Life's Little Surprises
So honeymoon over, reality set in really quickly. I was finally detoxing off of all the antibiotics and Prednisone I had been on for the past 2 months and feeling super motivated to get my new life as a Mrs. started. I doubled down on my job search efforts and even had some good interviews.
But two weeks post honeymoon I noticed something different going on. Why on earth did my boobs hurt so much, and wait.... why are all my bras so tight?! I never had this as a PMS symptom before. I just brushed it off though as a possible side effect of the withdrawal from the Prednisone. I mean, I had been on 60mg a day for over 2 months after all (typical dose for autoimmune disorders is 5-10mg for reference; my high dose was to bring inflammation down in my lungs that refused to work). Such high doses of cortico-steroids can really mess with your hormones after all. In fact, high doses in my youth stopped my period from coming all together for a couple years, and had caused my period to be irregular the previous month anyways.
But later in April, my period was a week late and I started to worry a bit. I didn't want to get my hopes up to just have them dashed by meaningless medication side effects. The day after my wedding I almost cried when I told my mom I finally got my period after it was a week late. I didn't realize just how much I wanted the reality to be something else until that point. But Stephen was getting curious too, so I followed him to his doctor appointment so I could sneak in a couple questions of my own. We have the same doctor, and she had been the one to monitor my course of treatment for the past few months, so it couldn't hurt. At the end of Stephen's appointment, I decided to chime in - "My period's a week late, and my boobs hurt like hell. I think its just the Prednisone but Stephen here is thinking something else, what do you think doc?" She sent the nurse in with a cup & a stick immediately and told us we could just get it over with and ease our minds right then and there.
The whole time we were waiting for the results I blathered on and on about how it was probably nothing; Prednisone had messed up my body in so many ways over so many years. Stephen, meanwhile, was watching the nurse for her reaction and he suddenly started to laugh. I turned around to huge smiles and a plus sign - imagine my shock and surprise! I was just so happy I burst into tears as my husband engulfed me in a bear hug with the most ginormous grin on his face.
The next couple of weeks though would hold a lot of questions for us. How far along was I really? I was unsure if my last period was even real or if it was just spotting that can happen in the first trimester. I didn't know if I should be calculating my due date from 3/19 (wedding night!) or from the previous, more normal cycle from 2/15. The first ultrasound we had, we could see the sack but no baby. The doctor had warned me it might be too early, but it was still a shock! So she had me do two blood tests over 48 hours to check if there was a normal rise in hormones, and then sent me to the radiology lab to get more detailed ultrasound pictures a week later. Normal hormones, no ectopic pregnancy, and a tiny bean in those new images proved my 3/19 cycle was valid and my initial due date would be 12/24!
At about 9 weeks I got to do another ultrasound though, and the doctor did some measurements of the baby at that time that put my due date closer to 12/30. Either way, hope the baby arrives safely in time to still be a tax deduction in 2016! (^o^)q This ultrasound was so much more fun because we got to see a lot of movement - we have a tiny dancer on the way. And the heartbeat was visible and really strong too. I've just taken to nicknaming the baby edamame for now, because it just looks like a tiny bean in a pod.
We can't rest yet though, because I'm over 35 and there are still risks. Next week we will be doing blood tests that will determine if there are any chromosomal defects, and this will tell us the sex too. We will be happy either way as long as the baby is healthy, but we have our moments where we sway. Stephen would kind of like a boy more so he can have the whole male bonding experience, and I think that would be great. At times I want a girl because of all the cute clothes and someone to do chick stuff with. But when I think of all those teenage girl hormones, I shudder in fear. But you never really know what kind of person your child will be, you can just do your best as a parent to instill the proper values and then its up to them.
But two weeks post honeymoon I noticed something different going on. Why on earth did my boobs hurt so much, and wait.... why are all my bras so tight?! I never had this as a PMS symptom before. I just brushed it off though as a possible side effect of the withdrawal from the Prednisone. I mean, I had been on 60mg a day for over 2 months after all (typical dose for autoimmune disorders is 5-10mg for reference; my high dose was to bring inflammation down in my lungs that refused to work). Such high doses of cortico-steroids can really mess with your hormones after all. In fact, high doses in my youth stopped my period from coming all together for a couple years, and had caused my period to be irregular the previous month anyways.
But later in April, my period was a week late and I started to worry a bit. I didn't want to get my hopes up to just have them dashed by meaningless medication side effects. The day after my wedding I almost cried when I told my mom I finally got my period after it was a week late. I didn't realize just how much I wanted the reality to be something else until that point. But Stephen was getting curious too, so I followed him to his doctor appointment so I could sneak in a couple questions of my own. We have the same doctor, and she had been the one to monitor my course of treatment for the past few months, so it couldn't hurt. At the end of Stephen's appointment, I decided to chime in - "My period's a week late, and my boobs hurt like hell. I think its just the Prednisone but Stephen here is thinking something else, what do you think doc?" She sent the nurse in with a cup & a stick immediately and told us we could just get it over with and ease our minds right then and there.
The whole time we were waiting for the results I blathered on and on about how it was probably nothing; Prednisone had messed up my body in so many ways over so many years. Stephen, meanwhile, was watching the nurse for her reaction and he suddenly started to laugh. I turned around to huge smiles and a plus sign - imagine my shock and surprise! I was just so happy I burst into tears as my husband engulfed me in a bear hug with the most ginormous grin on his face.
The next couple of weeks though would hold a lot of questions for us. How far along was I really? I was unsure if my last period was even real or if it was just spotting that can happen in the first trimester. I didn't know if I should be calculating my due date from 3/19 (wedding night!) or from the previous, more normal cycle from 2/15. The first ultrasound we had, we could see the sack but no baby. The doctor had warned me it might be too early, but it was still a shock! So she had me do two blood tests over 48 hours to check if there was a normal rise in hormones, and then sent me to the radiology lab to get more detailed ultrasound pictures a week later. Normal hormones, no ectopic pregnancy, and a tiny bean in those new images proved my 3/19 cycle was valid and my initial due date would be 12/24!
At about 9 weeks I got to do another ultrasound though, and the doctor did some measurements of the baby at that time that put my due date closer to 12/30. Either way, hope the baby arrives safely in time to still be a tax deduction in 2016! (^o^)q This ultrasound was so much more fun because we got to see a lot of movement - we have a tiny dancer on the way. And the heartbeat was visible and really strong too. I've just taken to nicknaming the baby edamame for now, because it just looks like a tiny bean in a pod.
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| Edamame! Can you see the little arm and leg buds? We sure saw them wiggling on screen :) |
Oh baby, we are in for an adventure like never before!
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