Now Serving #2
(A Near Tea-Free Post)
I am not sure how else to say this but… “I’m Pregnant!” We have kept this information secret long enough and want to share with all of our friends online this amazing news.
Many of you may not know this but our now six-year-old daughter was conceived through in-vitro-fertilization or in other words a “test tube baby.” I’ll have you know the fault was entirely mine and not that of my manly and virile hubby. No, he didn’t ask me to mention that. That was totally all me aren’t I a sweetie? It really is true.
Nevertheless, after she was born we decided she was going to be our one and only. She was a miracle after all, plus I had a burst appendix in my second trimester and gallbladder removed just two months after I gave birth to her. We thought there was no reason to tempt fate and certainly no reason to risk my health any further.
Roughly three years ago I got pregnant again and naturally at that. We thought it was a miracle, how could this happen? Last we checked I was broken with not just one reason but also several reasons for why I suffered from infertility. All of the sudden we had to consider the possibility of another child. A sibling for our daughter who we later felt deserved to have someone else. When the day comes and we have passed on it only felt right for her to have family by her side.
Then just as quickly as the miracle happened it was taken away. I had a miscarriage. We were devastated and from then on I no longer believed in the possibility that I could ever successfully get pregnant and stay that way. I was depressed and in denial. I was learning about things like “blighted ovum” and why what happened in fact happened. I knew it was too good to be true. The baby never developed but my body thought I was pregnant. I went in hoping to see the heartbeat and there was nothing more than a yolk sac.
Fast-forward roughly a little over one year and a half ago. Hubby and I started talking about having another baby late 2011. In fact he asked me if I wanted to try just out of the blue. I was in shock since it had always been me with the strong desire to have a second. However, after the miscarriage I went into shut down mode and had gotten used to the idea that there would only be the one now having to think about another was like opening myself up to fail.
After more than a year later of thinking I had to decide if I really wanted to put myself in this position again. I decided it would be worth the struggle and possible heartache for our daughter. Last December 2012 we made the conscience decision to try for another baby. I knew I wasn’t going to be making this baby the “old fashioned” way but trust me it wasn’t for a lack of trying so I decided to make the necessary appointments and get setup with the same fertility center I used when I got pregnant with my daughter.
This January I met with a lot of different specialists. I had a lot of blood drawn, ultrasounds, and medicine changes for my chronic illnesses. After all that poking and prodding we are told…”Sorry, your insurance is from out of state and you are considered self-pay for all fertility services.” I was in shock, I felt numb, and once those feelings subsided I was angry. Illinois is where I live and have been living for a long time. Here we have a state law that requires infertility coverage for those who require it. Though, since my husbands company is based out of California we were considered “out of state” to that I say rubbish. Now they next step was to fight it. Do not get me upset because one way or another I will prevail. Still I was also fighting my own body clock. I didn’t want to get pregnant too much later since I am getting older. This fight was going to take time and I started to get down on the whole idea again. Perhaps this was a sign that it just isn’t meant to be and that I need to be happy with what I already have. All this happened late January just in time for our 16th wedding anniversary.
Now, go back to March 3rd my husband’s birthday. I started to feel something was amiss. I started counting days and what I thought I missed by a couple of days was actually more than a week, darn February with its fewer days. I still had some old unexpired pregnancy tests at home and decided I had better just check in case since not only did I miss the big day but also other little things were going on. Soreness in certain places, super sniffer, cravings for raw broccoli, and ice shavings, and just plain flat out super tired. I fell asleep at anytime, anywhere, and you swore I was narcoleptic. Though, I had an excuse explaining everything. I thought it must be my diabetes since lately my sugar has been fluctuating, and maybe I am low on iron since that has happened before. As you can see it had to be something else but the responsible side of me thought I had better check just to be safe.
March 3rd, 2013 5:15am – I took a pregnancy test.
In less than a few seconds I saw the darkest of pink lines ever and not just one but two. The test line was darker than even the control line. My heart dropped, I waited the three minutes as instructed and still there it was staring me in the face. Looks like I stuck it “to the man.” So what else could I do but march out into the bedroom with test in hand. I saw my husband rustling about so I expected he was about to wake up and figured he must have heard me making a racket. I thought for sure he was going to ask what I was up to. So to preempt his questions I wished him a Happy Birthday. He said, thank you and I said “No, sweetie really Happy Birthday!” then I turned and pulled the test out from behind my back and gave him the shock of his life. He was so happy and couldn’t believe it. This was most definitely a “love child” that must have happened on Valentine’s Day. Later, he says… “I was just getting up to use the washroom.” I started to laugh. It was a great day for all of us.
Now as the days went on I started to worry the same thing that happened three years ago would happen again and I am happy to report I have now seen the baby two times and it is growing well. I am just about ten weeks along and the baby has a strong heartbeat. The pregnancy has already been filled with excitement. I have nausea, lots of soreness, fatigue, and apparent moodiness. Being sick these past two weeks hasn’t been helpful but I have checked on the baby and everything still looks great. I am four weeks away from starting my second trimester and I can’t wait. Luckily for me I will be experiencing the easier part of pregnancy during our June trip to Las Vegas for the World Tea Expo and to Napa Valley and San Francisco in July. Unfortunately, I will not be able to drink the wine but don’t think for a moment that I am above using a spittoon.
Though I am not out of the woods yet I have a strong feeling that this pregnancy is going to be just fine. For once I can say that I feel it will be totally….”normal.”
This brings me to the tea portion of this blog post. I drank tea all throughout my first pregnancy and plan on doing the same all throughout this one.
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