My Pregnancy - Part I

This picture was taken 5 days before Daniel was born.

This picture is crazy! I can't believe I ever looked like that.  I never felt like I looked like that.  Guess that's a good thing.  So here goes about the lovely 37 weeks that I was pregnant.  

October 3, 2010 I found out I was pregnant.  That day I took 3 pregnancy tests. I took a test everyday for the next 5 days until I could finally see a doctor.  Yep, they were all positive.  My regular doctor couldn't see me for 3 weeks, so I decided to go to an urgent center (for colds, flu, broken bones etc.) Although I had none of those things, I felt this was pretty urgent.  The triage nurse thought I was nuts.  I told her I took 8 pregnancy tests and they were all positive. She screamed "A positive pregnancy test means you're pregnant! What are you doing here?"  My response "My boyfriend is in denial, my sister told me I could have a tumor growing hair and teeth, I need to see a doctor." Needless to say they found an "emergency" appointment with my regular doctors partner.  Yeah, they probably figured I was nuts!

October 8, 2010 I saw the doctor.  He confirmed I was 5 weeks pregnant. The first week I walked around in a fog, not really accepting the fact that I was pregnant (that didn't last long....) At 6 weeks pregnant the morning sickness kicked in.  I was SO sick for 7.5 weeks.  I threw up at least twice every day, once being at the same exact time, same exact stall at work.  I had to start work at 8:02, but at approximately 7:45 everyday I was in the end bathroom stall puking my brains out.  I really don't know how I got through the sickness without missing a single day of work.  What's worse, as a teacher I'm not allowed to leave my classroom for anything when the students are there.  So that meant, puking in the garbage can while I was teaching.  I don't remember the first day that I did this, but I do remember the students' reactions. Some freaked out, some were unphased, ONE speculated that I was pregnant.  I continued to puke in the garbage can during 4th period at least once a week.  Each time I had a different excuse - I'm hungover. My bff tried to poison me. I drank sour milk. I ate too much for breakfast. You name it, I used it as an excuse.  A funny exchange between students at about 12 weeks pregnant.  The student who speculated in the beginning said to another student "I'm gonna be Ms. O's babysitter." The other student responded "Ms. O's not pregnant, she's just fat." I guess I was putting on weight.  I started eating crunch cheez doodles during class.  I told the class I had a tape worm - they believed me. I ended up being able to keep my pregnancy a secret (from the students) until 18 weeks. 

WE NEED TO TELL THE WORLD!!!
When the morning sickness began, it was hard to keep the pregnancy secret from the people I worked with.  Most people figured it out, but I told my closest colleagues at 8 weeks.  Before I knew it, people were giving me gifts, congratulating me. The entire staff at my job knew.  I was worried.  Timothy's family didn't even know and literally the entire staff at RMHS knew.  One teacher came to me and told me that she had heard the news in a bar in the neighborhood. I think this was a lie, but if it were true it meant that Timothy had to tell his family before they found out from someone in the neighborhood.   Tim's sister had a baby around this time and he didn't know the best time to tell his family. (The day his niece/God daughter was born was the first of many trips to the emergency room for me due to dehydration) He didn't want to steal her thunder.  I begged Timothy for over a week to tell his family.  He finally told them. (after I posted it on Facebook for 1/2 a second.  Remember that? Yeah it backfired!)  I think everyone was just as surprised as we were, but everyone was excited.  


The other stuff...
Besides being in the hospital a bunch of times due to dehydration and other small mishaps, the pregnancy was normal with no problems.  After the morning sickness was finished, my diet was INSANE! I was neurotic about what I ate.  No high fructose corn syrup (it apparently contains mercury), no fish, no lunch meat (methylates, found in lunch meats, unwind DNA that's not supposed to be unwound - according to Dr. Oz), no caffeine, no soda.... yeah so basically I ate the same 5 things the entire pregnancy.  It was interesting, but I was CRAZY about making sure the baby was going to be perfect.  I also had roots down to my ears.  My doctor advised not to get my hair done.  That killed me.  I hated looking so white trash.   


I can't think of anything else that was interesting during my pregnancy.  I gained about 30lbs which must have been mostly water weight because I lost it by the time Daniel was 4 weeks old.  Pretty uneventful pregnancy thank Goodness.  Next time I'll write about the birth!  Stay tuned!!