Pre-first doctor's visit thoughts

November 30, 2011

My first doctor’s appointment is tomorrow.  Well, actually it’s really just an appointment with a nurse to confirm the pregnancy and go over family history.  Aaron’s coming with me.  I figured it would be best to have him join – after all, the baby is half his, so they probably want his family history too.  It’s so weird, until the doctor confirms it, I’m having a hard time believing it’s real.  I have this irrational fear that I’ll show up and they’ll do whatever test it is they do and then say “what are you doing here?  You’re not pregnant!”  I even took a second home pregnancy test today to double check that I still got the same result (yes, I did).

But then, I think about the symptoms that I am already experiencing, and there really can’t be any doubt (even without the double verification of the hpk).  I have a new found super human sense of smell.  It’s amazing (both in a good and a bad way)!  I walked into the bathroom when I got home tonight and noticed a funny smell – turns out, it was Aaron’s mouth guard sitting in the denture cleaner he uses every day.  That has been the same situation in our bathroom every day since he got the mouthguard 3 years ago, but now, all of a sudden I can smell it!

I’m not getting full blown morning sickness yet.  But I have found that if I am not constantly eating, I get a little queasy.  My hour-long commute in the morning is really not fun – so this morning, I made myself a protein shake and sipped it the whole way, and I was fine.  Triscuits are my new best friend!  I just eat them throughout the day, and that helps to stave off hunger.  Speaking of hunger, the most uncomfortable symptom I have right now is sudden, extreme hunger.  I’m not really used to feeling hungry at all, so this one threw me a curve ball.  But it seems like if I don’t eat every hour or so, I get super crazy hungry – hungry to the point of nausea and shakiness!  This is where the triscuits become my best friend.

The most annoying symptom is the exhaustion.  It’s 10pm as I type this, and I can barely keep my eyes open.  I usually go to bed around midnight, and wake up at 6.  Lately, it’s been more like fall asleep on the couch around 9:30 or 10 and then wake up at 5.  From what I understand, all of my symptoms are only going to get worse before they get better.  Lucky me!

December 4, 2011

I went to the gym for the first time since finding out I was pregnant today . . . and it felt good!  I was so relieved!  I’ve been so exhausted and hungry that I was terrified that 15 minutes into the elliptical, I would want to pass out – but I didn’t!  I did get more tired than usual by the end of my 30 minutes, though – but nothing I can’t handle.  Oh, and Aaron came with me to the gym.  Ever since we found out, he’s been trying to eat healthier and get more exercise.  The running gag is that as my waistline expands, he wants his to contract.  J

We had our first doctor’s appointment last week . . . well, it wasn’t actually with a doctor.  It was with the intake nurse.  She weighed me (on a scale that looks like the scales at the vet, I might add – not exactly a comforting feeling, considering that I know I will be getting much bigger over the next 9 months!), and took a family history from both Aaron and I.  Then she sent us down to the lab for tests.  I had to chug a brightly colored glucose drink that tasted like Gatorade and then wait an hour for blood tests.  I’ve heard of the glucose test before – they use it to test for gestational diabetes, but from all my friends who have been pregnant, that test usually comes much later in the pregnancy.  Perhaps they wanted to get a baseline to see if it changes?  They took about 8 vials of blood from my little arm!  Now I know why I am not allowed to donate blood!  8 vials from a person as small as me is a big deal.  I was super delirious as Aaron took me out to dinner at El Torito to help me recover.

My first appointment with the real doctor is December 20.  They’re going to do the first ultrasound at that appointment . . . just in time to get extra prints for the parents for Xmas presents!  I really can’t wait to tell my mom.  I just want to be able to talk to her about all these early symptoms and compare notes with how she remembers it being for her.  I want to complain to her and have my mommy make it all better!  Holy bejeezus – that’s going to be me eventually!  I’m going to be the mommy that makes it all better?  Does that wisdom get imparted magically?

And . . . now I’m hungry again.  Off to get a snack.