My Last Pregnancy: Month 1

Journaling from Month 1

Weeks 0-5

Taken Early June 2012

6.28.12

Wow... it's unbelievable to think that right now, I could perhaps be three weeks pregnant. Although I have been pregnant twice before, I can't help but want to remember every detail of pregnancy what will most definitely be the last time. Typing that and thinking that makes me sad but instead of ever feeling the need to have another one just because I want to remember what it felt like, I thought I would use this blog as a journal for the next forty weeks.

So as of now, if (and a big if), I am pregnant, I would be considered THREE weeks pregnant. (I never knew they counted the 2-3 weeks before you conceive to your last period start date as part of the forty weeks of a standard pregnancy!) See... I still continue to learn new things. (Which is one of my biggest goals this 3rd pregnancy. I want to treat it as if it's my first!)

So in typical Type A personality fashion, I couldn't wait to take a pregnancy test even when I knew, scientifically, it was absurd to waste a test so incredibly early... but I still couldn't help but be disappointed when that first one came back negative on 6/21.

 

After having another negative test just ten days in on 6/25, I held off until 6/28, I woke up at 6AM and used my very last test stick and after about five minutes, there was a very faint second pink line. For some reason it didn't surprise me or freak me out or really do anything to me, at that point. I went about my morning as normal and kept taking glances at it where it seemed like the line had gotten slightly darker. I was calm. At some point that morning, I nonchalantly told Blake, "I was hoping for a more definite red line so I could do something really unique to tell you we were pregnant this very last time, but I need your opinion about it before I go all out on that." (Which kinda defeated the purpose.) It was neat because it was Blake who got instantly excited, he even called me later today while he was in El Paso, to tell me he "can't stop thinking about the test." Although it did cross my mind a dozen times today, I don't want to get prematurely excited and instead have decided to hold off testing one last time 48 hours later on Saturday morning....

Am I or Aren't I???? Only time and God will tell....

  

6.29.12

So I was going to try to wait a whole 48 hours but after some additional strong pain in my lower right pelvic and upper leg that was shooting down my leg combined with a busy Friday, by 4PM, I was ready to find out for sure. For if I wasn't pregnant, I needed to take some Advil!

Blake went to CVS one last time to buy a pregnancy set and of course had a funny story when he couldn't find them and had to ask the young help. Since it was about .2 miles from our house, he didn't want to see anyone he knew. ;)

I pee'd on the stick one last time (well maybe one more tomorrow, just for fun, since I have two left  that I hopefully will never need.) And this time, even in the late afternoon, when they say your HCG levels are much lower than first thing in the morning, the second line appeared MUCH faster and this time was significantly darker! WOW... it was real! But again, I was calm but we were both excited.

Seeing Blake read the pregnancy test instructions, soaking up all the scientific tidbits, for the last time EVER, was cute. It was perfect that we were together for this incredible experience, this last time. I know he wasn't home when I took Addie's or Carter's test.

At that very moment, we both knew it was for real and we were calmly beyond excited. At that point, I talked about how I wanted this last pregnancy to be different.... very different in some ways. Even though I LOVED every single moment of both pregnancies and births with Carter and Addie, this time, my priorities and desires have changed.

What I want to be different this pregnancy/delivery:

1) We won't find out what we are having before hand.

2) Simple nursery - no extravagant walls or furniture, just light neutral warm gray
3) Only gain 30 pounds this pregnancy vs 60 pounds with the other two.
4) I will not be induced, I want to go into natural labor.
5) I want to feel a significant contraction or two before the epidural. (Since I never felt one with either of other two deliveries)

6) No extravagant showers, I want everything simple.

 Pictures taken 6.29.12...

 The kids had absolutely no idea what they were holding!

4 weeks:

6.30.12

Just a day after officially finding out we’re pregnant, I find it crazy how much I have to go to the bathroom. It can't be due to the size of the new person, at only a few cells big, he/she is only the size of a tip of a pen, therefore clearly not big enough to apply pressure to any part of my bladder that would make me have to already get up TWO times in the middle of the night?!?!?

I just looked it up and it seems that along with everything else in a woman's body, the culprit is hormones...

"Urinating more often is one of the very early signs of pregnancy. Many women experience more frequent urination even before a missed period, usually from about 7-12 days after the temperature rise at ovulation. The changes in hormone levels produced by implantation of the embryo, especially the hormone "human chorionic gonadotropin" (hCG), cause more frequent urination."

Blake is already having "sympathy middle of the the night" frequent peeing, with me. I swear, him getting up last night is why I woke up in the first place needing to pee!! ;) I love it!

4 weeks – 7.1.12

It's kinda like the biggest secret two people can have and for our own personal and professional reasons, of course, we talk about how long we can get away with it!??!

Of course, I told Megan and Mike just now, on the phone after this huge week of finding out while they were on a eight day cruise with no cell phone or email.

I also shared the potential good news with my other best friend in the world, Alli Casey. After spending the entire weekend with her last weekend, I had to tell her our news and since we were at the biggest time of the unknown eight days ago, she has been the person of course, besides Blake, to share all the daily updates with, this week. She is beyond excited and I am hoping this will put the baby bug in her! ;)

Blake and I talked briefly talking about how we will tell all our family and what we guess their reactions will be. We know Diane will be the most emotional and Cheryl is a 50/50 split on how she will react. We talked about our upcoming seven day vacation with The Lays and how we will be able to hide it, with me not drinking, that week. This weekend, July 4th we have several days with my whole family and then next week we have ALL week with all the Brown's! Operation keep this baby a secret is officially underway when we get in the car to head to the lake in 3 minutes!!! ;) Good thing I am feeling 100% great, except some sore boobs!