Week 6 - Riding The High
On Top of the World
My first week post-transfer was dreamlike. I was walking around with a permanent smile on my face and carrying a sweet little secret. My thoughts were almost always on my tummy and rooting for this little Spark inside me.
I indulged in a trip to the local bookstore, to buy a copy of the famous What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I wanted to drink in every detail about what was yet to come. I wanted to be informed and prepared for everything I might encounter, each step of the way.
While at the bookstore, I came across a section of pregnancy journals and baby books. I was immediately captivated. I like writing and documenting stories and experiences! I think I caught this bug from my Grammy Marg. She was fascinated by genealogy and wrote out – by hand – as much of our family history as she could uncover. I remember being a young girl playing secretary, sitting at a desk in her kitchen, typing out endless stories about ancestors I’d never met, on Grammy’s Commodore 64 computer. It had a huge impact on me, and to this very day, I love learning about our family tree and capturing stories for the next generations to come.
Back to the bookstore… I browsed through the pregnancy journals, trying to find the perfect one for me. I’m a sucker for good design and aesthetics and finally chose one… based on its cover, haha! It’s was bound in a neutral linen with stylized foliage on the cover, and called As You Grow: A Modern Memory Book. It was shrink wrapped and therefore I couldn’t exactly see what waited inside. But I didn’t care, I was ready to start documenting my pregnancy journey!
My Sweet Little Secret
I took my What to Expect book and journal to the cash register, so excited to get home and start reading and writing. The cashier was friendly and greeted me with a broad smile. “Would you like a gift receipt?”, she asked. Huh – I thought to myself… I’m so old, there’s no reason she might think these books are for me! I smiled a huge smile and replied with a simple “No thanks!”. I kinda like having this sweet little secret.
Counting the Weeks
When I got home, I first cracked open the What to Expect book. And it was better than I expected! It’s packed full of all kinds of info, and the more recent editions are more inclusive of different types of families and parents.
The very first thing this book helped clear up for me is the counting of weeks in pregnancy. Pregnancy is counted from the first day of your last period. This is because it can be difficult to accurately measure the exact day of conception. So, during Week 1 – you’re not actually pregnant. In a natural pregnancy this is the time when an egg will be released and hopefully fertilized.
For me, on my IVF journey, you also have to factor in the age of the embryo at date of transfer. My embryo was 5 days old, and my transfer happened about 2 weeks after the first day of my last period. So I was almost at Week 3 of pregnancy when my transfer occurred. So after two weeks of waiting, and two positive pregnancy test, I’m already considered 6 weeks pregnant. Isn’t science neat?!
And a Blog is Born…
Next I cracked open the pregnancy journal, eager to start recording some of my thoughts and feelings. I was quickly disappointed when I realized that I’d actually bought a baby book instead of a pregnancy journal. Shoot! Serves me right for picking a book based on its cover - which as it turns out - I didn’t fully read! I’ll keep it, of course, it’s a beautiful modern baby book. It will be perfect for the day when my sweet Spark is born… there will be lots of stories and memories to record.
I remembered my previous idea about sharing my BOIM experiences with others and pivoted to an online journal. And that’s how this blog was born!
