Party of Four?

okay, if you don’t know us all that well, you’re probably thinking “wtf? why does a coffee shop know or care that you’re pregnant.”

well, you see, this is that starbucks i was telling you about earlier. the one we go to 5 or more times a week (every weekday morning, basically, plus a few random trips in the afternoons/weekends), where a very good friend works (who, as i’ve said, really should know, but i haven’t told), with a staff that’s really working the brand image of everyone knowing you and knowing your name and such. and yes, while i know they get paid to serve us *and* makes us feel like friends, they’re still folks i know, who are on the list of people who get to be told, and will probably be very enthusiastic about the whole thing, like real friends who don’t make you tasty beverages for a small fee.

however, and i *knew* this would happen, they figured it out. it wasn’t too hard. you just had to notice that instead of my daily 2-3 shot filled drink i’d started slipping down to a 1 shot (half-caf), or a chai tea and such over the last week or so. i’d gotten by for a while, mixing it up with baristas, but today i was in the mood for my caramel macchiato and i ordered it de-caf.

one does not order a caramel macchiato decaffeinated at 8:30 in the morning from a friend who knows better when the store manager is marking the drink without someone raising an eyebrow or two. they both did, one after the other. fortunately they were both subtle enough about confirming their suspicions that the members of our party that were not in on the secret did not catch on…or at least the party members were polite enough not to say anything.

which is good because many people from our office visit that starbucks, and i’d like to stay in control of the information for as long as possible. fortunately we won’t be back in the office until after the doctor’s appointment, and assuming everything goes well, we’ll be telling folks anyway.

in an earlier post i talked about some spotting and related testing that was taking place this week.

well, the tests came back later on tuesday and it was determined that while i wasn’t doing the best job at making progesterone, the spore was doing alright with the hCG (hGC?), which was great news. one perscription and a handful of little peach pills later, and my hormone levels were taken care of for the time being. i had a bit of a run-in with a nurse who seemed a bit flighty (everyone else i’ve talked to has been great, for the record) and seemed to pass some judgement on our trip to new york. i think if it was business, she would have given me very different advice. that was kind of frustrating.

the peach pills seemed to be doing a pretty good job. wednesday i “took it less easy” at home and everything cleared up nicely. thursday i went to work and faked my way through a few “really bad stomach bug” conversations. friday was almost back to normal. we were going to head out to ryan’s parents house for dinner to discuss the trip, and then to visit my dad (who is back in the hospital with some blood-clotting issues-nothing too serious, all things considered) but as we were leaving, i discovered more spotting. heavier and darker than any i’ve seen before but not “fresh” and not accompanied by cramps, so there isn’t/wasn’t much we could do about it except go home and take it easy.

it calmed down almost immediately, though, so no real worries. okay, i’m worried shitless, obviously, but the logical part of me that’s not trying to prepare me for a possible miscarriage is trying to focus on the positives and that’s a good positive. so, this evening’s little “gift” aside, everything seems to be going smoothly.

the spore and i are chatting a lot, so he doesn’t get scared in there all by himself when stuff happens on the outside. i was never really one of those persons who prayed every night before going to bed, but the past few nights i’ve ended my day with my hand on my stomach, talking to the spore and telling it how proud i am of what a good job it’s doing. it’s kinda nifty, especially when ryan joins in.