When do you want to know?

In the weeks leading up to my appointment, I went about life as normal. I went to school, work and continued to exercise. About a week before my appointment I felt really tired during a work shift. This was weird because I had just worked out and always had lots of energy.  However, I had some spotting so I assumed my period was coming and maybe this was why. I remember being pretty grumpy to. The spotting lasted less than two days. By the end of the second day I had this feeling.  I was so tired. If you took my chemical pregnancy out of the equation, my period was now due. My normal lutel phase was 9-11 days, according to the previous charting I had done. So off to the dollar store I went.

I got home and snuck the test to the bathroom. I took the test and waited. I saw a line. I went to the kitchen and had dinner with the hubby. I didn't know what to do at this point. The line was faint, possibly an evaporation line. I waited till we were finished dinner and I asked Charles "The next time I'm pregnant, when do you want to know?" He laughed and said he wasn't sure. Then it clicked.  I told him I was actually "late", although I had spotted, no period had come. I was extremely tired. I begged him to go to the store and buy me an HPT--a first response--a good one!! I went to bed right away, I was so tired.

When I woke up a few hours later to pee, I saw the test, but decided to wait. At 4:30 am I peed on that stick and watched the control line come up. I didn't see a second line. Oh well, I thought. I showered and when I got out I looked again, of course. There it was. A second line. A little  faint, but a line is a line is a line!! Right away I had this feeling "this is it!" This was my pregnancy that would result in a baby!

I surprised both Charles and myself by not running to get blood work done. I didn't tell anyone I was pregnant. We so wanted to share the good news when the time was right.

I was so happy that I already had an OB appointment for March 15. Like I had told myself, this year would be great!  Dr. H was very happy for me and started the blood work monitoring. He told me that magic number he expected.  I had this feeling that it would meet his expectations.  It didn't.

I did not get disouraged. Although it was lower than what he wanted, it was within a normal range for how long I figured I was. (Remember my birthday weekend away...)

The next number it had risen 5x's!  It should double, so I was naturally stoked. I thought it was twins. My numbers continued to rise appropriately.  An ultrasound was set for my 7th week.

Around 6 weeks I bled. I freaked out. The Dr put me on bed rest until he could do an ultrasound later in the week.  The bleeding was a one time thing that week. By the time the U/S was performed the bleeding was long gone and I was feeling positive again about the pregnancy. And sure enough there was a heartbeat!

I had another episode of bleeding at 10 weeks but again everything was okay.

At 33 weeks and 5 days, I delivered a healthy baby girl. Here birth story is here. 

So it's been quite the year.