maternity clothes

Law School Reunion

May 18, 2008 by Jessica

This weekend, Elliot and I went to NY for my law school reunion! It was so amazing to see everyone again. I stayed with one of my best friends, Tami, who lives up in NY. The car ride up was tough – lots of nausea for me. On Saturday, we walked her daughter Abbi to dance class, then went for bagels. I thought I would be sick before I got any food in my system! About 2 hrs later, we picked up Abbi, and she was ready to eat lunch. Luckily, so was I! So, we went for pizza. Over lunch, Tami asked me about our plans for having children. . . . and I told her that we are expecting! I was so excited to share the news with her. We went shopping for some clothes for her at Ann Taylor Loft, then we went back to her place. She then dug out all of her maternity clothes and gave them to me – I hit PAYDIRT!! Her clothes are perfect, and it will be such a help to have all of them to wear.

That evening, I got ready for my reunion, but I felt absolutely huge – I was sure I was showing. I tried hiding all night behind a shawl, and luckily no one said anything. I’m sure they were thinking “wow, did she get HUGE since law school!” I was dying to tell everyone, but it just wasn’t the best timing. Anyway, I had an amazing time, although I was exhausted and cramping by the end of the night.

The next morning, we had arranged to meet all of Elliot’s family – first to celebrate his nephew Ethan’s birthday and second to share the news. We first met his parents along with Daniel, Jody and Ethan. When we shared the news, they said they hoped that was why we wanted to gather everyone together. They were thrilled for us, too.

That afternoon, we started back home, and stopped off to visit Elliot’s other brother – Steven and Jodi and their children Melissa, Brian and Stephanie. Again, it took Elliot about 1 hour to share the news, but then they said they could tell just by looking at me. Everyone was truly thrilled for us, and I think it was great to finally share the news! We went out to dinner before driving back home.

Jumping the Gun . . . Maternity Clothes!

May 10, 2008 by Jessica

So, I know I am totally jumping the gun here, but my mother and I went shopping for maternity clothes today! Actually – I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Everything is elastic waisted, so it always fits, and you are supposed to look fat in it – I’ve never had such an easy time shopping for clothes in my life!! I really don’t need the maternity clothes yet, but many of my pants were feeling a little tight around the waist when I was sitting down (and the extra pressure on my enlarged ovary is really uncomfortable), and I really don’t have many casual pants that will fit me this summer, so I decided to go ahead and just buy a few things now. What I wanted to buy was a belly band – basically, an elastic band that fits around my waist and it will allow me to wear my regular pants with the button unbuttoned. I ended up buying far more than that!!

We decided to shop at Motherhood Maternity and Old Navy. In our mall, the Motherhood store is down an empty corridor, where there are no other stores. I joked with my mom about being afraid to go to the store because I would run into someone. So, we took a deep breath, and went to the store. NATURALLY, we ran smack into a friend of mine, Betsy, who is due in August!! My mom was quite creative – she put on a confused expression and said “I guess we got lost . . . this doesn’t look like the way to Old Navy. I hate shopping without Mickey – he is the only one of us with any mall sense!!” I have no idea if she bought our story, but we got directions to Old Navy and scurried off. I bought a few things at Old Navy, then we returned to Motherhood and bought even more.

The results are in!

April 28, 2008 by Jessica

Today I am five weeks pregnant. Unbelievable! I went to the doctor for blood test #2, and the good news is that we have doubling (which is a sign of a healthy pregnancy)!! The beta came back at 1809 today. So far, this little bean is hanging in there. I cannot even begin to explain the relief that washed over me when I heard the number. I go back for my final beta on Wednesday, then next week is picture day!!

For those of us who waited so long to get pregnant, I think every step of the process is tempered with fear . . . we are so accustomed to bad news that we continue to wait for the “other shoe to drop.” We distance ourselves from the joy a bit to prepare for the elusive “bad news” that we somehow believe is inevitably on the way. Rather than every cloud has a silver lining, I think some of us feel that every rainbow has a cloud (or a thunderstorm) lurking nearby.

Little by little, I am slowly starting to let down my guard and experience this joy. I am finally getting accustomed to saying the words . . . “I’m pregnant.” In fact, I walk around saying it quite often the past two days. I told the radio this morning. Don’t worry, it didn’t answer back. I am certain I have now told the dog about 100 times (she mostly just looks bored when I share my news). I believe I also told the mirror. I am thrilled to say the person in the mirror smiled back at the news!

I’m so ready to start buying maternity clothes, and picking out furniture for the baby’s room, but . . . again, the fear controls. I am afraid of making too many plans before we see a heartbeat.