Weeks 5 - 8

Week 5

On Friday, April 5th I got up early in the morning and took a pregnancy test. Both the pink lines popped up... Say what now? That can't be right. Mike couldn't stop picking me up and kissing me with delirious happiness, but I wasn't convinced until I took two more tests. (I always thought it was silly to do that, but I guess now I know.) What was more shocking was when we saw what was camping out in me:

Yikes! Is that a heart developing? Well, yes, but it doesn't start beating until the 6th week. Upon further inquiry, it appears my due date is somewhere around December 11, 2002. Mike and I should be parents at 23 if this comes through ok.

Week 6

Mike bought us a really nice pregnancy book, Dr. Miriam Stoppard's New Pregnancy and Birth Book. It's really cool because it gives solid information for both home and hospital births (although we thoroughly expect a home birth, it would be good to know what to expect if something strange happened), as well as having really neat pictures of naked pregnant ladies. Hee hee. Lately I've been reading up on the nutrional info and staring dreamily at the little diagram that shows the size of our embryo. About the size of an apple seed:

Physically, I am doing pretty good. No nausea, hardly any fatigue. I was very tired at the Highland Games just after we found out, what with all the dancing and shortbread selling we were doing, but everyone was. I have, however, had the smaller symptoms, such as headrushes, nosebleeds, stuffy-head, potty breaks, and soft gums. And of course, my nipples burn like crazy and are starting to look goofy. At this point, we're trying to figure out what to do about my lack of insurance. I need to get to a doctor soon, and moving to Canada is a lot of work. My mom is working something out. In the meantime, I'm drinking tons of milk and narfing prenatal vitamins. No chocolate, tea, alcohol, tobacco, or street drugs. Well, I'm only addicted to the chocolate and tea, but they're surely the hardest things to go cold turkey on, right?

Week 7

This, so far, has been an eventful and stressful week. I fell on my butt and had a brief spotting incident which sent me into a mild period of panic, though it turned out to be nothing. Mike and I went down to Kailua to check out a women's health center, and they directed us to a nice clinic in Waimanalo that handles women without insurance. We scheduled an appointment and went down on Friday. They got us all set up with reasonable fees and put through the paperwork to help get us insurance. We were unhappy that our midwife was in a meeting, but the nurses gave us an official pregnency test and scheduled another appointment for Monday. Still in a state of disbelief, I was shocked to hear our nurse confirm the pregnancy and record the due date.

The baby is the size of a raisin. It has dents for fingers and toes,almost complete intestines, lungs, inner ears, and the beginnings of eyes. This is it's last week as an embryo before it becomes a fetus. I've been feeling only mildly nauseous right after and right before meals, the fatigue comes and goes, and in every other respect I'm doing fine. Only one of my breasts has decided to grow so far, which ought to look very amusing soon.

Week 8

Wow, week 8 already. This is the week we go from embryo to fetus. Next week I'll have to start the journal for month 3! Amazing.

So we went to meet the midwife on Monday. She was amazingly cool. She was happy we wanted natural chilbirth right off the bat, and relieved not to have to educate me on the benefits of breast-feeding. Mike's eyes lit up when he heard the birthing room has a jacuzzi. She gave us a load of pregnancy and baby magazines and booked us for another appointment in two weeks.

I have been so tired lately. I've been crashed on the couch by 7:30 every night for the past few days. No nausea, but every food I eat becomes revolting three bites into it. I'm down to cereal and juice now (though I actually found that I can eat tuna helper with some vigor). If I get hot, nervous, or too active it gets worse. The other day I passed out in the middle of the figure drawing class I was posing for. Very embarrassing.

The baby gets bone cells this week, blood is circulating, the pancreas, stomach, and lungs are forming in detail. By the end of this week it will be about one inch long.

Mike told his parents this week, check out his section to see how that went. He was so relieved he almost cried. He woke me up late that night to say how happy he was to have them know, it made the experience more real. He finally, last of all, told his best friend who hates me, and although he's annoyed with the guy's attitude, it could have gone over worse. I still haven't told my family outside my mother.