Sesame seed

I've been writing long journal entries of late. It's refreshing. Even though it might seem that I share everything with the interwebs via this blog, twitter, and facebook, there are still some things that live in my trusty pen-and-ink journal. Or my trusty MS word journal. I find that I'm not sure how much to share here regarding the very new pregnancy. We're not really concerned about "jinxing" it, because we understand that if things do go wrong, it's not because of something we did or didn't do. But it's still new, and we're both still somewhat hesitant. On the flipside, the therapist in me is whispering sweet nothings about transparency and making pregnancy normal enough that it's something that can be blogged. Not making it less special, but maybe removing some of the mystery and fear that can surround this entirely natural event.

Maybe I just think too much?

Well, here are a few things you might not know about our little sesame seed.

I took a pregnancy test in the public restroom in a Catholic church in Kansas, minutes before our friends' wedding ceremony began. Jonathan, who was a groomsman and usher, found out when I walked over to the door where he was ushering and opened my purse to reveal:


And it was our secret for just about as long as we could stand.

Approximately 30 minutes.

Then we cracked and told a couple friends at the reception who we knew we wouldn't be seeing again for a long time. We wanted to tell everyone, but I wanted a few more data points before we did that. So we stopped and got a three-pack of tests that I took immediately when we got back to our friend's house in Wichita. When they were all clearly positive, Jonathan made the announcement to all friends gathered for the annual LAN party. From there everything just happened and we told everyone we saw for the rest of our trip. It worked out well that we were trying to see as many people as we possibly could during the short stay in Kansas.

Oh, and for all my grand thoughts on how to tell people... that was all out the window. I was far too excited and I tended to just say "AND WE'RE PREGNANT" in the middle of conversations. I like the element of surprise, but my delivery was more because I couldn't stand keeping it in for any longer.

So, no due date yet. I have an appointment on August 4th at which they'll give me another pregnancy test just to confirm, but that's it. Our first real prenatal appointment is September 2nd. By that time, the embryo should be transitioning to fetus stage and we should we able to hear a heartbeat. Based on Naegele's rule (note my recall for facts pregnancy-related whilst forgetting school-related facts?), I should be due around March 26, 2010. Of course we can only hope that this date is 9 days off and the wee one comes on the most important date in March - the 17th.

That puts me at about 5 weeks right now. I'm tired even when I get a good amount of sleep, and I crave salad all day long. Spicy foods make sesame seed grumpy and lead to some hardcore heartburn. No real nausea, though, at least so far.

And to answer a few FAQs:

• We'll find out the sex of the baby on delivery day.
• We're hoping for a natural birth, possibly using the Bradley Method, at the Women's Birth and Wellness Center in Chapel Hill. We understand that everything can't be planned and we're okay with being flexible where we need to be with our pregnancy and birth ideas.
• We do have names picked out. We can tell you in person if you'd like to know.
• Jonathan refers to the growing one using female pronouns, while I stick to gender-neutrals. We don't have a constant nickname, but so far have used whatever produce item matches the baby's size. Last week it was little poppy seed, and this week it's little sesame seed. We'll see if the trend continues. :)