Yesterday’s post was less than exciting, was it not? Let’s turn to the more important thing.
BABIES!
One baby, really. Don’t worry, we’ve seen the ultrasound. No twins here!
Let’s pretend I have lots of readers and was bombarded with e-mails and questions last night and decided I should just do a FAQ post. So really this is an (in)Frequently Asked Questions post, but that’s not as fun.
FAQ
How far along are you?
Interesting question. According to our ultrasound, I am 11 weeks and 4 days. If you go by my last menstrual period, however, I am 13 weeks 2 days. BIG difference! Early ultrasounds are far more accurate than late ones for dating (since baby size starts to be more determined by genetics than age), so it is probably closer to 11 weeks than 13. But I won’t be surprised if the baby is early, either!
When are you due?
For those of you that don’t like math, mid-January based on the 11 week estimate.
When did you find out?
This one I do get asked frequently. I’m not sure why. I found out when my period was late. But after a week of it being late, I still had a negative home pregnancy test. I went to the doctor to see what was up, and they gave me a blood test. It was “inconclusive.” So basically I was either having a miscarriage, or it was too early to detect pregnancy hormone levels. I was told to come back in 3 days. It was a very stressful 3 days (4 really, they were closed when I went on the 3rd day) and started off the pregnancy on a bit of a sour note. But everything’s OK now.
How are you feeling?
Pretty fine, actually. I was nauseous for a few weeks, nothing terrible – more akin to being motion sick than having food poisoning (which is what I expected). 80% of pregnant women have morning sickness, but only half actually vomit. So while this worried my mother a bit, it was really nothing to worry about. (Although then I caught some second hand worry and called the doctor. Everything was fine).
What they DON’T tell you about when it comes to the first trimester is the exhaustion. Everyone talks about morning sickness, but for me the exhaustion has been way worse. Days where I can’t hardly keep my eyes open and can barely move off the couch. Going to lay down at 9pm during my sister in law’s graduation party. It’s been crazy exhausting, and I’m really grateful it kicked in after graduation!
The most frustrating thing, however, has been a combination of hunger/insomnia. Every night, I am STARVING before I go to bed, and if I don’t binge, I’ll wake up every hour to eat. I’m like a newborn myself. I feel like I am living in a real life The Very Hungry Caterpillar. To give you an example, last night before bed I ate: two bananas, two greek yogurts, an apple, a granola bar, a slice of cheese, two spoonfuls of peanut butter, half of a ham and cheese sandwich, and half a glass of milk. (If anyone tells me to “eat more protein”, I will punch you, because that was more than half of my daily allowance!) I still woke up in the middle of the night to eat a yogurt before I could fall back asleep. Some nights I will wake up and not be able to get full enough to go back to sleep for HOURS. If anyone has ideas on how to put a stop to this, please let me know! (And yes I already talked to my doctor, who just told me to eat something with protein in it).
What are you having/are you going to find out?
A baby. Oh, you mean if its a boy or a girl? It’s too early to tell. (Though sex is decided at the moment of conception – crazy, huh?)
We’re pretty sure we aren’t gonna find out. I had figured I would, because it just seems like everyone does, but when we got pregnant, I didn’t really want to know. Today is the first day I had the least bit of curiosity about it. The only reason I would kind of want to know is we are more excited about one name than the other, and I don’t want us to get too excited about getting to use that name! We’ll be equally excited for either sex though.
Reasons for us not finding out, however, include:
1) Worried it’ll be wrong. My little sister was a boy in utero. Sure, it’s more rare now, but who wants to be the one who has to go home and repaint the nursery?
2) Don’t want a ton of gendered baby items. I have no problems with pink and blue, but if EVERYTHING is pink or blue, I’ll probably want to throw up a little bit. Plus, then we can re-use if we have a baby of the opposite sex in the future.
3) Completely selfishly, we’ve heard from multiple people you are more likely to get practical gifts or stuff off your registry if you don’t know the sex and if you do, you’re more likely to get clothes. Our baby can wear gunny sacks, but it’s gonna need a car seat! (I kid. I kid).
4) Finding out creeps me out a little. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED our ultrasound and seeing the little one was OK. But it seems so sci-fi to stick a wand on your belly and see a picture that can tell you the sex. Don’t know why, just find it weird. You shouldn’t be able to see through body parts. Unless I need to know the baby is OK, then it’s totally fine. Never said this was logical.
5) TOTALLY creeps me out when people call the baby by its name when it’s still baking. Again, no real reason why, but I don’t want it to happen!
6)The “it’s a boy!” or “it’s a girl!” moment seems so classic. I don’t think it’ll be surprising (see below), but it does seem exciting.
Reason that isn’t swaying me to find out:
1) I don’t care about the surprise. People say, “why ruin life’s greatest surprise?” Personally, I don’t think it’s gonna be that big of a surprise. Exciting? Yes. Surprise? No. I mean, it’s pretty much gonna be one or the other. I have a hard time picturing myself going, “holy cow! A girl? Are you serious? What are the chances of that?” or “boy?? I never in a million years would have guessed!” And I think it would be equally surprising at the ultrasound.
What are you going to name it?
We have some ideas, but they are staying under wraps and away from the ears of people who aren’t afraid to voice their opinions! We are taking suggestions, however, because it’s still fun to talk about.
Are you excited?
Beyond belief. Scared, worried, mindful that pregnancy is a miracle that doesn’t always result in holding a little baby in your arms, but thrilled that we have the opportunity to be parents.
Congratulations! It’s funny, I don’t know you at all, but we seem to have a few things in common. For example I’m 14 wks (13 by LMP, 14 by head size from the ultrasound, 15 by femur size, so we’re going with the average of 14 wks, which, based on my chart, is most likely).
Anyway, I don’t want to find out, either – partly because my mother never did and that just seems like how it ought to be, and partly because (like you) we plan on having a big family, and I want gender neutral stuff that we can re-use for years.
Well, anyway Congratulations!!
Congrats!!
I came across your blog searching for interstitial cystitis as, lucky me I have had it for two years now. Gotta love that never ending urge to pee! So, I’m 36 weeks pg. and wondering for the life of me how you’re able to eat bananas and yogurt?! Don’t they cause a flare for you? Are you still on meds? I went off of my elavil and have been having the worst time since around 23 weeks. Ugh! Almost over. Anyway, glad you’re doing well.
Rachael
Have you tried eating bananas? I didn’t for the first year I was diagnosed. Then they came out with the new diet list and explained why bananas were OK. The only time I had tried them was in the form of banana bread, which made me flare. Apparently, you shouldn’t eat really ripe bananas because they have a higher level of something that makes you flare.
I am fine with yogurt if I check the ingredients. Usually just vanilla yogurt, and sometimes blueberry. Brown cow brand doesn’t have any acid, and neither does Chobani. (The stuff my husband bought last had lemon juice in it. Silly. I ate it anyway. I was desperate!)
No meds for me. My doctor advised going of elavil immediately and I have never taken Elmiron. Congrats to you! I’d love to hear how your delivery goes. Are you doing a c-section or epidural or natural?
Not having a kid anytime soon, but #2 seems compelling enough to me. Congratulations!