Made in Alaska ~ How I Told Hubbs the GREAT News!

Monday morning before work, 10 days after ovulation (pretty much the earliest I could test) and it took forever to show, but it finally came up as a very clear “PREGNANT”! I was sooooo excited! My Hubbs was still in bed sleeping, but I didn’t dare wake him. (Baby will learn at a young age that waking him is never a good idea.) I ran upstairs to find the onesie that I had custom-made 6 months ago that said “Baby ------” with the Made in Alaska symbol of a mother and baby polar bear. After rummaging around a bit I managed to find it. I wrapped it up with the positive pregnancy test and set it on the coffee table. I frantically started getting ready for work, but it was hard to focus with all of the excitement! Of course Hubbs had apparently decided to sleep in this morning, so I had to wait even longer than I normally would have, but he finally got up. After he had his coffee in hand, we sat on the couch as we often do before work, and I told him to open his late Christmas present. He looked at my suspiciously and said “this isn’t one of those pregnancy things is it?” He opened it and made a joke, but I didn’t really hear it because I already had a million things going through my mind. I started spouting ideas and he told me to calm down and let him take it all in. I think he was a bit overwhelmed because he hadn’t thought about it nearly as much as I had ;-)

We are considered to be in the 4^th week of pregnancy and baby is already the size of poppy seed. I have already looked up baby's expected arrival date- Thursday September 3, 2015! It makes it feel more real to have a date! September is a great time because baby will grow big and strong during those last months in summer. September will be early enough that it won’t be too cold and we can still get out for walks during baby's first days in the world and enjoy the fall colors. Fall is soooo beautiful here! It won’t be such a great time of the year for my current job, since that is literally the busiest month of the year, but who knows, maybe I’ll be in a totally different job by then and it won’t be an issue. There's certainly no sense in worrying about it now. September seems so much sooner than I expected…. I kept imagining baby arriving in the bitter cold winter months of January, February, or March. Baby's great-grandpa and grandpa were both born on September 24^th, I wonder if baby will arrive closer to that date.  It looks like baby might be a Virgo, an earth sign, which would be the perfect balance to Hubbs fire, and my water sign.

I’m trying to walk outside every day to get as much fresh air and sunshine as possible during this very dark winter. Baby is SO motivating! Of course I have given up alcohol, but l did have a little Carolyn’s over the Christmas holiday. I have also given up sugar, dairy, and gluten to avoid inflammatory foods, and I’m working hard to eat more veggies! I just read today that I can’t drink any undercooked meat- thank goodness I had an amazing medium-rare fillet mignon for Christmas dinner, because that will be the last for 9 more months!

I’m keeping this journal because I’m just so darn excited and Hubbs and I have decided not to tell anyone, yet! I almost feel like it was easier to plan when I wasn’t pregnant, because then I didn’t feel like I was lying, and now I do, so I try to avoid the subject in conversation. However, I find myself taking the opportunity to tell everyone that I can! Mostly people who are bound by law not to tell anyone else :-P I told my acupuncturist and the lady who answered the phone when I called to ask the details about maternity leave. I can’t wait to tell my chiropractor and make our first appointment to see the doctor! Hubbs and I would love to tell our friends right away, but gossip spreads quickly and we aren’t ready to share this special moment with the entire world, yet.

A while ago I told Hubbs about how I’m not allowed to clean the cat box since it can be toxic to a pregnant woman…. But I looked into it some more, and since our cats don’t go outside there’s a very low probably of that being an issue and if the box is cleaned every 24 hours then it’s even less likely….. Hubbs asked when he has to start cleaning the cat box and I said “right away!” I’m really surprised he hasn’t researched this himself…. I’m going to wait and see how long it takes him to figure out that he doesn’t really have to do it - tehe.

Hubbs thinks baby is a girl, but that was simply in opposition to the fact that I have always thought I would have baby boys. We have always called baby Junior when we talk about it, but we'll see if your nickname changes over time :-)