It’s real. There’s a real, live, baby in me and this is really real. I tend to obsess with pregnancy tests and even buy cheap pregnancy tests in bulk. Once my fertility shows up, I pretty much POAS (Pee On A Stick) monthly. Yeah. Told ya. So, that probably contributed to my absolute shock at seeing a second little pink line pop up on Sunday morning, March 29th, 2010. Babies tend to shake the world up a bit, don’t they?
Since we weren’t trying to conceive, I wasn’t imagining early pregnancy symptoms like I typically would. It’s interesting how early pregnancy seems so similar to pre-menstrual symptoms. You might have low cramping, breast tenderness, cravings or aversions to abnormal foods, sudden acne or suddenly clear skin, moodiness or even (my new personal favorite) hot flashes. Seriously. I feel more menopausal than pregnant right now. The tell-tale frequent urination, heightened sense of smell and nausea don’t typically show up in very early pregnancy. At least, not until about 6 weeks…or so they say. So, the woman in waiting is free to attribute the chaos in her body to whichever outcome she anticipates being true.
I wish our bodies had been designed to be more clear. You know, a freckle on your wrist that turns orange when pregnant and green when not…then you can check it like a watch! Okay, maybe not that obvious. Still, that two week wait between “Uh-oh” or “Oh, this could be it” and “When can I test?” is usually torturous.
For those of us who are obsessively paranoid/curious intensely impatient, we tend to find out that we are expecting before any symptoms intensify. You can know you are pregnant by about 4 weeks along, sometimes earlier. You don’t typically start feeling pregnant until 6 or 8 weeks along. It may be the only 2 week period longer than the “2 week wait” between ovulation and a positive test.
You can get blood work done to check hormone levels. You can do what I did when I was pregnant with my toddler and take a whole batch of tests, one each day, to watch that line get darker. Or, you can start a website and translate an entire cookbook into a meal plan to take your mind off of those nagging early symptoms (or lack thereof). I hate needles, and I’m out of pregnancy tests, so here we are. Running to the bathroom to pee every 30 minutes, and wondering if my little bean baby is going to be alright.
P.S. Will someone please remind me in 3 weeks that I actually wanted to feel more pregnant?
Love it! Girl you crack me up. Totally following this blog!!
Welcome!