Pregnancy Chronicles- 9 week edition

I am 9 weeks and 1 day pregnant today!  I am so excited that Daniel and I are going to have a baby!  My close friends (and pretty much anyone who's known me for more than a week) knows that I have been waiting for this for a very long time!  I have always wanted to be a mom and I have literally just been getting through all the responsible things you're supposed to before having kids.  And I have to say I am very proud of myself for finishing college and getting married before we got pregnant- though it was just a few days before!  On the honeymoon, Daniel told me that he wanted to start out family.  You'd think that I would have been thrilled and ready to go right away, but I wasn't.  My first reaction was that I need to think about this.  We aren't in the most solid financial situation.  I have a great job that pays well, but Daniel is still finishing up his Master's degree.  He works very hard, but doesn't make as much money as he should.  Of course that will all change (hopefully) when he graduates in May.  But I'm not the type of person to make a huge decision like having children without knowing that Daniel has a good job waiting for him.  So I told Daniel that I wasn't ready, and we'll talk about it.  I also felt that the honeymoon probably wasn't the best time to make a big decision like that.  We're on vacation, we have tons of money in our pockets and lots of gifts, and we're not really thinking about reality.  

For the next day or two, Daniel asked me every couple of hours if I was ready yet.  He seemed so extremely excited, I couldn't help but wonder what changed his mind so suddenly and definitively?  He explained that right before the wedding, when we had about a week or so that we thought I might be pregnant, he started to get really excited.  And then when it turned out I wasn't pregnant, he was surprised how disappointed he was.  I on the other hand was very relieved!  I did not want to get pregnant before the wedding.  So I thought about it quietly by myself, and 2 days later I told him I was ready.  I distinctly remember the conversation.  We had just finished horseback riding up in the mountains at sunset.  We were on the 2 hour drive back to our bed and breakfast and I told him that I made my decision.  I determined that no matter what, we would make it work.  Our income is steady right now, and even if he just kept his same job after graduation we would be okay.

Apparently, that timing was just perfect because we've calculated that it was probably that day, or one of the next 2 or 3 days that we became pregnant!  Of course we never expected it to happen that quickly.  I've always wondered in the back of my mind if we would have problems.  You never know until you try, right?  Well apparently all those years of birth control was a solid investment!  On Christmas Eve morning Daniel convinced me to take a test (even though I was sure it would be negative).  And I thought it was negative!  There was a very faint positive line, which Daniel interpreted to mean almost positive.  So the day after Christmas he asked me to take a test again.  I did, and it was clearly positive!  I couldn't believe it.  I didn't feel pregnant at all.  That changed about one week later.

From weeks 5-8 I felt very queasy, exhausted, and had absolutely no appetite.  I could barely get through the day.  Every morning I woke up and dragged myself out of bed and to work.  I was miserable.  Each meal was a struggle to get enough food down so that I wasn't starving.  Every minute that I wasn't at work, I was laying on the couch counting down the minutes until my second trimester.  Around week 7 I started to get backaches and I caught a cold.  I didn't think I could get any more miserable, but I did.  Add congestion and terrible sinus headaches to my already long list of symptoms.  I allowed myself to stay home from work one day, but I had to go back the next day even though I didn't feel any better.  I just didn't want anyone at work to think I was going to use my pregnancy as an excuse (I had to tell my boss and co-workers about the pregnancy immediately because some of the chemicals I work with can be very dangerous during pregnancy).  Once I got over the cold, my nausea decreased and my appetite came back.  For the past week I have felt so much better.  I've had enough energy to go out and do things (which Daniel really appreciates) and I've been eating near-normal portions again- though certain foods can still ruin my appetite.  This past weekend I felt like my belly was huge, but I'm sure it's just bloating at this point.  Daniel has been incredible through the pregnancy so far.  He would get up early to get me some breakfast to eat before I even got out of bed.  He spent an hour cooking beautiful dinners just to watch me eat 2 bites and push it away.  He has taken over many of the chores around the house so I can rest on the weekends.  I feel so lucky to have him as my partner.

For now I feel great- at least compared with a few weeks ago.  Daniel and I got to see the baby at our first prenatal appointment and that was such a huge relief.  I know so many people who have lost their baby very early so for the first few weeks I was obsessed with checking for miscarriage.  I thought about it constantly, and didn't allow myself to get too excited.  But the doctor told us that if she could see the baby on the ultrasound, which she did, then we have a 95% of completing a healthy pregnancy.  We also found out that it's just one baby and not twins like Daniel was hoping for.  I am relieved to know that too!  Twins would be financially extremely difficult for us right now.  Maybe next time ;-)