I know I haven’t written for a while, but that’s because not a lot has happened, and I know that’s not the most gripping start to a blog post, but bear with me...
The last couple of weeks have been taken up with us trying to come to terms with our pregnancy, whilst not really seeing any signs of it. Em has been getting odd sensations in her belly (well, womb I guess) but nothing terribly dramatic has been happening at all.
I’ve realised that the way I look after Em has stepped up a gear; I’ve always looked out for her but since I’ve found out she’s pregnant my level of concern has gone into overdrive. Last week we were staying in a holiday cottage in Dorset, and on the third night we were there (Valentines night no less) the bathroom flooded. It didn’t seem like a big deal at first and Em waded in with towels to soak up the water, but then I noticed that the small patio out the back of the cottage was littered with foul water and toilet roll. So my mild annoyance quickly turned into well managed panic as I ran through the cottage yelling ‘GET OUT, GET OUT’ at my confused wife.
The extremely lovely agents who manage the cottage we were in put us up in their own house for the night, and then moved us to a new cottage. It turns out the entire row of cottages shares a single waste pipe, and later that night I drove past the cottage and the entire row (and a nearby pub) was busy with water-board trucks and plumbers vans, so it looks like we got out in the nick of time!
We both managed the situation with a clear-headed logical (and reasonable) urgency, with no anxious panic or muddled thinking, hopefully this state of mind will continue throughout our pregnancy, but I somehow doubt it, we’re only human after all.
Showing posts with label pregnancy test. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pregnancy test. Show all posts
Monday, 21 February 2011
Thursday, 27 January 2011
An early start for a lifetime of discoveries
Written 17th January 2011
This morning Em started calling the doctor’s surgery at about 8am, which is a standard time to start a campaign for an appointment at the practice we’re registered with. Actually that’s unfair, our practice is excellent and there’s always an appointment when you need one. We couldn't see our usual doctor (a male doctor that we have both been seeing since we were 18 years old) so we saw a very friendly and calming lady doctor at the surprisingly early time of 10am.
After Em sensed that I was making rambling introduction to the doctor so she came out with it and said she thought she was pregnant. The doctor asked if we had tried a home pregnancy test, we said yes, and she said ‘in that case you’re pregnant’. It was a bit more straight forward than either of us were expecting, all apart from when we started doing the sums for the due date and it would appear that my darling wife may already be three months pregnant!
The doctor had a very gentle feel of Em’s tummy and asked he she had noticed it changing shape, Em said no, I said yes. I’m really trying not to brag or boast, but it would appear I really did know Em was pregnant long before it was confirmed, and a few weeks before even she suspected it!
This is all starting to feel very real, but after seeing the doctor I’m losing my sense of panic and replacing it with a sense of duty. We’re seeing the midwife on Thursday, and there will most likely be a scan soon after that.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit pensive, but that’s probably more to do with me wanting to make sure Em and the baby are okay. Then we can tell our parents that they’re officially old sounding now we’re going to make them grandparents, and I know that they’re support and encouragement is going to make all the difference to all of us.
As far as names are concerned Em isn’t against my idea of giving a boy a Welsh name like ‘Nye’, but she has vetoed my hope of calling a girl ‘Lettie’. She quite likes the Victorian idea of naming girls after flowers, but dismissed as ridiculous my idea that we could name a girl ‘Chrysanthemum’. I’m sure this the first of many occasions that our unborn child will be forever thankful that Em is the sensible one in this marriage!
I just got a Google calender invite email from Em (for our midwife appointment), we’re organising this pregnancy using cloud technology! Makes sense to me, after all that is where the storks live isn’t it?
This morning Em started calling the doctor’s surgery at about 8am, which is a standard time to start a campaign for an appointment at the practice we’re registered with. Actually that’s unfair, our practice is excellent and there’s always an appointment when you need one. We couldn't see our usual doctor (a male doctor that we have both been seeing since we were 18 years old) so we saw a very friendly and calming lady doctor at the surprisingly early time of 10am.
After Em sensed that I was making rambling introduction to the doctor so she came out with it and said she thought she was pregnant. The doctor asked if we had tried a home pregnancy test, we said yes, and she said ‘in that case you’re pregnant’. It was a bit more straight forward than either of us were expecting, all apart from when we started doing the sums for the due date and it would appear that my darling wife may already be three months pregnant!
The doctor had a very gentle feel of Em’s tummy and asked he she had noticed it changing shape, Em said no, I said yes. I’m really trying not to brag or boast, but it would appear I really did know Em was pregnant long before it was confirmed, and a few weeks before even she suspected it!
This is all starting to feel very real, but after seeing the doctor I’m losing my sense of panic and replacing it with a sense of duty. We’re seeing the midwife on Thursday, and there will most likely be a scan soon after that.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit pensive, but that’s probably more to do with me wanting to make sure Em and the baby are okay. Then we can tell our parents that they’re officially old sounding now we’re going to make them grandparents, and I know that they’re support and encouragement is going to make all the difference to all of us.
As far as names are concerned Em isn’t against my idea of giving a boy a Welsh name like ‘Nye’, but she has vetoed my hope of calling a girl ‘Lettie’. She quite likes the Victorian idea of naming girls after flowers, but dismissed as ridiculous my idea that we could name a girl ‘Chrysanthemum’. I’m sure this the first of many occasions that our unborn child will be forever thankful that Em is the sensible one in this marriage!
I just got a Google calender invite email from Em (for our midwife appointment), we’re organising this pregnancy using cloud technology! Makes sense to me, after all that is where the storks live isn’t it?
My suspicions confirmed, finally - hopefully!
Well after weeks of me thinking Em might be pregnant (and after years of ‘trying’ to get her pregnant) this morning she took the test, and yes, she is pregnant.
Since I was a kid I’ve always wondered what it would feel like the moment I learn that I’ve knocked someone up, I’m prone to bouts of extreme anxiety so I thought I’d probably mess my pants and run around the house screaming like a cartoon character, but I surprised myself with how calm I responded when my wife showed me the pregnancy test. Thats not to say I didn’t react in any way at all though, I did keep bursting into laughter, which thankfully didn’t spook Emma at all.
But on the whole I am calm, clear thinking and overwhelmingly happy. Above all I have spent the whole of today staring at my beautiful wife with doe eyes, falling more in love with her than I ever have before.
We’ve been adopting the ‘lets see what happens’ zero-contraception theory for about five years now. We decided long ago that we wouldn’t be the sort of couple that got obsessive over charts, temperatures and vaginal mucus - we just wanted to see if what would happen would, well, happen. That being said I went for a fertility test a couple of years ago, but I really didn’t plan to, in fact I went to see my doctor about a mole on my back and much to my surprise I came out with a spaff sample pot. The results were good (and believe me, it’s really hard not to be an elated idiot when you find that out) but still a couple of years later nothing had happened. I wouldn’t say I had resigned myself to a life without children, but my wife and I had certainly discussed the possibility that younguns might not feature in our lives together.
Still, it’s early days yet, and we haven’t even been to see our doctor yet. I think our doctor will be especially proud of himself though - just a couple of months ago Em paid him a visit to ask for fertility advice!
Right here, right now I feel like Em and I are the first couple in the world to spawn life, even although I know that’s obviously cobblers. But I guess the feeling is a bit like when you know you’re deeply in love, and you feel like you’re the first person ever to feel that way, because surely nobody else has it as good and as deep as you do? Right?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)