How Long Did It Take You To Get Pregnant?

This was originally written on Tuesday, January 22, 2008

I am still low on energy. I don't think I'll take "activity" for granted after I'm pregnant. It's a blessing to be able to move around freely! It's depressing to have in your mind your old ways of doing things--and to try, but not be able to. I can understand the eldery and disabled now. A simple task like getting up off the couch takes a tremendous amount of energy. It's been at least a month since I've been able to carry laundry baskets (with clothes). Cleaning the house is equal to a marathon. We took down our tree and all of our Christmas decorations after the first weekend in January--but Joe was the one who did most of the work since I seriously felt incapable.

On Saturday I went scrapbooking with my friends Heather and Sara (which I've been doing since October at a store), and as I was walking to the parking lot carrying my bags, they slid off my shoulder. I did the "pull back up" move with my arm, but it didn't work and so I had to give my arm an extra jerk--bad idea--I felt a painful pull in my abdomen. Even though I knew it wasn't serious enough to affect the baby or push me into premature labor, I realized I can't push myself with anything or else I really can injure myself and/or my son. Needless to say, I consolidated when I got home and will only be carrying one bag from now on!

By the way, I never mentioned that a month ago I lost my balance and fell into my shower door. The fall left a huge gash on my abdomen and there's still a line, but fortunately that was the day before my big ultrasound and so I was reassured quickly that it didn't hurt my baby.

This morning is the first time in a while that I've been up before 10 to noon. I made a comment at scrapbooking how I've been sleeping 10-12 hrs lately and every mother who overheard said at the same time, "DO IT!" It will be years before I'll be able to do it again. . .maybe that's why my body isn't really giving me a choice on this matter--I'm resting up for years ahead!

I haven't had any of the six-month nausea in a week so I'm hoping that was just a two-week thing (and it was 1/4 as bad as the first trimester--whew).

Lately I've been losing/misplacing things which is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. Maybe it's because our house is a mess. I told Joe I feel our house is a reflection of me. It's been an absolute disaster this month :p Fortunately, I've been slowly cleaning and working on getting it back together, so hopefully I'll feel the same about me/my life soon.

Joe and I finished registering on Friday so that is one less thing to worry about. We bought the moon & stars theme bedding set, so we can start decorating the nursery this weekend :-)

L.J. (we decided on James as Logan's middle name) is still moving around constantly. Every now and then I won't feel anything--but I'm always reassured within five minutes. I much prefer to be reassured this way rather than the first trimester with the all-day sickness (the only good part about that was that I always knew I was still pregnant and things were progressing well).

I forgot to mention that Joe's reaction was "weird!" the two times he has felt L.J. kick, haha! He says it's freaky--he can't imagine something alive and kicking him from the inside. I told him it often just feels like a twitch/spasm in my stomach. But yeah, I never could have imagined it before, either!

L.J. feels so low sometimes, it's like he's about to fall out (there's so much pressure). I made the comment that I think he'll just pop out easily during labor. . .Joe was like, "Can I get that writing?" Yeah, probably not :p

Joe says you can't tell I'm pregnant from the back, but this past week I've been able to definitely tell from the front (before, when I'd look at myself naked in the mirror my waist was still there. . .now it's not, lol. It feels weird when I put my hands on my hips--there's no indentation now). I'm not the cute basketball girl (you know, the pregnant woman who looks the same except for a perfect ball in front)--I'm carrying my weight all over.

Joe has somehow gained six pounds during my pregnancy, which is funny because he's been the exact same weight since our junior year of college (after he stopped lifting weights). He's one of those lucky people who can eat anything he wants and still look like he's working out every day. Granted, he's never had a very big appetite and it didn't seem like he'd been eating larger amounts lately. But studies have shown that most all husbands gain weight, too, while their wives are pregnant! Isn't that crazy? It must be a subconscious thing. Like, maybe I really am eating a lot more and he's used to eating in porportion to me and so he's eating more, too, without us noticing. . .???? Funny.
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This was originally written on Monday, January 28, 2008

This Friday will mark my 26th week of pregnancy. That is only four weeks before my mom had me--WOW. Sadly, the 26th week was when my cousin delivered her baby and lost him three days later. His real due date was this very past weekend. Please keep her in your prayers during this especially hard month.

Joe & I start our childbirth classes this Thursday. It seems unreal--another step toward L.J.'s arrival!

We started decorating our nursery on Saturday which was really exciting. Joe set up the crib & changing table, and we put the moon & stars bedding set together. It looks so nice--we love it!!!!

My back has been hurting pretty bad, and for some reason when I sit too long the top of my stomach becomes numb. I'm also peeing several times an hour--but at least there's still no nausea these days. . .and my sniffling is 99% gone. Also, I've found several of the items I'd lost, so I'm hoping that's a good sign (although there are five things still missing). That's probably due to me finally getting our house cleaned (with the help of Joe) by Saturday morning (Jake & Melissa came over and we went out to Wheatfields for a breakfast/lunch). Hopefully we can keep it this way for a while, especially since my mom & stepdad are visiting this Sat & Sun.

My only other plans include my mom throwing me a shower on March 1st, and Heather from Omaha is throwing me one with Lisa and the three Sara(h)s the Sun. before (2/24). It seems like just yesterday I was having a bridal shower--but that will be exactly five years from the day of my mom's!

From now on, on my blogiste, I'm going to try to topic in order of a woman's pregnancy. For example, today's will be about getting pregnant.

A friend of mine went off the pill in June, and when she hadn't conceived by August or September she started using the ovulation predictor kit. She expressed her disappointment to me recently about it not happening yet. It reminded me of how I felt last year.

Looking back, I see how strange the whole conception process is. Like, I went off the pill in Feb. 2004--not because I wanted to get pregnant, but because I'd had horrible side effects all year (despite even switching to one with a lower hormone dose). For about a year Joe and I were super careful. But, we got lazy and for the next couple of years we'd only use protection during my mid-month week.

Once I started tracking my cycle by taking my temperature, in February 2007, I realized how lucky we'd been not to get pregnant before we'd wanted to! My periods have never been regular and I realized I'd often been off on what were my most likely days to get pregnant. Our plan wasn't to purposely start trying to concieve until April (it's recommended to start tracking your fertility a couple of months prior to trying), but because of this realization, we decided to make March our first month of having unprotected sex during all weeks. After three months of this I began to wonder if we had some type of fertility issue. How could we have played russion roulette and not have conceived--when you hear about people all of the time having unprotected sex once and getting pregnant?!

So that's when I started using the ovulation predictor test. I was relieved that it showed positive (indicating that I was releasing an egg every month), but then was stunned when I didn't get pregnant in June or July. I still don't have an explanation. We did nothing different in August--the month I did conceive. (So even though in our minds we started trying in March, I consider pregnancy to have taken us three months since the months prior to August we didn't do it at the correct time.)

It is proof that if a couple doesn't have a fertility issue, it could just be as simple as "timing is everything." When you consider that (for a couple in their mid-upper twenties) the sperm and egg only have a 25% chance of meeting every month when no environmental factors get in the way (i.e. stress, viruses, etc.) then it's not really that surprising that it would take a few months for most couples. We're a society who wants quick results, but just like with everything in life, most things happen based on timing. That's why doctors don't want to test couples for fertility problems until after they've been trying for at least a year. More often than not, that's simply how long it takes. If you got pregnant on your first try then you are rare! (Tidbit: The month you go off the pill you are the most fertile you will ever be, however all doctors agree you should wait three months before you try to conceive, for your hormones to return to normal in order to prevent miscarriage or birth defects--as they are also the most likely during those first three months off the pill.)

That may be why the "first try" stories are the ones we hear about more, giving a false impression, because people are more likely to announce it as if they are extra fertile or something. In reality, most people are about equal (there's only two days a month women can get pregnant)--it's just that timing on when this happens (everything lining up) is different for everyone. (Also, many times people think their first pregnancy was their first try, when in all actuality there might have been a number of unplanned misses before.)

So, if you're in the same boat as my friend, as hard as it is not to get worked up about it--try to relax. That actually may be why I got pregnant when I did--because that particular month I'd given up! There was no more pressure because we were moving that month and had decided to wait to start trying again until 2008. I simply did the ovulation predictor kit for my third time as a last-minute decision one random day. . .and here I am five months later with a bun in the oven! :-)

Talk to ya again tomorrow!