The secret's out, mostly

Apparently I'm not so great about blogging when I know I don't have an audience! Or it may be that there just isn't much to say about being pregnant right now. In the last week or so we've told a bunch of our friends and family, and as of today we're telling those who already know that it's fine to spread the word. Such good secret-keepers our friends and family have proved to be -- for the most part! I'm also planning to post it on my "real" blog and on Facebook today. You know, nothing's official until it hits Facebook.

There's a lot going on with the baby -- he or she is the size of a green olive right now -- but I still can't tell much. My tiredness seems a little better, which actually makes me a little nervous since it's my only indisputable pregnancy symptom. I've also noticed in the past week or so a tendency toward queasiness when I'm really hungry, especially at night. It's not nausea -- I never feel like I'm going to throw up -- it's more like my blood sugar's way off. It goes away as soon as I eat so I'm just learning to not postpone dinner (or to eat a snack if I have to wait on Matt).

I had another doctor's appointment on Monday, but it was uneventful. I didn't see the doctor, have an ultrasound or even get weighed, which made me happy, the appointment coming as it did on the heels of Thanksgiving. The entire point of the visit was to gather my medical history and take blood for a basic prenatal workup -- I'm not sure what that tests for. I also got a flu shot, which I wasn't sure about -- I usually don't get one -- but the nurse promised that there's no potential harm to the baby, that I wouldn't get the flu from it and that I do not want to be pregnant with the flu (as she was). So I got the shot.

The best thing to come from the appointment was a boatload of free prenatal vitamins. The ones my doctor prescribed had no generic and were pricey -- like $45 for a 30-day supply. I asked the nurse for something comparable with a generic, but she said the one I was using was really the best because it has DHA (?) which I guess is very important for the baby but not all prenatals have. But then she gave me a 50-day supply of samples of the good stuff! So that'll do me for awhile.

My next appointment is on the 16th and I'll get to see the doctor but not have another ultrasound. I think we might get to hear the heartbeat, but it might be a little early -- I've heard you can definitely hear it by week 12. I actually don't think I get another ultrasound until the one where we find out the sex, unless a problem arises. But as long as we can hear the heartbeat I'm OK with waiting on the ultrasound.

Called out

I was worried it was inevitable, and it happened last night: I got called out for not drinking and subsequently "discovered" as pregnant. We were at a birthday party for our friend Wendi. While we knew everyone there, most of them are casual acquaintances, not good friends. A lot of them go to the same gym as us but they're definitely a crowd we would have expected to tell about the baby in, say, another month. Not how it went down.

First of all, before we'd even arrived Wendi had opened a bottle of white wine just for me. Apparently everyone else there prefers red wine, beer or bloody Marys, so the white just sat there opened and full. She kept trying to force it on me and I kept trying to put her off without being obvious. I'd run a 10k race that morning and was trying to play the "I'm dehydrated/just need water for now" card. I could tell she wasn't quite buying it, but there was a lot going on and she didn't pursue it.

Then this guy Thomas, whom we don't know well at all, came up to me.

Thomas: Why aren't you drinking tonight?
Me: I don't know, I just don't feel like it. I need water tonight. I don't really drink much anyway.
Thomas: Uh-huh. Or is there something you're waiting to tell us?
Me: No ...
Thomas: A little CrossFit baby on the way?

I am the world's worst liar, so I just shook my head and walked away but apparently that was not a good cover because he grabbed my arm and said "Aha!"

Luckily right after that we started playing Pictionary, boys versus girls, so I was safe with the girls where he couldn't pursue his questioning. But a few hours later, when we were leaving, he shook Matt's hand.

Thomas (stage whisper): Congratulations, man. I won't say a word!
Wendi (overhearing, because that was really loud): What's he congratulating you for?
Thomas: Oh ... they just ... had a really good workout yesterday, that's all.
Wendi: You're pregnant, aren't you.

Thanks, Captain Obvious.

So we're definitely telling our grandparents this week. I just don't want them to hear it from anyone else, and too many people know now. Not that any of them probably know our grandparents. But word travels like wildfire in this town.

Slippery slope

There's a weird thing happening here that I don't know how to avoid, and that is that I've had to announce my pregnancy to some people who barely qualify as acquaintances, yet most of our friends and even our grandparents don't have a clue yet.

For example: The day it finally sank in that I was pregnant (around day 4 of at-home positives) I had an appointment for a cavity filling that afternoon. I knew they'd be numbing my mouth and I wasn't sure whether that was OK for the baby. I googled it and got with mixed responses, but several sites said it's better to wait until the second trimester for fillings, so I decided to play it safe.

I called to reschedule my appointment. Unfortunately, in order to not be charged for the missed appointment (I didn't give 24 hours' notice) I had to have a really good explanation. I told the receptionist that I had found out just that morning that I was pregnant and that in fact she was the third person on the planet to know. Which is odd. Then I begged her not to say anything to anyone -- all of Matt's family goes to the same dentist.

It happened again today. I was supposed to play on a tennis league next spring and practices are starting now and I guess I could have waited but I felt like I should tell the coach so she'd have enough time to replace me -- she's already short two players.

This doesn't even count all the acquaintances who work at my doctor's office -- but hopefully HIPAA laws are a strong enough incentive for them to keep quiet.

Tiny town

It's so hard to keep a secret in this town. When I went to the doctor for my initial blood test to confirm pregnancy, who did I run into but my grandparents! I couldn't believe it. I just told them I was there for some bloodwork, and they didn't know we were in baby-making mode so they weren't suspicious. So not suspicious that my grandmother thought nothing of mentioning that she'd seen me there to everyone at Sunday lunch the next week (I wasn't there).

My mom had randomly announced to me a couple of weeks earlier -- on the very day of conception, it turned out -- that she had a feeling I was pregnant. Even after I found out I was, Matt and I didn't plan to tell ANYONE except Amanda (I had to tell her!), until at least eight weeks or so. But after this Sunday-lunch announcement, my mom pulled Amanda aside and asked her point-blank if she knew of any reason why I'd be getting bloodwork. Amanda tried to play it cool but immediately called me to give me a heads-up that Mom was suspicious.

That's when Matt and I decided just to tell a few people -- our parents, his brothers and Carrie, and a handful of our very closest friends. We still haven't even told our grandparents. :) By Thanksgiving we're going to be less careful about it and by Christmas everyone will know.

Back to the tiny town for a second -- my experience was not nearly as bad as Carrie's. I went with her to the doctor for the blood test to confirm her pregnancy and as we were checking out we ran into our mother-in-law. Carrie was holding a huge bag of samples of prenatal vitamins and booklets. Our mother-in-law saw us and waved and we turned around and bolted. Needless to say, she figured out pretty fast that one of us was with child and Carrie and Jacob had announced it to the family within a week.