Slight symptoms

The other day I wrote that I haven't experienced any pregnancy symptoms at all, other than tiredness. But as I thought about that later I realized it's not quite true.

Before I even knew I was pregnant, as early as a week after conception, I noticed smells everywhere I went. Not in a bad way or a good way -- they were just much more noticeable than usual. I'd walk into a room and the first thing I'd think was, It smells like [whatever] in here. That lasted only a week or so for me.

Yesterday Carrie gave me one of her pregnancy books, appropriately titled "I'm Pregnant!," and it said a heightened sense of smell is commonly the first sign of pregnancy. For most people, I think it stays strong and is accompanied by food aversions, cravings and morning sickness. But for me it just died down.

Also, Matt informed me yesterday that I've been snapping at him a lot lately. I have to admit this surprised me because I haven't been aware of being irritable in general and definitely not around him. And I've been on the lookout for it, especially since Amanda, who's 18 weeks pregnant, has been irritable for much of her pregnancy. I wonder if I'm snapping at anyone else without realizing it. I may have to issue a blanket apology when we go public with the baby news.

Finally, my boobs are a little tender. Nothing like every other pregnant woman's seem to be -- they definitely couldn't be described as painful. They're not even as sore as they usually are during PMS. But the extra tenderness has been there constantly for, oh, about a month now.

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.

Blueberry

So I've decided to start yet another blog, this one documenting the baby that is currently masquereding as a blueberry-size bundle of cells in my stomach. This blog may become defunct in a few weeks when we go public with the pregnancy news, but on the other hand, it may not. I'd hate for my regular blog to become consumed with baby blabber because I know how boring that is to everyone else.

Let's see. Here's how it happened. Well, you know how it happened, but without going into THOSE details, here's how it went down. We started thinking about a baby last year and I went off the pill in preparation. I had been on the pill for about six or seven years, and more than a few of my friends who'd been on the pill for a similar length of time had found it took up to a year for them to start ovulating again. Sure enough, my body took until around April of this year to get back on a regular cycle, which surprised me, because I always take everything for granted.

By that time we were excited about the idea of having a baby because we'd found out Matt's brother and his wife were pregnant and due in November. Still, we told very few people we were trying. One of the people we did tell was Lib, who recommended a book called "Taking Charge of Your Fertility." It outlines "fertility awareness method," or FAM, which is simple to implement and effective for either avoiding or achieving pregnancy.

So now we knew how to time baby sex, but our plans kept being foiled! In April I was in New York with Mom and Amanda during the crucial days. In July we were sharing a two-bedroom beach condo with about a dozen other people and didn't have a moment alone. In September I was halfway across the country for work. It almost was the same story in October, but Matt managed to arrange a trip with his dad and brother to accomodate the baby-making window, and bingo -- 'twas a baby in my belly.