Baby's backstory

So, I know that I haven't said much about my pregnancy thus far and here I am a day from half way...so I suppose it is high time to make mention of this momentousness.

Getting Pregnant (This section will talk a lot about my period, if you aren't interested in reading about that, please proceed to the next post.)

Okay, so obviously you all know how the whole making of a baby occurs, so I don't plan to go into that much, but this much I will say. My body has never been the pinnacle of womanly health. In fact, I have often joked that my body can't figure out if it is a little girl or a woman. My whole life, my period has been really inconsistent and sometimes altogether absent. None of the previous doctors that I have ever been to have had much to say on the subject...so it has been an eternal quandary for me.

Anyway, starting in February of this year, my period went on hiatus again. By August, I decided it was time to see a doctor again. I was a bit hesitant seeing as in the past my experience had not been terrific with doctors, but I came by a very highly recommended OBGYN and set an appointment. At that appointment, the doctor discovered that I had hypothyroidism AND annovulation (ie my body couldn't ovulate on its own). She wasn't sure that the two were connected, but she prescribed the medicine for the thyroid and hoped that maybe it would impact my cycle as well. She didn't seem really convinced that it would though. So, she scheduled a lot of other testing, as in, ultrasounds of my girly parts to look for tumors or cysts or whatever else could be a lurkin'.

Because of an insurance situation, I had to put those tests off to the first week of October. So, here I am, last week of August...I start taking the thyroid pill. Life goes on as usual. The goal at the time was just to have a period. September comes. I run in the red rock relay. Last week of September comes, still no period. I am just about 5 days from that battery of testing, and I go on this run with a friend. The whole time, I want to die. The run feels so hard which is bizarre because I had just two weeks earlier run about 15 miles in 24 hours...there was no reason for this run to feel so hard.

That whole day, I felt terrible. I felt achy and tired and just not right. Keep in mind I still have not had a period since February.... so pregnancy doesn't even cross my mind. I mean, I had just been officially diagnosed with the inability to ovulate...so it sure seemed unlikely that I could be pregnant.

By night time, I had just the smallest little bit of spotting. Imagine my elation. Holy crap. I was sure my body had decided to be a woman. It explained EVERYTHING about how I had been feeling that day. I was so excited that I was about to start my period. The medicine was clearly working! I texted my mom and a friend or two letting them know Aunt Flo was well on her way.

As I went to bed that night, however, I had this thought that I should probably take a pregnancy test. I wasn't even sure if we had one, and it was really lucky that we did because if we hadn't, I am not sure when I would have checked. In fact, I may still have no idea that I was pregnant. I am a religious person, and I believe that this baby came from a loving Heavenly Father. I have no doubt that, that same loving Heavenly Father planted this sweet little thought in my head. Had He not, I am fairly certain rather devastating consequences may have resulted from my total lack of pregnancy knowledge. I was gearing up for a half marathon and pushing my body pretty hard... I also know that some of the testing I was about to do could have had a detrimental effect of the babe. So I am very grateful that I had this thought.

However, at the time, it didn't seem significant at all. In fact, it seemed stupid to me to waste a pregnancy test when I still hadn't even had a period. So, I didn't even think to mention to Parker that I was going to take the test in the morning.

Imagine my surprise when I woke up bright and early 6 a.m. Tuesday morning September 27, assumed that grandiose peeing position, glided the test into that stream of unsuspecting urine...and got a smiley face sign 2 minutes later. Say what?

I couldn't believe it. You wouldn't have been able to believe it either. Add to this that we were consciously being "careful" that month too.

Well, I just about lost it. Poor Parker was lulled from the reaches of a pleasant sleep by the horrific noise of my startled scream and the jump as I crash landed on the bed...test in hand...overhead light still off...stick still wet... and waving in Parker's face. I impatiently waited for him to acknowledge if I was indeed insane or if he too saw what I saw... unfortunately, his eyes hadn't quite adjusted to the light or lack of light, and he ultimately requested I just tell him if it was a smiley or not. I told him it was...and then asked if it could be right.

He too was skeptical.

We both spitballed ideas back and forth regarding various contaminants that could have found there way onto the test in that two second interim from peeing to snapping the cap back on, but we ultimately settled on the need for more tests.

So, I went out to the local Dan's grocery store. It is amazing how in these moments, reason shines. I knew instantly that I needed to go to Dan's not Smith's because at Smith's you have to have someone open a case for you to buy a pregnancy test. It was as if my mind was building a foolproof route to pregnancy confirmation success in mere seconds. I will admit that putting contacts in before leaving was tricky. My shaking hands sure didn't quicken the process. Ultimately, I returned 30 dollars poorer and one more positive sure that we were indeed expecting.

And then came the next truly concerning question... how pregnant am I? Not having a period since February made it rather difficult to gage just how far a long I was, but after consult with the calendar. I thought I had a pretty good idea.

So began our baby journey.