1 Month Pregnant! 2010

0-2 Weeks, Mid-to-Late July 2010

For those of you who don't know, since it's difficult to pinpoint when the magic happens, doctors typically count all the time when it would be even theoretically possible. That means that usually one to two weeks are counted when there is probably no baby or even egg present. So 0- 2 Weeks (in mid-July) are largely irrelevant except that I had been hoping to get pregnant that month so I started a twitter account for the potential baby. (Yes, my baby has a pre-birth twitter account, and yes, I know how absurd I am.)

But then, my dad got sick, and I figured it wasn't going to happen after all this month. The morning after I returned from the first hospital visit, I got so dizzy I almost passed out. I figured it was the stress of the event, but now I think it could have been stress or a pregnancy symptom, or both.  Things were so sad and awful in July, that I couldn't concentrate on anything else.

Around 2 weeks, before I even knew I was pregnant, my appetite increased, but luckily I was mainly interested in healthy food. Well, except for ice cream, but ice cream suddenly seemed incomplete without milk mixed into it. Runny milkshake anyone? Kevin assumed (feared!) I just wanted an excuse to eat more. Also, that week, Kevin and I reached 4 years together, and just a little over 1 year married.

Boston, July 31, 2010 - Is it possible to show immediately?

When we were in Boston and Marblehead, my body started feeling strange, but I did not think too much of it until the symptoms persisted. (It's hard to discuss pregnancy symptoms without quickly delving into TMI, and I have decided to err on the side of somewhat tasteful but incomplete.)

Milestones: Baby went from zygote (fertilized egg) to blastocyst. Once it implants it will be an embryo.
Cravings: Milky milkshakes, wasabi peas
Symptoms: Increased appetite, dizziness?, TMI

3 Weeks, August 1-7, 2010
Then I had a little more dizziness. I felt like I had slightly pulled a muscle in my abdomen. During that week I became sleepier and sleepier, until on Friday, I slept from 9:30 p.m., to 9:30 a.m. the next morning. After that, I routinely napped and went to bed early whenever I could. By now, I was 80-85% sure, a percent I arrived at when Kevin questioned me to see how much I was getting my hopes up. Still, I did not have the more classic symptoms you hear about such as being nauseated.

On Saturday, August 7, we spent the day at the beach and we returned, I could not hold out to take a test. Even though the baby was planned, Kevin still looked surprised and maybe a little confused. According to the books, the baby should have looked somewhat fish-like at this point, so I drew a fish in its twitter account. ><)))*> I started referring to the baby as Poppy Seed, based on its approximate size.

Milestones: Positive pregnancy test, the baby is an embryo now with cells rapidly dividing.
Cravings: Milky milkshakes, salt, salad, nuts
Symptoms: Extreme sleepiness, dizziness, slight abdominal pain
Baby-size: Poppyseed

4 Weeks, August 8-14, 2010
This week started with my dad's brain radiosurgery.  Under normal circumstances, my mother probably would have noticed my 4 trips to the bathroom in 4 hours.  I didn't like keeping the secret from them, but it wasn't a good time to share the news.   The baby was perhaps about two weeks old at this point, and it had been an extremely difficult two weeks for my family and would continue for months.  Reading Origins definitely makes me nervous about the effect of these weeks of sadness on the baby.

I started referring to the baby as Sesame Seed based on its approximate size.  Kevin researched the best OB/GYN in all of Long Island.  Of course, he did. The hormone headaches came on with a vengeance.

Sonoma, August 13, 2010

We went to San Francisco for Jeff and Inga's wedding, and instead of adjusting to the time difference I went to bed at 7 pm and got up at 8 am PST. Yes, that's 13 hours of sleep.  Kevin and I discussed potential baby names while waiting for the San Francisco trolley.  It was such a long wait that we picked out names we're fairly confident about, but it's a secret for now.  Food tasted amazing.  It felt as though my pulse went up.  Since the baby's heart was supposed to start beating this week, I drew a heart on twitter.

Ericka, October 31, 1979

I bought the baby's first outfit in Chinatown, inspired by a little outfit I had when I was a baby.  Walking long distances, which is what we mostly did in San Francisco, was fairly painful in the abdominal region, and brought on some nausea. Apparently, this also made me very grouchy.

In wine country, I found creative ways to avoid wine so no one would notice, but I am told that Briggs, Cory, and Robin noticed anyway. (Okay, I sipped a tiny amount of the delicious pinot noir at the wedding, but the NY Times says that's better for the baby anyhow.)

Milestones: Picking a boy name and a girl name, baby's first outfit- Chinese shirt, pants, and shoes!
Craving: Nuts (and San Francisco's clam chowder and sourdough)
Symptoms: Extreme sleepiness, headaches, abdominal pain when walking long distances, all food tasting delicious, some nausea
Baby-size: Sesame seed
Weight gain: 1 pound