I'm sure you want to know every little detail about our efforts to get pregnant, right? No?! Too Bad! (Or you can just skip this post. In fact, that would be my recommendation if you're the type of person who gets uncomfortable talking about things like... menstrual cycles. You know who you are. Just scroll on down to the next post.)
If it was up to Jason, I would have gotten pregnant again 6 weeks after delivering Claire. Poor guy isn't going to get the 8 kids he was hoping for. Maybe next time he won't wait until he's 31 to start looking for his wife...Anyway, I told him that for every 9 months that I'm pregnant, I must have at least 9 months NOT pregnant. So, true to my word, I put all of the birth control away when Claire turned 9 months old. There was only one problem. I was nursing Claire, and I still hadn't started my period. Nothing to chart, no sign of any impending fertility. I kept on hoping that somehow I would get pregnant during my very first postpartum cycle (you hear about the girls who do.) I'd randomly stress out that I was pregnant and look for little symptoms. I got my first bladder infection during this time, and I was sure I was expecting, because I'd read that they're more common during pregnancy. The doctor was able to squash that hope pretty quickly, much to my disappointment.
I decided to stop nursing when Claire turned one. Honestly, Claire and I both loved nursing, and it was really hard on both of us. I will probably end up nursing my last child until they're 5. (Not really.) Weaning was sad, but I don't have any regrets. Claire got a good year of breast milk, which I feel was enough for her. And by that time, I was as anxious as Jason to get Claire a little sibling. I was completely dry for a month or two before my body finally decided it could care for another baby. My first period was a HUGE relief and also a little disappointing. I started charting immediately (I highly recommend the book, "Taking Charge of Your Fertility.") The next month was less of a relief and more of a disappointment, but we continued on. It takes most couples a few months to get the timing right.
According to my charts, I found out that I was due to start my next period right before Christmas. I knew I shouldn't, but I started to plan that I would get pregnant that month. I bought a pregnancy test and a little gift bag, and I created fantasies in my head of giving Jason the positive test on Christmas morning, and telling both of our mothers at a family dinner that we had planned for early January. (Jason's Mom would be with us in Arizona for a wedding. How often are both of our mothers in the same place at the same time!? Never! It was going to be perfect!) When my period started on Christmas Eve, I cried for about an hour. Even more disappointing was when I realized that Jason and I would be apart during my next fertile window, which would probably mean another month of menstruating and this time it would be ON MY BIRTHDAY (Jan. 25- one month after Christmas.) It definitely put a damper on Christmas.
Of course, we decided to try the next month anyway. We went to Arizona for the wedding, and he returned to Canada right away to get back to work, while I stayed behind to visit with the family for five extra days. According to the charts, those 5 days were critical baby making days, but the tickets were already purchased, so we worked with what we had. As my friend put it, we had a nice good bye when he left for Canada, and nice hello when I came home, and we hoped for the best. I wasn't very hopeful.
But then... the day before my birthday, my period didn't start. I started to hope just a little bit. At 5 in the morning on my birthday, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. So I snuck into the bathroom and took that pregnancy test I had bought before Christmas. Positive!! How's that for a birthday present? Sweet angel baby made 33 my very best birthday ever.
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| Claire holding a positive pee stick back on January 25th and Harvey#2 captured sneakily at our first ultrasound |
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