you changed our lives in a moment

We are FINALLY having a BABY!!!

I could tell you the whole medical history of how we were finally able to conceive, but I guess it all boils down to Heavenly Father's decision to bless us with a very precious gift at this point in time.

Anyway, this is the story of how we learned we're finally going to be parents...

So I was expecting my time of the month on April 14th. It didn't come. I was under a lot of stress that week - with my thesis defense and graduation and family coming over. I almost didn't notice it was supposed to be that time of the month. The day before graduation, I remembered but I decided not to take a pregnancy test because, in case it turns out negative, I didn't want to be sad on graduation day. And then it was a very busy weekend with family being over. Sunday afternoon, I wanted some mangoes and so we went to Smith's. While there, I thought I might as well get a test kit. Turns out, they didn't have any. Who knew? I thought grocery stores usually have them. So we had to wait until Monday.

Monday night we went to Walgreens - they should have one or they might as well close. Then Carl said, "aren't you supposed to test first thing in the morning?" My reply was - "If I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant no matter what time of day!" It was around 8:30pm... and to the bathroom I went to pee on the magic stick.

Pee Stick #1

There was a line - a very faint line. Carl wasn't very convinced. I knew it was positive - I've been doing this for a while now and I know when there's no line and when there's something else. Still, we decided I'll test again.

Pee Stick #2

I didn't want to wait until the next morning. I tested again before we went to bed. The faint line was there again... It was faint but I was sure it was there. The faintness of the line didn't really make it a very convincing positive test. So we decided to go to the health center the next day to have another test.

Technically Pee Stick #3

So after two pee sticks and a lab test later, we scheduled an appointment with the OB-GYN. Our first appointment was on May 4th. Our doctor, Dr. Heather Dabling, was really nice. She confirmed my pregnancy, and guessed I was around 7 weeks based on my last period. Because I was on medication while trying to conceive, she advised us to get an early ultrasound just to confirm how far along I was and check if I was having multiples. We scheduled an ultrasound on May 10th.

Baby Canlas at 6wks4days in utero

And so on May 10th, I was only 6 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I wasn't as far along as we first thought I was.  The fetus was super super tiny, and for a split second I thought there was nothing in there. The ultrasound tech had to point out where it was. Of course, we couldn't hear the heartbeat yet because it was still very tiny. 

While my baby is tiny and I don't have a baby bump yet, I am feeling very pregnant. At first I thought I was one of those lucky ones who don't get nauseous and never throw up. I was wrong - Not only was I having morning sickness - I was sick most of the day. There were things I didn't want to smell (fried chicken, spam, bacon, cornedbeef hash, sausage, anything else fried, anything with tomato sauce). There were things I can eat, but not much (rice, pasta, potatoes). What have I been eating? Yellow mangoes, very ripe pineapples, grapes, peaches, bananas (not the very ripe ones), light soups, green salad, light sandwiches, boiled eggs, crackers, lemonade, sprite, plain bread, corn, certain vegetables but in small amounts. 

Weeks 7 and 8 were the worst so far. I simply couldn't keep anything down. Lately, it's been better... and the  all day sickness has become evening sickness. So sometimes i feel like I go to bed with an empty stomach. I try to munch on some crackers before I go to bed and it usually helps me through the night. Not surprisingly, I've lost some weight since I've been pregnant. Actually, some is an understatement - I've lost a lot - which was bad. I've lost 10 lbs since I've been pregnant which, according to my doctor, means I've been sicker than  the average pregnant woman. I'm getting help to deal with that and hopefully, I'll stop losing weight and start gaining. 

The baby though, is doing great. We heard his heartbeat today. I say HIS because Carl has a strong feeling this baby is going to be a boy. The baby's heart was beating at around 166 beats per minute - which is GREAT. It was the best sound I have ever heard in my whole life. I think I would never hear the sound of a train on its tracks the same way again.