think someone is lying.
February 18, 2008: We have an ultrasound and learn that Jumbolia is ... still largeish. We meet with the doctor and there is discussion of inducing me at thirty-nine or forty weeks. Nothing is set in stone but it does not seem like we will have to be induced at thirty-seven weeks so we are relieved. We still have no done anything about picking a name. People are getting peevish about this but it doesn't spurn us on.
February 23, 2008: We head to Jersey for a family shower. It still seems surreal because I don't feel pregnant. The shower is either close family or family I have met only once, at my father-in-law's funeral. I am worried this is like a big ole gift grab and tacky. No one else thinks this way though and I have a good time. I learn that one aunt-in-law is a Labor & Delivery nurse and offers any help or advice we might need. We ask her to live in our basement. She lives over three hundred miles away and doesn't want that kind of commute for to work. As if three hundred miles is all that far. Whatever. We also learn that you can throw away baby clothes if there is a blowout in public. We never ha thought of this. We think it's brilliant.
February 27, 2008: We begin the removal of the yarn from the yarn room. My awesome plan is not awesome. It sucks. Boo is doing ninety-nine point nine percent of the work, so I don't want to complain too much. But oy! What a pain in the ass.
March 1, 2008: I have my friend shower and it is fun! I wear the one shirt that makes me look preggers and everyone is impressed with the belly. I laugh knowing it is only the shirt. I bring home a lot of baby stuff and realize we have no where to put it. Huh, where is that furniture we ordered? Surely it has been two to four weeks.
March 3, 2008: We call the furniture store to track the dresser. We learn that there is no way to track the dresser and that it will arrive on or before April 5, 2008. Gee, great. As I have no nesting urges, I figure this is not a big deal. The stuff can stay in piles in the family room. Since my sleeping has started to suck, I wonder if being tired is why I have no nesting urge.
March 10, 2008: I have my first pregnancy pelvic exam and all is closed and normal. I am like a lock box. There is more discussion concerning delivery options and of inducing me at thirty-nine or forty weeks. Still nothing is set in stone but it looks like I will be having a baby by forty weeks. Still no nesting urge and still no dresser. I do manage to organize the piles of clothes by size. I learn that there is no rhyme or reason to the sizing.
March 15, 2007: The dresser finally arrives and Boo and a friend get it in the room. Holy crap the room is small. Boo is excited and wants to put the stuff away. I want to take a nap and maybe eat a donut.
March 17, 2008: We have another ultrasound and learn that Lady Bean is still large, but not too largeish. Assuming the calculations are right, which they may not be because this ultrasound is not so reliable. In fact, this is the least reliable ultrasound we are going to have. The doctor determines that Lady Bean is large enough that they will want her out at forty weeks so if I do not go into labor on my own, we'll be induced. I am officially full term so I might go into labor on my own, but since I haven't even had a practice Braxton Hicks contraction, I think this is unlikely. I mentally prepare for an induction. I continue to work out with my trainer who strikes a deal with Lady Bean that if she stays put while I am working out, PT will give her a gift later on. I still have no nesting urge and Boo takes the reins and does Lady Bean's laundry. Feeling guilty, I finally fold one load and realize I have no clue on how to fold something so small. I swear my granny panties are bigger than her clothes. Boo doesn't really know how fold it either, and I giggle at his months and months of Gap employment failing him miserably. We wing it.
For about a week I have wicked heartburn, pain in my right hip and butt cheek, and my sleeping sucks. I deduce that I finally feel pregnant but still don't feel like the whole 'having a child thing' is real. I am cool with feeling craptastic because so far the pregnancy has been smooth and there looks to be a real live human coming out at the end. I am also cool with more new stretch marks since I can play head games with myself and tell myself that I must have been thinner than I thought I was. It is crazy talk, but it works for me.
Marsh 24, 2008: I go in for my weekly exam. I am dilated 3cms. UM, WHAT? I have dilated through the early part of labor and didn't know. I have had no contractions. Not a Braxton Hicks, not a nothing. I am somewhat shell shocked. The doctor thinks I could go into labor on my own, but if I don't, come next Monday we will schedule an induction. For the second time during this pregnancy, I walk out of the hospital with a wonky grin on my face. I call Boo as I exit and respond to his, "Hey Babe!" with, "My cervix is dilated 3cms." He is now shell shocked too. I am nothing if not willing to spread the love. I am scared to walk around. What if this baby falls out of my gaping cervix? We wonder whether this will kick into gear my as of yet non-existing nesting urge. I sort of feel like this pregnancy might be real after all. I immediately go home and read some of the books we have. I learn heartburn and back pain usually accompany contractions in early labor. Well, I had two out of three. Go figure. I wonder if my yarn fatality that morning caused my gaping cervix. I vow to be more careful with my yarn. Boo comes home and we decide we should pack a hospital bag and think of a name. I offer up Justice Mariano. I note Justice is a tribute to my legal career and Mariano is a tribute to Boo's beloved Yankees. The name is voted a total dud. We decide to table the name discussion a little bit longer. We also don't pack a hospital bag. I go to bed with my gaping cervix and sleep better than I have in a week.
March 25, 2008: The shell shock of having a gaping cervix has worn off (though the joy of saying gaping cervix has not). I no longer feel the need to pack a bag or think of a name. The pregnancy has returned into that surreal realm and I go about my day like normal. I work out with my trainer. She reminds Lady Bean of their agreement wherein Lady Bean does not fall out at the gym.
March 26, 2008: Boo is entering crunch time for a huge project at work. A project that will effect seventy-billion-gazillion viewers, or some shit. I worry our baby is going to fall out at an inopportune time. I decide I shall put myself on my own version of bed rest which involves a lot of time on the couch. This does not suck. I start to ponder what type of jewelry I should wear during delivery. Do I go with my locket that has a picture of my mom and my dad, the same locket that I wore to pass two bar exams? Or, do I go with my mom's diamond flower necklace that I wore during our wedding. I realize that normal people would be practicing breathing or planning the items for their hospital bags. I am a freak.
March 28, 2008: I visit my clients in jail for the last time. In the car, while I am on the way, I tell Lady Bean that this will be the thirty-ninth and final time that she ever visits a prison AND I'M NOT MESSING AROUND YOUNG LADY, I MEAN IT! I'm not sure that she understands, but I have hope. I "pop my cork" so to speak. Scientifically it is kind of interesting but in reality it is odd. I still haven't had contractions, and though I am relieved that I am not contracting while Boo is working, I wonder if my uterus is broken. I go to our safe deposit box to get peruse my jewelry and end up sobbing over an old watch. I realize my hormones are really flying.
March 30, 2008: Boo's project is successfully launched. We have met the goal of not letting Lady Bean fall out while he was working. We celebrate by running errands to finish getting what we need for her arrival. We get nothing of importance and instead spend money on things like room decor. I still have no nesting urge and Boo is mentally fried so we go to dinner and plan to do the real stuff later.
March 31, 2008: The doctor determines everything was pretty much the same (I am thinking this could be because I spent my entire weekend reclining on the couch like a lady of leisure fearful of going into labor while Boo was working). In any event, if nothing happens on its own, I/we will be induced on Thursday, 04/03/08, at 5:30 a.m. Personally I think it is cruel to do anything at 5:30 a.m. other than sleep. I very circuitously, and with a whole lot of verbiage doing my legal education proud, asked the doctor, on average, understanding that there is no exact science to know how long these things take, but maybe he could make a guesstimate on how long it could take based on his years of practice and general experience on all things baby delivery related, factoring in me and whatever my medical files tells him, and considering same if he could make such a guesstimate when he thought we'd have a baby ... he says 6:20 p.m. I suspect he is laughing at me on the inside. I tell all this to Boo and explain that we will have a brand new baby at 6:21 p.m. on 4/3/8. Boo says, he would prefer 4/4/8 and that I should hold her in. He is the first, but not the last to tell me this. I hypothesize that I could name the baby Jamiroquai and get less shit than I am for not demanding the 4th. By the end of the day I am in a maudlin mood. I figure it is hormones.
April 1, 2008: I am in a better mood and survive my last full day at work. Crazy hasn't been talking to me so that makes things easier. I work out at the gym and feel really good. I think the exercise may have positive effects on my hormones. I hate exercise so this is a first for me. Once Boo gets home, we do some work on the house and I note that all of Lady Bean's decorations are bird themed. I worry she is going to have issues.
April 2, 2008: I am working my last three and a half hours with a grin on my face. Crazy, resumes talking to me having been silent for a week, and tells me she is going to pick on me and make fun of me and kick at me since I am leaving. I'd be confused except that her insanity doesn't faze me ... I only have to deal with it for three and a half more hours. Sweet! I get Dogbert and her bag and take her to daycare/boarding. I
As I pack the hospital bag, I intentionally try not to think about my mom and aunt or the fact that Boo and I are basically on our own. My family is almost non-existent and twelve hundred miles away. His, though larger, is also far. Neither one can ride to the rescue if we need a break or want to have dinner out. I have no doubt that we can do this, and do it well, all by ourselves. Nonetheless, I try to ignore the fact that we have to and swallow any bitterness that I have about it. We have our final dinner together, just us, and then Boo goes to get a new camcorder. We will NOT be recording the birth, but since it has been given to us as a gift, we figure we should get it.
April 3, 2008: I wake up at 3:45 a.m. and am tired. I'm not nervous, but this is probably because I am so tired that my brain can't function. Why the fuck does this have to start so early? I am a little put out because I haven;t had a chance to prrof read my ramblingbbgs but I figure guck it, I'm going to have a baby, I deserve some leeway.
Overall this pregnancy thing has been pretty easy and I am lucky. Getting pregnant, not so easy, but once we got there, I can't complain. Physically, it has not been difficult. The hardest part for me, emotionally for sure, has been re-mourning the loss of my mom, dad, and aunt. Sometimes that hurt is so fresh it surprised me. In any event, the overall experience has been pretty damn cool, and gloriously uneventful.
Even now, heading off to go birth this baby, it still seems somewhat vague or unreal. The best example I can come up with is a long planned vacation ... We've never been to Italy but we hear it's great and we are excited at the idea of going. For two years we talked about going but we couldn't afford it, couldn't make it work. And then, nine months ago, we won the lottery. We had the cash, we could finally take our trip. We booked airline tickets, reserved hotel rooms, and planned day trips for some great location in Italy. So for the last nine months we have talked about our trip and played the what-if game; we've discussed dining options, entertainment ideas, the weather and what to wear. We've taken classes on Italian and boned up on cultural stuff, but still there is no sense of reality. It is kind of one-step removed. All the prep work was just prep work. Even now, stepping on the airplane, I can't quite wrap my brain around this huge journey we are about to embark on. Intellectually I know that we're going to another country and it is going to be like nothing we have known before. But the reality is not real. I suspect that once we land in Italy, things will click. In the meantime, I am hoping the flight is smooth and terrorist free!
3 comments:
I hope everything went well for you today, congratulations!
Aw, you made me sniffle this morning. (Ha, as if I wasn't already sniffling being stuck here alone with Crazy.)
I know I'm not your real family, but I'd like to think I'm an honorary auntie. As much as I teased you about losing babysitting time until she's 18, whenever you guys need a break, want to go to dinner, whatever, I'm only a phone call away.
Been thinking about you today, and hoping things are going well! :)
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