So as most of you know by now, Matt and I have done the deed and are expecting Lottes Baby #1 November 1st, 2009. It will be the first grandchild for both families so everyone is pretty excited. Life hasn't changed much for us yet. I did suffer from morning sickness (which should be called all day sickness) for about a month. I never puked but often felt the urge and couldn't stand going into the kitchen. I've had some strange food cravings....like really wanting meat, sauerkraut, fish but really not wanting nachos, pizza and any other junk food. I guess these cravings might be a good thing?! Now the morning sickness is gone and I've finally gotten over the bad cold I've been fighting for the past two weeks....longest I've ever been sick in my life. That's why we've been calling this baby the Leech. It's stealing all my energy, my nutrients and my health. But I guess it's worth it. Now that I'm pregnant I have a really good excuse to sit around and do absolutely nothing all day. Matt has to rub my feet when I ask and the dogs are even letting me sleep in on weekends. Life is good!
So far I've had a couple of appointments at the birthing center. The first was to confirm my pregnancy. It was on the morning of February 27th. I was having a shower and noticed certain parts of my body were tender and sore. I kind of laughed to myself and thought, "Wouldn't it be ironic if I was pregnant now, right after I arranged to get a puppy?!" My friend, Dawn was heading to the Yukon and the plan was for her to pick me up a little sled dog to add to my collection. My mom had sent up some boxes of pregnancy tests so I decided to give one a try. I unwrapped the stick and accidentally peed all over it. Immediately the plus sign appeared, burning pink. I stared down at it and was pretty sure I had screwed up the test by peeing all over the thing. Just then the phone rang. Normally no one calls us in the morning. Matt was in Arviat at a teacher's conference so I thought maybe it was him.
"Hello?" "Hi Mom...Oh crap, I just did a pregnancy test and it's positive but I peed all over the thing so I think I screwed it up....Yeah I have another one....OK I'll go do it....I'll call you this afternoon, I gotta go to work." I can't remember what the reason was for her call but it's like she had some sixth sense about it. Right away the tonne of her voice changed and I could tell she was so happy. Me on the other hand....I was trying not to freak out. I wanted a puppy!
So I went back into the bathroom and tried again. This time I was really careful to aim. I watched as the pee soaked up the strip and sure enough the pink line magically turned into a plus right before my eyes. I sat it down and continued getting ready for work. I took the dogs out for a walk and refused to accept reality. When I got to work I told my boss the situation. She immediately gave me a big hug and was screaming and jumping around the office. Then she said just go over to the birthing center and they'll tell you what to do. So I walked over and met with a midwife. I told her the story and she was really calm and handed me another test. I carefully peed on this one too and again the positive sign. By now I was sure and beginning to get a little excited. The midwife said Yup you're pregnant, we'll see you again in another month, and that was that. Having babies is a very normal thing up here. Matt and I were actually harassed for not having kids yet. His students would ask him everyday...."Why don't you have kids yet?" None of our friends from back home have kids. We're still young and free and just starting to have some extra money......why would we want kids??? But I suppose it kind of gets to you when all the women talk about their kids and their kids kids and their kids kids kids, they kind of brainwash you into wanting them. Don't come up North if you don't want to have kids...you'll end up with them somehow!
Anyway, Matt called me at lunch to let me know he'd be back that evening. I told him I had a surprise for him. I knew he thought I got a puppy. My parents called and I told them the news. My dad was freaking out. My sister told me he went around the living room giving high fives to everyone. I felt kind of guilty because it seemed like everyone else knew but Matt. When Matt got home I acted normal. He sat down on the couch and talked about how cute the kids were at the house where he was staying all week. I was trying to figure out a funny way to tell him. I went into the kitchen and brought out a bottle of wine. Then I grabbed the pregnancy test strip and placed it inside a wine glass, minus the wine....by this time the pee was dry and the cap was on so it actually wasn't that gross. I told Matt to close his eyes and handed him the glass. I think he guessed it right away because he didn't even look at the little sign. He was so happy, I was so happy, the dogs were prancing around, mostly because they wanted to go out for a run. So that's how it happened....the beginnings of Lottes Baby #1.
The days went by and I kept checking my stomach to see if it was getting any bigger. So far so good. We went to the birthing center for our first appointment on the 9th of March. We really had no idea what to expect. The midwife was really nice and asked us a lot of questions. After that she said she'd need to take some blood and then do a physical...no problem. So she grabbed the needle and vials and asked me how I am with needles. I said totally fine....which I normally am.....I pumped my fists and she looked at my bulging veins and said this will be a piece of cake....then she continued to poke and prod me for what seemed like an eternity. I guess my veins are really elastically and like to roll or something because she had a real hard time with that. Finally she switched arms and managed to get a vein after some more prodding around. As she was filling up the vials I felt all life drain from me. Matt said I looked totally white and I was sure I was going to faint. Luckily she finished up and I managed to keep my composure. After that appointment I'm a little weary of needles but told I'll be seeing many different midwives so hopefully for the next blood test I'll get a different one or my veins will co-operate. We made the next appointment for April 6th. On Thursday, the 12th, I was sitting in the classroom, listening to the radio, when I heard my name and a phone number. I called and it turned out to be the hospital. They wanted to know if I wanted to have an ultrasound. I was surprised. I didn't think it would be so soon. I was like sure, what the heck. I called Matt to let him know but he was in the middle of a class so I said not to worry...it's not like they're going to draw blood or anything! I walked over to the hospital and met with the ultrasound technician. We went into a tiny room, which I think is usually used as a closet but was now full with a laptop and big screen monitor and some satellite equipment. I guess they wanted to test their telehealth connection with the doctors in Ottawa and I was kind of their guinea pig. I jumped up on the bed and the lady lubed up my stomach. Then she began sliding the machine around. It felt really nice and I watched the screen, waiting to see this baby. She had on a headset and was talking to the doctor in Ottawa. I looked at the monitor but all I could see was the doctor's left arm on his desk. It reminded me of Doctor Claw from Inspector Gadget. Suddenly she was like oh yeah there it is. Wow it's really small, let me enlarge it....you see there's your baby...there's its heart beating. I looked at the black and white fuzz on the screen and was like...oh yeah, neat but I had no clue what she was pointing to. She measured the length of the embryo and said it was 6 weeks and 4 days. Technology eh? She printed me up a picture of the little fuzzy blob and sent me on my way. That evening when Matt got home I showed it to him. I guess it wasn't just me.
Last Monday, the 6th, we had our second visit to the birthing center. I was happy to see it was a different midwife, and even happier when she said she wasn't going to draw blood. She asked me how I was doing and I said horrible. I had been sick for over a week and not able to sleep. I begged her to give me something but she insisted I stay away from all those medicines. I was pissed. But then she got me to hop up on the table and whipped out the Doppler. This is a little machine that magnifies sounds and after a little prodding we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat....well it was technically the fluids flowing through the umbilical cord, but it was still kind of cool. At least now we knew for sure I didn't kill it after my spill skijoring last week, or the fall I took with the dog sled on the weekend or the constant hacking for the past two weeks. We made our next appointment for May 7th...after Pakalaak Tyme.
So as of today I'm 11 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good...now that my cold is over. My appetite and energy have returned so I've started cooking and biking once again! I've had lots of time now to get over my bitterness of not getting a puppy and am now looking at rocking chairs at Costco and videos on Youtube of how to clean cloth diapers. We are learning to appreciate all the quiet and free time we have now and sleeping in on the weekends.
Also a word of advice....don't look up videos on child birth when you're pregnant...I thought it would be better to know what to expect...now I fully understand the expression "ignorance is bliss"! Episiotomy...what???
With the help of computer rendering software this is what Lottes Baby #1 might look like. I'll try and get some audio of the heart beating at our next appointment. Time to run the dogs....
