I had begun using an iPhone app to track my cycles when I got my iPhone so I was no longer used to paying close attention to my cycles on my own. In September of 2009 I had to go off birth control after my partial molar pregnancy because they were causing me to have 5 day migraines. When it came time for me to cycle again I didn’t really notice I was late for a few days. I told Eric I thought I was pregnant and sent him to get a pregnancy test. He brought back a conventional test and there was a faint line. From my time in my molar support group I’d learned that when it comes to hcg, a line is a line. I didn’t let myself get too excited and waiting the next day to test fresh, first thing. The test was a little bit darker, but not by much. We had plans to go up to my best friend’s, Nicole, house so we bought a digital test on the way up. Nicole was out when we got there but always leaves a key so we let ourselves in and I took the digital test. It was positive. I couldn’t believe it. I was surprised and scared, but I had a sense of peace about the pregnancy from the start. When Nicole came in I told her that there was something in her bathroom, and she said, “Oh, is it ants?” and I told her, “You could say that.” And when she went in I said, “Now there’s an Aunt in your bathroom.” We jumped around and squealed and had a really nice day working in her garden.
I called my Dr the next day and told them I was going in for hcg quants every other day and was going to use my existing order. Having these blood tests come back ok (hcg was doubling only ever 24 hours indicating a normal, singleton pregnancy) made me feel better, but I was still nervous. I checked for bleeding every time I used the bathroom (actually I did this my entire pregnancy). Finally November rolled around and we went in for the first appointment. We looked and felt as morose as the Adaams family. Both Eric and I were very scared. He kept asking me when we could rule out another molar, but I had already ruled it out in my mind since the hcg quants looked so good. My Dr didn’t waste anytime lecturing us for getting pregnant too soon after the molar, nor did she wait to get down to business. She did an internal ultrasound and on the screen was a little dot with an amazing heart flickering away. It was viable.
We went on our merry way, surprised and more than a little happy. Part of my depression with the molar was that my plan for the year had been shot. I had turned in 30 in July and was set to ovulate over our 10th wedding anniversary weekend. I had thought we would start trying then, and figured I wouldn’t get pregnant until October resulting in a Summer baby, maybe one even born right in between Eric and my birthdays. Ideal. I had given up on this dream, and here I was, 2 months out of the molar and I got it. It felt too good to be true, but I still had that sense of peace. I didn’t completely trust it, but I thought that this baby was here to stay. The second appointment had a little scary moment when we couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat on the Doppler but my Dr swiftly got the ultrasound machine out and there was my little Mexican jumping bean, jumping all around my womb with it’s arms and legs flailing like it was happy to see me. We took to calling it Babalou.
Waiting a whole month in between appointments was really hard. I would ride a high two weeks after an appointment knowing that my baby was safe and secure in my belly. Then I would start to have my doubts and the anxiety would creep in. Everyone was telling me the baby was going to be a boy, something people had told my mom with me. This baby also had the same due date as me, July 1st. I walked around looking at boy clothes, cute sailor suits and geek chic onesies with ties. But I really wanted a girl. I had been imaging my daughter since I was a little girl. I think it stems from loving my mom so much I wanted to feel the other side of it from a very young age. In fact, the only career I’ve consistently wanted growing up was that of wife and mother. Even in the exciting days spent in Italy studying opera, so close to my dream of performing and singing in front of hundreds was so close I could taste it, motherhood was foremost in my heart.
We had our anatomy scan in February, and I couldn’t wait. I schedule it for the afternoon and Eric left work early so we could go shopping afterwards for gender themed clothes. The Dr kept me waiting a good hour and I had to use the bathroom in between because I was in serious pain after all the water I had drunk. The ultrasound techs I’d had before had harangued me for not drinking enough water so I made sure to drink A LOT before this appointment since I was dying to know the gender. The Dr said right away that she was pretty sure it was a girl, but I had to do some maneuvering to know for sure. She was and we got some lovely pictures. I could tell by her profile that she would probably look like me. We were elated, and went to do our shopping, but nothing was near good enough to buy for MY LITTLE GIRL.
The rest of the second trimester went well. I was receiving acupuncture and chiropractic treatments and working out 3-4 times a week so I was feeling great. In April we took a baby moon to Hawaii. I found a boat that would take me snorkeling and we went to the Makaha beach area where there is a “turtle cleaning station.” The turtles were awesome, so mellow, the stoners of the sea. We moved up the coast following a few pods of dolphins and the boat let us off into the water to follow them. They explained that they would pick us up once the pod ditched us. I swam with my mom and Eric, enjoying using my new fins and snorkel and seeing the baby dolphins. I was hoping they were using their sonar because for them, it’s just like ultrasound so they could see my baby. They weren’t but I kept up pretty well with the pod. When they finally moved on, I stopped, assuming my mom and Eric were with me, just behind. They were behind me, I had out swam them by about 20 yards! I could see the boat coming and my mom’s face was a little incredulous, and a lot worried. I started laughing. I met up with my buddies that I had ditched, and they were asking me if I was ok. I was perfectly fine, having one of the proudest moments of my life! I was 30 weeks pregnant and I had just swam with dolphins in the open ocean, AND had out swam two able bodied adults (actually 4 since there was another couple in the water with us). I felt strong and alive.
The last weeks of my pregnancy went along swimmingly. I was having a lot of sciatic nerve pain so I changed from circuits to swimming for my exercise. I never was miserably pregnant. I certainly had a day or two in the last two weeks where I was OVER it though. I wanted to meet my baby. I was a little scared knowing that my birth had been a huge drama (emergency vertical C), but I felt like I had prepared at our birth class and had done home study of hypnotic birth techniques so I was ready. Once I reached 39 weeks I was ready to have my acupuncturists induce my labor and the next day things got started.
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