Happy Birthday, Husband!

June 11, 2009
Appointment Day! Husband wanted to sleep in since he had taken the day off of work, but baby had other plans. We went to the hospital and waited in the waiting room. I think we were both nervous about what was to come.

My name was finally called and the nurse took my weight and blood pressure and asked me a few questions. Then we were led to the little room where I had to change into the lovely hospital robe and wait for the doctor.

The doctor came and we both liked her right away. She asked a bunch of health questions and brought in the ultrasound machine. She told me I was only four weeks and four days, and not to expect too much. She fiddled with the machine, but couldn't get it to work. While I was lying on the bed in that most comfortable position, she called in a couple people to help her get it to work. I guess privacy goes out the window once you are pregnant. Eventually they figured out how to turn it on.

She discovered right away why I was having the cramps. I had a giant corpus luteum cyst on my left side. Bigger than my uterus! She said it was pretty normal. Some women get them and some don't, and they are not quite sure why. She said it should go away in time. She also told me I was definitely pregnant and that my endometrium lining looked good. This explained my belly bulge lately. Then she hunted around some more and found a little dark spot. That was our baby! She printed us a picture (my husband was happy because it had his birth date printed on it) and sent me to the lab to get my blood drawn. She wanted to check my HCG levels (that's the pregnancy hormone) over the next few days.

We found the lab and my number was called to get my blood drawn. The young nurse told me to choose an arm to draw from. She put the needle in and nothing happened. No blood. So she started moving it around to try and find the vein. After hearing me say "ow" about ten times, she withdrew the needle and tried the other arm. This time, success. However, I had a severely bruised arm for a week!

After that my husband and I decided to go to Borders to find books for our family members (remember how I wanted to tell them?). He wanted to tell everyone right away. We had planned on his siblings coming over for a birthday dinner, so why not invite my family as well? We had a perfect cover. Surprisingly, my family said they could all make it, even at the last minute.

At Borders we had fun choosing books that would be meaningful for everyone. My dad works on the railroad, so we chose The Little Engine That Could. His sister loves dogs, so we chose The Poky Little Puppy, and so on. My husband's parents live in different states, so we went to the post office to overnight their books. He wanted everyone to find out around the same time. We were excited to tell everyone!

That evening I made my husband's favorite dish to share with the present family. We had fun talking and hanging out. Then he opened presents and we hung out some more. Finally I brought out the books and passed them out to everyone. We told them to read the inscription we had written on the inside cover. It said something like, "Dear Aunt/Uncle/Grandma/Grandpa, Here's a book for you to read to your new niece/nephew/grandbaby." I think his brother read it first and looked at me with wide eyes. "Are you...?" I nodded and smiled. My mother figured it out around the same time. Everyone was rather speechless. It was a memorable experience.