Surprise! (Surprise?)

Ok, this probably doesn’t come as all that much of a surprise…

I’m pregnant!

I’m sure that you all have all sorts of questions, so let me attempt to guess about what a few of them might be and then answer them for you.

Did you plan this? You do know where babies come from, right?

Yes, this baby was 100% planned and 0% an accident. The timing probably looks a bit suspicious… we did just get married just a few months ago. But we’ve been together for 6+ years and we’d already had lots of conversations about kids. I just turned 30 and I didn’t want to wait too much longer. Plus, apparently, we’re really, really, really fertile. We made the decision to start trying and then…  5 weeks later I was peeing on a stick and thinking about baby names. Which might not be such a bad thing, because Kristian didn’t get a chance to change his mind.

When are you due?

August 29th. But I’m told that babies don’t like to make their first appearance on schedule.

How are you feeling? Do you spend all your time puking/peeing/lying on the couch?

All of my female readers will probably hate me for this, but I’ve mostly felt fine. I spent the first 10 weeks or so feeling completely exhausted and not really wanting to leave our couch, but I’ve been to college and I’m in grad school, so I’m pretty used to being bone wearyingly tired. Of course, it’s a lot tougher to get through the days when you can’t feed yourself a steady dose of caffeine. Kristian has been wonderful about picking up the slack at home, because I had just enough energy to get myself through the workday and then I was pretty much d-o-n-e. Now that I’m finished with the 1st trimester and I’m taking iron supplements for my anemia, I’m feeling pretty good.

I’ve had the occasional bouts of queasiness, but I’ve mostly been able to keep things under control by consuming a constant and steady dose of carbs throughout the day. It’s probably something of a minor miracle that I’ve yet to blow up like a balloon. I’ve been eating a lot.

My biggest complaint is that, for the past few weeks, I’ve been constantly congested. Congestion is a rare pregnancy symptom, but it does happen. I don’t miss drinking or roller coasters, but I domiss Sudafed and Tylenol PM. According to Google, which knows everything, the congestion will just sortof get worse over the next 6 months and then it will automagically go away once I have the baby. For now, I’m unleashing my inner hippie on my nasal cavities and treating myself with a neti pot and a humidifier. Hopefully, my doctor will have some better news for me at my next appointment.

Do you want to find out if it’s a boy or a girl? When do you find out?

There is no way that I’m waiting 6 more months to find out our baby’s gender. I’m just not that good with surprises. Besides, if I know the gender, I can accept any and all appropriate hand-me-downs that are offered to us. I might even accept the inappropriate hand-me-downs. I’ve heard that babies are expensive, yo. We probably won’t get to find out for another month or two. Rest assured, I will keep you posted.

A lot of people have asked if I have a feeling one way or the other. I’ve somehow convinced myself that it’s a boy, but I have nothing to back up that assertion. The idea just sortof popped into my head at the first ultrasound and now I can’t shake it. But I think I’m about 0 for a million in terms of guessing the genders of other people’s babies, so this probably means we’re having a girl. Only time and an ultrasound will tell.

Wait… didn’t you just run a half marathon?

Yes, yes I did. I had pre-approval from my doctor and I took things slower than I normally would have. I made sure to drink tons of water and, when I started to feel like I was heating up, I slowed down or I stopped and walked.

From all of my research (and this was confirmed by my doctor as well), you can keep doing the sports/activities that you participated in before you went and got all knocked up. Within reason, of course. Nothing too jarring or that might raise your core temperature too high. So horseback riding is pretty much out, as is that crazy sport where people see how long they can stay in a hot sauna. After you get pregnant is not the time to decide you’d like to compete in your first triathlon, but you can still do the workouts that you did before as long as you take things easy and you slowly scale back.

I was a runner before I had this baby in my belly, so I can keep running as long as I’m not trying to run faster/harder/longer than what I was capable of before. I’m still running and I’m going to try and keep running for as long as it’s comfortable. I just have to plan on scaling back my mileage and getting slower. The slower part is happening naturally. I ran the Surf City half marathon in about 2 hours and 50 minutes, which is slower than my previous slowest time. And I finished my previous slowest race while limping because I exploded my plantar fascia. So you can imagine just how slow I was.

My trainer is in the process of getting certified in pre-natal training, so she’s been tailoring my workouts slightly and she’s teaching me modifications as we go. She just taught me one-handed kettlebell swings so that I can keep up the kettlebells after my belly starts to get in the way. My doctor says that my workout regimen is going to help me through the last bit of pregnancy and into the labor, so I see it as doing future Hope a favor. Plus, there are all sorts of studies that show how healthy it is for mom and baby when mom maintains a healthy workout routine.

I also just started going to pre-natal yoga, but that’s mostly just for relaxation and to meet other pregnant ladies.

Are you showing? Let’s see that baby bump!

Right now, I mostly just look like I’ve been eating too many cheeseburgers. I’m just now at the point where my pants don’t really fit. It’s actually a pretty awkward stage. I’m not exactly looking forward to being large and uncomfortable, but I wouldn’t mind looking at least a little bit pregnant. Don’t worry, I will be posting pictures.

 Let me tell you a horror story about my friend/sister/cousin and her 79 hour labor and mutant baby….

Don’t. Please don’t.

Can I touch your belly?

Only if I can touch yours.

Do you have any names picked out?

We have a girl’s name completely decided, which means that we’ll probably have a boy. We’re keeping the names a secret until baby makes its debut. We’ve floated around quite a few boy names, but Kristian doesn’t like most of my choices and he hasn’t had any ideas of his own. We’ve had quite a few suggestions, but so far nothing has stuck. Kristian’s Mom really wanted us to choose Dexter if it ends up being a boy. I had to explain to her that Dexter is a serial killer’s name. Feel free to leave some suggestions of your own in the comments. They can’t be any worse than some of the doozies that have already been suggested to us!

What are you calling it for now?

At the first (and, so far, only) ultrasound, I couldn’t get over how much it looked like a gummy bear with its little tiny arms and legs sticking out straight. So, we’re calling it gummy bear. Which is a perfectly cromulent name. If we can’t agree on a good boy’s name, it might become a permanent moniker.