The day after my Mom and Jan flew back to Utah Chris suggested I try "The Test". The pregnancy test we had on hand was one that would show two pink lines if you were pregnant and one if not. After taking the test the pee-stick showed one really bright pink line and another barely visible line. I figured I was probably pregnant, but wanted one that was a little more obvious. Chris picked up a digital test that would tell you in words 'Pregnant' or 'Not Pregnant' so you couldn't get it wrong. Within a few seconds of taking that test the word 'Pregnant' appeared.
My initial reaction was something along the lines of 'Well that explains it.' I was so glad to have a reason for the way I was feeling. Chris said he was so excited he felt like he wanted to tell people. When I asked who he wanted to tell he said 'The whole world.' We decided to wait until the pregnancy got closer to the end of the first trimester before we started sharing our good news. Though my initial thoughts don't convey our excitement we were ever so thrilled to be starting this new part of our life, my enthusiasm was dulled by nausea and tiredness.
Chris downloaded an app on his phone that told us how far along we were, when our due date would be and gave weekly updates on the approximate size and weight of the baby. From this we discovered that Baby Bell would be joining our family the first part of March. Even before we were thinking about getting pregnant I thought March would be a good time to have a baby. The reasons being that it would be great to be very pregnant through the coldest part of the winter so I could be kept warm by the baby ove, and another reason being that having a baby in early spring would give me time to get back in to shape by the time swimsuit and racing season came around.
The next few weeks were typical for most pregnant women in the first trimester. I woke up late in the morning and went straight for the Tums, though I cut out the Diet Coke. Thanks to Chris' job he was able to procure a bottle of Zofran, the nausea wonder drug. I spent most of the day lying in what I call my "Ailing Chair" trying to work up enough energy to do something productive. Chris was always so supportive when I apologized for not having done much with my day and let the apartment get messy. He would tell me that I had been busy all day 'incubating'. Without much concerted effort I sort of looked for a job not sure if I wanted to take on the nursing requirements and training or if I wanted to try something different. And, knowing that I would be having a baby before long made the effort seem a lot less worth it. I did keep looking and applying, but to no avail. I tried to keep active by going on short runs and bike rides. Both of which seemed half-hearted, but that was all the effort I could muster. I tried swimming once in the pool at our apartment but the salt water cleaning solution used instead of chlorine made me sick enough that it was the only time I threw up.
As far as cravings go, it was more trying to figure out what I did feel like eating instead of what I had an intense hankering for. For a while I didn't feel like I could get enough milk and I was drinking it as if it was blood to a vampire. I went through an Easy Mac kick and had a bowl a day for a while. Contrary to most pregnant women I had developed an intense dislike for ice cream, chocolate, and sugary treats. My sweet tooth became rather small and was satisfied with Gushers and Swedish Fish.
All of Chris' colleagues knew about the pregnancy long before any of our family members since Chris had to ask who the good Obstetricians were. I thought 'Great, Chris and I have worked along side and with OBs in Ogden for the past few years and could easily pick an OB we knew a lot about and already liked. I just so happens that we great pregnant right as we move away from the doctors we know.' We got some recommendations and made an appointment after making sure we had insurance coverage after the move -I hear babies can be expensive.
Baby Bell's next adventure came about a week and a half after we had found out I was pregnant. I was having a good morning after taking a zofrn and decided to go for a bike ride after Chris and gone to work. About the time Chris was seeing his first patient a small truck made a left hand turn in front of me as I was cruising downhill. I was unable to stop fast enough and ended up slamming into the passenger side of the car and tumbling over the hood and ending up in the gutter on the other side of the car. I was very dazed, but glad that it wasn't as bad as I pictured in my head before I actually hit the vehicle. My left thigh, shoulder, and wrist were in pain but I felt like I could move pretty well. In a few moments there were people all around me and someone had called 911. I phoned Chris to ask him what I should do. Because he was in clinic I had to call twice for him to answer. I told him what happened and asked him to come fast. In what felt like a couple of minutes the ambulance, firetruck, and police car showed up. The paramedics figured the mechanism of injury and being pregnant required that I go to a trauma center and had me strapped to a backboard in a C-collar and put me in the back of the ambulance. I didn't feel like I needed to go to a hospital where they would do a lot of unnecessary x-rays and tests, but I wasn't sure what to do about being pregnant. Once Chris arrived and saw that I was not too bad off he rescued me from the ambulance and the paramedics. They had us both sign a paper that said we were leaving AMA (against medical advice). Chris took me to the clinic where he was doing his fellowship in Fontana. Chris and one of the directors, Dr. Rubin, looked me over and said I was okay. My biggest concern was for the pregnancy. The potential to have done something to affect the pregnancy scared me and was the only part of the whole experience that caused me to get emotional. I wanted to know that I hadn't done something to cut the pregnancy short. Chris and Dr. Rubin assured me that at this stage the baby is so small it is extremely well protected. Since I was already at his clinic Chris grabbed the ultrasound and we had our first look at Baby Bell.
I'm not sure what I expected, but there isn't much that looks like a baby at 6 weeks. We could see the heart beat, but that's pretty much all Baby Bell was at that time. More like an aneurism in the uterus. I called Baby Bell my little peanut since that's about the size it was.
Not to complain, but over the next week and a half I had the added pains in my wrist, leg and shoulder in conjunction with my pregnancy ailments. One of the worst pains common to early pregnancy are the extremely slow bowels. Bloating was the only reason my pants were tight or that I had any semblance of looking pregnant. I had one try using the Milk of Magnesia and it wasn't fun (I don't think I'll ever try that again). I spent even more time being sedentary while my body healed which didn't help matters. Maybe after all of the action of the preceding weeks it was good for Baby Bell to have a rest as well.
Not wanting to lose too much of my athleticism I tried to get back to exercising and being active as quickly as possible. Since my helmet was cracked and my bike needed fixing, the bruise on my leg hurt too much to run with, and my shoulder hurt too much to swim with, I spent a few days sitting on the bike trainer trying to make the most of a weak first trimester workout. After a sad spin on the bike I would have to lay down and rest and cool off. The 45 minute effort would be enough to require a solid nap in the afternoon.
However, recovering enough after a bit Chris and I took Baby Bell through another big part of our life - Racing. We did the Maui Jim Surf Monkey 5k while in Oceanside at a sports medicine conference. Chris told me I could run as fast as I wanted and that Baby Bell would be okay. Still dealing with my previously mentioned ailments I was able to finish without too much shame in 22:15 and fifth in my age group. I have to mention Chris' time of 20:57, also fifth. I paid for the effort afterward in the form of the gut aching nausea. Knowing that we were going to be parents start thinking more seriously about the responsibilities of raising children and trying to instill in them all those attributes that we would desire for them. We began watching children and families around us to see how their dynamics played out. We quizzed each other to see what we would do in various situations. In one instance Chris and I were laying by a pool and there was a young boy, his younger sister , and their dad swimming in the pool. The dad and son were playing and swimming while the sister followed them around on a pool floatie whining and half-crying because she wasn't getting enough attention. I asked Chris what he would do. He said he would just ignore her. I joked and, borrowing a phrase my dad used with us, said 'I would ask her if she wanted me to give her something to cry about'. He laughed and said that was a good one. In many of the circumstances that we quizzed each other on we were really just hoping we got to our kids ahead of time so they didn't have the behaviors we saw in some of the more annoying children.
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