First time always hurts

So I finally did it; created the blog. I'm such a procrastinator, and I wanted to make a record of my memories of my son since he was born. The first week went by, then the first month, then two, then three. Finally it was New Year's Day, and although I don't make resolutions... I mean, honestly, who keeps them?... he had passed the 90 day mark. Somehow it's six days later but I did it. Riveting stuff, eh?

From the beginning:
My pregnancy was pretty uneventful. We always joked that 2005 was the Year We'd Make Babies. January came and during my estimated ovulation time, we did the deed, for what I felt was merely practice. About a week later, I peed on the stick test just to see if we'd conceived, though I was sure we hadn't. I mean, besides "oops!" pregnancies, who ever gets pregnant right away? At least that's what I thought. The test was negative so I smugly told Mark he was shooting blanks. I was honestly relieved because I really wasn't sure if I was ready for kids yet.

But I started feeling strange. I had this weird metallic taste in my mouth all the time, and when we'd go out to bars, I'd have A (as in one) beer which I couldn't finish because it tasted odd. Mark and I were supposed to have a long weekend off together (we both worked retail so that was a rarity) but someone else had taken it off at his work so he couldn't. I finally decided to fly back to Pennsylvania (PA) for my stepfather's surprise 60th birthday party. I talked to my mom one day on the way home from work, and she said she had told Lee (SF) I was coming home because I was going to tell them I was pregnant. She didn't know about 2005 being the Year of the Baby-making, and I had had that negative test so I just laughed. When I got home, since I had to pee really bad, and I still hadn't gotten my period (but I wasn't worried since I'm not too regular), I peed on test #2 and set it to the side. I was thinking just in case I was pregnant I didn't want to go back East and tear it up with all my friends from college. I finished up and picked up the test, expecting it to be negative. Well, it wasn't. I looked at the double pink lines and thought, "oh. wow. hmm. look at that," in a state of disbelief almost while everything fell into place.

Telling them:
I yelled for Mark to come into the bathroom, handed him the test, and said, "what do you think that is?" Keep in mind I hadn't told him I was taking another test, and did have a negative one already. But he says, "I don't know.... a toothbrush?" That totally took the shock away from me and I started laughing. He explained later that since I was leaving for PA the next day he thought I had gotten a travel toothbrush. We, of course, were ecstatic, and a little sad I was leaving for the weekend. That's me; impeccable timing.

I went to PA and ended up throwing up all over things in front of my parents right before the party. They kept giving each other significant looks that I missed because I was vomiting. At the party, which was a surprise, I spilled my guts; both literally and my secret. Everyone was surprised after all. And I ended up not having morning sickness but a very violent double-ended stomach virus.

The First Trimester:

• Cranky
• Pukey
• Big swollen boobs
• Bad taste in mouth
• Started looking at names- baby provisionally called Cletus the Fetus
  

No great anecdotes. Well, no funny ones.
Some memorable ones: Mark got to see my cervix, and cried when we first heard the heartbeat. I, of course, remained stoic.

The Second Trimester:

• Still cranky
• Big swollen boobs being met by swollen stomach
• Depression over not fitting into my clothes anymore
• Pukey through 4th month
  

Highlights:

• 17week Ultrasound: showed a human not an alien!!! We chose not to find out the gender.

• PA Baby Shower: lots of friends, relatives, and loot!!!! Plus my friend Eve did this crazy New Age pendulum thing over my belly and predicted a boy. I was pretty convinced I was having a girl, but my dreams at night were always of a boy.

• Blood test: for Down's etc showed little risk!!!! I was a bit worried about that, and was a nightmare the week between the test and the results.

• Birthday: turning 30 wasn't so painful because I felt miserably pregnant and that took my mind off of it. Plus I got some fancy diamond stud earrings. Bling!

The Third Trimester

• Fat
• Crankiest
• Hot as Hell
• Insanity struck and I began to play XBox
• Insomnia
  

Highlights

• Bathroom Remodel: still not done yet but slowly coming along

• Birth Class: we thought this would be a nightmare, but instead we loved it!!!! Janet Grabe taught us and 9 other miserably pregnant couples all sorts of pain mitigation techniques and loads of information about labor and delivery. We love Janet. She's a doula and I would highly recommend her. Not only that, but we actually like two of our Birth Class couples.

• Jesse Dayton: played at Benders Tavern and I waddled out to see him. He talked to Mark and I after the show and rubbed my belly like a Buddha.

• My Mom Visited: we had a great time and went to a Chili Festival and saw the Railbenders.

• Bad News: the doc said I looked pretty small for my gestational age at 35-36 weeks. I thought he was nuts since I gained almost 40 lbs. He sent me for an ultrasound to measure my amniotic fluid.

• Ultrasound #2: Since I had been running around with my mom and not drinking enough water (Hello- no water in means no 300 zillion trips to the can to let it out. I'm not dumb. Or so I had thought.) I did indeed have low amniotic fluid. Which meant:
  

• Bed Rest and freak out: for a week while I guzzled water, lay on the couch, watched movies, sweated, and played XBox. No work was awesome but staying still was intolerable. A week later:

• Ultrasound #2 cont: I had told the technician "we hadn't found out the gender at our earlier scan, but if we (meaning Mark or I) saw anything today, it was ok." WE did not include the technician, who before we knew it, told us we were having a boy. The waterworks went on again with Mark. My first reaction: "oh no, TUBESOCKS" aka the bane of my existence. I didn't mind knowing by that far along in the game, and we kept it under wraps from most people. At least we could work more on the name.

• Fetal Stress Test: a week more of low-key activity and then back to the hospital where we passed this test with flying colors.

That's enough for now- it brings us up to October- the Month Where Shit Went Down.