25 August 2013

The First 13 Weeks in Highlights

Weeks 1-2: I'm just going about my life, recovering from the biggest work week of my year. In case you didn't know already, doctors count the two weeks between your cycle and ovulation toward your pregnancy, even though you are not yet pregnant.

Week 3: The magic happens. Paranoia. Maternity pills!

Week 4: I want to eat all of the things all of the time. All of them. All of the time.

Week 5: Man, my boobs are really sore. Why does the entire world smell terrible? I need chicken wings RIGHT NOW! I guess this period will be a doozy. Heh heh...heh?

Week 6: I'm pregnant? I'm pregnant! Zzzzzzzzz

Week 7: Nausea. I can smell EVERYTHING, and it smells terrible! Onions are dead to me. And eggs, and cooking meat, and pretty much anything with more flavour than boiled chicken. I hate all food. My inner foodie rocks and cries in a dusty corner.

Week 8: My body says, "suck it up! You can hate all food if you like, but now you have to eat 8 times a day, including trips to the fridge at 3:30am. And you also need to pee every hour now, so get used to it, sucker."

Week 9: Grapes, blueberries, bananas, peanut butter and sliced apple toast, chicken nuggets, and repeat. All other food is on the hate list. Also, the time has come to build a pillow fort in my bed. Danny gets lonely, especially because his beard smells "weird" and "gross" to me and I don't want to kiss him.

Week 10: Okay, add Oreo blizzards, poutine, pulled pork sandwiches, and cereal to that "safe" food list. This pillow fort is AWESOME!

Week 11: Chicken nuggets. I want them. I want them so hard. Danny's beard is back in my good books...for now.

Week 12: Surprise! Shrimpy has a growth spurt. My pants suddenly don't do up even a little bit. My zippers all beg for mercy as I try anyway. We have a party at a friend's house (thanks, Bethany) to tell many of our near and dear about our exciting news via the magic of cookies. Then, a few days later...heartbeat!!! Let's tell everyone in the whole facebookverse RIGHT NOW. We feel like celebrities.

I ate most of these cookies within 3 days. The baby made me do it.
Week 13: My body says, "okay, I'll let you be kind of a normal human being again, but in return, you don't get to sleep anymore, even though you are exhausted all the time. HA! But I'm not unreasonable, so you get to eat eggs again. That's something, right? Right?" Attempted zzzzz.

And that brings me up to yesterday. Now I'm in my 14th week, which means I'll be 14 weeks along this coming Saturday. My little shrimp is now the size of a peach, according to the interwebs. The interwebs also tell me that I shouldn't be able to feel anything inside yet, but I swear I feel flutters almost every day, like the tiniest swimmer doing the backstroke around my little uterine swimming pool.

I also stole Danny's warm jogging pants today, but he doesn't know it yet. :)

23 August 2013

Who is Shrimpy?

We found out that we were pregnant when I was just about five weeks along. I immediately wanted to know everything that was going on, so while we were on vacation I bought a gigantic brick of a prego-book called "I'm Pregnant!" by Dr. Lesley Regan. When I got to the five week portion of the book, the page was dominated by a big picture of an embryo with a caption saying, "The embryo looks rather like an oddly shaped prawn, floating in a fluid-like bubble called the amniotic sac." I called out to Danny, "hey sweets, our baby looks like a shrimp!" And thus, our little baby-to-be's nickname was born. And "Shrimpy" has stuck, even though he or she has gotten much cuter since then!

18 August 2013

A Different Sort of Adventure

My husband, Danny, and I both studied Linguistics in university, the plan/dream being that we will one day be able to work with endangered languages abroad. There have been a lot of roadblocks in the way, so suffice to say that we foresee being in Canada a few years longer than anticipated. Maybe many more. It can be hard to see your goal way out there, off in the distance, while you toil away to reach it.

In June, we found out that I was pregnant. I had thought right away that I might have conceived, though I chalked it up to paranoia, since we were planning to start trying for a family in a year's time. Regardless, I started downing maternity pills within two days. Call it a Mama Spidey Sense or something. 

About three weeks later, after I started having some symptoms, I finally broke down and took a test before I left for work that day. Positive?! I looked from the test to my reflection in the mirror (as if she was going to tell me something different), then back at the test and back at the mirror. "Really?" Mirror Me just stood there, looking as stunned as I felt. "Whaaaat?"

So, still unconvinced, I ignored the test, wrapping it back up and stowing it under the sink. "It's almost expired," I thought, "so maybe it's a dud. I can't really be prego." I didn't tell Danny, who had already gone to work, because I didn't want to tell him that I might be pregnant over the phone. I asked him to pick up two tests on the way home that evening.

When I got home, my visiting sister-in-law and Danny kept urging me to use the tests, but I insisted on packing for our vacation the next day. Finally, not being able to put it off any longer, I marched off toward the washroom, armed with a full bladder and a healthy dose of skepticism. I emerged in a few minutes, the three tests fanned out in my hand, looking more than a bit freaked out. "I'm...uh, pregnant?!" Danny and I sat on the couch with stunned looks on our faces as my sister-in-law danced around the living room, jumping on the loveseat, screeching, crying, and laughing. "I'm gonna be an aunt! I'm gonna be a friggin' aunt!"

Really?

The shock has worn off, and we're really excited about what the next few years will hold. Our world adventures are still off in the distance, but for now, we are embarking on a different sort of adventure.