We're Having a Baby!

Baby's head is on the right and the spot above is the hand. You can kind of see eyes and a mouth.
3D baby. Looks like a topside view.

It's no longer an April Fools joke. We are expecting. Baby Lager will be joining us in late February. Due date is February 24, 2009. We were waiting until the end of the first trimester to announce, but here's a recap of how the pregnancy has gone so far.

I found out that I was pregant right before I left for NYC in July. I had my yearly exam with the OB/GYN, but was told that they would have to charge me for a pregancy test because insurance does not cover it. What??? That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. I don't know why I should be surprised that insurance doesn't cover it, insurance in general sucks. The doctor assured me that the pee sticks were just as accurate, so I took it the next day before I left for NYC. I read the instructions on the outside of the box and took the test. It came out positive. Jeannette reassured me that there are no false positives, only false negatives with these tests.

It's so hard for me to keep my own secrets. It's much easier for me to keep other people's secrets. Maybe it was because I wanted to tell people, but I felt like I couldn't because I couldn't even tell Edwin yet because he was in Nicaragua. That's not to say that I didn't tell anyone, but Edwin was not the first to know. Some people think that I should have emailed him and told him to call me. However, that's just not something that we have ever done. When he's on his trips, he doesn't call me. He usually just emails, but this is not something I wanted to email. And yes, we have not yet discovered Skype because we don't really call anyone internationally.

I finally did tell Edwin over the phone when he was back from Nicaragua. I was still in NYC and was going home the next day. I would have liked to have been able to tell him in person, but I just couldn't wait. It's not like he didn't know there was that possibility, but I think it still surprised him. It's like the clock had already started ticking on 9 months and we didn't even know we were starting until 6 weeks into it. I know it's not right, but somehow I always felt like it was 9 months from when you know.

The first real sign that made me think that I was pregnant was that my breasts were sore for several days. (Is that TMI?) I'm about 14 weeks now and I haven't really had morning sickness where I vomitted, so I guess I'm lucky. I have felt queasy and tired, but that's about it. I have always wondered what kind of food cravings I might have. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought pregnancy would make me want to eat more fruits and vegetables. (Edwin is now convinced that this is his baby!) I can't seem to get enough fruit and I don't think I have wanted to eat salads more than now. Edwin is very happy about that, but he's not so happy that it also seems that the baby doesn't seem to want red meat. I look at a big steak and think "oh, that looks good" but then I can't eat it. My stomach starts to say "don't bother." There have been a few times when I started eating something I thought I wanted and then had to stop in the middle because I started feeling queasy. Baby has also made my portion sizes smaller. In my head, I think to myself, I could eat 2 slices of beef pot pie, but then I am barely able to eat one. Edwin has been trying to get me to eat more meat. It's almost a role reversal. Nobody has ever had to tell me to eat more meat in my entire life! One thing that both baby and I like is soup. Love it. Can't get enough of it.

Things have been somewhat surreal. Part of me thinks that we should be doing more to prepare, but then I'm like, what do I need to do? I think at this point, it's just relax. Maybe look into maternity leave stuff. We probably won't decorate the baby's room until we find out the sex. We both want to know. Right now, I don't really feel anything, so I can't tell if it's a boy or girl. I would be happy with both, but I would at least like to have 1 girl out of the 2 children we will probably have.