Saturday, January 30, 2010

Day 170...Holy crap we're pregnant!

I woke up early this morning, doing my usual pee dance. With each step to the bathroom, I could feel my heart beating faster. I had set out the pregnancy test the night before so it was ready to go (nothing worse then really needing to pee while struggling to open a stubborn wrapper for a test). There I sat awkwardly peeing on a stick, wondering what would happen. I guess I was still expecting to see a negative just because...well...I didn't want to get my hopes up that we'd be getting pregnant the first time around. I left the test on the counter and crawled back into bed. My husband was awake and held me as we nervously waited.

There it was...two lines. Two of the happiest little lines I have ever seen! It hit me....I'm going to be a mom! My husband and I are going to have a baby!!!! Holy crap!...we're pregnant!

Welcome Pickle!

Day 169...Run-on Sentence of a week...aka: no period

I had hopes that Friday would offer some relief to the madness that the week had been, but instead it decided to live up to the week's crappy reputation. My lead teacher called in a personal day (her daughter was sick) so we had a substitute lead which translated into a chaotic classroom. It also just so happened to be the day before this big open house event at work, so I had way more cleaning scheduled to do to prep the class for all the visiting parents. It was an extremely busy day, and our class was out of control. We had one child who was being so aggressive, in fact, that he had to be sent home. Oddly enough though, in spite of the dramatic day at the end of a dramatic week, I was able to handle the stress really well. I don't know if it was because it was Friday, but I found myself just shrugging things off. With the weekend just around the corner and the stressful week finally coming to an end, I was hardly fazed by the mess that was Friday.

I had a nice relaxing evening with my husband, where I ended up crashing on our big beanbag chair until my husband dragged me off to bed. Once I got to the bedroom however, I hardly slept. I kept tossing and turning thinking of the following morning. You see, my period still hadn't started so we went to the store after work and got some pregnancy tests. Since it's best to test with the first morning pee, we decided to test first thing Saturday morning. With all the anticipation, I found myself waking up nearly every hour, tossing and turning, wondering what the result would be.

What Pickles may come.

Day 168...Principal's office

Thursday was a roller coaster! I was supposed to start my period that day, plus work stress was all over the place! The majority of the day was going really well when, right at the end of the day I was called down to the boss's office for an unexpected meeting. I was scared shitless! To sum things up, they had called a meeting to talk to me and the co-worker who had worked late with me on Tuesday. The bosses wanted to talk about the reasoning behind our decision to combine classes. I was pissed! I had asked the other co-worker to separate the classes and combine later when we were within ratio, but she had pressured me into combining and now I was feeling the pain of the stupid choice I made to give in to her pressure. I didn't just want to throw her under the bus and get into a pointless "he said, she said" dispute, so I swallowed my words. At the end of the meeting, however, my boss pulled me aside and apologized to me. She admitted that they had the group meeting to avoid showing any obvious favoritism and that they were aware the decision to combine was pressured on me. They then showered me with praise, saying how much they really loved having me work there and they trusted my judgment. I was so relieved!

So although the trip to the office had thrown me for a loop and shot my stress through the roof, I was happy that it had a good ending. I got closure for the situation and I even got complimented by my bosses! All in all, it was a good day, but at that point I was more than ready for just an average day to come my way.

My period still hadn't shown up.

Great Pickle, don't get cocky!

Day 167...Rude awakening

On Wednesday I was woken up by my boss calling me, interrogating me as to why we combined our classes the night before when she specifically asked us not to. It wasn't exactly how I wanted to start my day.

The drama ensued with the kids in my class going crazy and the overall day being packed with stress. I can't honestly remember much else of what happened that day (I didn't care to really hang on to the memory of it all), but I remember not liking it.

When I came home that night, I was exhausted and praying for the weekend to hurry up and get there. And throughout all the work drama, I was still anxiously waiting to see if my period would show up.

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Pickle don't you call me 'cause I can't go;
I owe my soul to the company store.

Day 166...Aftercare calamity

Tuesday was dramatic. Several of my co-workers went home sick so I was asked to stay and work late that night. It was epically stressful because the day had already been a disaster in my class, so being asked to stay later was not what I wanted to hear. The other problem was, that night, my co-worker convinced me to combine our classes (against the boss's instructions) and ended up getting us in trouble for it. Since I hadn't worked the closing shift before, I really didn't know what was the usual protocol so I went with it...big mistake. The bosses apparently found out and, little did we know, we were going to get reamed for it the next day.

I stress ate that night, downing a salmon burger, fries, and several cookies. I went to bed with a major stomach ache.

Pickled peer pressure.

Day 165...Monday madness

Monday was the start of a very long and stressful week. Work was busy and by the time I got home, I was practically falling asleep by 8pm. I had tried taking a pregnancy test Sunday night since I was showing possible signs of pregnancy (higher amounts of cervical mucus, feeling extremely tired, slightly nauseous, and moody), but the test came out negative. I wasn't too surprised since it was only ten days past my estimated ovulation time and I hadn't missed my period yet (due that coming Thursday), so we decided we'd hold off on buying any more pregnancy tests until I was officially late for my period.

Other than that, it was just playing the waiting game. One of my least favorite games in life.

O Pickle where art thou?

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Day 164...50/50

After reading the responses from all the other ladies at WTE, I can't say that I'm very excited about this next week. They seemed to just say that what I've been feeling (the fatigue, the cramps, the sore nipples, and mood swings) could all just be signs of AF coming. I guess it just finally hit me that it really is a strong possibility that I could not be pregnant. With all the things I've been feeling, I started to seriously think I might be pregnant. But the odds of getting pregnant with the first try are slim. Plus, my body has psyched me out before into thinking it was pregnant so I can't exactly trust it.

Now I'm trying to switch my thinking, convincing myself that it's more likely that I'll get my period than see a positive pregnancy test. I have seen so many negative tests, it's hard for me to even imagine getting a positive one. As much as my body is feeling different right now, it could very well be because I'm adjusting to being off my birth control. I just wish I felt some special connection, some sort of sure feeling. There are so many women I read about that have premonitions and gut feelings that they are pregnant. But I don't have anything. All my life I have had pride in being able to have those strong gut feelings to go off of when big changes in my life happen. I can't help but feel sad that I don't have that. Maybe I don't have that feeling because I'm not pregnant. Or maybe I am but I just don't have that connection with my baby. Either way, it makes me sad.

My husband is trying to convince me that I should see it as a 50/50 chance that I could be pregnant or not. Most statistics say that it's more like a 25% chance of pregnancy since it's so hard to catch that egg at the right time. But my husband still says that I should hang on to hope. He says that I shouldn't focus on them being "symptoms" but just know that it's a possibility. If we're not pregnant yet, we can always try again next month.
I'm trying to see things 50/50 but it's not easy. I want so badly to be the exception and be pregnant on our first try. But again I'm stuck just waiting it out. I'll be able to test by this Friday if I haven't started yet.
Is the Pickle half full or half empty?

Day 163...not much help

Yesterday, I decided to take my lingering questions to the WTE website to see if anyone had any insight. I was hoping for more sound answers, but as I figured, no one could really give me a definite "yes, that sounds like you're pregnant" kind of answer. Here's what was said:

I don't want to get my hopes up so soon but I've been experiencing some symptoms that are hard to determine if they are just pre-week symptoms or pregnancy symptoms. Damn them for being so similar! lol. Anyway, for the past two weeks I have been absolutely exhausted! I'm practically falling asleep on my lunch breaks at work! Not to mention is seems like I've been falling asleep earlier and earlier each night. Also, I've been feeling a bit bloated the past couple weeks too. The other odd thing is, for the last few days, my nipples have become incredibly sensitive! If my husband so much as even brushes over them, they hurt! I keep getting this dull ache in my breasts that comes and goes along with the random occasional mild cramping that feel similar to menstrual cramping. The hard thing is, idk if these are pregger symptoms or if my body is just adjusting to being off of birth control. I've been off since the end of November, but idk if maybe my cycle is adjusting to the hormonal flux of being off the pill. Oh, also, I've been abnormally emotional. Last night I had a totally embarrassing display of hormonal freak out in front of my husband over some cookies I baked that ended up falling apart. I nearly had a meltdown over a stupid cookie. Thank God my husband is so understanding! I'm still embarrassed by it!
Atm I'm still on my pre-week. I should see AF until Thursday (Jan 28th). I'm hoping she doesn't come, but I really don't know what to expect at this point.
Does anyone have any answers or advice? How do I keep myself from psyching myself into false symptoms? I want to test so badly but I know it's way to early to test at this point.
Sorry for the novel and wishing BFPs for everyone! :)


-I hate to tell you this, there's no way to keep yourself from psyching out. I've been off BC for about a year, and those symptoms kept getting worse the longer I was off them, but everyone is different. Just remember to stay calm, breath. :) I think we've all been there. I hope you do get your BFP! NO AF! :) Thank goodness for understanding hubbies. LOL.
If you must test, I'd say wait until you're about 10 dpo (if you know when you O'd) that's the earliest I've really seen most people post BFP's. But remember it could take longer, so you're not out until she shows up!


-I went off the pill in July and got myself psyched out nearly every single month since. Your PMS symptoms are probably heightened since going off the pill, so while it's impossible to keep yourself from imagining that you're pregnant, try not to get your hopes up. The first few months I was completely devastated when AF showed up. I still get upset, of course, but I know now that my PMS symptoms imitate the early signs of pregnancy, including mild nausea.
This month I've begun taking Femaprin - it's got vitex, which evens out hormonal changes, and B-6, which moderates PMS symptoms. It's supposed to take a couple months to be fully effective, but I'm having a much more manageable 2WW (emotionally speaking) this time, so maybe that's the reason.


-Could be, but I got off the pill in Oct. 08 and had weird cycles that imitated pregnancy for the next year. Nearly every cycle included spotting for days that I never had before, some nausea, fatigue, extreme hunger some days, etc. I thought I was pregnant every month, and I know how depressing it is when af comes every month. The extreme symptoms ceased around November. Funnily enough, I finally got my bfp this month and did not obsess at all in the 2WW since the only symptom I felt at first was extreme fatigue, and that wasn't until 10 dpo. Now I have all the classic symptoms, but I find it odd that the one month I started out with few symptoms, af didn't come. Test after 10 dpo and let us know how it turns out. GL!

-Good luck!
I just got a bfp this week, so I feel somewhat qualified to comment. I'd say that the reality is that those *could* easily be pg symptoms; alternatively they could just as easily be pms symptoms. I know, I know: you wanted a clearer answer. But it's just impossible to tell. During this bfp cycle I *did* have a lot of fatigue (just like you describe)--but keep in mind that it IS January, and Jan. is a sleepy month. Plenty of ladies on here have been complaining of fatigue and ended up with bfns. The nipple thing is a good symptom...but I don't have it (still), and I'm pg.
I *did* feel I had pg symptoms this month before I tested. But honestly I had much stronger pg symptoms in August...and that was a bfn month.
I'm so sorry it's not clearer! I know it's a pain. Just hang in there.
FX!


Pickle or period?.....

Day 162...that's the way the cookie crumbles

Friday was not the relieving end of the week I expected it to be. Here I was thinking it would be an easy day to welcome in the weekend, but I was horribly wrong! The morning half was absolutely awful! The kids were running around hurting each other, hurting themselves, breaking works, spilling things....it was maddening! As a result, I had to spend my entire lunch break writing up mountains of injury/incident reports for a good handful of the kids in our class.

By the end of the day, 12 injury/incident reports later, I was finally free! To relax and have some fun, I suggested my husband and I bake some chocolate chip cookies and watch some shows. But the cookies started to crumble and fall apart when I tried to get the off the pan. In all my frustration, I had a total freak out and ended up having a total meltdown. I mean full on crying and slamming stuff around. Luckily my husband was able to bring me back down to earth and help me get over myself. We ended up enjoying our cookie crumbles and cuddling for the evening.

I sure hope I don't have a ton of hormonal freak outs like that when I'm pregnant. God help my poor husband!

That's the way the Pickle crumbles!

Day 161...Super moms

I don't know how those super moms do it! How do they work a full day and then come home, take care of their kids, and clean the house?! On Thursday (after going back to my longer hours this week) I came home and cleaned the whole house. We had been slacking a little lately since I've been working later, but the piles of dishes were starting to get to us. So as soon as I got home, I set to work. It took me nearly two hours to get everything caught up and cleaned, and then I still had dinner to make! By the time I was finally sitting down for the evening, I was exhausted! I'm glad that I'll be a stay at home mom for that first year because I don't think I could keep up with everything while having a newborn around. But once I go back to work...I have no idea how I'm going to do it!

Pickle's Ritalin makes me work faster!...except not because that's totally messed up!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Day 160...The apple and the tree

At work, I have been observing parents and the bad traits they pass on to their kids. Everything from crippling social behaviors to attitude issues. Honestly it has me spooked. After seeing so many kids act so horrendously, I pray to God that Pickle will never act that way. For example; today I had a kid freak out at me. Just because I asked her to go into the classroom, she started to cry and scream as she kicked, bit, and hit me! I was shocked! She was practically frothing at the mouth in her tantrum! How can parents ever let their kids behave like that?! If I knew my kid was hitting others, especially a teacher, while biting and kicking all because of a simple request....I would be down right embarrassed! I would discipline them so fast! I just can't imagine how these kids get to a point where they are so out of control. I mean, there are even kids who will cry obsessively every day for the same reason and never adapt or learn. It's horrible! I seriously hope that my kid will never be that way.

I don't really have much of a reason to believe that our kids will ever turn out that way. My husband and I are good people, well balanced with no crippling social awkwardness, and we make a great loving team. I guess I just get worried when I see so many out of control kids at work. That's one of the down sides to working childcare when planning a pregnancy I suppose.

Pickle paranoia.

Day 159...waiting

It's been a little hard waiting to take a pregnancy test, but so far I've been able to keep my anticipation in check. I haven't allowed myself to over react to any possible "symptoms" I've been feeling. I just have a quiet hope. It is odd how I have been feeling incredibly tired lately (I can hardly keep my eyes open!), but that could be a result of getting over my recent cold.

For now, I'm just waiting until the end of the month. If I don't start my week, then I will take a test on either the 29th or 30th this month.

"Spongebob looser pants! Still no pickles!"

Monday, January 18, 2010

Day 158...Infertility Humor

Yesterday's blog got me a couple responses on WTE but not as much as I would like. Mostly it was just "yup, that could be signs of pregnancy" but nothing concrete. But I guess I kinda knew that would happen. I'm just going to have to wait it out. I do keep getting this odd feeling in my lower stomach though that has me wondering. It's hard to describe other than, when I lay on my stomach it feels almost full down there. Not stomach full, but kinda like there is a rock in my lower stomach when I lay on it. It isn't very comfortable so I've been lying more on my side or back lately. I don't know what it's all about but again, I'm just gonna have to play the waiting game.

Another thing I learned today....apparently I was taking my ovulating tests at the wrong time of day. I thought I had to take them with the first morning pee like a pregnancy test. Turns out, I should've been taking them in the afternoon. As I read, "the best time to test is 2 p.m., or as close as possible. Anytime between noon and 8 p.m. is fine, first morning urine is not recommended. The reason for this is that most women experience a surge in the morning, but it can take 4 hours for it to show up in your urine."--www.fertilityplus.org. So there ya go! That's probably why my tests kept turning out negative when I took them last week. If I'm not pregnant this month, I now know better for next month.

Anyway, here are some funny jokes I found online that I thought were worth sharing:

-Two sperm were swimming through a woman's body. The first said, "Whew. I'm getting tired. Just how far is it to the uterus?""The uterus?" the second laughed. "We're not even past the esophagus yet!"

-Why do gypsies have trouble getting pregnant?They have crystal balls.

-Why do male basketball players have trouble getting their spouses pregnant?All they do is dribble.

-Labor pains
A married couple went to the hospital together to have their baby delivered. Upon their arrival, the doctor said he had invented a new machine that would transfer a portion of the mother's labor pain to the father. He asked if they were willing to try it out. The husband was a little worried about this, but wanted to help out so he agreed.
The doctor set the knob to 10 percent for starters, telling the husband that even 10 percent was probably more pain than he had experienced ever before. But as the labor progressed, the husband felt fine. The doctor looked a little bewildered and adjusted the machine to give the father 20 percent of the pain. The husband was still feeling fine. The doctor checked the husband's blood pressure and heart rate and all seemed perfect. They decided to transfer 50 percent of the pain to the father.
The husband continued doing well and started making wisecracks about how women complain so much about labor and it really wasn't a big deal. In fact, he was willing to take all the pain! The doctor turned the switch to 100 percent. The wife delivered a healthy baby with virtually no pain and she and her husband were ecstatic.
When they got home, the mailman was dead on their doorstep!

Knock knock
-who's there?
Pickle
-Pickle who?
Baby Pickle!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Day 157...Forum help

Since I'm under house arrest for being sick (my husband is forcing me to stop cleaning the house and actually rest and take care of myself. He's too good to me!), I figured I would take to the what to expect forums for a little advice. Here is the question that I posed:

I am so confused with what is going on with my body! Here's a little history: I've been off the bcp since the end of November. I got my period in December about a week later than usual but it came non the less. My DH and I have since been ttc with the turn of the new year, doing the ol' BD nearly every day.
So now for the weird stuff. All last week I started experiencing occasional mild cramping in my lower stomach. But then my stomach got really bloated for about a week, looking as if I was retaining water like I do on my pre-week. The bloating went away finally a few days ago (at least, the bloating isn't as bad), but I have also been drop dead tired all week! At work, I'm practically falling asleep during my lunch break! Also, (warning, TMI moment) I've been a bit constipated this last week which isn't too uncommon for my pre-week (which, I think it is if I'm going off of my new later schedule after coming off of bcp). So I don't know if this is all just weird signs of ovulating and then pre-week symptoms, or if it's something else. I'd love to think they are pregnancy symptoms but it seems like it would be too early to experience that, right? Plus I rarely ever hear of women conceiving right after coming off of bcp (anyone out there know anyone who has?), but I guess I still have hopes.
Of course, all of this has been thrown off now because I caught a nasty cold the other day, so now it's near impossible to read any signs from my body because I'm even more tired and foggy headed from my damn cold! Oi!
Has anyone ever heard of these symptoms and what they could be? Ovulation? Up coming menstruation? Pregnancy?
Thanks and baby dust to all!

Hopefully I will get some good advice. I will keep you posted on what they respond with.

Posting for Pickle.

Day 156...Fever

Again, there isn't much to say about yesterday. We went to my parent's place for my dad's birthday dinner. The bad part was, shortly after we showed up at my parent's place, I spiked a fever of 101 degrees. Granted, it was pretty warm in their house too, but I felt quite miserable. As the day went on, I felt worse and worse. I couldn't even play with my little nephew because I didn't want to get him sick. But it got me to thinking, how on earth do mothers take care of their kids while their sick?! How dangerous is it for babies? Would I have to quarantine myself to my room and have my husband take care of the baby? I sure hope I stop getting sick by the time I'm having Pickle.

Rain rain go away,
so Pickle can come another day

Day 155...Never ending sickness

After standing out in the cold rain, I woke up the next morning feeling absolutely miserable. Once again I am sick! I called my boss and said that I would be okay with coming into work for half the day but that I wouldn't be able to stay for a full day. She agreed. So by 1pm I went home and crawled under a pile of blankets and tried my best to rest.

As the day went on, I started to feel worse. But luckily my husband was very sweet to take care of me. There isn't much else to say except that I can't believe I am sick once again. I was doing so well. I honestly believe, if I wasn't ditched out in the rain, I wouldn't have gotten sick. Hopefully this will be one of the last times I'll be sick in a long time. Especially if I'm pregnant, I really should be extra careful not to get sick.

I am absolutely done with being sick! I need a prescription Pickle.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Day 154...Cry baby

I learned today just how annoying, infectious, and maddening crying children can be! Today, at the end of the day during what should have been my cleaning time for my classroom, I had to help sub out on the playground. For over an hour I had to stand in the cold pouring rain, surrounded by crying children. I have no idea why all the crying children kept flocking towards me but, in the end, they were all somehow holding my hands while they just stood there crying non stop! It started with me finding one crying child (who missed her mom), so I tried to comfort her. She just wanted to hold my hand and walk with me. But then another cold and home-sick kid found me, followed by another! Before I knew it, I had three kids holding my hands, crying for their moms and complaining that it was too wet and cold to be outside. As if I hadn't already noticed! If it was up to me, I wouldn't be putting kids out in the cold rain for hours at the end of the day because clearly they don't handle it well!

So there I stood for over an hour, magnetizing every crying child, rain dripping down my hat and face, waiting for someone to come a relieve me from the playground. I was only suppose to be out there for a half an hour, but once I got out there, I was ditched! There was only me and one other teacher, so if I left it would put the child to teacher ratio out of balance. I was stuck! Everyone who was normally out there I guess decided it would be okay to totally dump their crying children on me and go back inside to get their cleaning done! By the time they came back, I literally had four minutes to clean my room before I had to clock out! It was ridiculous! To make matters worse, a parent teacher conference is being held in my class tonight and our classroom is a mess! The one night we're hosting a meeting with all the parents and I didn't clean the room!

The screaming, crying children absolutely drained me emotionally and the cold rain has chilled me to the bone (and of course now my throat is starting to hurt!) so I am completely done with today! I am pissed with everyone ditching me on the playground, and I am tired and achy from a busy day. I am done!

Sitting in an Pickle garden waiting for the sun
If the sun don't come
You get a tan from standing in the Pickle rain.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Day 153...Cha-Ching!

My boss gave me good news today. Since enrollment is up, and the need for evening assistance has gone up, they extended my hours back to what they originally were! I will now be getting off a little later, but I'll be pulling in some extra cash for Pickle! Now with my husband's recent raise at work and my extended hours, we will surely have little trouble saving up for Pickle. After all our discussions and budgeting for the pregnancy and hospital/doctors bills, it's comforting to know we'll be pulling in a little more to balance things out later on.

Also, after looking over my medical coverage and expenses, I'm seriously considering working up until either I give birth or at least until my delivery month. This way the delivery could be covered by my medical at work and we could have a little more cash on deck before I left work for a year. It all depends on how I handle the pregnancy of course, but for the moment it sounds like the most logistical plan.

She works hard for the Pickle so you better treat her right.

Day 152...Back breaking

To couple with my bloaty feeling I've been having lately, I woke up with killer back pains! After another night of baby dancing the previous night, I propped my hips up with a pillow (as I have been doing) and fell asleep. Well I must have slept on the pillow horribly wrong because when I got up the next morning, my back was shooting pains through my body any time I tried to stand upright. It also didn't help that, at work, I had to help escort a child who was thrashing in an all out tantrum into the classroom, forcing me to half carry her into the room. Let me tell you, carrying a thrashing child when your back is locking up in the middle....not easy work!

Fortunately my husband was so sweet to rub my back that night before bed. And, needless to say, I chose not to prop my hips up with a pillow that night. My husband's swimmers would just have to be Olympic champions without gravity's help.

Pickle, the Olympic gold medalist.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Day 151...feeling down

I don't have a lot to say at the moment. All day I have been dealing with a headache which has increased five times in the last hour. Also, I'm feeling a bit blue because, I measured my stomach today to see how my progress has been on my weight loss and I was shocked to see I've gone up nearly an inch! I had just lost two inches this last month and I haven't changed my eating habits or anything, so why I suddenly gained size (but not weight on the scale) I have no idea! But it's frustrating! I thought I was doing so well! But here I'm bigger and dealing with headaches nearly every day! WTF?!

Growing without a Pickle in my tummy yet...not what I wanted to do!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Day 150...The dreaded budget

We finally began our budgeting and research into our medical plan to see just how much it'll cost us to have a baby. Mind you, we're only looking at the medical cost of the pregnancy and delivery right now. Once we actually have the baby here, I have no doubt that we'll be able to budget everything just fine. But the cost of medical has thus far eluded me. I'm not very familiar with medical and how it works, so today we decided to research it as best we could.

After mulling over my medical plan, calling my parents for some advice, and posting some questions on whattoexpect.com we have learned the basics of how the medical will work. The funny part was my parents said not to worry too much about the cost of medical because, as they said, chances are I won't have to use my medical too much so it won't cost me that much. Little do they know that I'll be visiting the doctor much more than I usually do, so I'll be putting that medical to full use.

Here's how some people responded to my post on the forums:

-You might consider staying at your job the extra month to keep your benefits for the birth. The medical costs for the first year of the baby's life are going to be big enough, if you can save thousands of dollars by working an extra month, do it.

-first of all you can't afford one no one can ever afford one you just make it work. the medical stuff you can do and personal medical leave instead of quiting that is what i did with my first and then after your medical leave is up you can quit and that way you are covered by your insurance for at least two months. or you can apply for Medicaid which also covers medical bills then it depends on your doctor. you should have at least 13 visits on a perfect pregnancy. but everyone is different and every doctor is different some bill you for every visit and some wait until you have the baby and some have a flat rate. we thought we had it all planned out with our first as well i was working and my husband was working so that was double the income and i wasn't going to quit until 8 months as well. but we also had double the insurance i was placed on bedrest at 3 months so took the personal medical leave which meant i kept my benefits until my time ran up and if i could come back to work i kept my job as well. well i wasn't able to go back to work i was on bedrest until i gave birth. we still had my husband insurance but then he lost his job a month before she was born so we had no insurance and so we had to apply for medicaid which covered the birth of my baby plus her first year of life plus 6 months for me. so here we were without jobs and new baby. we went on WIC and FoodStamps. i went on birth control and got pregnant with my second daughter with a 3 month old and no income. a week after we found out i was pregnant my husband was offered a job.
sorry this is so long but i understand i have been there several times and i had no perfect pregnancy. my first was $24,000 for many stays in the hospital and then my second was $6,000 with a c-section if you have a perfect pregnancy it should only cost about $4,000 and if you have a perfect pregnancy you are usually only in the hospital a day feel free to ask me any questions.


I'm glad that we did the research. As difficult as it was and as frustrating as it was, we at least found out that we will be able to make things work. Our monthly budget will work out perfectly, and we will be able to make the medical bills work (somehow). Most of our plans will just have to play out at this point, but at least we have some foundation for our planning.

Economic decline and it's increased affect on the price of Pickles...oi!

Day 149...Bulk baby

It seems our weekends have returned to their usual busy productive times. Although we had a wonderful morning of sleeping in and browsing the Internet, we set out to do our big monthly grocery trip. I've been wanting to get back to buying in bulk and making more foods from scratch. In the summer when I was unemployed, I actually had the time to pre-make a ton of meals and save us a lot of money each month. Though I don't have as much time these days now that I work full time, I want to try and make more food and buy from bulk to still save us some money. The more we can save, the more we have for Pickle.

This last week I've been reading my tightwad gazette book and getting great ideas for how to be more frugal. Since I'll be off from work for a year with Pickle, the more I can be frugal the better. I'm also looking forward to my Baby Bargains book that I got. If it's anything like the Bridal Bargains book that the author wrote years ago, then it'll be amazing. That book saved us so much on our wedding. I can't wait to see how much it'll save us for our baby.

Later this weekend we'll be doing the budget and seeing just how much the pregnancy will cost us. I'm really anxious and hesitant to look at the budget but I know it must be done. Anything to help prepare for Pickle.

One loaf of bread, two dollars.
A box of cereal, four dollars.
A baby Pickle....priceless.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Day 148...Nothing new

There isn't really much for me to say today. We're still trying daily but until we get a positive, there isn't much exciting news for me to report at the moment. I haven't had a whole lot of time to read this week since I've been back at work so I don't have any new information to share. But this weekend, I'll hopefully get the chance to plow through a few chapters in my new book (What to expect when you're expecting) and blog something more useful over the next few days.

So that's about it. Exciting, I know. I lead an exciting life. Childcare teacher by day, snoring wife by night. At any rate, I'm excited it's the later half of Friday because now my weekend can officially start. Once my husband gets home it'll be movies, games, and good times. Oh, and more baby dancing of course! That makes everything 100x more fun. ;)

League of extraordinary Pickles.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Day 147...Here Spot!

I forgot to mention that, a couple days ago I had some pink spotting the morning I work up after a night of rigorous baby dancing. I doubt it's implantation spotting since it's way to early for me to be ovulating. More than likely it was just some remainders of my cycle finishing up. But still the thought crossed my mind. But I want to try my best not to read into anything too much and psyche my body into giving false signs. I still wish I could ask my mom about her pregnancy, what early signs she had that she was pregnant, how her first trimester went, and so on. But then again, since she wasn't exactly planning a pregnancy, I'm not sure if she actually recognized any signs of pregnancy or just figured her body was feeling off. I guess it doesn't make much of a difference though since each pregnancy is unique and each person handles it differently.

I know I'm not likely pregnant yet, but the other night after we tried yet again, I laid there in bed singing to my tummy. It was an old Elton John song called "Blessed." It seemed like a fitting song for the moment. Once I am for sure pregnant, I'm going to sing to my tummy every day.

Anyway, I don't have much more to say today except that, thank God tomorrow is Friday. The week went by fast but that doesn't stop me from still counting down the minutes until the weekend. I'm looking forward to getting some more reading in. At the moment, I can't bring my book to work without raising suspicion. I mean, carting around a book titled What to expect when you're expecting doesn't exactly leave much else to the imagination. So to avoid any awkward conversations (especially to my boss! "No, I'm not planning on getting pregnant and leaving for a year! I don't know what you're talking about!..../runs for the hills), I just don't bother bringing it to work. It'll be nice to get a good chunk of reading in this weekend now that I'll actually have time to be home.

Hey you, you're a Pickle in my head
You haven't walked yet
Your first words have yet to be said
But I swear you'll be blessed

Day 146...Ovulating?

I must admit, I'm really loving this whole "trying" thing every night. Guaranteed "baby dancing" (as they call it in the What to Expect books) every day has been really fun! Each night we've come up with creative ways to get ourselves into the mood, which honestly isn't that hard.

Last night, I decided to take my first ovulation test. I figured it was kinda early but I wanted to give it a test run anyway so I can test more realistically later this month. Of course, it came out negative (though that didn't stop us from still trying), but it was still good to get a little familiar with how the test reads out. It's pretty easy. One line means "not ovulating" and two lines means "ovulating within the next 24-36 hours. Luckily I still have about 6 or 7 more tests left, so I'll have plenty of chances to try and figure out my ovulating time.

Other than that, I'm still taking my vitamins, researching (always), and trying trying trying! Here's to hoping that, by some miracle, we get pregnant our first month trying!

Welcome Pickle to the ovulation nation!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Day 145...It's a sign

It kinda felt like there were signs everywhere today telling me, "now is the time to have a baby." For starters, after all my stressing about money last night, I got my paycheck today. But it wasn't at all what I was expecting. It was much more! Like nearly $500 more than I was expecting! After being off work for over a week, I was expecting a tiny paycheck (and had budgeted accordingly). But much to my surprise, my work paid for the entire break! Apparently, since they were the ones choosing to close down for that time, they didn't think it was fair we didn't get paid for it, so they gave us full pay! I was blown away! Here I was worried about money and lots came my way!

Then, as I was checking my emails, I got an email from www.whattoexpect.com and it was an article titled "What babies really cost." I never even posted a question about it, but suddenly I was being emailed about the very subject my husband and I had talked about the night before!

Next, when my husband and I walked down to the store, we walked past the bakery (mind you, the same one we walk past nearly daily, and has never had this display before) they had a cake in the window decorated with a stork and baby shoes that read "congratulations! It's a boy!" A cake announcing a pregnancy....when we have been planning to announce our pregnancy by surprising everyone with a cake that says "we're pregnant".....okay universe! I hear you already!

Maybe I'm looking for signs, but either way it's all positive. We're still trying nightly, I'm still watching my weight and eating healthy, I'm exercising daily (going on walks mostly), and I'm still taking my prenatal vitamins (which are making my nails grow like crazy!). Here's to hoping all our work we're putting into this results in a positive pregnancy test soon.

I'm reading the signs and they're saying "Pickle!"

Day 144...Back to work blues

Yesterday was the first day back after the holiday break. It was really hard leaving home and even more so, leaving my husband for the day. I had had such an amazing time with my husband over the break, being away from him for the majority of the day made me miss him terribly. Luckily work went rather well. There isn't much to say about it except that it was a decent first day back.

The trouble I actually had was letting go of work after I got off. All week long I had no problem completely forgetting about work and just enjoying the moments with my husband. But once I went back, work followed me home. It's weird how, even though I wasn't stressed about work, it still sat on my shoulders. It came to the point where I could hardly sleep well without dwelling on it. I immediately returned to my old clock-watching routine and stressing ("Crap! It's 4am...only 3 more hours to sleep!...Crap! It's 5am...only 2 more hours to sleep!..." and so on).

I'm not sure exactly how I'm suppose to let it all go at the end of my day but I'll work on it. At least when I'm home with Pickle I'll be able to enjoy home life and my new baby 24/7. We also tried again last night. We agreed to try every night from now until my pre-week. In addition to that, we also walked to the Borders book store and bought the "What to expect when you're expecting" book. We figured, since we bumped up our trying to conceive time, we should get a head start on what to expect once we do get that positive test. From just thumbing through it, I can already tell it's going to be extremely helpful.

Unfortunately, I also had a big boo-hoo last night over the stress of finances. I had a moment of "OMG! How are we going to afford a baby?!" But luckily my husband helped settle me down. We both agreed that sometime this week, we will go over the budget thoroughly and plan accordingly. This will include a deep look at my medical coverage, researching the cost of delivery, the cost of regular doctor's check ups, and the cost of post check ups for me and the baby. We already have a nice chunk of savings started, but I will feel so much better once we have a solid plan with all the figures accounted for. I want to be absolutely sure we are ready for Pickle in all areas of our life.

Carrying the weight of 1000 pickles on my shoulders.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Day 143...Oddly calm

I was woken up this morning by a very....shall we say...excited husband, covering me with kisses and grinning from ear to ear. Things started to get really steamy when, as a complete shock to me, my husband asks "What if we start trying now?"......Say what?! "Are you sure you're ready?" I asked. He just smiled at me. "I'm ready." he said, "If you are ready, I want to start trying." My mind started racing. For a few minutes we talked it out and...well...it ended with us trying for the first time! I'm nearly certain it's not my ovulating time, so I don't really expect that I could already be on my way to getting pregnant. But still, it was a huge step in the Pickle-making direction! All day I have been in a daze. We could very well be getting pregnant a little earlier than expected! In my need to be ready for the baby, I completely finished the "What to expect before expecting" book and I'm ready to get the next one, "What to expect when you're expecting". The plan is to do the ol' baby dance every other day to keep up our chance of conception, but I really don't know if we'll get pregnant this first time around. Of course I have my hopes, but I don't want to get them so high that I stress myself into conception worries. I just want to try and relax and enjoy the process.

So there ya go....we have officially started trying for Pickle!!! We've waited and planned for this for so long. We're a month earlier then originally planned, but after discussing it all this morning, we feel we are as ready as we'll ever be. The funny thing is, my husband seems more oddly calm than me. He seems so zen about it all. I, on the other hand, feel very nervous and excited. My body, my whole life, could very well be going through a huge change soon. So here we go! Trying for Pickle, take one!

One hundred swimming Pickles on the wall,
One hundred swimming Pickles,
Take one down, pass it around,
ninety nine swimming Pickles on the wall.

Day 142...Spilt beans

Yesterday my husband and I went to go visit our friends up at college. Actually, it was our one friend who wanted us to come up and finally meet her new boyfriend that she had met a few months back when she started attending WWU. It was great seeing her again and her boyfriend seemed like a really nice guy. Plus it was really fun to go visit the old alma mater. The campus is changing a lot though, so it's kind of sad to see our old stomping grounds ripped up and shuffled about. But it was still fun to reminisce.

Anyway, while we were visiting, my friend's phone alarm went off. "What was that for?" I asked her. "It's time for me to take my pill."
"Your pill? What pill?" I asked.
"You know...THE pill. You know what I'm talking about. You're on THE pill too aren't you?"
I paused for a moment. "Well.....not anymore actually."
My friend looked back at me, "Why?....."
"Because....."
She smiled, "Is it because you're going to be trying for Pickle?" She asked.
I couldn't keep quiet. We told her how we were planning the pregnancy months ago, how we've been doing mass research and getting ourselves into shape, how I'm now on prenatal vitamins, and how we're planning on trying starting next month.

I expected her to be shocked or at least surprised, but I guess she knows us too well. She hardly seemed shocked at all! But, then again, she even knew when we first got the nick-name Pickle, so I guess she kinda saw it coming. Either way, it felt so weird to finally tell someone that we knew. I'm sure that it'll be even more exciting to announce when we are actually pregnant. I can hardly wait!

Pickle with a side of spilt beans.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Day 141...2010!

Happy New Year! It's 2010 and I can't wait for all the amazing things to come! This is the year (if all goes to plan) that we'll be having Pickle!!! It's so weird to think we'll be trying next month. Just saying that makes it all feel so soon. Well...probably because it IS so soon!

Yesterday I joined the http://www.whattoexpect.com/ website. I love it almost as much as the book. I already posted on their forums asking for advice and it's already proven extremely helpful. My question was how many prenatal vitamins I should be taking in a day. The vitamin I'm on says to take it 6 times a day and that seemed like a lot to me. I was worried about getting an overdose of vitamins and minerals. But someone pointed out to me that the listed amount of vitamins was based off of the amount per serving, meaning 6 tablets. So starting today I am taking the full amount, as opposed to the one pill I was taking the past couple of days.

It's so nice to have other people I can talk to and get the support that I need. Not to say that my husband hasn't been extremely supportive. But there are some things that neither of us understand since we're new to this whole baby making thing. So it's nice to talk to people with experience or at least who are in the same boat. Today someone even wished me luck on getting a BFP (big fat positive)! It made me giddy. I could very well be pregnant soon and people are already wishing me luck!

Also, I'm happy to say that my period has come in full force today. I guess it really was just a week late. Either way, I'm not going to complain about the pain or anything because I'm just that happy that my body was able to regulate its self so soon. :)

As they would say on the forums: Happy AF is here so I can TTC with my DH next month, hoping for a BFP after our first time doing the BD for OLP.

-Translation: Happy Aunt Flow is here so I can Try To Conceive with my Dear Husband next month, hoping for a Big Fat Positive after our first time doing the Baby Dance for Our Little Pickle.