Pregnancy Series: So Your Test is Positive...

It would be an understatement to say I'm thinking a lot about pregnancy these days. A quick look at my library account would concern any man. For that reason I'm going to blog a little about pregnancy for those who might be interested. I think it'll be a series but I don't promise. Gardening season fast approaches and I suppose as long as I'm growing something I get excited. Grow Your Own, Part One: Babies? Anyways, here goes the introduction. It's a quick guide to your first steps after finding out that your pee stick has a plus sign on it.

When I took my first, and so far only, home pregnancy test, conditions were less than ideal. I happened to be locked in the bathroom at Calvin's band practice, surrounded by one girl and six guys. It was really late at night which typically means I'm functioning at 5% of usual capacity. It was also about half a week before our big vacation to Florida meaning roller coasters, hot tubs, coffee, staying up late and possibly sampling the US's beer offerings. But in the end, the earlier you know the better so that you can make an appointment with your health care provider. They will:

1. Confirm if you're actually pregnant, although I hear when done right a home test is 99% accurate.
2. Give you some sort of advice that may include a prescription for supplements.
3. Refer you for ultrasounds in the coming weeks.

I suggest that making an appointment is the second thing you do. The first thing you should do is choose one person to tell - the father would probably be a good choice. If you're not in good with him, maybe your mom or a best friend. Someone else needs to know at this point. That being said, my advice would be for only that person to know right now. The more people you tell early on the messier it becomes if something doesn't work out. My doctor recommended waiting until week 12 when I had an ultrasound to finally tell everyone. That worked out perfectly.

The next thing you should do is look into what you need to give up, and what you need to start up. I've got a mini-guide to that on one of my last blogs.

Then sit back and relax. You don't have to worry about paint colours, car seats or middle names until much farther along. Taking it easy is the best bet now. If things are stressing you out, make a list of them and deal with them later. If your friends already know, delegate things to them - they'll be happy to help if they're good friends. My friend Ashley offered to bake me a rhubarb pie at any time that I crave one, day or night. I guarantee I will take her up on it.

Pretty soon after finding out you're pregnant you'll begin dealing with symptoms, the craziest of which being morning sickness so I'll devote my next blog to dealing with that. I'd love to write more about what you're interested in so if you have a suggestion - email me or comment on this post.
Thanks.