FUN N FUNKY EDIT

✐✐✐ SOOO here we go —-

 

Howdy y’all!

A few days ago ~on 11/11/19 to be exact~ I posted a story on my instagram of me and Cristian from 2017 on 11/11 and wrote something joking about how when the picture was taken we had no idea Ripley was there with us. Seems pretty crazy to type it all out, but before you jump to conclusions or assume that we’re irresponsible let me break down the story and the timeline first…it is sort of a humorous one honestly hahaha

 

✰ JULY 2017 —

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Hopefully this is not TMI at all, but I often blabber on with no filter before I realize the stuff I have just exposed to a complete stranger or someone who did not care at all to know that much about me, but honestly all the potential TMI is important to the overall understanding of the story.

In July that summer I had an appointment scheduled for my yearly visit to the OBGYN, but the day I had it scheduled Mother Nature decided that she did not want me to have that appointment {turns out the people watching over me had other plans} and decided it was my time of the month. I was like, “great, what am I supposed to do I leave for school in less than a week what horrible timing.” Needless to say, I was unable to schedule another appointment before I left for school.
I soon left to head to Alabama and thought not too much of the situation after that because they gave me ~complimentary packs~ …for two extra months.

 

✰ AUGUST 2017 —

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I was now settling into my new life at school and was not going to see Cristian until the first weekend in September.

 

✰ SEPTEMBER 2017 —

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I saw Cris the first weekend of the month when he came to his FIRST ALABAMA FOOTBALL GAME {how it took him two full years is beyond me smh}!!!! That was a fun weekend, and even better because we knew we would be seeing one another just two weeks later when I was coming to his school.

~~side note: September was the last month of pills that they so graciously gave me…~~

It was my “time of the month” the week before I left for VA; in fact I realized my period had ended ON THE PLANE on my way to Richmond…pretty funny, right? I was thinking to myself, “Wow! What great timing!” Hahaha really great apparently. If we fast forward a bit to when I finally saw a good OBGYN when I was home in March, he was able to track back and determine that this weekend was indeed the weekend Ripley decided he was ready to develop into the amazing little man he is today!

 

✰ OCTOBER 2017 —

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This month was extremely stressful for me as a whole, so when I did not get my period at all it was nothing out of the ordinary because of my stress + my past of missing periods for months on end. {Before I went on the pill, actually the reason for me starting it, was because I would have multiple months in a row of no period and vice versa}.
The only doctor I {surprisingly} saw this month was a urologist. They take urine samples so one would assume that maybe something would be different, but it was only a few weeks after the fact.
I saw Cristian one time that month when he came for another game and as far as we knew, all was well in the world and we were having so much fun…nothing to worry about here!!!

 

✰ NOVEMBER 2017 —

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This month, looking back, was incredibly telling of the surprises to come in future months, but there was so much going on and so many outside factors leading towards certain symptoms that everyone I talked to about my health difficulties immediately ruled out the idea of pregnancy as well. In fact, I took an at home pregnancy test at the start of November because one of my friends was paranoid for me {she had never known me when I had seven-nine months of no period hahaha}. Guess what the result was…NEGATIVE! So naturally I took that as 100% accurate creating the proof that no further investigation on the topic was needed.
When I went home for Thanksgiving break, I finally was able to schedule an appointment with the OBGYN to get my yearly check and a new refill prescription. During this appointment they really caught me off guard saying ~something…who really knows/remembers what they said honestly~ was off from my pap smear and that I needed to schedule a biopsy to ensure it was nothing serious … … … EXCUSE ME WHAT! They made up this wild problem I potentially had, yet could not catch the most obvious fact that I was with child?!?!?!

 

✰ DECEMBER 2017 —

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I made my way back to this OBGYN for the biopsy they said I needed and still, nothing tipped them off to the fact Rip was growing in my stomach. The result…NOTHING WAS WRONG, so basically they just wanted to terrorize me a bit I suppose….
During the holiday season, so many of my family members mentioned to me that I looked way too thin and made many comments of that nature so no one else had any reason to think my various symptoms at the time were stemming from a baby.

SIDE NOTE —- I finally gave in to my stomach pain and had an endoscopy done sometime over the summer of 2017, and about two weeks into the new school year my doctor called me to officially tell me I had Celiac Disease. Truthfully, they had been telling me this for years – like since 7th grade, but I refused to give up all the foods I loved for stomach pain. {I am incredibly stubborn but donuts, bread, cereal, cookies, brownies, etc. were all of my favorite food groups and I was afraid I would starve without eating them} After this diagnosis I ended up losing just a little over 20 lbs from being so stressed over what I could and could not eat, truly I lived off of gluten free waffles and gluten free cereal I managed to find … it was not a good dietary time in my life hahaha

 

✰ JANUARY 2018 —

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I had made my way back to Tuscaloosa by now, and the off and on severe stomach pain had continued to get worse but I thought it was my gallbladder acting up again because the pain felt the exact same and my stomach was bloated at random times and normal at others. I started to become extremely weak/lightheaded in the mornings as I was getting ready for the day, but I just thought I was dehydrated or needed to eat. In retrospect, I probably should have revisited pregnancy at this point but there were just so many factors pointing away from being pregnant that it did not really cross my mind anymore.
On top of this, I still had not gained any of the weight that I lost back, I would just be bloated for a few hours and then it would go away and no weight was gained.

 

✰ FEBRUARY 2018 —

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To be honest, February was a turning point but I still was oblivious to the fact of the matter and still thought it was my gallbladder. Sweet, sweet Demitrius thought I looked pregnant, BUT FAILED TO LET ME IN ON HIS SECRET … HELLO! Hahaha just kidding, but seriously I still was looking just bloated, having the same sort of gallbladder like pain, and had maybe gained about five lbs at this point. This month was also extremely stressful as I was not in Tuscaloosa for a weekend except for my birthday. I was flying all over and trying to figure out test results to something else I had going on at the time, so my “bloat” was the least of my concerns. I still fit in all my clothes perfectly fine, had not felt any sort of movement yet, and my stomach would essentially shrink back to normal after a few hours so that became normal to me.

 

✰ MARCH 2018 —

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It was the first Tuesday of the month and I was talking to a friend about thinking one of her friends could possibly be pregnant, and after we hung up the phone I was sort of taken back by this panicked feeling. I had no reason to be panicked but it persisted the entire night, so Kennedy and I decided to go watch Fifty Shades Freed for the umpteenth time and that distracted me from my stress. The next night I decided I may as well take a test to ease my mind and just have a definite answer. I became stressed again earlier in the day when I heard the news that my cousin was born – it triggered the same sort of panic as the phone call the day prior.
It was about 10 p.m. and I hunted a test down to take, but I was entirely alone so it took me awhile to be brave enough to do it. And to no surprise … well much surprise at the time, it was positive. I called Cristian and he was denying it saying that I have so many other problems that could play into a false positive, I had seen a plethora of doctors that should have caught this if it were true, and so on. I was a bit convinced after talking to him, but I decided that I should go buy a few more tests to ensure it was 100% positive or negative. Mind you, this was now the Wednesday before spring break and we were leaving for Destin that Friday, so finding time to schedule an actual doctors appointment was not really on the table. Lexi was so kind as to drive me to CVS at about midnight, and at this point Cristian was fast asleep so I was going to buy them and put off actually taking any of them until he was awake.
I attempted to take two on Thursday, but neither of them turned out to be reliable. The first one was COMPLETELY BLANK?!?! Not sure how or why, honestly maybe I did it wrong?? I then took another one out of a different pack in case it was just a faulty set I took the first time, but the second one was only HALF shaded so I was 50/50 on being pregnant or not?? I then gave up for the day and decided that maybe I should just wait to find a doctor. Halle and Lexi finally talked me into trying to take just one more after we made plans to go visit a clinic Friday morning. So late Thursday night I finally took the third test of the day and it read pregnant. Which at that point I assumed would be the result, but it was a bit terrifying to read. I went back and showed them and they were talking to talk me off a ledge by saying typical things that would hopefully calm me down; “you have options,” “You don’t know 100% yet,” “just wait to see a doctor,” “you are only a few weeks a long, a lot can happen,” …and things like that. It honestly helped and I was finally able to fall asleep that night
The next morning we got up and drove to the nearest clinic that said they offered free blood tests to show pregnancy, but when we got there the receptionist informed us that the nurse who usually deals with the blood tests was out for the day…. We were all just kind of confused and laughed for a second and finally I said that we are about to leave town and I really need to know something for the sake of my well being because I cannot go any longer without some sort of definite answer. I think the lady felt bad so she gave me another pregnancy test to take, which again showed positive. So at that point I was trying to come to terms with being pregnant. We went into a small room to talk about everything that had been going on and the kind lady who worked there dated the start of my pregnancy back to the end of September. This caught me extremely off guard, there was no way it was that long ago because of all the doctors I had been to and the various tests I had taken, but she insisted. She left the room and came back to inform me that since the nurse I came to see was out for the day, they would give me a free ultrasound in an attempt to ease my spirits about the whole thing. I was extremely nervous, but knew it was really the only thing I could do. Lexi and me meandered into the next room and sat blankly staring at one another like “wtf is going on and how did we get ourselves into this mess” because this is not how we expected the first day of spring break to begin. The other nurse finally came into the room to begin the ultrasound and at that point I immediately turned away from the screen because I could not face the truth that was in front of me. We heard the heartbeat which caused me and Lexi to gasp in unison because for some reason neither of us were expecting to hear that. All of a sudden the nurse goes, “wow, there’s a nice long leg right here!” UHHHH WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY … I finally got the courage to ask how far along I was and to my surprise she said that I was 24 four frickin weeks along … … … TWENTY-FOUR!!!!!!! I think Lexi was more afraid of that answer than I was. And to add fuel to the fire, seconds later sweet Ripley decided to hiccup and scare us even more. I do not even remember the rest because quite frankly I think I blacked out, the next thing I remember was sitting in my car talking to Cristian about my visit to the clinic.

AHHHHH MARCH … I cannot believe it took me this long to figure out what was happening inside my own body! It makes me feel extremely guilty and stupid for discovering this so late, but hey it worked out perfectly!

I will continue this story to talk about the more exciting, typical pregnancy aspect of the last three months growing little Rip, so be on the lookout!

☄︎ Blasting off,

The Rocket Mama ✰✰