seen on tenseteacher. i actually had this done weeks ago, but just never felt right about publishing it. sorta sacred, you know? hmmm. maybe i’ll unpublish this one later, but right now, here it is.

1. Were you married at the time?
no.

2. What was your reaction when you found out you were pregnant?
i was very, very, very happy, and very relieved.

3. How old were you?
older than most out-of-wedlock moms, i’ll bet.

4. How did you find out you were pregnant?
well i had been monitoring everything, so when i was 2 days late, i held my breath and took the test. bingo. but i often wonder, if i really had another warning. about 2 weeks before, i got strangely soooo hungry that i was nauseous, in like, a span of 5 minutes. i was feeling fine, then all of a sudden, was just STARVING, and then i felt soooo sick that i couldn’t stay at the party i was at (it was a christmas eve party). i had never, ever had that feeling before, or if i did, it did not happen that fast. i’ve also never had it since. it was just so strange. looking back, i think that was when the little embryo might’ve implanted itself, and my whole body reacted to the change.

5. Whom did you tell first?
i told my mom, the next day after taking the test. i had been taking hormones and wasn’t sure if i should continue. i didn’t want to harm the fetus, but at the same time, i didn’t want to stop taking them and lose the baby. so i needed advice on what to do.

6. Did you want to find out the sex?
oh yes!!! but i never got an ultrasound because dr wouldn’t do it unless there was a medical emergency in case insurance didn’t cover it. so i had to wait. it drove me nuts!!! i’m the person who has to read the end of the book first, who looks up spoilers from the mainland before watching the tv show here, who just NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN!!! and then when he was taken out, the doctor said nothing! it was the anesthesiologist who remarked, “oh, what a little prince!” that’s when i knew what i had. i had always told myself, i’d find out the minute i could, though i expected it to be at around 4 months along, not when the baby was 4 minutes old!!!

7. Due date?
actually, it was pretty close to my birthday.

8. Did you deliver early or late?
i was two weeks early.

9. Did you have morning sickness?
i think so, but i wore seasickness bands. they helped the nausea a lot. i never threw up, even though i was told i would, because that’s how i was on the pill. so i guess those bands really did help!

10. What did you crave?
TOMATOES. gosh. i honestly thought the baby would come out tomato-red, i ate so many darn tomatoes. i’d drive to the 24-hr diner to get spaghetti or chili or anything with tomato sauce. i’d eat canned tomatoes straight from the can at like 2 in the morning. gosh. tomatoes. yum.

11. What irritated you the most?
honestly, i was sooo happy to be having a baby, i was not irritated in the least at anything that happened, even when my legs swelled up to tree trunks. i didn’t care. i was just so happy to have a baby. oh, i guess not finding out the sex was very irritating to me. but i think that was it.

12. What was your first child’s sex?
a boy.

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy?
50!

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy?
yes, towards the end, the final two weeks. my blood pressure was sky-high. i was so swollen. it was thought i had toxemia, which is what my doctor had predicted for me, anyway, because of my reaction while i was on the pill. i was put on strict bed-rest the final week. i was only allowed to walk to the bathroom and back. no other walking, not even to the kitchen to get something to eat. dr sent in a note to my workplace, saying i could not come to work “due to complications in pregnancy.” those words never scared me so much. i cried a lot during this period, thinking i was going to lose this baby that i had waited so long for, when i was sooo close to the end, too.

15. Where did you give birth?
at the local women & children’s hospital.

16. How many hours were you in labor?
about 15 hours, i think. i didn’t feel the contractions, at first, though they told me i was having them (the monitor showed them, anyway). i didn’t feel them until after being given the highest dose to induce me. then BAM! it was so sore, i couldn’t believe it. the last 9 hours or so were KILLER.

17. Who drove you to the hospital?
my mom.

18. Did you take medicine to ease the pain?
oh yes. i had an epidural, and that was sooo nice. until it wore off. then i asked for another. poor anesthesiologist had to come back three times to up my dose. the last time, he refused to go any more because he said i needed to feel something so that i knew when to push. i wanted to strangle him.

19. How much did your child weigh?
just shy of 9 lbs.

20. What did you name him/her?
he remained unnamed for a while, because i was so sure i was having a girl, plus, everyone was telling me, “oooh, you’re carrying high/glowing/looking healthy/craving sweets/etc./etc./etc., you’re going to have a girl!” , that i had two girl names picked out and i was going to wait until the baby came out to see what it looked like before deciding which name, since one name i picture more with a fair-haired girl, and the other, with a dark-haired girl. but then when it was a boy, i was confused. it took me a looooong time to decide and i almost went home with an unnamed baby! it was just a last-minute, hurry up and fill out the birth certificate so i can get home already!, name. oh, and his middle name’s his dad’s.

22. Whom does your child look like?
unfortunately, he looks like me. but he has his father’s coloring. everyone says he looks like a lighter-version of me.

23. Did you get mad at your husband during labor?
no. i didn’t even miss him. his loss.