The Big Announcement

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So for those of you who don't know (although I don't know how you would have found your way to this blog if you don't), Mark and I are pregnant! Yeah for us! We are only very early in the pregnancy, five weeks and a few days, but somehow the word seems to be out - possibly due to my father's excitement but I can't say that I tried very hard to keep him quiet. Anyway, this seemed like the easiest way to keep everyone in the loop.

We don't have an exact due date but it's somewhere around the end of October. My fertility tracker said Oct 29th but I'm vibing on the 28th. If the baby is early, it could be born on Mark's birthday (Oct 25) and if it's late, it could be born on Halloween. October is my very favourite month - we have several family birthdays (including Buddy's), our wedding anniversary, thanksgiving, and Halloween, my all-time favourite holiday. So it's a very fortuitous month for our baby to be born.

We won't know the gender for another 15 weeks or so and even then only if the baby's facing the right way in the ultrasound but we will find out and we will let everyone know. Right now Mark and I are both feeling a bit like it's a boy but we have no really strong feelings, so who knows? The idea of a boy is kind of freaking me out. I come from a family of girls, most of my friends are girls, I work with all women. I just don't know what to do with a boy! But my husband, my dad, and my dog are all great boys so I'm sure my son will be too! :)

This far in I've had very few symptoms and am hoping to be lucky enough to escape morning sickness like my mom did. For the first week that we knew (week 4) I did have lots of cramping on my left side and was in a panic, fearing ectopic pregnancy, but apparently it's very normal and due to the corpus luteum cyst that forms after ovulation. Then over the weekend I had a racing heartrate that was causing me anxiety (which of course did nothing to help my heartrate) but that seems to have settle down (knock on wood). In fact, today I feel exactly like I always do, which makes the whole pregnancy thing seem a little unreal.

Last week I was out in High Park and it was a beautiful sunny day so I decided to go walk the labyrinth. The labyrinth in the park is a traditional mandala painted on concrete - nothing terribly exciting, but I like to walk it and mull things over now and then. So I tied Buddy up nearby and walked the labyrinth. I thought of all the things I wish for for our baby and all the things I wish for for myself as a mother. When I was done, huge fat snowflakes started falling even though the sun was shining bright and the sky was blue. The snowflakes were so big and white and they seemed like little bits of love and assurance falling from the heavens. It was a pretty magical moment that made me feel hopeful for this pregnancy and for our life as a family.