First Trip to the Hospital

Well, it's day two of knowing about this pregnancy, and I've already been to the hospital.

WHAT?!?

I was exposed to a carbon monoxide leak for a few minutes, but it was enough to make me feel dizzy/nauseous. Of course, I didn't know if the symptoms were from pregnancy, or the CO exposure. I played it safe, and called Ask a Nurse. She said I should call 911, I told her I would have R take me to the ER. Let's not be dramatic here (although I DID go knock on my neighbor's door to see if they could take me, but they weren't home).

Everything went smoothly enough. One nurse told me I was just having sympathy pains, R called me a hypochondriac, and I told them that b/c I was pregnant, I wanted to play it safe. Turns out everything was fine. Blood was normal, BUT did show a few traces of CO, so I'm NOT a hypochondriac. After hearing that, I was glad I went just to make sure the baby and I would be okay.

The hardest part has STILL been keeping my mouth shut. Friends and family knew I went to the hospital, but I managed to not say anything, even to my mother. I didn't want her to find out with a phone call like this: "Hey mom, I think I've been exposed to CO, and feel dizzy, but I'm going to the hospital in case this causes my kid to grow an extra arm or two...Yeah, my kid...I'm pregnant, gotta go." Although I'm sure any reaction I've imagined would have been hilarious.

Overall, today was too much excitement that has come in the form of a giant bruise/lump on my wrist from having blood drawn from an artery. Gag. I'm looking forward to a day that's a little more low-key tomorrow.

 At least R and I knew how to entertain ourselves. Something I hope we can pass on to our kiddo.

Baby Girafficorn

I've always joked with my friends about saying this, but, as it turns out, "I'm with child". I just found out today, as a matter of fact. I had a feeling from the dull cramps I don't typically get, that something was up. So, R and I went to the store, bought a couple of pregnancy tests, and about 20 minutes later, I was staring in disbelief at this:

Just like that, R and I's lives changed. Mine is more of an immediate change, as I have had to quickly read up on what I can and cannot consume (Meanwhile, R's job is just giving me googly eyes. He's pretty excited). Hopefully I haven't caused too much damage in the past weeks, since I had no clue I was pregnant. I'm going to have to find a doctor ASAP, as I haven't picked one out since I got insurance from my job (as I had been using the student health center during grad school, so was up to date on my checkups). And I suppose I should start reading about pregnancy, and the process, because even though I have several friends who have been through it, I'm admittedly still somewhat clueless (I skipped that whole child development class in high school, and took French and band instead).

The hardest part so far is keeping. my. mouth. SHUT! It's so difficult to not want to call up all of our family and friends and tell them our news, but Baby Girafficorn has chosen the perfect time to show up, because it's Christmas. What better time to tell family members that there will be a NEW family member in the following year? R and I are trying to think of creative ways to tell our families, and luckily both of our siblings are flying in for Christmas so we can tell everyone in person.

So here we are, our second Christmas being married, and with our first proof that Baby Girafficorn exists:

(the ornament is from my mother from our first Christmas as a married couple)

**And if you're wondering "What in the WORLD is a "girafficorn"? Don't worry, that's not what we're naming our child. All you need to see is our wedding cake topper to understand...

and this painting a friend of R's  gave us for our wedding, which really puts it all together: