My HUGE News

2009-06-05, Friday:

Today we found out that I'm pregnant. 1 - 2 weeks. We're elated! So happy! Of course also a little apprehensive. This blog entry will go into drafts for quite a while. At least until I've been to the gynae to confirm that the baby is safe and snug and that there is a heartbeat. Right now all I have is a positive urine test and a blood test.

I was only a few days late. My cycle was supposed to start on Monday, it had never been this long since my last pregnancy and the curiosity was KILLING ME. On Thursday I went to buy two pregnancy tests (thinking, like last time, I would need more than one) and waited till Friday morning to take it. All night I dreamt of positive pregnancy tests. It was quite weird. Sure enough, the first one I took came out positive, rendering the second test useless:



I couldn't believe it! I asked a colleague to take me down to the hospital in the morning to have blood drawn to confirm this. Pathcare won't interpret the results for you, but after work Rudi and I went to collect the results. My BHCG (pregnancy hormone) level was 156 and flagged as 'High'. The key on the results sheet says if your number is between 50 and 5000 you are 1 - 2 weeks pregnant.

2009-06-07, Sunday:

Today the sickness began. I got sick while brushing my teeth. Have had an underlying feeling of nausea all day. Already so many things about this pregnancy feel more 'right' than they did last time. For one, Rudi and I found out together, instead of him knowing before I did. Not that he didn't try. He wanted to pick up the results at Pathcare on Friday, but I had to show my ID, so he had no chance. I've found out very early on, which means I can take good care of myself and avoid medication, alcohol, etc. I'm still in denial. I'm still in shock. I don't understand HOW we got pregnant. We were specifically careful because I was on so much medication last month including cortisone, antibiotics and schedule 5 sleeping tablets. We used condoms for goodness sake! Unless it happened while we were in George...

Tomorrow I'll make my gynae appointment. I'll try to schedule it for around 7 weeks from now so we can see the heartbeat when we go. I should be around 8 or 9 weeks then. It's so long to wait. So long to keep this HUGE secret.

I'm worried about telling Angel. It was one of the first thoughts that crossed my mind. She has been trying for such a long time and in my opinion really deserves to be knocked up also. I can only hope that she is knocked up before I release the news to the world. I really want to tell her already since I know in my heart she will be happy for us, even if it makes her heart sore...but it's so early on and anything can still happen. I don't want to upset her unnecessarily. I will call her before I publish anything about this on my blog. So by the time you read this, she will already know.

2009-06-08, Monday:

I felt a little sick this morning, but managed to keep everything down. Feeling fine throughout the day. I must say it feels a bit dishonest keeping this secret. I want to announce it to the world, despite what happened last time. I made my gynae appointment. It's for the 6th of July. 11:30 in the morning. I don't think we'll be able to see the heartbeat by then, but we'll be able to see the gestational sac at the very least and make sure everything is where it should be.

2009-06-09, Tuesday:

So I may have gone a little overboard shopping for the baby yesterday. I bought:
A Snookums bottle warmer: R309.00 (Game)
A Snookums microwave bottle sterilizer: R130.00 (Game)
Rubber duckies: R30.00 (Ackermanns Baby)

Not to mention the the 2 NUK dummies (size 1, R89.99 - Checkers)I bought the Monday after we returned from George. I also bought myself a Carriwell maternity bra(R130.00 - Ackermanns Baby) as my breasts are already getting sensitive.

It's so weird. Last time I didn't want to buy anything. Not even until I was 5 months. This time I'm shopping up a storm. I must have a good feeling about this :) Also, this is probably going to be a reeeaaalllyy long blog entry by the 6th of July.

2009-06-11, Thursday

So CUTE! When Rudi dropped me off for work this morning he said 'Take care of my baby' *heart melts* He took a very long time to get this way last time. Going for another blood test tomorrow.

2009-06-13, Saturday

So I went for my second blood test yesterday. The BHCG (pregnancy hormone) level in my blood has shot up from 156 to over 2000 in one week. This is a good sign, but throws off the gestational age. The first number indicates 1 - 2 weeks where the second one indicates 4 - 5 weeks. Guess we'll have to wait for my scan in July to confirm where I'm at...and whether there's only one baby in there!


2009-06-16, Tuesday

After doing some research on the Internet it seems like Pathcare's BHCG key is wrong. Looks like there is probably just one baby in there.

I feel so wonderful. I don't feel sick at all (which worries me because I seem to be eating for the A team). My biggest complaints could be getting up at night to pee and fatigue. Walk in the park compared to my pregnancy with James. Really. It makes me nervous...like it's too good to be true. How can I possibly feel so well and be pregnant? I suppose my previous experience has jaded me somewhat. I'm so excited and happy!

I called Angel and told her. She was happy for us, as I knew she would be. I'm so glad.

2009-06-17, Wednesday

I really don't mind getting up at night to pee (even at this early stage), but really. It's bloody freezing suddenly. Was shivering all the way to and from the loo during the night. Will have to put on warmer PJ's and socks tonight.

2009-06-19, Friday

I'm exhausted! It's my twelfth consecutive day of work and I NEED to rest! Had a lovely bout of morning sickness yesterday that made me very nervous, but it passed by lunchtime and I'm feeling fine today. I'm starting to feel my womb migrating north (well, upwards) and my jeans are already a little tight, even after I lost weight. I went out and bought myself a pair of nice light grey track pants which have PLENTY of tummy room for the future (but look a bit big for me now) and are nice enough to wear to work. Pants are going to be a real problem for me. Although there is a market for plus size maternity wear (because fat people get pregnant too, you know)...nobody seems to cater for it. Luckily I'm not in the top sizes of regular plus sized clothes, so I guess I'm going to have to buy the bigger sizes in future. Seems kind of a waste, especially since plus sized clothes are quite expensive.

2009-06-30, Tuesday

So I've been putting off posting here. There's not really anything to tell right now. It's frustrating that you never know how your pregnancy is going between gynae appointments. I'm looking forward to my gynae appointment (although tentatively). I don't think we'll be able to see much, probably not even a heartbeat. I estimate (and I could be wrong) that I'll be around 6 weeks when I see him. I think we'll most likely just establish whether or not the pregnancy is ectopic and discuss our options from there. I would assume that my gynae would want to keep a close eye on the baby's developments this time around, although that is just an assumption. I don't think I need to tell my gynae how to do his job. He usually does a check up once every six weeks in the beginning. It seems painfully long in between visits. We'll most likely talk about the big scan (that I didn't go for last time) on Monday. I'm a little superstitious about having my appointment on a Monday. He picked up the problems with James for the first time on a Monday. We went for the scan where we made our final decision on a Monday. I became kind of anti-Mondays during that whole period of my life, but it is a new beginning and a new pregnancy and a new baby. Things will be different this time. I hope.

2009-07-01, Wednesday

Yesterday after feeling very ill in the car on the way home (I actually think I suffer from all day sickness which is made worse by being a passenger. Motion sickness if you will) I had to dash to the bathroom as soon as we arrived home. I was completely fine when I left work, we stopped at the shop and in the short distance between the shop and home things took a turn for the worse. After that I was OK again though. That is more what I expected 'morning' sickness to be like. Sudden onset, barf and you're done.

I hope Rudi will be able to make it to the gynae appointment. He's been very non-committal due to operational requirements at work, but I hope he can make it. I really want to have him there.

*****Later*****

Still feeling nauseous today. I'm not going to complain, but it really isn't nice. Fuggit.

2009-07-04, Saturday

I had a wonderful dream last night. It was both good and bad, but it left me with a good feeling. I dreamt I had a baby girl. She was tiny, but so wonderful to hold and she had a lovely temperament. This gave me a wonderful feeling. The bad part of the dream was where I needed to change her and I seemed COMPLETELY unprepared and overwhelmed. I probably dressed and undressed her 5 times, stuffing up something in the process. I didn't have bum cream, I couldn't find a nappy to fit her small body...when I put powder on her I managed to get it in her eye, but she wasn't upset with me. She still cuddled me. She also had bruises on her bum, where I assumed in the dream that she had been injected while in hospital. After all the changing drama, My Evil Mother was also in the dream. She berated me for wanting to hold on to my baby and basically being inseparable from her. Trust My Evil Mother to do something like that.

All in all the dream left me elated and VERY impatient to meet my baby! (I probably still have around 8 months to wait though - they gynae will clarify on Monday)

2006-07-06, Monday

My gynae appointment was scheduled for 11:30 this morning, but due to unforseen circumstances the gynae called and rescheduled it to 16:15. I was already super impatient, but I was glad it was still today.

I must say I love my gynae. He is absolutely awesome. His first concern was to make sure my mind was at ease after everything that happened last time. He did a scan and determined that I was already 8 weeks and 4 days! It's much further along than we thought, but it's really nice. Much closer to 12 weeks when the risk of miscarriage is reduced. He brought up risk assessments and I told him that I would like to go for the risk assessments, although I am not up to another amniocentesis which was useless and very expensive last time. He understood my reluctance.

He was very positive and very encouraging. He said he is certain everything will be OK, but recommends that I go for the risk assessments if it would put my mind at ease and to re-inforce the positivity. He is very happy with everything so far. His receptionist will make an appointment for my nuchal scan in the next 4 and half weeks. I'll be going to the doctor that did the more advanced scans for James. I really like her and I'm very comfortable with her so I'm really glad that she'll be doing the nuchal scan.

He's pushed my next appointment with him as far as possible so that he could do another test which can only be done at that stage. Another thing I love about him, he's economical. He doesn't try and book you for a million appointments unnecessarily to make money off you. His business is very obviously booming. My next appointment with him is 24 August.

So there is my huge news! I'm so glad I can finally talk about it!

I will see if Jubba is in a good mood tomorrow. Maybe he'll scan in the pictures of our jelly bean for you to see :)