Happy Birthday Week: The long road of pregnancy

Pregnancy is a confusing and intense time in a women's life. You find out you are pregnant and then you have the next 9 months to think about how your whole life is going to change and nothing will ever be the same as it once was. It is the worst and the best kind of anticipation that anyone can experience. It is coupled with body and mood changes that you never imagined were possible. All the while - knowing that a miracle is truly happening inside your body every minute. Amazing does not even begin to describe this experience - and yes, I am finally to the point that I miss it Only took a year and a few pregnant women to remind me of the joys and forget the woes.

A short recap of our pregnancy story -

On June 23, 2007, I woke up feeling a bit nauseated, but I figured it was from the gin and tonics the night before (oops). But for some odd reason, I decided to take a pregnancy test early that morning before anyone was awake. To my surprise it came back positive! I ran in and jumped on the bed and woke Carl up. I was crying, so he immediately thought that something was wrong - but when I told him I was pregnant - we just hugged and cried and laid there for what seemed like hours.

My parents were staying with us that weekend, as the night before we had just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and we all went to 'Dancing with the Stars' with Carl's parents. It was such a fun night. At dinner I had had a couple of drinks, so I KNEW my parents were not expecting the news there were about to hear (for that matter, neither were we!).

By the time we all got up and around, I had taken another test just to be sure (this was just #2 of at least 5 tests we took). We had just finished breakfast and we told them that we had one more anniversary present for them - I handed them the pregnancy tests (in plastic bags of course)... Mom knew right away what it was, but Dad was not real sure as he started to reach in the bag. I quickly stopped him, we connected all the dots and then we had a group hug with tears and all!

Later that afternoon we called Carl's parents and told them that we needed them to help settle a dispute about paint colors in one of the rooms. So we went by with 2 paint swatches from Lowe's, one blue and one pink. We were all in the kitchen and when we pulled them out, I am pretty sure they knew right away - I just remember Carolyn saying "NO? NO?" with a tone of excitement that only a grandparent could have. We all hugged and I am pretty sure there were more tears!

That was the beginning of the long road of pregnancy.....

I was super sick the first trimester and could not do anything in the morning without taking prescription strength nausea pills as soon as I woke up.

After the sickness subsided, I was enjoying pregnancy pretty well. I ate whatever I wanted (I gained 50 pounds, literally). I tried to get on the treadmill a few times - but that did not really pan out. I did not have too many cravings, but I did have aversions to a few things. My short term memory really went by the waste side. My waist line and my chest both doubled in size. Heartburn attacked regularly, and the gas was intense (ah, the joys of pregnancy)!

Then came the kidney stones and kidney infection. One night Carl and I were watching a movie (of which he was REALLY into) and I started having the feeling of a bladder infection. I was in quite a bit of pain, then all of a sudden my lower back felt like someone was beating me with a baseball bat. We called the Dr. and ended up in the emergency room. They took me to labor and delivery. After a really mean nurse punched me in the kidney to make sure that was the problem, they admitted me for the next 3 days. Once I was on the pain meds I felt fine, but they wanted to keep me on a drip of antibiotics for a full 48 hours. Never passed the stone by the way...it is still there and we just have to hope it does not get stuck again.

So you would think that is it.... but wait....

Then I got SHINGLES?!?! WHAT?!?!? Who has ever even heard of that? It is the sleeping chicken pox virus that you get when your immune system is toast. I do not wish this pain on anyone, I can honestly say that this might have been worse than labor contractions b/c this pain was constant and there was no epidural.

During the shingles episode, I ended up going to the dentist too, b/c my teeth hurt really bad. Evidently, the shingles pain was radiating in my gums (shingles picks something on one side of your body and then attacks it - I think Summer had this as well and it attacked her ear). However, during the visit to the Dentist, it was discovered that I needed to have a root canal - so I added that to the list of issues and had the procedure done.

The Shingles pain went on for about a month - no I am not kidding, and it is coupled with a LOVELY rash on the side of your face. People were scared of me.

From the day we found out we were pregnant until the second before he emerged, John and I had a long and unforgettable road, with a lot of bumps along the way. But this is one road I would travel down again in a second!