Absurd as it may seem to some, I’ve known I was pregnant since week 1. When I suffered from gikkori goshi back in first week of January, I told the physical therapist to take care as I was pregnant. By week 3, I was starting to get nauseous and I was thinking at that time that if I’m not pregnant, I can’t imagine how difficult it can get since I was already uncomfortable with the nausea. Little did I know that my nausea at that time was really just the tip of the iceberg. It-can-get-really-worse especially when the vomiting kicks in.
Come week 4, it was just a matter of waiting for my monthly as I am pretty regular. When the day passed by and I didn’t get a visit, I was already looking forward for the weekend to have the test. But in that week 4, the sleepiness and tiredness has already kicked in. Imagine having fatigue associated with pregnancy and yet having had to be mentally alert during a series of difficult HAZOP meetings!! I remember whenever we have breaks and my tummy would hurt, I talk to baby in the toilet and say “baby, please be with mommy on this. Let’s answer their questions even when the going gets tough already”. Imagine talking to your baby even before taking the pregnancy test! Haha. That’s how confident I am that our little one is growing inside me already.
When Saturday rolled in, first thing I did was take the test. Of course the line was there, albeit really faint still.
But the next few days, there were a series of mishaps that got me really fearful for baby – I had some spotting (read a lot about this being normal but still it’s worrying), we fell down a flight of stairs because of the snow, we met a witch ob/gyn who coldly hinted, with her back facing me, that I might have ectopic pregnancy. All of these prompted me to test almost twice a day, morning and night. I think I had at least 10 tests in that my hubby was already laughing on how addicted I was with the testing. Haha. I finally stopped the tests when I had consistent result like this.
And of course I was praying unceasingly as well whilst taking the tests.
Looking for an ob/gyn was quite tough though. I’ve read a lot of gaijin blogs complaining how there is a world of difference between ob/gyns here in Japan and on the West/Philippines. Honestly, it took me a long time to accept that things are really different and that I just have to try and make up for what’s lacking. The moment I did this, things certainly got better – which was what happened last Saturday.
Now, much as we wanted to share our happiness the moment we knew about our latest great blessing, we had to have some restraint. It’s a big oxymoron, we wanted to share our great news but we need to keep it to ourselves for the mean time because even the doctors cannot confirm yet if my pregnancy is healthy. And I realised why things are so. Apparently, we went to the doctor way too early, just when I was only 4 weeks and barely 6 weeks when usually pregnant women have their first check at 7 or 8 weeks. Since my baby is still very small, doctor couldn’t measure yet and since they don’t have a record of my basal body temperature, they couldn’t give us any assurances. And what we can only do is pray.
Lat Saturday though, after measuring baby and showing me baby’s heartbeat, the doctor looked really happy to tell me baby is normal. He even looked really happy to show hubby baby’s photo.
Doctor must have seen the worry in our faces. He looked really happy he himself inserted our baby’s photo into the birth album that their hospital gives to pregnant women.
Even when we’ve visited their hospital twice before already with ultrasounds on each visit, it was only this time that they really considered my check as an official one, noting it so in the birth album record.
They also instructed us to go to the ward office to ask for the boshitetcho (æŊåæåļģ) so we can get some benefits and also register my pregnancy.
And so because of how the doctor’s visit went, we decided it’s time to share our joyful news.
With this sharing is also a prayer that this is a harbinger of more blessings to count as we witness the growth of this miracle inside my womb. ð