So from one blog to another...
For those of you who read our Turks and Caicos blog (http://travelingcastros.blogspot.com), you could say that we were having a pretty good time down there. We absolutely loved it there and I think that you should visit the island at one point in your life and hey, maybe we will go down there with you! :)
I have a confession to make... I lied a lot lately, especially on our blog.
Confession #1
The above link goes to our Day #4 trip.
"Nelson went on his crazy long run this morning and I just relaxed on the beach and in our room."
This is a partial lie. Nelson did go on his crazy run and while he was doing that, I paid 10 dollars for the supermarket shuttle to bring me to the supermarket. Next to the supermarket was the pharmacy. I went in there to buy some sun tan lotion and uh hem, a pregnancy test. Now why did I buy the test you ask? Well to see if I was pregnant for one, but also because we wanted to rule it out before we went scuba diving the next day (day 5).
You see, not to be too TMI, I didn't get my period when I was supposed to. Actually now I will be TMI, I did spot when my period was supposed to come (which was the monday before our trip) so I automatically thought that was the beginning of the dreadful period and that I was going to experience the full blown period on our anniversary trip in T&C, great!
***Side note***
Since January, I've been tracking my cycle to see if I was regular. I was fearful that my cycle would be out of whack because when I was sick back in 2000, I lost my cycle completely. After tracking, I realized that my cycle was normal and I knew how many days my cycle was and when my lovely periods were expected to rise. I used my trusty old ovulation calendar and luckily I brought it with us to T&C.
***Another longer side note***
When Nelson and I discussed when we would start trying to have kids, we thought end of April and after and we also discussed this a few months prior. So in my mind, back in January, and every month after, I was thinking subconsciously, "Ok baby making in April, be ready, be ready." Well subconsciously, I put a lot of pressure on myself and in addition to that, I was working full time and taking a full load of classes. With that additional stress, I lost the ability to sleep peacefully throughout the night and it really took a toll on me. I would not wish insomnia on my worst enemy. It's the worst, most debilitating experience that I have gone through and I feel badly for those that have it worse than I did. I've even said that dealing with Hodgkin's was easier because there was a known cure and specified treatment.
With the lack of sleep, I felt horrible at work, called out A LOT, and it affected Nelson as well. Because of all those factors, I decided to drop my graduate class, which I really enjoyed and was hesitant to do. We both decided that my health comes first before school, work, and uhhhh baby making. I won't get into the details about that, but knowing that our "April plan" was not gonna go smoothly, I really was upset at the situation and myself. Eventually I snapped out of it (EVENTUALLY the key word), and I accepted the reality that April wasn't the month. We would try in May if I was feeling better.
So let me just recap:
January
- booked our anniversary/spring break trip to T&C
- started tracking my lady cycle (fun detective work i may say!)
February
- started grad school
- 2nd week of Feb started losing sleep
- went to the endocrinologist thinking it may be my thyroid (was put on sinthroid)
- started taking Ambien
March
- continued horrible sleeping patterns
- quit grad school on March 21st (which was a very big decision for me)
- continued with Ambien (even though I was fearful of getting addicted to it)
- tried accupunture
- started meditation (i would say this worked the best)
April
- became horribly sick on Friday, April 1st
- continued ambien
- saw horrible sleep doctor that didn't help me (will not get into this)
- came to grips that our plan was changing
- week of 11th - attempted to sleep without ambien (worked for some nights)
- april 15th-22nd - trip to T&C
Ok back to the story in T&C... I was supposed to get my full blown lady friend on Friday or Saturday (April 15th and 16th). Well when nothing came those days, I went to GOOGLE and asked "Can traveling mess with your menstruation?" A few pages said that it really wouldn't but it could mess with your ovulation. Gee, that didn't make me feel better! Then I looked up, "Is it safe to Scuba dive while you're pregnant." I read this off a message board:
"Do NOT go diving. Even if you are trying to get pregnant diving should stop. It is possible for you to me 4 to 6 weeks pregnant before you know your are pregnant. During that time the baby starts to develop. Think about how you off gas nitrogen. You exhale it out of your lungs. If you are pregnant and diving the baby absorbs the same amount of nitrogen the mom does. How does the baby get rid of it since he does not exhale? They do not know exactly how it works through the umbilical cord, but studies show it may off gas differently. I have heard of neurological problems such as blindness occurring. Although not a major study and could be coincidence, I know of only three women who dove while pregnant and all three miscarried. Including me. I did not know I was pregnant yet. Might have happened anyway. Who knows?"
GULP...
After sharing that information to Nelson, he suggested to get a test just to rule it out. First question in my mind: Do they even have pregnancy tests on Turks & Caicos? Well yes, yes they do. $30 bucks though!
Got back to the hotel room. Nelson was all showered up after his long run. I took a few minutes and then went into the bathroom to take my test. I laid it flat on the bathroom counter and Nelson was there with me looking at the test. I must have said something like "Shit, that's 2 lines." Nelson didn't know really at first what that meant. I think women instinctively know how to read pregnancy tests, plus the answer key is right on the test to figure out whether it's + or -. I think men are not wired to read those things, but they can put together surround sound.
Nelson can attest to it that I was a little upset at first. It was a combination of feeling like I was in trouble for getting knocked up and also not going along with our plan. Again, I FINALLY accepted for trying for a later conception, and now I was pregnant?! It just didn't make any sense!
I even had a plan to how I was going to tell Nelson how I was pregnant. A man has the opportunity to come up with a romantic set up for an engagement and a woman has the opportunity to tell her husband that they are expecting another addition to their family. I said "This wasn't supposed to happen this way! I was supposed to surprise you!" Nelson's response, "Oh, I am surprised!"
We were both surprised. Crazy surprised. And we couldn't tell anyone! However we had to tell Al, the resort excursion coordinator. I needed to get out of Scuba Diving bc I could not go forward with breathing in Nitrogen knowing there's a fetus growing inside of me. Al congratulated us and said that Turks & Caicos will be special for us for the rest of our lives. That is why we will name our son Turks. Just kidding, just Caicos.
Here are some fun photos we took after realized we were expecting:
What do you mean?
This was not part of the plan
Nelson triumphed
It is now sinking in...
Nelson playing the baby flute
So happy to play the baby flute
Ok now I'm excited
This baby is light so far
Burping him!
Confession #2 & #3
I didn't go scuba diving. Nelson did and I lied and said I did. I did go snorkeling though and if it wasn't for this baby, I wouldn't have seen those beautiful dolphins.
I did drink the first couple of nights we were there (margaritas & wine) not knowing that we were preggers, but the very last night that we were there, I posed for a picture with a beer, again another lie...
Without really drinking it, I didn't know how to hold it.
Well there you have it. Our very special surprise of how we found out!
Oh wait, are you wondering how could we be surprised? Obviously the birds and the bees must have happened, right? Well, on Friday, April 1st, the day I was HORRIBLY sick in the bathroom all day, I ended up taking an ovulation test in the morning. The smiley face popped up and when you take one of those, you are supposed to do <a hem> it, 24 - 36 hours after the smiley face appears. Well late on Sunday the 3rd, we did and that was after 36 hours. We thought we were in the clear bc you know what? We've done that before and we were in the clear back then, but I guess you can't trust ovulation tests to be your birth control!
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