So I've decided that even though we're keeping this a secret for a few more weeks, I wanted to go ahead and start a blog. It's not like anyone will follow it, even after I send out the link!! I wanted to make sure I documented the journey to share with friends, family and maybe way down the road - the baby!!
I guess I'll start from Thursday, April 22 when we found out. I had a beach trip planned with a girlfriend (Kate), her fiance and her brother. We were headed to Orange Beach for Mullet Toss (the fish, not the hairstyle... I know, I was disappointed a few years ago when I figured that out, too) for the weekend. I knew that there would be some serious boozing going on. I had been on a pretty strict lock down with CrossFit and Paleo (those of you who know me know what these things are...for those who don't - CF is an exercise regimen that focuses on functional movement at high intensity and I've been doing it for over a year and a half and am actually a coach...Paleo is a way of eating -- I hate the word diet -- that promotes lean meats, veggies, some fruit, nuts, seeds and oils from nuts and seeds) so I knew that I had to pick my battles wisely. By battles I meant cocktail consumption. I planned to stick to the food part of the diet, enjoy some beers on the beach and try to lock it up at night. I hadn't had more than a glass or two of wine a week for a month so I knew I was in for a long weekend.
I knew I should have probably welcomed my monthly visitor that Monday and it was Thursday. I've never been particularly on time in any aspect of lie and this was no exception. I decided to take a test just to ease my conscious. I had done this once before and knew to expect that negative line, the one that goes the opposite direction of the control line, to light up within 15 seconds as opposed to the 2 minutes they suggest you wait. As I'm imagining my first cold beer on the beach while talking to Kate about her upcoming wedding and people watching in Lower Alabama, I saw the wrong line pop up. I decided clearly I didn't remember this correctly. Till his friend the other line popped up. At that moment I remembered that there could only be false positives, not false negatives...or maybe it was the other way around? Well, I had another test so I shrugged it off, grabbed the third and last test in the box, took my mind back to the white sands of Orange Beach and Kate's impeccable hula hooping skills and started on the second test (I'll spare you the details). The positive sign came back up. I was immediately kicked out of my imaginary beach and back into the reality of the half finished half bath in our half put together house. It occurred to me at that exact moment that we had lived in the house for right at 6 months and while we had done a LOT to it and had just the week prior gotten some furniture and new lighting, we had a long way to go and there was crap everywhere. If you know me, you know the wave of panic I felt. And of course, I thought I had gone completely crazy and that I was about to freak FJ out for no reason. I was already embarrassed for the inevitable doctor's appointment where they told me I had made the whole thing up and there was a rare spice that turns tests positive that I had used on a pork tenderloin or something. Our child is going to have a great imagination, by the way.
I called FJ. He didn't answer. I had actually had customer appointments all day that Thursday and to make matters worse, it had been a very stressful week at work so I was so tired and exhausted that I had almost fallen asleep during both of the afternoon meetings! I never do that, I'm actually really interested in the technical aspects of my job and try to learn from the meetings. Plus it's not a very effective sales tactic to fall asleep during a meeting. I called FJ again. No answer. I cussed at the phone and called FJ again. I thought that would obviously make him answer. A few seconds later and 5 missed calls, 1 new number. Stalker Wife! So I put on my brave face, got out my wallet and got out my trusty Kaiser card. I swapped insurance January 1 from UHC to Kaiser. I thought right then that maybe things like THIS were the reason I should have declared a primary care physician by now or scheduled my annual girly doctor visit that was due in January. I made a mental note that my ignoring my previous mental note to do those things was a bad decision.
The folks at Kaiser were great which was a total surprise since the health care industry in general scares me and has not always been hospitable. I told them what was going on in pretty plain terms and that I knew I needed to see someone at the Alpharetta campus of Northside Hospital. The put me in touch with the right folks and I began to make the appointment. The first nurse I spoke to asked me the usual questions (I had no idea what those were until I was asked them about 14 times...then I determined they were routine)... first day of last period. March 1. I knew that one. But I told her I wasn't a 28 day girl. I'll spare you the specifics, but I knew the timing was off. So she told me they would see me. I was waiting for her to say "It's 4:15, can you make it in by 4:30 so we can confirm you are crazy?" when she suggested May 17. She nearly got punched through the phone. I explained to her that I needed to confirm what was going on because I could very well be wrong. She transferred me. The next woman was a bit more my speed....she took things down a level and told me they don't see you till week 8. I asked her about confirmation and she asked if I peed on a stick. I said yep. She asked if I got a plus sign. I said yep. She said "congratulations, you're pregnant!" I laughed and said, no, I needed real confirmation. She then straightened out my previous confusion by letting me know that there are not false positives, only false negatives. Remember that one ladies (Suz and Kate - you know what to do here).
So I talked her into letting me come the following week and ignoring my long cycle info and she let me ask her a few questions. During all of this time, FJ had called me back, I spit out the news and both of us were absolutely dumbfounded. I was worried about how FJ would react, but he was really excited and surprised and that made me feel TONS better. I still wasn't sure how I felt... I still wasn't convinced I was pregnant so I didn't want to feel anything just yet at the risk of seriously disappointing myself.
I immediately went to CVS and spent another $30 on digital read out tests of various brands. I got home, took one more and it pretty much screamed "stop peeing on $20 bills, you are PREGNANT!" That was that. Now I had to dispose of all of the evidence because Kate, Reid and Will would be there in just a few hours.
FJ and I decided that I would still go to the beach. I am fully capable of having fun without drinking and it wasn't dangerous to me or "my situation". Come on, it wasn't planned and it had been 2 hours...neither of us knew quite yet how to talk about it! We went for a celebratory dinner and just talked about everything. It made me feel a lot better and I was letting myself get a little excited!
The beach weekend was a bust, but it provided me some cover! It rained the whole weekend which allowed me to excuse myself from my much talked about sunshine beer. Kate knew about the paleo and CF challenge and was really supportive, so no questions were asked. I even went out the first night (open air bar, no risk) and drank a few Sprite and waters. I'm not sure if anyone noticed that there was 0 alcohol consumption, but nobody called me out. It was great because I got to spend some time with Kate and Reid and ask all about the wedding and the honeymoon. It was actually really relaxing to hang out with them and I had a really great weekend!
So I'll fast forward through the next several days.... we all know I'm an information seeker. I like to be in the know. I went to the internet to try to figure out what was next. It occurred to me that while one of my best friends, Allison has been pregnant twice and I saw her almost daily through both (we work together and have for 6+ years), I never knew until she was 12 weeks so I had no clue what those first couple of months were like. Not only did I not know what to expect, I had NO clue how far along I really was! This frustrated me to no end and I had to wait until Friday, April 30 to figure it out!
I guess I'll start from Thursday, April 22 when we found out. I had a beach trip planned with a girlfriend (Kate), her fiance and her brother. We were headed to Orange Beach for Mullet Toss (the fish, not the hairstyle... I know, I was disappointed a few years ago when I figured that out, too) for the weekend. I knew that there would be some serious boozing going on. I had been on a pretty strict lock down with CrossFit and Paleo (those of you who know me know what these things are...for those who don't - CF is an exercise regimen that focuses on functional movement at high intensity and I've been doing it for over a year and a half and am actually a coach...Paleo is a way of eating -- I hate the word diet -- that promotes lean meats, veggies, some fruit, nuts, seeds and oils from nuts and seeds) so I knew that I had to pick my battles wisely. By battles I meant cocktail consumption. I planned to stick to the food part of the diet, enjoy some beers on the beach and try to lock it up at night. I hadn't had more than a glass or two of wine a week for a month so I knew I was in for a long weekend.
I knew I should have probably welcomed my monthly visitor that Monday and it was Thursday. I've never been particularly on time in any aspect of lie and this was no exception. I decided to take a test just to ease my conscious. I had done this once before and knew to expect that negative line, the one that goes the opposite direction of the control line, to light up within 15 seconds as opposed to the 2 minutes they suggest you wait. As I'm imagining my first cold beer on the beach while talking to Kate about her upcoming wedding and people watching in Lower Alabama, I saw the wrong line pop up. I decided clearly I didn't remember this correctly. Till his friend the other line popped up. At that moment I remembered that there could only be false positives, not false negatives...or maybe it was the other way around? Well, I had another test so I shrugged it off, grabbed the third and last test in the box, took my mind back to the white sands of Orange Beach and Kate's impeccable hula hooping skills and started on the second test (I'll spare you the details). The positive sign came back up. I was immediately kicked out of my imaginary beach and back into the reality of the half finished half bath in our half put together house. It occurred to me at that exact moment that we had lived in the house for right at 6 months and while we had done a LOT to it and had just the week prior gotten some furniture and new lighting, we had a long way to go and there was crap everywhere. If you know me, you know the wave of panic I felt. And of course, I thought I had gone completely crazy and that I was about to freak FJ out for no reason. I was already embarrassed for the inevitable doctor's appointment where they told me I had made the whole thing up and there was a rare spice that turns tests positive that I had used on a pork tenderloin or something. Our child is going to have a great imagination, by the way.
I called FJ. He didn't answer. I had actually had customer appointments all day that Thursday and to make matters worse, it had been a very stressful week at work so I was so tired and exhausted that I had almost fallen asleep during both of the afternoon meetings! I never do that, I'm actually really interested in the technical aspects of my job and try to learn from the meetings. Plus it's not a very effective sales tactic to fall asleep during a meeting. I called FJ again. No answer. I cussed at the phone and called FJ again. I thought that would obviously make him answer. A few seconds later and 5 missed calls, 1 new number. Stalker Wife! So I put on my brave face, got out my wallet and got out my trusty Kaiser card. I swapped insurance January 1 from UHC to Kaiser. I thought right then that maybe things like THIS were the reason I should have declared a primary care physician by now or scheduled my annual girly doctor visit that was due in January. I made a mental note that my ignoring my previous mental note to do those things was a bad decision.
The folks at Kaiser were great which was a total surprise since the health care industry in general scares me and has not always been hospitable. I told them what was going on in pretty plain terms and that I knew I needed to see someone at the Alpharetta campus of Northside Hospital. The put me in touch with the right folks and I began to make the appointment. The first nurse I spoke to asked me the usual questions (I had no idea what those were until I was asked them about 14 times...then I determined they were routine)... first day of last period. March 1. I knew that one. But I told her I wasn't a 28 day girl. I'll spare you the specifics, but I knew the timing was off. So she told me they would see me. I was waiting for her to say "It's 4:15, can you make it in by 4:30 so we can confirm you are crazy?" when she suggested May 17. She nearly got punched through the phone. I explained to her that I needed to confirm what was going on because I could very well be wrong. She transferred me. The next woman was a bit more my speed....she took things down a level and told me they don't see you till week 8. I asked her about confirmation and she asked if I peed on a stick. I said yep. She asked if I got a plus sign. I said yep. She said "congratulations, you're pregnant!" I laughed and said, no, I needed real confirmation. She then straightened out my previous confusion by letting me know that there are not false positives, only false negatives. Remember that one ladies (Suz and Kate - you know what to do here).
So I talked her into letting me come the following week and ignoring my long cycle info and she let me ask her a few questions. During all of this time, FJ had called me back, I spit out the news and both of us were absolutely dumbfounded. I was worried about how FJ would react, but he was really excited and surprised and that made me feel TONS better. I still wasn't sure how I felt... I still wasn't convinced I was pregnant so I didn't want to feel anything just yet at the risk of seriously disappointing myself.
I immediately went to CVS and spent another $30 on digital read out tests of various brands. I got home, took one more and it pretty much screamed "stop peeing on $20 bills, you are PREGNANT!" That was that. Now I had to dispose of all of the evidence because Kate, Reid and Will would be there in just a few hours.
FJ and I decided that I would still go to the beach. I am fully capable of having fun without drinking and it wasn't dangerous to me or "my situation". Come on, it wasn't planned and it had been 2 hours...neither of us knew quite yet how to talk about it! We went for a celebratory dinner and just talked about everything. It made me feel a lot better and I was letting myself get a little excited!
The beach weekend was a bust, but it provided me some cover! It rained the whole weekend which allowed me to excuse myself from my much talked about sunshine beer. Kate knew about the paleo and CF challenge and was really supportive, so no questions were asked. I even went out the first night (open air bar, no risk) and drank a few Sprite and waters. I'm not sure if anyone noticed that there was 0 alcohol consumption, but nobody called me out. It was great because I got to spend some time with Kate and Reid and ask all about the wedding and the honeymoon. It was actually really relaxing to hang out with them and I had a really great weekend!
So I'll fast forward through the next several days.... we all know I'm an information seeker. I like to be in the know. I went to the internet to try to figure out what was next. It occurred to me that while one of my best friends, Allison has been pregnant twice and I saw her almost daily through both (we work together and have for 6+ years), I never knew until she was 12 weeks so I had no clue what those first couple of months were like. Not only did I not know what to expect, I had NO clue how far along I really was! This frustrated me to no end and I had to wait until Friday, April 30 to figure it out!
Friday came pretty quickly and our appointment was first thing in the morning. Of course FJ was going with me and he was really excited, too. I had experienced a little nausea and had been extremely tired. I also had some wonderful trophies on my face in the way of 13 year old girl acne. So all in all, it hadn't been that bad yet. I have to admit that I was terrified that I was going to go into the doctor's office and they were going to start the exam and let me know that I wasn't pregnant and had really dreamed the whole thing up and used a batch of bad tests (or 3).
But to my surprise and delight, the appointment went even better than expected!! We found out that we were 6 weeks along rather than the typical 8 weeks of the first visit (he he he, kinda figured that one out already!). I'll skip over some of the gory details, but we got our first sonogram and were able to see the "BABY!!!" as Dr. Harwood labeled it on our sonogram picture. It's tiny! As an added bonus, we actually were able to hear the heartbeat!!!! It was 123 beats per minute which is apparently a very healthy range, so that was really exciting and definitely confirmed that I'm not crazy! At least not when it comes to this situation.
So we were flooded with info, do's, don't's and also asked our fair share of questions. Now we pretty much wait as I get to experience all these less than pleasant changes in my body and the side effects that come with pregnancy. We have another appointment set for the end of May and we'll be 10 weeks around that time. Hearing the heartbeat took out a huge factor of risk for us and we are feeling a lot more confident about planning for our future and our family!
Here are a few questions that I'm sure folks have and some answers to these questions...
Q. Are we going to find out if it's a boy or girl?
A: Have you met me? I don't do well with surprises and can't stand suspense!! Of course we are going to find out!
Q. When do we find out?
A. Somewhere around week 20/Month 5, so we have a ways to go.
Q. Do we think we know what it is?
A. FJ is convinced that it's a girl. I have no clue, but we've both started using "she" because "it" is a little cold. I still throw in the "or he" here and there.
Q. How's it going?
A. So far so good. Sickness is not limited to the morning and I've had to reintroduce a lot of complex carbs into my diet. My tummy is happy with the starch, but my body is not reacting well to the change. I've not been able to plan ahead for meals and grocery shopping becuase not enough things sound good to me at any given time to plan. I'm not having cravings, I'm just having negative reactions to certain things.
Q. Are we still going to keep working out and trying to eat healhty?
A. Right now, I'm eating whatever I can stomach, so unfortunately my paleo lifestyle has taken a back seat. From what I hear and read, my tummy should be back to normal (well besides being visibly larger) in 1-2 months, so hopefully I can get back to my routine. As for exercise, I'm exhausted right now, but am trying to stay active. Because I was active before, I should be able to maintain but as of right now I get winded walking up the stairs to our second floor. Crossfit has a CF Mom's regimen that I hope to stick to and I might add some more swimming and up the running a bit. I'd really like to stay healthy. FJ will probably eat whatever I eat and work out a ton and get a six pack while I get bigger and bigger since that's just the way this stuff works!
Q. Do we have names picked out?
A. No. We've each vetoed a few, but we haven't gotten that far.
Q. Due date?
A. December 23, which oddly enough was FJ's original due date. He was born on Jan 1. But it's looking like a happy holiday at the Tribuzio household this year one way or another!
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