How We Found Out

January 30: I woke up early – around 6 a.m. (and, yes, that is considered early…at least for now) – with horrible stomach pains. I was certain that ole’ Flo was about to make her way into town. I put a heating pad on my stomach, emailed work that I wasn’t coming in and tried to get some sleep. But then I started thinking…maybe this isn’t period issues? My stomach had been really upset (such an awesome detail) the past Saturday, I felt SO bloated, my boobs were SO sore…could I be pregnant? Enter Google. I believe my exact search term was ‘upset stomach + pregnancy symptoms.’ 

According to the almighty Internet, upset stomach for some women is a symptom due to the surge in hormones. I am immediately wide awake. I need to take a test. I need to take it without Shane seeing so that in case it is positive I can surprise him. And then I should go buy more tests, the digital ones, so that I can take a picture of it and it will be more impactful – I prefer to see the word ‘Pregnant’ rather than just two lame lines.

Fast forward a couple of hours, I take a test. It is immediately positive. I will admit that every other time I’ve taken a test, I've always been on the fence about the results…as in, I’ll be OK if it is negative and I’ll be OK if it is positive. This time I was a little more invested – I really wanted it to be positive. Then the two pink lines appear. I then high tail it to CVS to get the digital version. I take the test and it’s positive too. I cannot stop smiling and I’m really nervous. What do I do? When’s the last time I drank? How far along am I? I think I sat and stared at the test for at least 15 minutes.

So, then I had to figure out how to surprise Shane. Best thing I can think of is to wrap up these tests in tissue paper and throw it in a bag with hearts on it…an early Valentine’s Day gift? Shane has guitar lessons on Monday night so he didn’t get home until after 8 p.m. When he walked in the door, I told him I had an early V-day gift for him…he said he didn’t know we were doing gifts that early. Such a stickler for details. 

The infamous bag

When he opened it, and unwrapped it, the look on his face was truly that of surprise and happiness. And, for those that know him, he doesn’t show emotion or get excited easily. He looked at it, looked at me, and yelled ‘What?!?’ And I said ‘Yep!’ and that was about the extent of the conversation. A few minutes later, we came back to reality and discussed going to the doctor, when to tell our families, where we would put it, etc. I think we were both in utter shock.

January 31: I made a doctor appointment for that Friday. And I officially stopped drinking and smoking, duh.

February 3: First gynecologist appointment. It starts out as normal – pee in the cup, when was your last period, take blood pressure, etc. But after that, I get to go in a different room…one with the ultrasound machine. Shane was with me and he got to go in too, which made me feel way more comfortable. 

The Dr. came in and shook hands (he is kind of a weirdo) and then said we were going to do a transvaginal ultrasound to see about how far along I am (due to the fact that my periods are VERY irregular and I couldn’t even guesstimate when my last period was). We go through the awkward ‘Put your feet in the stirrups…now scoot down…scoot down a little more.’ We get going on the ultrasound and can’t see anything – other than ‘echos’ which I don’t what that is and it reminds me of whale watching (because I do that often…). Based on this, he guesses that I’m about 4-5 weeks along, and they add two weeks to that, so I literally got pregnant two weeks prior. So in tune with my body.

As we leave the room, he mentions that we need to do some blood work. I am absolutely petrified of needles, as in I hyperventilate when I even see them…I’ve had several cavities filled without Novocain simply because I can’t have needles anywhere around me. When I hear him say this, I immediately break a sweat, black out for a second and start crying. Maybe that is an exaggeration but I definitely started sweating and crying. Again, so glad Shane was there. 

They tell me that I can lay down to have my blood taken so that I don’t see the needle, so I do. The girl gets everything ready and then it’s go time…I’m expecting for this to be the worst pain of my life. I am imagining the needle going through my arm, blood squirting everywhere, etc. Well, she puts the needle in and I barely even feel it. I immediately dry it up and ask ‘That’s it?’ I am officially a drama queen. She then compliments my veins – it’s the Carlisle genes – they’re perfect.

Meltdown complete. We schedule another appointment to come back in a week.