Week 9 of the JellyBean Progression

Week 9

First prenatal appointment today. Mr. F and I discussed and have decided to keep the same OBGYN office as last time, even though they only deliver at Rose & that’s where the office is. Rose was very conveniently located when we lived in the condo – only a 3 mile, ten minute drive. Now that we’re out in the ‘burbs, it’s about 13 miles or a half hour-ish drive. Mr. F said it was fine with him as long as it was fine with me, since I’m going to be the one in labor for the half hour drive.

This time around it will also be different because when I was pregnant with Peanut, I was working from home full time. Now I’m in the office three days a week. That makes it easier to schedule and get to prenatal appointments as long as I plan it for one of the days I’m at the office. But they also have a South office not too far from home if I need to go on an off day.

The bad thing is that I won’t be able to wear sweatpants every day or take pantsless naps at will like I did with Peanut. But it will be good going in to the office and seeing people and wearing fun maternity clothes and in general being more active while pregnant.

So the prenatal visit went great – they’re guessing I’m about 9 weeks, due sometime between July 5 and 11. Maybe we’ll have a 4^th of July baby! Everything looks good, they did an ultrasound and I could see the little heartbeat fluttering and the yolk sac. The yolk sac is there for nutrition while I’m growing the placenta. Incidentally, the growing of the placenta is one reason I’m so tired all the time. They say that a pregnant woman lying down is working harder, metabolism going faster, etc. than a non-pregnant woman working out.

Anyhow, even though I know it’s impossible to get a false positive on a pregnancy test, there was still this little nagging disbelief in the back of my mind that I was actually pregnant again. Once again, it was so easy and I had been sure that it being so easy the first time was a fluke. Thank goodness I have always been, ahem, careful because apparently I get pregnant at the drop of a hat. Or something. Anyway, it was good to have the ultrasound give me visual proof that there is indeed a little JellyBean in there. I also got a couple of ultrasound pictures to take home and a little “goodie” bag with a bunch of coupons and junk and I’m supposed to go back in 3 weeks for my 12 week visit.

So last time, I accidentally spilled the beans early because I had my camera out at my birthday party and it had a picture of me with the pregnancy test on it and my nosy cousins saw it. Plus we had already had a family trip to Vegas planned and I knew my in laws would know something was up when I wasn’t drinking, so everybody found out pretty early on.

This time around, we’ve so far only told my cousin H3 and her husband and plan on waiting to tell the rest of the family around 12 weeks, which means we get to do it at Christmas. Yay! However, I’m sure my mummy-in-law and at least one sis-in-law have taken note that I didn’t drink on Thanksgiving or at MIL’s birthday dinner and so have probably already sussed it out. As H3 said, anybody who knows me would notice my sudden ceasing of both diet Coke AND wine and have a clue. Heh.

We found out I was pregnant so early last time – like two weeks – so this time I’m already amazed at how far along JellyBean is! S/he is already the size of a grape and the tadpole tail is already gone. Aww, I never had time to be concerned that I was growing a frog in there.

Coming soon: Fantastic 2.0

A week or so ago, I took a pregnancy test since I was starting to have some similar symptoms from when I was pregnant with Fletch. Unfortunately, just missing my period isn’t a good indicator of pregnancy or not – due to my PCOS, my cycle is unpredictable and it’s not unheard of for me to go 8 weeks in between.

However, I’d been feeling really tired – like, the idea of going to bed at 7:30 (or even 4:30, when I got home from work!) was really appealing. And I started getting crops of zits on both my forehead and neck. At least with Fletch, my skin was kind enough to take turns on where the crops were located.

So anyway, I took this test and got an “inconclusive” result. Like the result I got was one of the three YOU DID IT WRONG pictures in the instructions. So I must not have peed on the stick long enough or something. Seriously, I don’t know how you screw up a pregnancy test, but if it’s possible, you know I will do it. In my defense, this was an old test, the one left in the box from when I tested positive with Fletch. So perhaps it was an expired test and not operator error.

A couple days ago, I sent Mr. Fantastic to the Dollar Store to pick up another test for me. I have to digress and say that you should never, ever buy your pregnancy test at the regular grocery store again. Even the cheapie, store-brand ones are like seven bucks at Safeway. But you can get ‘em for ONE DOLLAR at the dollar store! Last time we were in the dollar store, we saw the display of pregnancy tests at the register and commented on it to the cashier and she said we would not believe how many of those they sold – it’s one of their highest revenue generators. Mr. F and I thought that was pretty funny, but you know the minute we needed one, that’s where we went.

So I got out one of my dollar pee tests this morning and checked to make sure it was all sealed and not expired or anything (‘cause you just never know when you’re buying something at the dollar store – caveat emptor!). This one was not a pee-on-the stick kind; instead, I had to pee in a cup and then use a little pipette to suck up the pee and carefully drip four drops in the little circle. Just like high school chemistry! (Um, for certain values of high school experience.) Mr. LaRue would be proud of me; I didn’t spill a drop. I think this way is actually easier than trying to pee on the stick for ten seconds and also much cleaner (for me, anyway; I somehow cannot manage not to pee on my hand as well.)

Without delay, the little pregnant line came up – no inconclusive result here! I didn’t even have to wait 3 seconds, let alone 3 minutes. But in that three seconds, whoosh…my whole life changed again. The major difference this time is that I don’t feel nearly as scared as when we found out about Fletch. This time I feel like an old pro! Check me out; I already have one kid who still has all his limbs and stuff. Despite never having had to pass any sort of parental competency test, Mr. F and I have so far done okay by our little Peanut.

We are so excited for this new chapter in our lives! I know it will be hard with two – currently there are moments when little man runs rings around us both, so we have only to hope they don’t wise up and gang up on us at some point. But I am up to the challenge!

I am also looking forward to being pregnant again. For the most part, I really enjoyed pregnancy last time. There were some drawbacks (food aversion, failing the glucose test, ANGRY LADYPARTS) but I know how to deal with all those this time around. Let’s hope there are no new curveballs!

And since it will be a while before we find out if this one’s a boy or a girl, we are calling this one JellyBean until further notice. Cheers to you, JellyBean! Can’t wait to meet you some time next summer.

*Meep-Clench-EEE*

Yesterday I had one of those heart-meltingly wonderful moments with my son that made my whole day...heck, my whole month.

He climbed up on the kitchen chair to hug me, and as he put his head on my chest, I said, "I love you, baby." and clear as day, he replied, "I love you." He's never said it before and generally doesn't string more than 2 words together, but apparently this is something Mr. Fantastic's been working on with him.

What a great feeling. My whole heart went meep-clench-EEE! ♥ This is just one of the many reasons I love being a mom.