Here goes nothin'....

Okay, so that's what I was thinking back on Halloween when I set down my very tasty Boulevard Single Wide IPA to await the results. When the "Not Pregnant" part of the line doesn't even show up...that's when it's time to give your husband the beer bottle, get another pregnancy test out, and say to yourself "Well, here goes nothin'"



For the next few weeks, things seemed pretty normal. I consider myself among the lucky ones - or lucky pregnancy, or whatever - but my first trimester progressed relatively symptom free. (I think MP may say that the "hormonal" symptoms were most certainly present! But, I suffered not a bout of morning sickness.) Here I am at 6 weeks - and apparently post yoga class.

MP and I enjoyed the holdiay season with family and friends, followed by a delightful honeymoon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico in early January (where we managed to take about 3 photos, none of which is blog-worthy). I will say that Mexico sans-margarita is a totally different place ;)

The start of the second trimester brought with it the beginning of anticipation of our 20 week ultrasound. We had chosen to forego some of the early blood testsing for abnormality in favor of just waiting to see what the little booger looked like. Our midwife assured us that this would be a fine approach. We really wanted to avoid the fear of false positive results, and the subsequent further testing required in that event.

As the weeks ticked by, I began to have anxiety filled dreams where I was laying on the ultrasound table, and the technician is saying, "I'm sorry, Christine, but we're just not able to tell the gender." At which point I am completely flipping out, "You don't seem to understand, though...I HAVE to know what I am having!!!!" I guess my subconcious was never concerned about the health - clearly my priorities are all sorts of messed up!

Finally, February 19th arrived. MP and I head over for our 9am appointment, the technician brings us back to the room, dims the lights, and starts to have a look at what's been cooking in there. We get to see a picture of the face - watching our sweet little baby's mouth open and close, she shows us BabyP's spine, feet, heart, arms (see below!), head...all the while, I am saying, "...and what about the other parts?!?!" But, my worst fears are confirmed as the tech says, "See here, between BabyP's legs? That's the umbilical cord blocking our view." She invited me to get up and move around, use the restroom, etc. assuring me that she had plenty more scanning to do afterwards. I returned to my spot on the table, she took several more measurements, and then the lilt of cheerful conversation died down. I was sure she was going to give up at any moment, when she said, "Are you ready to find out?" Of course I was, I was ready weeks ago, certainly when I walked into the clinic that morning! She announced to MP and I that we'd been cooking up a little baby BOY! A BOY! I was so excited. I had gone into the day with an unidentified, genderless baby, and came out with a little baby boy. Talk about the best. feeling. ever.

That growing boy in there was also resulting in something else growing, as evidenced by the 20 week belly photo shown below. Lucky for me, you all can't see the rest of my bottom half growing along with it!

Six days after this photo was taken, I donned my first pair of maternity pants, and immediately wondered where they've been all my life! I am fortunate enough to work at home, where I have been able to dress very comfortably (i.e. yoga pants, daily)...but getting out of the house was becoming more of an issue when none of my pants were fitting very well. Thanks to some very generous friends, I am feeling pretty much set on the clothing front.

So, here we are...21 weeks and 3 days into this 40 week adventure (ha! as if the adventure stops at 40 weeks, right?). Hopefully, I will be able to keep a somewhat regular account of how we're doing on this pregnancy and then parenting thing, and my friends out there across the world can have another diversion from actual work to chuckle at our missteps and celebrate our victories :)