14 Weeks: As of today, my sister and I have made it through 14 weeks of pregnancy and officially entered the 2nd trimester last week. The 1st trimester went really smoothly - so we hope that the 2nd trimester continues to do the same. My sister said that her level of tiredness seems to be going down and she's hoping that her energy levels will pick up from here on out. I've been keeping pretty busy - so I was a little concerned that maybe I was fighting my body in the whole tiredness thing. But after talking to a few friends/family, they all seemed to indicate that if my body needed to rest that I wouldn't be
able to fight it. I know everyone's pregnancy is unique, so I guess I will just be thankful that I didn't have the 1st trimester exhaustion. The crazy thing is that I've started to feel a little more tired this week - so maybe I'm going to have the 2nd trimester exhaustion. ;)
Telling Charlie: I flew down to Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon for some work meetings down here in our Norcross office. Since my manager, Charlie, works out of the office down here, I figured that this week would be a good time to share my news with him face-to-face. We didn't have any scheduled time to meet 1:1 this week. And I thought about scheduling some time, but thought that may seem weird. So I decided to just play it by ear and figure out some time to talk to him inbetween meetings. Yesterday he attended the morning session of our meetings - so I thought about telling him during our lunch break. But we ended up meeting with a bunch of other folks outside on the patio. I debated about asking him to stay back when everyone else was heading back inside after we got done eating. But I didn't want to make a big deal infront of others - so I didn't say anything. During the afternoon session, I sent him a message via Communicator (our instant chat tool) to say that I needed to talk to him in private at some point this week. His initial response was "Uh oh.... are you resigning?" I reassured him that I wasn't resigning and that it was good news. He had to leave for some afternoon meetings - so we decided that I would swing by when my meetings wrapped up that day.
We headed to an empty office for our chat while just talking about work stuff and how the meetings were going this week. I wasn't really sure exactly how I was going to tell him - so I just kicked it off by saying, "Well, my news..... is that I'm pregnant!" And he of course quickly congratulated me. Then I started giving him the background and said that we've been trying for quite a few years and have done various treatments - including in-vitro a couple years ago that didn't work. I told him how Chrissy offered to help us out and how Dr. Williams suggested transferring embryos into both of us. And then I said, "So, she's actually pregnant with our babies as well." He was quite shocked and we both laughed - but he was very supportive of our unique situation. I didn't think he caught the "babies" part- so I mentioned that we transferred 2 embryos into each of us and they all took. I think he was still "Wow"-ing over the fact that my sister was carrying our baby that he didn't quite catch how many there really were. So I ended it with "And now we're both pregnant with twins!" He was like, "What.... four?!?!?" I could tell that I was pretty much blowing his mind. He was very supportive though and sincerely happy for us.
We briefly talked about the work aspect of it - he mentioned that since we're in the process of hiring a new project manager, they could probably use that person to help backfill for me while I'm out. I told him that I definitely want to stay with Fiserv and need to work - but that we're just not sure how things are going to go. We both agreed that we have plenty of time to figure things out and he said that he's sure that we would be able to work something out. He also asked who else at work knew - so I told him about the few folks that already know. I told him I definitely wanted to tell him first - before anybody else at work knew. He then asked when I would be comfortable with other people at work finding out - I told him that I was okay with people knowing at this stage. So he said that he would let his manager (Deb) and his manager's manager (Sue) know - which was fine with me.
Charlie actually has twins (that are teenagers now) - so I've always wondered if his twins were natural twins or not. I figured when I told him my story, he may offer up - if he had any experience with fertility treatments. Turns out that he and his wife also tried in-vitro a couple times with no success and then finally got pregnant with their 3rd attempt. He mentioned that they transferred 4 embryos into his wife and initially 3 took - but then they just ended up with their twins. Nice of him to share their story with me. I told him that his wife would probably get a kick out of our story! ;) From his experience with raising twins - he did say that organization will probably be the biggest key to our success. I was a little nervous about telling him - not sure why, because I figured he would be very positive and supportive. But it is nice to have it out of the way and "telling the boss" feels like a big milestone. I've been waiting a LONG time to get to tell my manager that I'm pregnant! ;)
Last night, a bunch of us went out to dinner after work. Everyone was ordering wine or margaritas, so I knew that it would seem pretty lame when I had to order a water. When we all went out to dinner back in Ohio in March, I was able to play the "I have to drive home" card to explain why I wasn't drinking. But since I was traveling and riding in someone else's car - I didn't really have that excuse. Only one of the folks at the table knew about our baby news - but as soon as I ordered water, the lady next to me was like, "What?!? Are you pregnant or something?" I didn't really deny it - just smiled and let her order her drink. I thought maybe I could just let it slide - but after the waiter left, she turned to me and asked, "Are you pregnant?" I was kinda shocked that she would call me out at a table full of folks - but decided that I could let the cat out of the bag since Charlie knew. So I said, "Yes, I am..." Everyone was of course very excited! ;) Then I said, "But there's more.... we're expecting 4 babies." And then I went into the whole story - as high-level as I could keep it, to explain how our 4 little ones came to be. They were also pretty shocked - but very supportive. The lady that called me out said, "Well, you seem very maternal - so I'm sure you can handle it." I guess we'll see how quickly news travels around at work.
This morning, Deb & Susan both quietly congratulated me before today's meetings were kicked off. Susan said that Charlie blew her mind when he told her yesterday. I was like, "Yeah, not something you hear everyday, huh?" :) My friend joked that she was anxious for me to tell Charlie, because she's going to need a lot of help on projects while I'm gone this fall. And Susan's response was, "She's going to need help!" - referring to me and our babies. This morning, Deb & Susan both quietly congratulated me before today's meetings were kicked off. Susan said that Charlie blew her mind when he told her yesterday. I was like, "Yeah, not something you hear everyday, huh?" :) My friend joked that she was anxious for me to tell Charlie, because she's going to need a lot of help on projects while I'm gone this fall. And Susan's response was, "She's going to need help!" - referring to me and our babies.
Maternity Pants = SUPER COMFY! I wouldn't say that I have a real baby bump yet- but my mid-section is definitely starting to poke out. My largest size of pants/jeans are a little snug in the morning and so uncomfortable by the end of the day. I still have one khaki skirt that I can wear comfortably throughout the day. Today I wore my first pair of maternity pants and they were SO comfy. It was a cute pair of white capri pants - thanks to TRF's donations to the traveling maternity clothes. I have a feeling I'm going to be wearing them quite a bit this summer. I'm not quite ready to break-out the maternity tops yet, but I think I will start wearing more of the maternity pants.
In closing, I'd like to shout-out a Happy 5th Birthday to Rowan - Greg & H2's first-born. :) Good night!!