Finding out that I was pregnant was the most surreal experience I think I've ever gone through. Having had previous notions that it would just not be that easy to fall pregnant, considering how many girlfriends of mine have had difficulties, how long I'd been on the pill, how old I was (almost ancient in fertility egg years!), I never thought that it would be something that would just 'happen'. I had gone off the pill in early August 2012, with the idea of giving my body a break. Mark and I certainly weren't trying for a baby and were assuming that we were being careful when we needed to be, but our calculations were obviously way off! We were in the process of packing up our lives and moving from London to New York, which was actually postponed by a week due to Hurricane Sandy, so an additional, crazy new element or experience was also not really on the radar.
The whole week prior to discovering we were pregnant, I'd felt totally out of sorts in a weirdly, physically-vulnerable way that I couldn't describe or explain. I was waking up each morning to get ready for work with a funny feeling in my stomach that felt neither like hunger nor illness, and more like a weird, toxic feeling. I really thought it must have been a form of alcohol poisoning and that my body was wanting a break, which made a bit of sense considering the amount that I had been drinking out and about with friends and visitors since we had arrived in New York. Each night that week at home I was pouring myself (as normal!) a glass of wine and I could barely stomach a sip.. my taste buds were so off! I also wasn't wanting to eat what I normally would during the day at work. I'd go down to the cafeteria, which totally spoils for choice, and everything that I would normally pile on my plate was making me gag with one look. Instead of my usual huge boxes of food for lunch, I was having small servings of lettuce and carrot, which was totally weird for my normally over-indulgent appetite. I was also hitting a wall at about 2-3pm everyday, feeling like I had chronic jet-lag and putting eye drops in my eyes trying to wake up, not knowing what on earth was wrong with me. My joints and muscles were aching, and each day at the gym I could barely manage a short 20 minute or so run.
My girlfriend, Lynds, and I had made plans to have brunch (lunch in NYC) on the Saturday (8th December). We met at Isabella's, a lovely restaurant near her in the Upper West Side, and I began telling her how I was so looking forward to a wine with her, but that the whole week prior I'd weirdly not felt like wine or normal food. She said straight away, "Oh my god, Chicka, you could be pregnant". I said "Nooo.. Mark and I have been careful, and my cycle is so out of wack anyway, I can't be". She made me go to the pharmacy on the next block to grab a pregnancy test before we started drinking, so I thought I would just go along with it for a laugh, as Lynds can be quite persistent when she thinks she is on the money. I asked her to order the bottle of the Muscadet (our fave to drink together) while I was gone. I came back and started on my wine and she said, "Please go and do it now, for my own conscience", so I went to the loo in the restaurant(!), and the positive result came up straight away. I immediately thought that there had to be something wrong with the test, and managed to do the 2nd (luckily the packets come with two!), and that came up straight away too. I got back to the table and was in shock.. absolutely floored! Lynds was on the phone to Dylan and saw my face as I sat down, and was jumping up and down excitedly while I was shaking my head in shock! I called Mark, who luckily answered while on his road bike riding downtown, as I had to tell him because Dylan was coming down to join us. I told Mark that I had some news and he said, "What, you're pregnant?" as a joke! I told him, "Actually.. I am". After an "Oh my god, what?" and "I can't believe you're telling me this news over the phone" and me explaining that I was in shock and didn't know how else to tell him because Dylan was joining us, he cut short the bike ride to come up to the UWS and join us. I could barely speak throughout the meal!
That afternoon we, coincidentally, had been invited to the 1st birthday party of Mark's cousin, Jess', daughter, Ally May. The party was full of babies running around, crawling, screaming.. a world that we were now soon to be a part of!
Over the following weeks we told our parents and a few close friends, as we wanted to wait until we had a proper scan to make it more official and real. We also told friends who we were seeing in person, as it was so obvious that something was going on with me not drinking alcohol! I still had trouble believing it myself, and did two more tests in the following two weeks. I also didn't know how far along the baby was, with my cycle being so out of sync, so couldn't estimate the due date.
I soon discovered that everything I would do with regard to my pregnancy here in the U.S. would, thankfully, be covered by my private medical insurance through work, which is extremely lucky. If we were having the baby in the UK, none of it would be covered under the medical insurance through work. As I'd only enrolled in the private medical on the Friday prior to finding out, I had to wait until the enrolment cycle was processed the following week to make an appointment to see an OB/GYN. I finally managed to make an appointment at the Columbia Medical Centre near my office on New Years Eve, as that was the next available appointment. When the appointment date arrived, I thought that it was a meet and greet with my OB/GYN, but not only were my urine and blood tests taken, he did an internal sonogram as well, which was a surprise. He stuck the camera up and all I saw at first was this lifeless blob and thought to myself "Oh no", but then he moved the camera around and it became more recognisable. He pointed out the head and I said, "Is it alive??!" and he said, "Yes, yes, it's alive!" I was suddenly overcome with emotion and started crying when he pointed out the heart, which was going crazy like a butterfly, and then the little arms and legs. Then it started moving like it was dancing, and I really could not believe that what I was seeing was inside me. I asked how far along I was and my Dr. said that I was (surprisingly) in line with my last period and around 10 weeks. At the end of the appointment, he gave me his cell phone and said to call him straight away if an emergency was to crop up. The sonogram was such a surreal experience, ironically making the whole thing more real. A crazy end to the year, and an exciting indication of the crazy year to come!
The whole week prior to discovering we were pregnant, I'd felt totally out of sorts in a weirdly, physically-vulnerable way that I couldn't describe or explain. I was waking up each morning to get ready for work with a funny feeling in my stomach that felt neither like hunger nor illness, and more like a weird, toxic feeling. I really thought it must have been a form of alcohol poisoning and that my body was wanting a break, which made a bit of sense considering the amount that I had been drinking out and about with friends and visitors since we had arrived in New York. Each night that week at home I was pouring myself (as normal!) a glass of wine and I could barely stomach a sip.. my taste buds were so off! I also wasn't wanting to eat what I normally would during the day at work. I'd go down to the cafeteria, which totally spoils for choice, and everything that I would normally pile on my plate was making me gag with one look. Instead of my usual huge boxes of food for lunch, I was having small servings of lettuce and carrot, which was totally weird for my normally over-indulgent appetite. I was also hitting a wall at about 2-3pm everyday, feeling like I had chronic jet-lag and putting eye drops in my eyes trying to wake up, not knowing what on earth was wrong with me. My joints and muscles were aching, and each day at the gym I could barely manage a short 20 minute or so run.
My girlfriend, Lynds, and I had made plans to have brunch (lunch in NYC) on the Saturday (8th December). We met at Isabella's, a lovely restaurant near her in the Upper West Side, and I began telling her how I was so looking forward to a wine with her, but that the whole week prior I'd weirdly not felt like wine or normal food. She said straight away, "Oh my god, Chicka, you could be pregnant". I said "Nooo.. Mark and I have been careful, and my cycle is so out of wack anyway, I can't be". She made me go to the pharmacy on the next block to grab a pregnancy test before we started drinking, so I thought I would just go along with it for a laugh, as Lynds can be quite persistent when she thinks she is on the money. I asked her to order the bottle of the Muscadet (our fave to drink together) while I was gone. I came back and started on my wine and she said, "Please go and do it now, for my own conscience", so I went to the loo in the restaurant(!), and the positive result came up straight away. I immediately thought that there had to be something wrong with the test, and managed to do the 2nd (luckily the packets come with two!), and that came up straight away too. I got back to the table and was in shock.. absolutely floored! Lynds was on the phone to Dylan and saw my face as I sat down, and was jumping up and down excitedly while I was shaking my head in shock! I called Mark, who luckily answered while on his road bike riding downtown, as I had to tell him because Dylan was coming down to join us. I told Mark that I had some news and he said, "What, you're pregnant?" as a joke! I told him, "Actually.. I am". After an "Oh my god, what?" and "I can't believe you're telling me this news over the phone" and me explaining that I was in shock and didn't know how else to tell him because Dylan was joining us, he cut short the bike ride to come up to the UWS and join us. I could barely speak throughout the meal!
That afternoon we, coincidentally, had been invited to the 1st birthday party of Mark's cousin, Jess', daughter, Ally May. The party was full of babies running around, crawling, screaming.. a world that we were now soon to be a part of!
Over the following weeks we told our parents and a few close friends, as we wanted to wait until we had a proper scan to make it more official and real. We also told friends who we were seeing in person, as it was so obvious that something was going on with me not drinking alcohol! I still had trouble believing it myself, and did two more tests in the following two weeks. I also didn't know how far along the baby was, with my cycle being so out of sync, so couldn't estimate the due date.
I soon discovered that everything I would do with regard to my pregnancy here in the U.S. would, thankfully, be covered by my private medical insurance through work, which is extremely lucky. If we were having the baby in the UK, none of it would be covered under the medical insurance through work. As I'd only enrolled in the private medical on the Friday prior to finding out, I had to wait until the enrolment cycle was processed the following week to make an appointment to see an OB/GYN. I finally managed to make an appointment at the Columbia Medical Centre near my office on New Years Eve, as that was the next available appointment. When the appointment date arrived, I thought that it was a meet and greet with my OB/GYN, but not only were my urine and blood tests taken, he did an internal sonogram as well, which was a surprise. He stuck the camera up and all I saw at first was this lifeless blob and thought to myself "Oh no", but then he moved the camera around and it became more recognisable. He pointed out the head and I said, "Is it alive??!" and he said, "Yes, yes, it's alive!" I was suddenly overcome with emotion and started crying when he pointed out the heart, which was going crazy like a butterfly, and then the little arms and legs. Then it started moving like it was dancing, and I really could not believe that what I was seeing was inside me. I asked how far along I was and my Dr. said that I was (surprisingly) in line with my last period and around 10 weeks. At the end of the appointment, he gave me his cell phone and said to call him straight away if an emergency was to crop up. The sonogram was such a surreal experience, ironically making the whole thing more real. A crazy end to the year, and an exciting indication of the crazy year to come!
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