We're publicly pregnant!! This past month of keeping secrets and lying to people has seemed endless, but finally it's over, and I can tell the world.
Saturday night, we had a get-together with the girls and had an absolutely lovely time. They were all drinking pretty good and there was a TON of food to go around. We had a couple of tricks up our sleeves, Ben & I, starting with my "vodka cranberries". Ben had emptied the rest of a bottle of vodka, cleaned it out really well, and filled it with water. When we got there, he started mixing me "drinks" of watered down cranberry juice! I think people took notice, but no one really said anything to me. I know at one point, Ben said that Elisa asked if I was drinking and he told her I was...
So when that didn't bring the topic into the open, Julie and Ben started getting the game "Apples to Apples" ready. We had previously discussed sneaking specific cards so that Ben and I could conspire to win a round, thus giving up our secret. The idea behind Apple to Apples is that one person chooses a green card - the card Ben had stuck between his legs was "Emotional", and everyone else has a set of red cards in their hand and you have to throw down a word that you think Ben would think was Emotional. The word Julie had slipped in my pocket was Babies. So everyone threw down their red cards, and Ben read through them, coming last to Babies. He chose Babies as the winner for the round, and said something like "Who has babies? Who has a baby?" So I replied "I have a baby in my tummy" and everyone just looked at me. It took a sec to sink in before there was a reaction, but then there was cheers and toasts and hugs all around.
Andrea wasn't able to make it to our little get together, and as a last ditch effort, Ben had spent a lot of time on an email earlier in the day. The context of the email was basically to try to persuade her to come up - he even tried bribing her with Cubs tickets! However, there was a hidden message in the email, which could have made her the first to know. The first letter of each line read "Mindy is pregnant", which neither Julie nor I (or Andrea for that matter) caught until Ben filled us in. So after our announcement, we got Andrea on the phone, and well, this is how it went:
Last night I emailed the news to the rest of our friends, and today I shared my news with everyone at work. It is so nice to be able to talk to people and share our happy news with the world after everything we've been though. I do still have the tiniest bit of nervousness since it is still early, and anything can happen at any point, but I think I've done a good job of staying positive and being as healthy as I can be.
We go back for our next ultrasound and last RE (reproductive endocrinologist or fertility specialist) appointment next Wednesday. That day can't come soon enough! I'm so excited to see our little bean again and make sure everything is still going swimmingly. I got really spoiled in the beginning with the weekly ultrasounds, and now it seems like an eternity between visits, and I just want to know that everything's still progressing well.
I am a little sad for the appointment too, because it means leaving all these amazing people I've come to know and trust. Not even so much my doctor - though he is wonderful, I honestly had very little interaction with him, and he didn't do my retrieval or transfer either time. The nurses at FCI are absolutely fabulous, as is the phlebotomist. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I have *horrible*, *terrible* veins, and she is amazing at getting me the first time, getting that tourniquet off right away, and just is a great person. She taught me the trick of eating and drinking plenty of water before b/w so that the veins are bigger! The ultrasound techs and the women at the front desk are so sweet, and I love that they knew me by name and were always so warm and welcoming. I should also comment on the anesthesiolgist, thought he's not a regular, thankfully, but that man was also amazing at sticking me the first time, both times, for my IV, which is usually a traumatic experience for me and these crappy veins. All around, I had a great experience with FCI, and IVF has been such a long, painful journey, but also an amazing, amazing process with all these people and the awesome technology.
Okay, sorry for the tangent. I just feel so strongly positive about my FCI experience, you all should know it's been a hard road, but I don't regret anything.
I also have my first OB appointment with Dr. Carroll scheduled for March 27th, so hopefully we'll get to see the bean again, and then I'll have the opportunity to bombard Dr. Carroll with the million questions I've been thinking up!!
Cheers!!
No comments:
Post a Comment