Another running blog

We had our first appointment with the ob on Friday. I was slightly delirious from being post call with only about 15 minutes of sleep but it was still a great appointment. Toward the end, she mentioned that it’s probably too early to hear the heartbeat but that she was willing to try. It was so cool when she put the doppler on my stomach, and I could hear the little woosh-woosh. I almost started crying. It somehow made everything seem so much more real. After that, she went and got Eddie so that he could hear it too. And the really good news is that apparently the risk of miscarriage is very low once you can hear the heartbeat. It was so exciting. Despite all the nausea and everything else, I still can’t quite believe that there’s a little baby inside of me. Even though so many other couples go through this, I somehow feel like Eddie and I are undergoing this unique experience that no one else can quite understand.

After the appointment, we started talking about telling other people now that the risk of miscarriage is so low. We decided to tell a few people. We figure we’ll tell pretty much everyone after the early risk assessment. So exciting!! Now I want to go buy a book on baby names.

I had another pretty quiet call last night but the nausea was significantly worse and today post call I haven’t been able to get rid of it. I threw up at work before I left in the morning, and then managed to have some cereal when I got home but then felt very nauseous. Luckily, I was able to fall asleep before I threw up. I woke up this afternoon and went for a 30 minute walk, feeling nauseous the whole time. I decided that Thai food was vaguely appealing so had a little for dinner and then threw up again. I feel a little better now after throwing up but still pretty nauseous. It’s so painful. And very difficult to take the prenatal vitamins because that just makes it worse.

Luckily, I had my first intake phone appt with the ob office this afternoon and the nurse suggested I should email my ob about zofran. I had no idea it was class 2. I think I’ll be a little nervous about taking it, and maybe I won’t actually take it, but the mental relief of not having to feel horribly nauseous for the entire next month is great. I remain pretty nervous about how I’m going to make it through the next 5 weeks.

Started having some nausea over the past few days. Was initially excited about it but now have rather had enough of it. Hmmm. Not really looking forward to 7 more weeks of this. Also, went for a run today and had a very tough time both because of nausea and exhaustion. But still proud that I managed to get it done. I’m really hoping that I can keep running through at least the first trimester and even into the second. Once I’m in the third trimester I feel that switching to walking is acceptable.

Being pregnant is kind of neat. I feel like I’m carrying around this exciting little secret that makes me smile a few times a day when I remember. Amazing to think that I have an entire other person growing inside me and that within the next week or so there will be a beating heart. How is that possible?! So cool.

So, we started trying to get pregnant the month of August. After reading about it in several pregnancy books, it seemed that our chances of actually getting pregnant on the first month were quite low and that the average time it took for a couple our age to get pregnant was 6 to 10 months. Phew. That’s a long time to wait. It seemed to me that since I had spent the past 12 years trying not to get pregnant, it should be pretty easy to get pregnant, especially given all the warnings we got in high school health class.

On September 1st, after working a 13 hour ED shift, I decided I should pick up a pregnancy test on the way home. Eddie thought I was utterly ridiculous because there was no way we would get pregnant on our very first try. However, I figured it couldn’t hurt, especially since the kits come with two tests each. After the exciting drama of peeing into a cup, I called Eddie to come look at the little stick. I absolutely could not believe it when two pink lines appeared. I mean, really, what are the chances?! We called our parents who did lots of happy screaming, all the while warning us not to get too excited.

It’s been a few days now, and I still can’t believe I’m pregnant. I feel some occasional pressure in my lower abdomen and some occasional nausea, and I had my first experience with insomnia last night, all of which (apparently) can be signs of pregnancy. Never thought I would be excited about feeling nauseous… I remain somewhat annoyed that I can’t drink and that there are whole hosts of random foods that I can’t eat. Now the real challenge is not telling people. Of course, most of them will probably guess pretty soon since I’m not drinking, but there’s not much I can do about that.

It’s a little bit terrifying to realize that I’m actually pregnant. We’re going to have a baby. Crazy. It means our whole life will change. I can’t quite imagine being responsible for another human being, which is kind of funny since I’m a doctor, but it’s obviously different when it’s your own child. And of course I’m worried that something will go wrong. We know several people who’ve had miscarriages and one person who’s had an ectopic. And being a doctor, I feel like I know a million other things that could go wrong. Rather scary.

The older I get, the more I start to believe in some sort of higher power and this is one of the times when it’s oddly comforting to think that things are out of my hands.