I should have known from the start of my first pregnancy that it was gonna be a bumpy ride.
By: Why Are Things Like This
Tags: Doctor, Why, Pregnancy, Baby

I should have known from the start of my first pregnancy that it was gonna be a bumpy ride. I didn’t know I was pregnant much like most women don’t realize they are pregnant until they get those first waves of nausea giving it away. I’d been feeling queasy for a few days but didn’t think anything of it since I was often nauseous for no reason.

Being sick is normal so I didn’t go to the doctor for nausea. I finally went because my right calf swelled up so much that the skin on my leg was tight and uncomfortable. I thought it was from all the snowboarding we had been doing. But nerp! It was the start of the longest 10 months of my life.

I’m at the doctors and after examining my calf, he asks me if I think I might be pregnant. I look at him like he is insane and ask how in the world he can think I’m pregnant from a swollen calf? Can the baby start growing down there and then move to the stomach?? What kind of Dr. did I go to? But he is a well established Dr. and a little bit older so I figure he knows what he’s talking about. I very skeptically agree to a pregnancy test. And son of a biscuit, he was right! But he seems unusually concerned about my leg swelling so he insists on taking blood and sending it in for testing. Of course! Take all the blood you need to figure out why my leg is swelling!

What seems like 50 vials of blood later, off it goes to be tested. I’m blissfully on my way to get used to the fact that I’m actually preggo. Me??!! How can I raise a kid? I never wanted kids and now I was going to have one. I wasn’t ready and already this pregnancy thing was just not for me. I’ve never felt so out of sorts in my life. I have a leg that is killing me to walk on, I am now throwing up what seems like every 5 minutes and I’m weak from having half my blood drawn.

Small tangent here. WHY DO THEY TAKE SO MUCH BLOOD WHEN YOU ARE PREGNANT?? Every time I’d go in for a checkup, they’d take what seemed like 20 vials. I’d ask what it was for. You took blood last time. You need more? They’d act like I was crazy for asking. I think it’s a fair question. I just decided they had hoards of vampire bats they had to feed. Or used it to fill the elevator to prank each other Stephen King style. Or bathed in it to stay youthful. Oh the places your brain goes when you have low blood levels. So much blood.

Fast forward to my blood test results returning and the Dr. asking me to come in to discuss them. Yes! Of course. Let me come in and hear all about it. So on a Friday, I once again head to the drs. As soon as I see the drs face, I can tell there’s something wrong. And my stomach drops. I sit there numbly as the dr tells me about my results. There’s something not quite right with my bodies hormone levels.

The levels that came back say I’m 3 months pregnant but obviously I am not that far along. I am told that I could have a mole pregnancy. A what?? I don’t know much about regular pregnancy let alone having a mole baby. I try to stay calm as the Dr. explains what a mole pregnancy even is.

What is a mole pregnancy you may ask? A mole pregnancy is basically a tumor that seems like a pregnancy right down to the symptoms of being nauseous and having a positive pregnancy test. The tumor can even have body parts, like teeth and hair but it’s not a baby. Mole pregnancy can cause unusually high hcg levels and preeclampsia which would explain why my leg is so swollen. I need to go and have an ultrasound done ASAP to see what is actually going on. But it’s Friday so I have to wait until Monday to be seen at a different location that can do the ultrasound.

Go and enjoy the weekend and try not to think too much about it until Monday says the Dr. who has nothing growing in his belly!!! Oh yes! Let me go and have a carefree vomiting time while I might potentially have a tumor with teeth and hair growing inside me. Thank you dr. Lovely idea. I somehow make it home to explain to my husband we are having a ball of teeth and hair! I am now not calm whatsoever, since I spent all the calmness I had left at the drs and driving home. Now I’m beside myself thinking about all the times over this last week

I said I didn’t want a baby. That I wasn’t ready. I was told I wouldn’t be able to even have kids without help so how am I pregnant? And now all I can think about is how much I want this to be a baby but I’m having a mole! My whole perspective instantly changed. I’m heart broken. And sobbing. And somehow still throwing up!

My husband calms me down and has me call the Dr. back for some more clarification. The dr reassured me again that it will all be sorted out soon and once again urges me to go enjoy the weekend. Go snowboarding like we had originally planned. Again, easy for someone to say when they don’t have a MONSTER growing inside them. But sure. Let’s go snowboarding because what else can I do? Off we go and I actually am having a good time because snowboarding is so enjoyable and one thing that I can actually do. I’m not the best but I can go down the hill without falling. In my head that’s like expert level.

After what seems like a 25 day weekend, Monday finally comes. I’m about 2 hours early for my appointment in the hopes they can get me in early. They actually do and I breathlessly get my first ultrasound to see if I’m actually pregnant or carrying a mole. The sonogram tech is very sweet and understanding while I bombard him with every question that ran through my brain over the weekend. Like how I fell snowboarding and I never fall on my stomach but of course I wiped out hard on my stomach! If this isn’t a mole pregnancy, did I kill my baby??? I’m already the worst mother ever! That poor tech. He was so nice and answered all my questions. Including the most important one. Was I actually pregnant? I have never been so happy to hear I’m pregnant in my life! 6 weeks pregnant with a human baby! Only 6 weeks in and I’m already exhausted.