There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Christmas in NJ was wonderful. Our trip started out a little rough- Tess got loose as Gregg was loading up the car and took off, putting us about an hour behind schedule. I found her not too far away running around a neighbor's yard, completely oblivious to the fact that we had a four hour drive ahead of us. I called her over, knelt down and grabbed her by the collar, then waited for Gregg to drive by since he had gone looking for her.

Since she had also decided to go roll around in cow poo, Gregg had to give her a bath. He didn't bother drying her off because we were so late by that time, so we just threw her in the back of the car and started on our way. About an hour and a half into the trip, she then got car sick. That was fun. Barring that snafu, we proceeded to have a very nice holiday. It was really good to spend time with family, celebrating Christmas, stuffing our faces full of yummy goodies and exchanging presents, except I wasn't quite feeling like normal myself.

The night of the Christmas concert at church, I started feeling really weird. Like I was all hopped up on caffeine or something. I just brushed it off, thinking I was overtired. The next morning when I got in the shower, I felt really dizzy and just a tad nauseous so I decided to work from home that day. By the afternoon, I was feeling a lot better so I went into the office to meet with a couple clients I was scheduled to see. That night I had Bible study and that dizzy feeling came over me again, stronger than it had been in the morning. By this point, things were starting to add up: feeling dizzy, queasy, sore boobs, and AF was nowhere in sight.

The next day I mentioned to Gregg that I was five days late, which is really unusual for me. I asked if I should perhaps test and he said to wait a while. That evening, though, his curiosity got the better of him, and over dinner he told me to go ahead. We needed to go to Walmart for a few odds and ends anyway, so while we were there we bought a digital pregnancy test. When we got home, Gregg took the dog out and I went straight upstairs to the bathroom. I did the "procedure", laid the stick down on the counter and went into our bedroom to wait for the results, my heart pounding. A few minutes later, Gregg came upstairs with a questioning look on his face and I told him I hadn't looked yet. We went into the bathroom together, and I picked up the test. There was no mistaking it; it was positive! I couldn't believe it. Gregg smiled and said, "Cool. I knew you were." Still in somewhat of a daze, we decided to go online to calculate my due date.

First thing the next morning I called our primary care physician because I knew he'd see us right away and we wanted to be certain the test was indeed accurate before going ahead and telling our parents over Christmas. I was given an appointment for the following day. The nurse saw me right away, took my weight and blood pressure, then had me do the obligatory pee in a cup routine. I waited with Gregg in the exam room for her to come back with the results. My heart started pounding again as I heard the timer go off. The nurse walked towards us and simply smiled and nodded her head as she closed the door behind her.

About five minutes later, Dr. Peterson came in to congratulate us. He gave us an estimated due date, which is the same one we had calculated ourselves. He then talked with us about ways to have a healthy pregnancy and wrote out a prescription for prenatal vitamins. We went straight downstairs to the pharmacy to have it filled and also pick up a bottle of Omega-3 Fish Oil supplements he recommended. As we were heading out of the medical center, we ran into our friends, Ryan and Anita, who are due in January. Ryan looked suspiciously at the white bag in Gregg's hands and said, "Going to pick up some drugs this morning, are we?" We played it off, but the gig was pretty much up, so they were the first ones to know.

We told both sets of parents over Christmas by making up a phony backorder notice for a gift that hadn't arrived yet. The card read: "One precious package is still in processing. It is due for delivery approximately August 21, 2008. To track the status of this package, please visit the manufacturers' website", and we included a link to a webpage that we designed to fill them in on the details of the next eight months. They were ecstatic. My father, however, was just speechless. He was so choked up, he could barely get words out and wouldn't let me go! He is very much looking forward to being a grandpa.

So we are very excited! I'm six weeks and two days along today, and feel good for the most part. I get queasy at different times throughout the day, but no morning sickness yet. And boy, am I tired! I'm also hypersensitive to what goes into my body now. I've started reading up on foods to stay to away from and ones to eat more of. I've had to forgo my favorite Diet Dr. Pepper because of the caffeine & sugar substitutes, and replaced it with water and fruit juices. A small price to pay for a healthy, full term baby!

Our first OB appointment is on January 11, our anniversary! I'm hoping the doctor will do an ultrasound, but from what I've been reading it's likely it will only be an informational visit, plus a very invasive and oh so fun pelvic exam. I'm really looking forward to the next several months, seeing how this baby develops and how I change too. I can't wait to welcome our new son or daughter into the world this August!