Part 3. The Pregnancy

After I got the first positive pregnancy test, I took 2 more in the next 48 hours!! I just needed verification that it was really going to show up again!

Our families knew we were doing the official blood test on Monday, but they had no idea I was going to try to find out ahead of time by using a home pregnancy test! So after the second test, we couldn't wait another minute to tell them! Matt's mom called us on Sunday afternoon. Matt immediately put her on speaker phone and told her the good news! She screamed so loud and was very excited!!

My mom was taking a nap, but I called anyway and woke her up. I told her I took 2 tests and both were positive! Her response was "OH MY"! I bet she said Oh My 15 times!! haha! My dad was on the golf course, so we called him on 3-way and told him the news! He was really excited too! We tried to make them stay calm until we got both blood tests back, just to make sure everything was going the way it was supposed to.

Monday, March 28th: I went in for my first Beta (blood test). I think anything over 15-20 is considered pregnant so I was definitely shocked when they called and told me that mine was 267! I remember wondering if the two embryos had actually both taken! I felt such relief knowing the numbers were so high, that I just burst into tears!

They want the numbers to double every 48 hours, so on Wednesday morning, I had my 2nd Beta test. It was 529, so when it had only doubled I was pretty sure it was just one baby! (Normally when it's multiples, the numbers triple or more!) Despite the results, the rest of my family held out and continued thinking it was going to be two babies!

Matt and I went for the first ultrasound on April 13th. We were so excited and nervous at the same time. As soon as the screen popped up, we saw our ONE miracle baby! I couldn't take my eyes off the screen! Matt really thought there were two, so he spent most of the appointment making sure the tech didn't miss the other one!

I went back 2 weeks later at 8.5 weeks for the medical history appointment and I took a quick peek then too! I was so happy to see that flickering heartbeat again! Heart rate was 154bpm!

The side effects of the first trimester started the first day I took a test! I was instantly hungry, tired, nauseous and had heartburn! Basically every day is the same-- wake up starving and my stomach is bloated, eat 2 pieces of toast, feel like I am dying of heartburn, go to work, need to eat again and try to make it through the day. But most days I have to lay down on the futon at work and take a nap. Then I would come home and crash! I would eat and lay in bed all night. Before bed, I drank Maalox, made sure I had snacks beside my bed and laid on 2 pillows to prop me up. A few nights, I used a neck travel-pillow to help get comfortable, since it hurt to lay on my side! It wasn't the most comfortable sleep, but at least I slept. Sometime in the night, I had to get up and pee and eat a snack! Then get up and do it all over again!

I was nauseous all day but only threw up one night after I ate mexican food! I was so thankful to not throw up everyday like I had prepared myself to do!

The progesterone shots continued nightly until I was 10 weeks. I think that was the main cause for a lot of the exhaustion. But the extreme fatigue set-in around 9 weeks and lasted until the day I turned 12 weeks! I seriously have never felt that kind of fatigue. Poor Matt barely saw me because when he got home from work, I was normally passed out!

I am pretty proud of myself for all the shots that I had to do. I had at least 1 shot a day from February 18th to May 6th! I've always heard that when you want something bad enough, you will do anything... and that is so true for me with the shots!!

I didn't get to share this in my Easter post, but when my parents came up that weekend, my mom brought a lot of goodies for "Baby T"!!! In fact, our sweet child already has a few gifts thanks to my family, Matt's mom and several friends. I'm afraid this baby is going to be spoiled!

I also took my first "belly" shot that weekend! ha! I was only 8 weeks so there really wasn't much but bloating! :)

By 12 weeks, most of the nausea was gone and I really started feeling better. At 12.5 weeks, on May 25th, we got to see the baby again! It's heart rate was 149 bpm this time!

I can't look at this picture enough! I am absolutely in love with that sweet face and that little hand!!

This one is funny because it's looking right at us!

By 13-14 weeks, I really felt like myself -- other than the growing belly!! I honestly wanted and meant to take a picture each week after 8 weeks, but that just didn't happen! I guess I was just so tired...but I'm not going to miss a week from now on! So this is my official 14 week picture!!

I will start my weekly post/picture with 15 weeks next week!! Yay!!