November 2nd changed our family of 2 forever - You can read more about that here.
But the first week of December ... that changed our family of 2 in even more ways than we could imagine. It started a rainy Thursday at work. I had a parent meeting that I was definitely not looking forward to which would eventually end with me in a puddle of hormonal tears. The funny thing about early pregnancy is you have all these symptoms but can't really explain your crazy to anyone until you hit the safe zone of 12 weeks. The collective "I knew it!" from my students when we finally announced our news was hilarious, turns out I wasn't as good at hiding it as I thought.
So back to December, I had to take the long way to the office that day because my normal route was blocked off. This meant walking through the student breezeway and unfortunately on rainy days these areas get a lot of foot traffic from wet shoes. Seeing as how I already have no balance or coordination it makes perfect sense that I would try to hop over the wet spots the custodians were mopping on the floor in said breezeway. Okay maybe it doesn't make sense but at the time it seemed the quickest way to get through the mine field of puddles and slippery floor. WRONG - after about two successful hops and one "BE careful!" from the custodian my foot went out from under me and I landed smack on my left side hip/shoulder.
Both custodians rushed to my aide and one screamed "OH NO SHE'S PREGNANT" - keep in mind I had not really told anyone at work besides my immediate supervisors and a few close friends of our news so how she knew I will never know but after that the secret was pretty much out. So much for waiting until 12 weeks. This same sweet custodian still monitors where I walk to this day.
I shook it off not thinking much of it - I was only 8 weeks pregnant and there shouldn't be any reason to worry right? I headed to my parent meeting trying to regain my composure on the way and hide my limp from the gigantic bruise I could already feel forming on my left hip. The parent meeting went well and I left feeling much more confident than before, but still limping.
The next day a very well meaning member of our faculty found me in the counselor's office and insisted that I fill out a workman's comp claim and get checked out for my fall (in case you were wondering news travels pretty quick in the halls of a high school). As someone who is used to falling, walking into desks, tripping over air etc... I didn't really think anything of it but considering my "condition" I figured it couldn't hurt to get checked out and maybe even get an early sonogram!
I filled out the paperwork for my "incident" that afternoon and headed to urgent care after work. I was relieved to see no line at all because we were expecting a few friends for dinner that evening, however when I got to the counter as soon as I mentioned "pregnant" the woman held up her hands. "We can't see you here" she said very matter of fact. Eventually after many questions and a heightened sense of fear on my part, she and the doctor explained that all pregnant falls have to go to the ER and have an ultrasound to verify the health of the fetus. As excited as I was about the ultrasound (we had yet to see the baby or hear a heartbeat) the thought of the ER terrified me. That just sounded way more serious than I could handle.
I asked to use their bathroom and then immediately called Ben. I also called our friends and cancelled dinner, then had a good 2 minute cry/prayer session in preparation for our visit to the emergency room - all before leaving the urgent care bathroom. I'm not sure why I was so dramatic... maybe it was all the internet reading I had done (new mom tip: DO NOT google anything. EVER.) but I was a complete nervous wreck about the whole thing. Up until they mentioned the emergency room I had been very calm about the whole "falling while pregnant" situation but now it seemed real - I mean if the nurse at the urgent care thought it was serious, shouldn't I?
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