10/13/10: Lots of stories to share

So yesterday I had my appt with my ob/gyn and it's official, I am pregnant.  I had no doubt but at least now the medical community is confirming.

So where to start.  This might be a long blog.  I have the "cyst" story to share.  I have the 'how I told my hubby" story to share.  And I have the "looking forward" story to share.  Seems like maybe more than one blog here.  I'll break the blog down into individual stories with their own headers so you can skip parts you don't care about.

I'll start with the cyst story.

The Cyst Story
I had my follow up appt today with my surgeon.  You may or may not remember that I had this wound at the site of my main incision from surgery nearly six months ago.  And last month, that wound was determined to be a cyst growing between the internal sutures.  My surgeon asked me to return in one month and so, when leaving, I made the appt for Oct 15th.

But wait, you say, today is the 13th.

Yeah, so Monday, I called my favorite RNP to tell her the pregnancy news and see if there was still any chance of cutting out this cyst.  She said, 'you'll just have to come in and let your surgeon see and make the decision from there'.  I was thinking I didn't want to waste anyone's time, not mine or their's or my employers.

And she calls me back about ten minutes later and says that the appt I have was never set to be with my surgeon anyway.  No surprise, the lady that made the appt for me as I was leaving was rude and stupid.  I said that I wanted to make an appt for a fill for a month later and that I also would need to see my surgeon.  And she said, you can't just say you want to see your surgeon, he or the RNP have to tell me.  And I said, well, see, they just told me to come make this appt and I have this wound that he might be cutting out next month.  And she said fine and made me an appt.  Turns out, she completely did her own thing even though she told me to my face she was doing my thing, the surgeon's request thing and the RNP's request thing.

This lady is special, too.  There's a checkin story from today as well.  Ooh ooh, another story!

Anywho, thankfully I had called my RNP on Monday and she figured this out.  But she had to move my appt to today.

So I go into this appt knowing that my ob/gyn has said "yeah, go ahead, get it cut out, the local they will use is fine for this trimester".  (I had asked my RNP on Monday what would be used.)  And eventually I get called back.  And my surgeon walks in the door and says, ok, lets see.  So I pull up the shirt...and...

"It's fine".

What?  It's been six months, doc.  Come on!  But yeah, it's fine.  Now he's decided it must be some sort of contact dermatitis.  So we had a conversation about my detergent (Tide) and my fabric softener ( Downey) and whether or not I use HE machines (I do).

And suffice it to say, now I must throw out the Tide, the Downey, and shop for a new detergent. 

I know there is an allergic reaction happening right now but I don't believe that's causing the wound I've had for months and months.  I believe that when I get this allergic reaction to stop, I'll still have a wound.  And then I'll be in a phase of pregnancy where I won't be able to get this thing cut out.

But it is what it is.

So the "thing" stays....whatever it is.

The Checkin Story
So I arrive at my clinic this morning and sign in.  And the lady I don't like isn't helping someone while the lady I do like is.  So the one I don't like much says I can come around and she'll check me in.

Now this one I don't like...she was just hired about three months ago.  And the first month I met her, no harm no foul.  She was new and she was just watching the lady I do like.  The second month, last month, is when she gave me major attitude about making the appt for this week.  There's more to the story than what I gave above but I am actually trying to not make this as incredibly long as I'm sure it will be.  And now there's today.

So I go around the corner and take my seat.  And she has me sign my piece of paper with my demographics showing no change.  Yep, I still live in my house.  Then she gives me the form giving permission to do the x-ray for fluoroscopy.  And, of course, that's out now.  So I check the yes, pregnant box and I actually tell her "I'm pregnant".  And she says, oh.  Have they talked to you about fills yet?  (Notice, no congratulations.  And I can say, she's the first person to not say something kind or sweet and it suits her to a "T" to be a dumb bunny like that!)  I said yes, I'd talked to my RNP on Monday and that I was fine with the current fill level, I can definitely eat 300 more calories and could actually probably use a little fill in spite of it all, not that I want one right now.  And I said it in a kind of joking voice but, as usual, not a smile or anything kind.  Instead, she says "It's not for you to decide what your fill level should be like, your surgeon will decide and you will follow his advice".

Are you effin kidding me?

This is my friggin body you beeeotch.  Shut the f up.

But I'm getting kind as I get older and I just shut my own trap and signed the rest of my papers and didn't say another peep to her.

Ugh, I can't stand her!

And now for fun stories.

The How I Told My Husband Story

Not much story here, I'm afraid.  :)  We do everything together.  And we share everything.  And we commiserate together and we plan together and we figure things out together.  Like our wedding.  All together.  Engagement ring...together.  Napkins and tablecloths....together.  So...can you guess....we watched the test(s)....together.

So I didn't really tell him.  Cause he saw the test(s) for himself.  But there's a story in there.

Test #1 Saturday, October 3rd 7:30am.  Faint as faint could be.  So he says, that's a no, it's too faint.  And I said, faint doesn't matter.  Faint means it's picking up hCG and that hormone isn't there if I'm not pregnant.  He said I don't believe it.

Test #2 Saturday, October 3rd 12:00pm.  Faint as faint could be...but a smidge darker than the one ~5 hours earlier.  He still won't believe. 

Test #3 Saturday, October 3rd 4:30pm.  Definitely a line, but still faint.  He still won't believe.  Now I'm really wondering if what I've read is true....

Test #4 Saturday, October 3rd 8:00pm.  I just want to see.  It's darker.  I go to bed believing.

(and notice #2, #3, and #4 were not first morning urine...so if something was being picked up, that's also significant!)

Test #5 Sunday, October 4th 8:30am.  I just want to see again.  It's DEFINITELY darker but it's still faint enough that he wants to be cautious.

And that did it.  I got mad.  I got mad and threw a fit and said you're not allowed to ruin this excitement for me.  I told him, look, this test is looking for 25mg of hCG and so the faintness is telling us that there's not 25 mg, yet, but that there is SOME.  And SOME means something!

And then he believes.   And I start to doubt again.  By the end of Sunday...I was sure we'd have to try another month.  And he was sure we were pregnant.

Test #6 Monday, October 5th 7:30am.  Definitely darker than Sunday.  Went to work and called my ob/gyn to make my first appt, set for Oct 12th.

Test #7 Tuesday, October 6th 5:00am.  We went to Wisconsin last week and flew out that morning.  And we wanted to know whether or not to tell his mom and step-dad.  I had another kind of test, one designed for early detection that we thought we'd take to WI, use, and leave lieing around conspicuously for MIL to see.  But we decided to take the test and see.  And it was emphatically dark and bright and real!

Test #8 Sunday, October 10th 8:00am.  Took another one just to see since we'd been traveling and just got home.  It was the same kind as the first six and now it was emphatically dark and bright and real.  Darker than the control!  Of course, by Sunday, I was definitely late and feeling some feelings.

Test #9 Sunday, October 10th 5:00pm.  Took another kind of test so that I could have a picture for you guys.

See...I found these test strips on Amazon and it was like $5 for 25 strips.  It's how and why I was taking so many tests, they were/are cheap!  The one I took Tuesday was one of the 'expensive' kind and I thought when I got home from WI, I could take a pic of it for the blog.  But when we got home, it was faded and meaningless so I had to go buy a new one just for you guys!

Test #10 Tuesday, October 12th 3:45pm.  The doc's office did this one.  And then they sent me to the lab for the quantitative results.

So...all through this...every time I'm taking a test (which was a lot a lot), my husband is standing over the sink beside me waiting for the time to pass.

We were in it together the whole time.

He finally emphatically believed on Tuesday when we saw the bright vivid test for the first time.  And he even apologized to me for being so cautious.  I understand why he was doing that...but it was driving me batty that he wouldn't believe me...that if there is ANY hormone in there at all, that means something.  And by Sunday (10/3) I had a few of the symptoms, symptoms I don't normally get with PMS.

Looking forward and more
So...weightloss is stopped.  I am not trying at all to lose.  I will be curious when I meet my ob next month, what he'll say as far as losing/gaining/maintaining.    To explain the meeting the ob...my gyn no longer does ob.  So he referred me to another one in the practice that does.  And the one I am seeing actually specializes in "high risk" which is me, because of my age.  No, I'm not worried, per se, that my age will be a bad factor in my pregnancy, I'm healthy and I've done a lot of the last year to really help my body.  And I've always been healthy.  Nonetheless, 35 yo or older is "high risk" and I don't mind having someone who handles us older gals frequently.

So back to the weight.  He might say that because I am still big enough that I can actually keep losing.  I am probably in that category that doesn't have to gain "12-15" pounds, or whatever.  I don't know that I care to keep losing but I will just be curious to hear what he says.

I know that I have already upped my calories by 300 a day.  And I'm losing.  Because of wearing GoBe, I know my metabolism is UP!  Monday and Tuesday were sedentary for me, not doing anything exercise wise.  And on both days I had calories burns over 2500...and that's rare for me and I usually have to be quite active to see a number like that.

I have not had any morning sickness so far...knock wood that continues.  And my energy is through the roof...no fatigue here.  I have been getting headaches for the last four or five days but they come on about mid-day and go away by about mid-afternoon.  Yesterday I played around with eating frequency to see if it was a blood sugar thing but it didn't seem to make a difference.  I'm definitely noticing the frequent urination thing...although it's not a lot of urine, the urge to go is just ALWAYS there!  I figure, yeah, if I still drink the same amount, but pee every hour instead of every two or three...there wouldn't be as much to come out...

We are due somewhere around the middle of June.  My nurse (love her to pieces) yesterday told me that will change when we have our first sonogram.

We aren't telling anyone yet.  We've told our two best friend/neighbors that we love so much, a friend we spend a lot of time with, the MIL and step-dad, and finally, y'all.  My hubby told his boss and I told mine, but aside from that, we aren't advertising. 

It certainly is exciting times.  So much for us to think about, to plan for, to look forward to.  Bedrooms will be redone, we are replacing our carpet, we are both in a major nesting phase.  We are getting rid of our "study" in favor of having a game room.  The room is rather big for a study and we both no longer care to have desktops, but rather laptops.  So we'd rather use the room for something else, and according to the floor plan, it's supposed to be a "living room" anyway.  The real study is my gym...and I'm keeping that.

I got the go ahead to keep on with my weightlifting although I have geared down A LOT to be safe.  I have found a middle ground between my week 1 and week 2 workouts and will do that for the duration - I feel like I'm mimicing what I'll do in maintenance mode.  I will adjust as needed but I want to be weightlifting for the duration, as well as walking.  I'll actually up my walking through the pregnancy.

What else can I tell you?

I've been taking prenatals since before we started actively trying but now my doc wants me to switch to a prescription instead of an OTC.  They gave me four different samples yesterday and told me to choose the one I like.  Umm...really?  How do you know?  I can look at the back, the "ingredients" so to speak, and know that one of the four is better than the others but in some cases, the OTC I've been taking is better than them all.  And one doesn't really know how much is absorbed by the body...so how do I know which has the best benefit for my body?  Anyone have thoughts?  I like the idea of the prescription because since my OOP Max is reached for the year, they won't cost me a penny....

And that's about all I got right now.  Sorry for such a long blog...but since it's been over a week since y'all heard from me, you had to know it was coming.  I will do a photo post of WI probably over the weekend.  It was absolutely gorgeous and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit!  I suspect we won't get back to WI next year...don't know about making a 3 month old baby travel when grandma can just travel to us!  But from what we saw and what we did, we know we are looking forward to many more visits!