Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to my blog on being a first time mother and a mother in academia. This blog is intended to serve two purposes: as a record or memory book of my transition into motherhood and as a record of my attempts to balance motherhood and life in academia. You may find that you disagree with me on various grounds. Should that be the case, you have two options:
1. You can stop reading my blog.
2. You can respond to me in a respectful manner, which involves not resorting to name calling or accusations of personal deficiencies. As I often tell my college students, we can resolve or at least reach some level of acceptance for each other through using civil and respectful dialogue.

Original Post From February 17, 2011--4 weeks and my fingers are crossed....

As of today, I am four weeks and four days pregnant and boy has it been a journey. My husband and I first began trying to conceive in June of last year. I quickly became pregnant. But, sadly, it was a chemical pregnancy. I tested too early. Had I waited until the actual day my period started and paid attention to the big sign, spotting, I might have saved myself the trauma of getting my hopes up only to have those hopes dashed.

As of February 17, 2011, I'm five days late for my period. I tested the second day my period didn't show up and I got a faint positive. I tested the third day and got a darker positive. On the fourth day, the line was slightly darker, and today, again, the line is even more pronounced. Other than the missed period, the only other symptoms I've had are a little bloating and some irritating and frightening "period" cramps. At first, I was pretty worried about the cramps. Every time I would feel one, I would hold my breath, hoping against hope that this wasn't also going to result in a miscarriage. So, I contacted the nurse of my intended OBGYN and she told me that period cramps were pretty common complaints at my stage of pregnancy. She also asked me to pick up a book called Pregnancy 411. It had a helpful section on cramping. Essentially, it let me know when I should be worried.

So, as of now, I am not as worried about the cramping. It seems to have subsided. My symptoms of today were irritability and fatigue. But I doubt whether or not they are a result of being pregnant. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood. But that's not really like me. Maybe I'm overworked. That could be a viable reason. In any case, I am worried that I haven't seen other signs like morning sickness and painful breasts. My breasts feel a little uncomfortable, but otherwise, they are the same old twins they have been (except for a little darkening around the areolas).

So anyway, for any readers out there, wish me luck. My bean, my husband, and I are trying to make it to April 20, the end of the first trimester. At that point, we will be certain enough to tell people.

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