Surprise! We're having a BabyJinx!

Looks like we're on schedule for a Thanksgiving delivery!! For all those who've been wondering, here's what you missed over the past 3 months...

3/21/09
It’s 4 a.m. on a Saturday morning and I wake up and can't go back to sleep until I do this. I’ve only been off of birth control for one month. I stare at the stick trying to figure out what it means...that couldn’t be a “+”, could it? The line is SO FAINT that I’m not sure it’s really even there. After all, it’s 4 a.m. and I’m sleepy and don’t have my glasses on. The longer I stare, the more convinced I become that this light shadowy-looking line doesn’t mean anything, after all the picture on the box shows a very dark, pronounced “+”. Nah, it’s negative…back to bed.

Hmm...It was 4 a.m. Maybe I should take another test…just in case. Holy crap. The faint “+” is still there. But it doesn’t look like the picture on the box…” Mike, what does this look like to you?”, I say, awkwardly giggling out of nervousness? “It looks like a “+”, he says.” I see the look of shock and disbelief wash over his face as he processes the information and the realization begins to set in. Wait a minute, that line is REALLY faint, is that still a “+”? I don’t know! Me neither. Seriously, are we really incapable of figuring out a pregnancy test? Let’s Google it. Wow, ANY line, no matter how faint, is positive. I still don’t believe it. Maybe I better take a different brand of test.

I take two more tests, one shows a definite pink line and the other an emphatic “YES+”. After 4 positive tests, there is no mistaking it...I am pregnant!!!

March 23, 2009
4 weeks, 3 days
We have a poppy seed

I place the first call to my doctor. I have to be totally stealth and place the call at work when my boss is in the room with a patient. I don’t want anyone to know yet, just in case. Good news from the OB nurse, there is nothing further for me to do right now and we set up my first OB visit for April 10th, which is Good Friday. I’ll be 7 weeks. Other than feeling extremely bloated, I don’t feel any different.

This week is our trip to Tampa for my work conference. If there is anyone who will figure out that I’m pregnant, it will be Holly W. She’s like a detective!! It won’t be long before people at work notice that I’m not drinking coffee. I see all of my old friends from MU Genetics and a couple of people from grad school in Tampa. It’s SO HARD to not be able to share the good news with anybody yet.

March 31, 2009
5 weeks, 3 days
We have a sesame seed

Ugh! I am experiencing my first migraine with no medications. I stopped taking my daily migraine medication last fall and have done relatively well just using my Imitrex as needed for the past 6 months. Last Saturday I started feeling a headache coming on but there was no medication that was safe for me to take other than Tylenol. We had to travel home from Tampa on Sunday and let me tell you, there is nothing worse than being stuck in the airport and then flying with a migraine. So, here I am 4 days later with a raging migraine complete with extreme nausea. I missed work yesterday and spent the entire day laying on the couch with an ice pack on my head. I was feeling slightly better this morning and tried to go in to work, but only lasted about an hour. (Thank you Holly W. for covering for me—if you only knew!!) My doctor called in some medicine for me this morning and I took a long nap and by the afternoon was feeling much better. Please let me be one of those women whose migraines improve with pregnancy!

Except for the migraine, I’m feeling pretty good. I’m starting to have some of the early physical signs of pregnancy. (The sports bra is the greatest invention EVER). I feel sort of queasy occasionally, but I can’t tell if that’s related more to nervousness or whether it’s the beginnings of morning sickness. I haven’t really had any food cravings or aversions, and my sense of smell still seems pretty normal. My pants are already starting to feel uncomfortable from all of the bloating. I would REALLY like to talk to at least one of my many girlfriends who are moms to ask questions, but this will have to wait for now. Mike and I decided that we’re going to try to keep our secret until after 12-13 weeks, when the risk for miscarriage decreases. We’ll see if we make it that long. We are really looking forward to telling our families the happy news!

April 12, 2009
7 weeks, 2 days
Happy Easter!

Well the sixth week brought more queasiness and food aversions galore. Pretty much any type of meat totally disgusts me and when Mike opened a jar of salsa it sent me running to the bathroom to hurl. Funny, salsa is one of my FAVORITE foods!

The most exciting development was that Mike and I had our first visit with the obstetrician on Friday. They ran through all of the usuals, physical exam, medication review, discussion of genetic testing, do’s and dont’s. The best part was that we had an ultrasound and we got to see our little baby (more like a blueberry) and it’s little flickering heartbeat! Poor Mike was speechless! I’m not sure if it was from disbelief, panic, fright, or a combination of all three. I think it just finally hit home that there’s actually a baby in there. I see these ultrasounds all of the time on other people and looking at my own ultrasound was surreal. I don’t really feel pregnant, so it was hard to believe there is actually a little tiny Jenkins in there. After our appointment, we had lunch with Mike’s best friend, Chris, and it was SO HARD not to be able to tell our news.

4/18/09
8 weeks, 1 day
We have an olive!

It’s hard to believe this is the last week of my second month! The time is really flying by. I’m feeling pretty good and really have had no real issues other than some minimal queasiness and 3 total migraines. The last few days have been pretty stressful. My mom had her 3rd heart attack on Thursday 4/16/09. She had another stent placed on Friday and is feeling better. Amazingly she was discharged from the hospital today, Saturday. My sister was great and hung around the hospital most of the time. Kudos to Trac! I had my first round of prenatal labs and everything looked good. I also met with my PCP for my yearly check-up and he thinks that I’m very healthy and should have no problems with the pregnancy. Yay! In 3 weeks I’ll have the first trimester screening test and if everything looks good, FINALLY we’ll be able to share our news!!

4/26/09
9 weeks, 2 days
We have a raspberry!

The past week started out with a bang. I was extremely nauseous and several times I had to literally make a run for the bathroom to hurl. The last couple of days have been much better. I seem to be less queasy in general, and have actually been able to eat a few more veggies which I have been averse to for quite some time. Mike has been a trooper! Anytime I feel like I can eat something, he’ll go on a run for me and he’s been really understanding when I come home from work and need to go to bed at about 7 pm because I’m so exhausted. I’ve definitely hit maternity clothes limbo. None of my old clothes fit around the waist anymore and I’m definitely not big enough for maternity stuff yet. I’ve been getting by on 2 pairs of stretchy pants and a skirt, but even this will not last for long. My belly is even starting to pooch out so that my big T-shirts are tight!

5/10/09
11 weeks, 2 days
We have a plum and We Spilled the Beans!

What an exciting weekend! It started out with my second prenatal visit on Thursday when I got to hear the whoosh whoosh whoosh of the baby’s little heart on Doppler. Everything with the visit went really well and I can’t believe I’m at the end of the 3rd month already! Next, we FINALLY sold our condo (soo bittersweet!) AND we also bought a great new 4BR, 3BA house north of the river! If everything goes through as planned, we should be in our new house in mid-June. To top all of that off, we finally got to tell our immediate families that we’re expecting! Reactions ranged from a grunt of acknowledgement to tears to Uh-Oh! The funniest reaction came from my 4 year-old nephew, Austin, who upon hearing that his Auntie Janda is having a baby he asked “what color will it be?” He proceeded to tell his mom that babies don’t come from the mom’s belly, they come from the doctor’s office. When my sister relayed this information I laughed so hard that I nearly cried! We were really trying hard to wait to share the news until we saw everyone in person, but it was just too difficult, especially given my burgeoning belly! (I’m certain that my coworkers have been whispering that I need to lay off the donuts!! Ha Ha!) Mike and I could not be happier about how everything is working out and we can’t wait to have all of our families and friends come visit us. No more sleeping on air mattresses!

Up next week, our second ultrasound and traveling to visit Mike's sister and brother-in-law in New Jersey!