The pregnancy test (in Japanese, of course) that you see in the photo is the reason for this new blog. It is definitely positive! As a note, that is a photo of the third test that I took. The first two were fainter, and I didn’t entirely believe them. Right now, it is difficult to deny that the test is positive and that my period has not shown up.

We are shocked and excited and scared and happy and nervous and overwhelmed that I have a little person growing inside me which, for now, we will call MB (short for embryo).

This one isn’t really a surprise. We did, after all, remove the IUD a few months back knowing full well that sex without birth control could lead to pregnancy, at least that’s what we remembered from health class. But for more than ten years I have been busy pumping my body full of chemicals to ward off pregnancy (and also keep my endometriosis manageable), and now, only about five months after stopping, I am a little bit gobsmacked that unprotected sex did lead to pregnancy! What do you know!

We are, of course, thrilled to have a little one in progress. I am excited in ways that I didn’t even know were possible. I can’t help grinning and poking my belly just to say hello.

Right now, I am about 4 weeks along. I am already having many of the early pregnancy symptoms (wowzer that happens fast!) including fatigue, morning sickness (for me it is an all-day, low-grade nausea, which has already resulted in vomiting twice), and breast tenderness. None of them are terrible, and for the most part I am doing okay, so long as I pay attention to my body and respond appropriately. We know it is very, very early, so we are just praying that this little one sticks around.

Welcome to our newest blog! And welcome to our latest adventure! As if living abroad in Japan weren’t quite enough, we thought we’d do one more thing to keep our lives interesting!