Andrea: Pregnancy Diary

Posted Friday, November 05, 2010 12:28 PM

"Once I saw the two pink lines, a smile spread across my face. I was in disbelief."

7/21
I was about 2 weeks late and finally decided to pick up a pregnancy test from the grocery store. I had been thinking about it for the past week, but actually hesitated each time I was at the store, not because I was scared to find out that I was pregnant, but that I was afraid if I took the test too early I would be extremely disappointed to see a negative result. That is when I knew I was "ready" to be a mom. Once I saw the two pink lines (which indicated positive), a smile spread across my face. I was in disbelief. My heart was racing and I could hardly breathe while I triple checked the directions and waited impatiently for my husband to get home from work. I tried to come up with some creative way to break the news, but couldn’t contain myself and just said, “Come look at this!” before he even stepped completely through the door. A smile spread across his face, too, as he gave me a huge hug.

9/1
We made the big move from city life to suburbia, which has sparked the question amongst friends as to whether we are expecting. Sure, we will miss being in the midst of San Francisco, but are excited about decorating our baby’s first home before he or she arrives. The baby will love the big yard to run around in and picking apples from our tree. He or she will be very close now to cousins and grandparents. We already have plans to keep our baby immersed in the San Francisco culture because we are only a quick car or train ride away from all our favorite restaurants, festivals, ball games, shows, and people.

9/15
Today is the day I can let out a sigh of relief because we just passed the 12 week mark and our first official ultrasound confirms that our baby is still alive and kicking in there. Tiny Tiny (as we call "it") is a squirmy little sucker, who wouldn't stay still long enough to get very accurate length measurements, so we can’t wait to start spreading the good news to all our family and friends. Keeping this a secret has been so hard!

10/1
I put in my 2 weeks notice at work and today is my last day. This was a major, difficult financial decision for me and my husband, but hopefully a developmentally beneficial one for our new baby in the long run. I was getting sick quite frequently, having to juggle so many things and work with preschool age children in the classroom most days. I needed a break for my body to recover and stay strong, in order to enjoy my pregnancy. Now I have time to nurture and connect with my baby (through exercise, prenatal yoga, and eating healthy). I hope that this valuable time with my child may continue well beyond the delivery date.

10/26
I am so glad that my husband was able to come home early from work to join me for this ultrasound. We knew for sure that we wanted to find out the sex as soon as possible, but debated whether to have the technician write it down on a piece of paper to reveal later. I heard that some parents do something small, but fun, like have a bakery write it on the frosting of a cake and invite close family and friends over to unveil, but in the end we agreed that finding out together would be more special. The technician warned us that we might go home empty handed because our baby was curled up in a ball with his legs crossed, but luckily he decided to take a quick stretch before shifting positions, leaving a long enough window to spot what we needed. The search for a solid boy’s name begins!

11/4
I think I may have felt him kicking! Is that my baby or just a muscle spasm? I can't be sure, but it does resemble the fluttering butterflies sensation that people have encouraged me to pay attention to about this time in my pregnancy. What an odd, but wonderful feeling! He tap tap taps just around bed time, so I am bracing myself already for some restless nights in the third trimester.

11/5
I haven’t started the conversation with my doctor about birthing plans yet, but knowing my general pain tolerance level, I am 99% sure I will be begging for an epidural once the contractions start. We are about half way to that point, and although I have so many questions about how things will actually turn out the day of and days after, I am envisioning life getting even better than it already is around March 26. Regardless of how I deliver, my only hope is that my husband is by my side every step of the way, and the baby is healthy. Once the baby arrives, I worry about lack of sleep, diaper changing, feeding, and crying, and can read every baby book on the planet, but nothing will prepare us better than just living, loving, and trusting. My husband and I cannot wait to teach our son everything we know and share everything we love, including art, music/dance, sports, and more sports! Unfortunately, the toughest decision our son will ever make is who to cheer for, Stanford or Cal.

>> Want to share your pregnancy story? Email it to echu@theknot.com