Telling All

Well, telling the parentals was not near as bad as I expected. The two sets reacted as I said as being excited for the baby and accepting of our decision. The third set reacted a lot better than I thought. Very calm, quiet, and letting us know to check all our options before making any final decisions; I could tell that one of them really wanted to say something, though, and she ended up leaving the room very quickly after a few minutes. I was surprised to find that the set that's the most outspoken is the one that not only was the quietest in response but also the most scared because I'm in a different country. I thought about it, though, and it really wouldn't be any different than if I lived on the other side of the States from them and there were no family nearby; they'd still worry about someone being there to take care of me. In the meantime, a couple family members are contemplating flying over here around the time of the birth to help out. That would be awesome.

Dreams

I have experienced a great increase in dreams these past few weeks, and it is making life interesting. I do not believe they are all from God, but I do not discredit that God speaks to us through dreams either. It's the figuring out which ones are which that I have to work on.

The reason I say this is making life interesting is because that first week or so, I woke up from the dreams thinking, "That was a pregnancy dream." I thought I was just a little obsessed because I did not want to get pregnant before the deployment if possible. Two weeks later, though, I found out that I am pregnant. A few of the other dreams I have had have stuck with me, and it's making me examine them and pull out my dream interpretation book. We'll see what happens. Time to visit stirthewater.com!

Spreading the News

Truly, I am terrified to tell my family about the baby. Not that they won't be happy; they'll be thrilled. Before we even moved, though, they were telling us we had no other option besides to move me and my kid back stateside if I got pregnant before the deployment. Now, part of my family would say their peace and then let us make our decision, whether they agree or not. Another part, though, are the controlling type. They speak as if they know exactly how things work, despite that they've never been deployed (or married to a soldier), so they're just going off of information they've heard passed around. They do not consider every aspect, and if we tell them the other parts in the consideration, they are incredibly biased against it, acting as if those facts should not even make staying here a consideration. This is our life, this is our decision. We appreciate that you care, but back off. Gah, the talk has not even happened yet, and I already know how it's going to go!

On the friendlier side of things, I keep going over what will be the best way to tell my husband and various friends and family members. Funny? Off-handed? Serious? Straight-forward? I have a few ideas, and I would venture to say the majority of my day (and probably the next few days at least) has been spent going over all these options.

Pregnant

Blood tests confirmed today that I am indeed pregnant. Tomorrow I get to set up my first OB appointment.

There is a myriad of emotions right now as everything processes. If you ask me how I am feeling about it, it will vary with the minute, depending on which thought/emotion went through most recently.

Now I just have to hold my mouth shut until the husband gets home so we can figure out how exactly this is going to work.

Not Entirely Accurate

Well, my deduction of the cleanse and everything I went through may not be entirely accurate. From everything I know and everything I felt, it is accurate. However, it looks like it was influenced. This morning a home test revealed that I am pregnant.

At the moment I am in complete denial. Reason being this is not at all in the time frame that I had in mind. My husband will be deployed by the time the birth comes along. This means, of course, that he may miss the birth altogether; he may be there, but then have to leave after a couple weeks; either way I have to raise that baby (and our current child) by myself until his tour is over. Not to mention that we recently moved to a foreign country, so none of my or his family is here to help things along. I would never dream of trying to give the baby back to God. Until the pregnancy is confirmed via blood test, though, I am in denial. I do not want to work myself up just to find out that test was faulty.....as if I haven't worked myself up enough in the last 30 minutes anyway.

Doctor appointment on Wednesday to confirm/deny the findings.

Results

I promised to remeasure everything so I could see exactly what happened from the cleanse. I did not expect much, though, since I was technically only on the cleanse for two days. I waited until I had been on real food for at least two days before I took any measurements. Here are the new measurements (and the difference).

Weight: 145 lbs (-2 lbs)

Chest: 37" (-.75")

Waist: 33" (-1")

Hips: 37.75" (-.25")

Thighs: 21.25" (-1.5")

Arm: 10.25" (same)

Calf: 14.25" (-.25")

Wrist: 6" (same)

Average body fat: 31.85% (-1.45%)

The allergic reaction I had is 99% gone now. I am sure it was from the cleanse, though. If it was a direct reaction, it would have been a symmetrical spread of hives (like every other time it has occurred), but this time was only one side of the face, and did not spread from a central location. My energy is back (thank you, God!). I still become queasy if I eat more than minimal amounts of junk food, which....I am okay with that aspect. It makes me look at how much of what I just ate and then I am shocked.

All in all, I am convinced that the cleanse is not all hype. If it was, I don't think my measurements would have changed like that. If it was hype, the random allergic reaction would not have happened. I know I will never try the cleanse again because of the "getting old" factor of it for me, but I would recommend it to others who are looking for a way to detoxify their bodies.