6-Week Tenderness

Tender love and .... very sore breasts! It's official: Six weeks pregnant = one very sore chest!

Cramp Central

These menstrual-type cramps are killing! They don't last long but they are awful! I seem to cramp up right around noon (not so convenient as I usually have lunch with my girlfriends from work) and sometimes right when we get home from work. They go away in 5-10 min. but not until after some serious relaxation. There are only so many excuses I can make at lunch break though. The first day I had to actually put down my sandwich and go lay down in the nurse's office. I blamed it on my period. I obviously couldn't still have my period the following week, so I blamed it on a tough workout that morning. I wish I could just tell our secret! I have multiple big family and friend events in the next month so here's hoping that I can keep my mouth shut!

Ahhh the Genetics

On the ride into the doctor's office years and years ago (I was 13 maybe), my Mom told me the story of my family's shitty genetics. Women in my family carry x-linked myotubular myopathy, which is passed to offspring 25 percent of the time (50 percent of males). Since learning this, I always worried about having a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.

Now that I'm pregnant and a confirmed carrier, my husband and I have decided to test the earliest way we can: chorionic villi sampling. I spoke with a genetic specialist at the one of only two labs in the country that tests for myotubular myopathy (University of Chicago) today and his news was disappointing. Four weeks from now at week 10, I will have the CVS procedure. Using a "quick test," the lab will be able to tell if the sex chromosone is a male or female within 24-48 hours. If female, we are home free (although she may be carrier like me). If male, the cells will be sent to UMass to cultivate then to the U of Chicago for testing. Results won't be back until I'm 13-15 weeks pregnant. I was hoping for more like 11-13 weeks. The last thing in the world I want to do is have to end this pregnancy. But even worse than that would be to continue to full term and watch my baby die within 2 weeks. Babies with severe x-linked myotubular myopathy are born ventilator-dependent. I want my baby to have the best chance we can provide!

5:30am Screwdriver

After we decided I would stop taking my birth control pill, it was time for a pitstop at the drugstore. But since the grocery store is right next door and sells prenatal vitamins AND beer, we not surprisingly went to the grocery store instead. Armed with a bottle of what my husband called "neonatal pills" and a 12-pack of Bud Light, we made our way back to the house. We had similar experiences buying pregnancy tests. Anything involving babies involves beer (for him, of course).

One period had passed being off the pill when the calendar said a second should arrive. It was Easter weekend and we were heading up north to visit the in-laws. My husband - a big fan of Boston-based movies - kept repeating a quote from The Departed. "You get your period yet?" But I hadn't. We stopped to buy a test on the way home from work on Monday. I had cramping all Monday night and was sure I'd get my period by morning. When I didn't, I took the test. It showed positive almost immediately. It was 5:30 in the morning. Tony was in the shower. I left the positive test on the bureau and went downstairs to pour him some orange juice. As he stepped out of the shower, I nodded my head toward the test and handed him the OJ. "There's vodka in there," I said.

Is he really ready...?

I have a friend at work who was born to be a Mom. A friend from high school is the same way (she just had twins and she's great with them). It's like they grew up with only one thing in mind: to be kick ass Moms. I, on the other hand, wanted to be an astronaut, a lawyer, a doctor, the President, a writer. But Mom? That never came to mind. That's not to say I never thought about it. I always knew I wanted to have children. It just wasn't constantly on my mind. Partly to blame (if blame is the right verb here) is my husband, the self-proclaimed scared-of-babies man. Now I saw him help deliver our friend's baby in the military and he was a natural. So he's just full of shit, apparently.

I've been nagging (if nagging is the right verb) him about having children for a few years now. It wasn't until after one of his best friends and his better half got pregnant that my husband knew his time was limited. A few weeks later, we were hanging at home on a Saturday night. Three-ten beers and a dance party later, he said something like, "You know that thing you want? That THING? Well I guess if it happened, it would be ok."

Three months later I was pregnant.