Back on the Blog--Finally!!

Me at 32 weeks. Summertime in Australia. Feb 2011

So I asked myself, "How should I begin blogging again when I've not posted for over six months??" I came up with all sorts of ideas, but in the end a tell-all photo seemed best...do you agree?

It all seems very surreal. I'm 46 years old! Could the vitamin D supplements have anything to do with it or was it simply meant to be? Before I left the US for Australia I said "I'm 45 years old. I guess the only way that I'll have a family now is if I meet someone in Melbourne right away, he's a great guy and I get pregnant soon after." Whoa! Ask and it is given. I'm due March/April and the doctors are all pretty chuffed (pleased). They asked me if it was IVF (invitro fertilisation). Nope. Just naturelle. They know the baby's gender based on a bunch of scary tests I was required to undergo due to my age(results all good), but Brendan and I prefer to wait and be surprised. My preference? Healthy. That's it. All body/mind/spirit parts in place and everything working great--major gift!

So how does "pregnant" equate to not being able to type a few sentences for a blog? Well, in addition to being very, very sick and very, very exhausted the whole time, I was pretty stunned and overtaken by the news. Amazing news, but also a shocking jolt of reality for both of us. Our lives were changed instantly. Here is how we found out ...

When Brendan and I got back from our US trip at the beginning of August, we were both sooo sick, but not from jet lag. Food poisoning of some sort...so we thought. Brendan recovered in a few days, I continued to feel nauseous day and night with a nasty, sour-bile taste in my mouth. Any and every smell made me want to hurl. I kept dragging myself through every day continuing to work full-time in my sales role and basically passing out at 6pm. It took me about 10 days to accept that I wasn't getting better; at that point I called an acupuncturist for help.

Brendan dropped me off at the acupuncturist's office. The doc asked me a zillion questions, the concluding one being "Do you think you might be pregnant?" My jaw dropped. "What??" I asked squinching up my face in disbelief and doubt. He tried again "Is there any chance you could be pregnant?" My mind was racing. Well... technically... I suppose... yes." He then said he would give me a very gentle acupuncture treatment suitable for one who may be pregnant and he suggested that afterward I go to the pharmacy and pick up a pregnancy test. Dead silence. I really couldn't wrap my head around what I was hearing. Was this for real?? After the treatment Brendan came to pick me up. He saw my deer-in-the-headlights face and asked "What happened? Are you alright?" I could barely speak (I know, hard to believe!). In a robotic whisper I said "The doctor wants us to go to the pharmacy to pick up a pregnancy test".

Brendan the meditator and I silently held hands and walked around the corner to the pharmacy. I told the pharmacist I wanted the simplest test possible and, two of them please. The last thing I wanted was to end up dealing with some confusing instruction booklet and confounding results explanation.

After we bought the tests we both decided that dinner would be a good idea. We were up on Sydney Road where there are loads of amazing Middle Eastern restaurants, so that was an easy decision. The places were standing-room only, lines out the door. What was going on? Ramadan. We decided to wait for a table. Cravings were happening big time, so I hoped that vegetarian Brendan wouldn't freak out about the fact that lamb and french fries (chips) were the only possibility for me at that moment. He was okay with it, figuring that there may actually be three of us and that iron/red meat would be good for the virtual third person. He has a friend who told him a true story about another friend who insisted that his wife eat a very limited raw veg/fruit diet throughout the entire pregnancy and the result was disastrous. As we waited for the Ramadan crowd to clear (almost sundown), my nausea was magnifying. Finally, a table. I inhaled my lamb and chips--sooo good!

After dinner, we headed back to the house. Isn't it funny that somehow I had no need at all to go to the bathroom. Ha! It was nearly an hour before I finally braved my way in to the loo (bathroom). A nice thing abut my husband is that he is not impatient; he doesn't push.

I thought I had chosen the most idiot proof method...cup with dipstick (less likely that I'd pee all over my hand and miss the stick). Little did I know that post-pee, there was assembly required and a multi-page instruction booklet! Damn that pharmacist! "BRENDAN!!!". Thank goodness another one of Brendan's good traits is that he can figure things out quickly and calmly. "Yes" he said after reading through the booklet and checking the set up and results. "YES, WHAT???!!!!" I demanded. "Positive". I couldn't believe it and exclaimed "I'm taking the second test!" Brendan quietly went back upstairs. I was able to do the second test on my own and got the same results: Pregnosis = Positive. Holy Cow!!!! I had to lie down.

After a while Brendan came downstairs to check on me. I told him the news. He had already accepted the result from the first test. Those tests only show positive if you have the pregnancy hormone HCG in your urine. The test can give a false negative (if it is very early in the pregnancy and a non-detectable amount of HCG is present), but not a false positive. "Everything will be OK" he assured me.

So, on August 16, 2010 we found out that we were going to be a family. Wow.

I will write a little bit in the blog every day from now on to catch up since my last post in June 2010 (oy!). That means stories and pics from our US trip, our wedding, the move to a new apartment, the pregnancy journey and of course, each post will be peppered with Australia facts and funnies. I'll be sure to include updates on present moment happenings too! The baby is due in 4-6 weeks!

OK, I'll end with an Australian fun fact and a PP (Pregnancy Perk). I had to create a name for all of the new weirdnesses I've been experiencing as a result of the pregnancy!

I just came back from KFC. Yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yes, in Australia. Yes, DEIDRE in KFC in Australia! Anyone who has been pregnant will understand: I HAD to have chicken NOW. The place is across the street from our house. Yup, across the street. Guess what is next door to the KFC? A Subway franchise. Really. Hard to feel far from home with the proliferation of American fast food chains, American TV shows and music, Kmart and Target. Although, in KFC ironcially, I actually did feel like a"foreigner" for the first time since I moved to Melbourne one year ago.

What made me feel "foreign?":

1.) I asked for biscuits and they told me to go next door to Subway. How confused was I?!!! Ohhhhh yeah. "Biscuits" here in Australia biscuits are cookies. I wanted the buttery, pull apart, flaky stuff--Texas style. No such beast here in Australia. The closest thing you will find are scones. Scones are NOT biscuits.

2.) Then I ordered a "fillet to go"-- a chicken breast fillet to go. I pointed at the lovely photograph on the light-up menu, but apparently the pointing didn't help. It was as if I had four heads. Squinching up her forehead to the point where her eyes were nearly closed, the polyester-clad girl behind the counter said, "What??" completely confused by me. "A chicken breast fillet", I answered. Her face further contorted-- absolutely no concept. Finally, her colleague at the other register whispered loudly enough for me to hear "fill-it". "Ohhh" said the girl with recognition. "Fill-it!" she announced to me. "No", I said. "Fill-AY", its a French word and you don't pronounce the "t". One of the many nice things about Ozzies is that they let stuff roll off. Rather than slap me (which my French comment clearly deserved), the two simply exchanged "whatevah" glances and the girl proceeded to type my order in to the computer.

3.) "Take Away? " she asked me next. "Yes, To Go" I answered. Her eyes glazed over again. Blank look. "What?" she asked quizzically. "Yes, TAKE AWAY". I conceded for the ease of the transaction.