Pregnancy: Month 1

Wow, hard to believe today is the last day of my first month of pregnancy! I thought I'd do a little month-by-month diary here, to be able to look back and remember what happened.

So, Month 1:

• Conception involved a trip to the clinic and resting after at the Hotel Monaco in downtown Denver. Do babies really get made any other way? It’s weird, but after all we’ve been through, it’s hard to fathom that this isn’t what’s normally involved
• The transfer wasn’t particularly smooth/comfortable, and the embryos were “early," whatever that means, but I had such a lovely time with a dear friend of mine before, during and after (my husband's in school and had to head home the day after retrieval)
• And then, the two week wait. Awful. Although I was very glad to finally be home after a couple weeks out of town. And I had a lot of symptoms. (Warning: if you’re squeamish you might want to skip the rest of this bullet.) Big/sore boobs, thirsty all the time in the middle of the night (I probably got up for drinks five times a night), tired enough to take a nap in the afternoons, which I NEVER do. And I read somewhere that if you’re pregnant you can see blue veins on your boobs and sure enough, there they were. Also had some bleeding, one of the early days of the two week wait and then again the last four days before the pregnancy test. Not a lot, but enough to make me a little worried. Still, I was feeling fairly good about my chances of being pregnant. Until the day before my pregnancy test, when I was still dealing with the slight bleeding and I started to get cramps that felt like my period was about to start. I was so down the day before and the day of the test, sure it hadn’t worked. But it had.
• As I mentioned before, I am craving bean burritos like nobody’s business. And milk. And bread of pretty much any sort, which isn’t like me at all. Not really wanting meat, but I’ll eat it. Oh, and I gained 10 pounds from the IVF drugs, so I’m starting this pregnancy 10 pounds heavier than I want to be. But once this is all over, I am absolutely determined to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Hiking backpack for the baby, here we come
• Since the positive test, I’ve been feeling cautiously happy. I’m tired, especially in the afternoons. I’ve been resting for an hour or two every afternoon (sleeping more often than not). I’ve started exercising again but mellow walks, not hard hikes and hot yoga and snowboarding like I’m used to. Still, it’s good to be out in the fresh air and moving. I got a couple of pregnancy books that I’ve started to read. My husband and I have talked a little about baby names, what we’re going to want for a nursery, how we’re going to save for/afford maternity leave (I freelance so no maternity benefit; my husband’s a full-time student). We’ve told a few people, but there are many more to tell after the first trimester is over

So overall: a tough month with the two week wait. But things have been super easy in general for the week that we’ve known the news is positive.

Can’t wait to see what Month 2 brings! Knowing if it’s one baby or two, and I’m guessing morning sickness, and I have no idea what else. Looking forward to finding out. :)