Surprise!

Now that I have a smidge more energy, I thought it was about time I documented this wild ride called pregnancy that Ryan and I have been on for the last 14 weeks.  First off, let me say that one can never be fully prepared for all the effects that pregnancy has on your body.

Silly me thought that I could try.

I've always been one to "plan" my life and do it in segments.  Maybe it came from playing the game of Life too much as a child, I don't know.  High school, then college, then job, then married, then house, then babies...never overlapping.  Well, I did pretty well.  We'll just have to switch the last two.  I've always liked to prepare myself for each segment in life as well.  So, naturally, when the thought of babies we're part of me and Ryan's conversations, I started to prepare.  Prenatal vitamins with extra B6 for nausea, stepped up my exercise routine with the thought of continuing that straight through pregnancy (ha!), slathering my belly with cocoa butter, etc...  Turns out most of that was shot to you-know-where (except the prenatals, I still manage to take those).

So one Thursday morning I started feeling "different."  I was at work, sitting in my cubicle, and noticed that I was slightly dizzy and felt like I couldn't quite catch my breath.  So I went over to Ryan's cube and mentioned this to him and he said it was probably nothing and I should just take it easy after work.  Friday came and went, too, with still the same symptoms, and I just kept telling myself it was nothing and I'm fine.  The idea of pregnancy never even entered my mind at this point.  So Saturday morning, with still the same symptoms, I decided I was being ridiculous in thinking something was wrong with me and decided to run 3 miles to prove a point.  Well I made it all the way through, although it was definitely harder than it had previously been.  But at least now I could safely assume nothing was wrong with me.

Monday came, still with the same symptoms and although I kept telling myself I was fine, I started getting even more dizzy and breathless.  This was then accompanied by some panic.  Feeling like you can't breathe sucks.  So I freak out, tell Ryan, and we leave work and head for the doctor.  First thing the doctor says, "Sounds like you're pregnant."  What?!?  Pregnant?  I thought all you get with pregnancy is morning sickness?  Now pregnancy was in my mind...and more freaking out followed.  I hadn't fully prepared myself yet!  The doctor also said another possibility was my thyroid (I've always had thyroid issues) or low iron.  So he ran tests.  Pregnancy test came back negative and my thyroid and iron were both low.  So he upped my thyroid dosage and told me to take iron supplements.  Ok, I can handle that.  Three days later after doing both, I still felt like something was wrong.  I don't consider myself a hypochondriac, but I just felt like there was something else.  Ryan suggested maybe taking one more pregnancy test since the doctor mentioned that we should try one more toward the end of the week.  Friday, before work, I took one again and wouldn't you know...there were two pink lines this time.

Surprise!  Baby Hammers was on the way!  Some relief came over me as I now knew what was "wrong" with me.  That relief was then immediately followed by a mixture of panic and excitement at the thought of having a baby.  Mostly panic at this point, but that changes later...as you'll see.  :)