1st visit at the OB/GYN

OB/GYN................No worries that there will be any graphic details provided here or in any posts. :-) We had our first appointment on February 22nd. We found out that we are 9 weeks and 2 days pregnant and they changed the due date to September 25th, give or take a week ahead or behind. We met with a nurse and got the rundown on all the important stuff with pregnancy and they collect all of the information from my medical history.
Some of the obvious:

• Avoid alcohol (thankfully Deb can still partake as this will certainly help her through the next 7 months!
• No smoking (just seems like a no brainer)
• No hottubs (does anyone really use those germ infested things anymore?)
• No snowboarding (with this I shed a small tear and put my brand, spankin' new board away, if this shorty knows what's good for them, they better be ready to board around the age of 3!) A good thing to mention is that my brother, Ben is convinced I can just put a pillow in my jacket to brace my fall and keep boarding. Not so much.
• Never let yourself get hungry to avoid nausea (which means i'm eating 1/2 a peanut butter sandwich about 10 times a day! The dogs certainly love it when Deb makes my sandwiches in the morning as they always get their fix on peanut butter and come running to her as soon as she opens the cabinet to get the PB out.

Some not so obvious:

• Sleep on your left side (I am a BACK sleeper. If you know a back sleeper you know that sleeping on your side is just unheard of). I've been trying to force myself to sleep on my left side now so that it won't be so difficult later. I always think i'm being successful until I hear the following at 2am, 3 am, and 4am, "you're on your back, get on your side". Out of a dead sleep, Deb seems to notice my shift and automatically responds with the above statement. Each time it makes me giggle and I always respond with, "I just need a minute to be on my back" which I receive the response of "roll over" along with a slight nudge.
• Exercising heart rate should be around 120- my resting heart rate is around 12o it seems so this is a bit challenging. Training for 1/2 marathons my hr was always up in the 190-200 range. This leaves me walking the treadmill casually and keeping updated on all of the scandalous things happening in hollywood.

I'm sure there's more not so obvious things that we'll learn about as the months pass by. From this past appointment though I think Deb was most excited about the bag of goodies they gave us which included a gazillion samples of prenatal vitamins (some with stool samplers, woo hoo) parenting magazines, breastfeeding information and formula samples, etc. These items all found their way into the top dresser drawer in the "baby room" to be reviewed at a later date. :-)

I'm happy to report that the "all day sickness" has settled down. The dull headaches continue but i've put back on all of the weight I lost (schucks) and am able to semi-enjoy food again in the morning. Cravings so far have been meat (as a vegetarian for 10 years this is a bit alarming) so Deb's been forced to make beef stew and steaks on the grill. Being the Wisconsin girl she is, she has no complaints with this.

We did take a trip to Madison on Saturday, Feb. 23 to check out "Babies R Us". If you've never been to one, holy cats it's overwhelming!! First of all, there are pregnant women from every stage of pregnancy walking around shooting laser guns rapidly at items (we did not register at this point it was more of a wandering day) We spent about an hour comparing different cribs, high chairs, strollers, etc. We found the crib set we like and will get that after our next appointment so that Deb and my mom can begin assembling the nursery.

The greatest purchase of all on this day (according to Deb) was the little "Wisconsin badger" cradle cap she bought. We've got a little bet going that the person who guesses the due date closest gets to put their home state cradle cap on the Shorty for the hospital picture. I have yet to purchase an "Iowa Hawkeyes" one but will as soon as I find one.

That's all for now. Our next appointment is March 11th which we anxiously await!

Ginger chews, Ginger Chews, Ginger Chews

It's official, the "all day" sickness has set in. The cure so far is ginger chews. For a person who is not a fan of ginger in the first place (aside from Art's wife Amy's swedish ginger cookies) attempting to choke down a never ending ginger chew is quite a task. They're strong in flavor and quite spicey at the end and I can't seem to understand how this little "treat" can alleviate nausea but it does take a pretty good swing at it. The best way to describe this nausea feeling would be the result of a night out with too many captain morgan & cokes. You wake up around 4am and the world is spinning and your stomach is in your throat. Such a wonderful feeling don't you think??!!! Happily, this does pass after a few hours versus the captain who has a tendency to set up camp in your stomach for a day or two. Lo and behold though, the all day sickness does return day after day (at least so far) whereas the captain gets the hint and sets sail.

I took a big step today and told my Dean of Students and Director of Student Life about the newest member of the Duhawk family. I stayed home yesterday because of the above mentioned nausea and I was absolutely exhausted. I sent an email to my colleagues and my Dean who will be referred to as Arthur (because that's his name) responded with the following:
"Pregnant? Get well". I didn't respond because that's his usual response when someone has the "stomach flu". When I arrived to my office though he passed by and said "you didn't respond to my email yesterday, was that because there was truth to that?". Being the BAD liar that I am, a slight grin crossed my face and I became silent. This of course sparked an interest and he made his way into my office and I broke the news. He truly is a great person and I really admire him as a Dean. His advice: "eat dried apricots","how do you think my kids got so smart, Amy ate dried apricots. You'll need folic acid". Words of wisdom from a man with 3 daughters who are hilarious and little smarty pants. I failed to mention that I did tell Molly on Monday, the day we found out, because I was absolutely bursting at the seams and being a mom herself, I was certain she'd have ideas of how to tackle the nausea. Her idea: eat saltines in the morning before getting out of bed and marshmallows. That way when you throw up, it'll be sweet. YUCK, YUCK, YUCK.

We did pick up a book on baby names and have been perusing that over the past couple of nights. My brother has been text messaging me names and here's his list for starters: Digby for a boy and Odelia for a girl. It's a good thing there's no hidden rule that uncle's have naming rights!! Jeremy's also helped in this process by emailing Lafawnda and Jose. Oye.....we are going to need some help with this one!!! :-) We've got some ideas but we'll wait to disclose that until a much later day, oh say the end of September!!! :-)

1+1+1+1+1=Pregnant

It's February 4th and the reality of 5 positive pregnancy tests has sunk in. 710 Perry Street will have a new resident in late September! First thoughts upon viewing the first positive pregnancy test:
Mic's
No way
Holy s*&%!
That can't be right, all we ever see is negatives
DEEEEEEBBBBBBB!!! (soon to be followed by, oh crud, she's at the Y)
We don't have a crib, we don't have a car seat (clearly the whole 9 month process escaped me!)
My mom is going to freak out!!

Deb's:
It worked!!
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh
My life is over (this is my favorite, when contemplating our news, Deb began thinking about how we won't be able to just go to the Y whenever we want and sometimes we might not be able to go together) This was soon followed by:
We did it!! Yay us!!!

I am carrying the shorty which should be interesting in about 6-7 months as I turn into a walking basketball. The shorty should be arriving in late September and we are so excited!! As we begin to get our brains wrapped around this new life chilling out in my tummy (apparently the size of a sesame seed) it's interesting to reflect back on how we got to today. It all began in October of 2006 when we had our first appointment at Gundersen Lutheran in La Crosse, WI. After multiple failed attempts, we chose to stop and begin looking at other ways to begin our family. It was a great time to take a break from the disappointment and we moved to Dubuque, IA where Deb started a new job as a professor at Loras College and I the Asst. Director of Student Life. We attended an Orientation for adoption here in Dubuque and were all set to start required parenting classes on February 23rd (just 2 weeks away). While waiting to start the class we talked a bit about trying the old fashioned way (well as old fashioned as you can get for a gay couple). We tossed this idea around and finally decided that it couldn't hurt to try while we were waiting to begin the class. We began trying in November with the help of a donor. After 2 failed attempts we looked to our Dr. here for guidance on fertility drugs, we had used them during our time working with Gundersen Lutheran, and I ended up feeling very sick and out of sorts for many months. After a discussion with the Dr. we decided to go with a less potent drug and lo and behold, here we are on February 4th, 6 weeks pregnant.

I do feel it necessary to describe how it was that Deb came to know she was going to be a mom and what followed after. I waited until she went to the Y on Saturday morning (I was going snowboarding later that day with my brother and his partner so no need for me to work out). When I heard the garage door close, I cruised into the bathroom and dug the EPT tests out of the back of the closet. We originally had said we'd just wait for my lovely girly thing to arrive before doing a test but I just couldn't wait any longer. I was already 2 weeks late. Fast forward to a pregnancy test sitting on the bathroom sink with an enormous plus sign on it after less than 15 seconds (yep, I timed it). See above for my initial thoughts. After pacing the house for about five minutes I jumped in the car (only after putting on red sweatpants and a lime green fleece jacket, I clearly wasn't thinking) and headed to the Y. I entered the fitness room with the EPT stick in my sleeve and the manual in my pants pocket. I walked briskly over to the elliptical machine Deb was rolling along on and kindly asked her to please come with me for a second. A look of panic came across her face (my gpop mike has been in the hospital) and she quickly followed me out the door. We got about 20 steps from the bathroom and I hear "You didn't" from behind me. I turned around and gave the biggest smile ever and hurried into the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, I handed Deb the stick and the manual and asked for her interpretation. Her response, "It worked!" followed by numerous "oh my gosh" statements. Deb then returned to the elliptical machine and I returned home. I waited another 30 minutes and then peed on another stick and got the 2nd positive sign.
Sunday was more anxious waiting (and the 3rd positive pregnancy test). On Monday morning we both woke up early (actually I don't think either of us really slept) and tested for a 4th time. Jackpot, we're 4 for 4!!! We waited until 8:00 AM to call. It was actually 8:03 AM to avoid being the person who calls exactly at 8:00 AM. We were asked to come in right away in the morning for an appointment to confirm everything. Deb had meetings so she had to find out via cell phone. I went to the appointment and did yet another test, #5, and this too came back with a big + sign. The nurse & Dr. came in and told me that they had never seen a test go positive so fast that it beat the control line from showing up. Yay us!!!

So, where do we go from here.................we are anxiously awaiting the return of my parents from their vacation in the Dominican Republic so we can inform them. We've purchased some baby items to wrap up and give to them to let them know that they are well on their way to grandparenthood! We then have our first appointment with our new OB-GYN in Dubuque on February 22nd followed by another appointment on March 11th. They weren't kidding when they said lots and lots of appointments.
I'm sure there's more to all of this but the anticipation of Saturday and my parents return should occupy the week!! The smell aversion has kicked in as well as the nausea and I'm sure there's more to come! Wahoo!