8 Reasons Why I Decided to Take a Pee Test

            Hey folks! Knowing whether it's time to take a pregnancy test can be tricky, amiright? Maybe it's just me, but I find it a cruel joke of nature that many early pregnancy symptoms are the same as PMS symptoms: bloating, sore boobs, irritability, spotting, and I'm sure the list goes on. So, for fun, I thought I would share some of my common (and not so common) symptoms that told me I should probably test! And, you know, officially announce that we are expecting baby #3! (Not that 3 is a lot, but this is the last one. Seriously.)

*Really sleepy in the afternoon. Between 1 and 3 o'clock, I get super tired. Sure, lots of people do, right? But listen, y'all. I never take naps. Maybe, maybe a few times a year. It's not even because I already have two little kids. (Although it certainly doesn't help. Ha ha) I've just never been able to take naps easily. I knew when I was ready to legit try to take a nap in the afternoons, something was up. I actually got so upset one day that my 4 year old wouldn't let me take one while her sister was sleeping that I cried. Which leads me to my next point...

*I've been extra hormonal and over-reactive. As for the crying thing, I hardly ever cry. Like, maybe a few times a year. I'm more likely to cry over a sad movie than something in real life. I've over-reacted to at least a couple of things too. What's messed up is that I realize I'm being irrational, but I continue being mad over something anyways. Oh. And I guess I should note that I don't usually get like this around my period. (Not since I was in high school, anyway. ;) )

*A pretty obvious sign was my elevated BBT. (Basal body temperature.) I've been tracking this for several months now. At first, I was doing it just to see if I was even ovulating or not because my cycles got really whacked out again after I had Ripley and had to stop nursing. Plus, we weren't exactly “actively trying”, but we weren't not trying either. Anyways, according to my thermometer, my normal body temperature is around 97.3-.4. It was elevated for almost a week, above 98 F, which was strange.

*My sinuses have been extra crazy. There are some mornings where I usually wake up with them bothering me (probably because we sleep with a fan on :/), but my nose has been extra leaky in the mornings. (Sorry. Gross, I know.) I was like this with Myka, too. I actually thought I was catching I cold when I found out I was pregnant with her!

*I haven't been sleeping well either. I tend to go through bouts of this, but it's just been different somehow. I can't remember with Myka, but I definitely went through this with Ripley in the first trimester too. Sleep bad at the beginning, sleep bad at the end!

*This is going to sound really weird or crazy, but that's ok. A few times, especially if I am standing up from sitting on the floor, if I do it too fast, twist weird, or something I get a sensation that can best be described as “pulling something”. Kind of like pulling a muscle, but the sensation only lasts a few seconds. I had this with both previous pregnancies and joked with John that it feels like I'm “pulling my uterus”.

The Walmart cheapies work just as well as the name brand tests, if not better, ladies! Ask anyone on Babycenter too if you don't believe me. ;)

*Ah, the frequent peeing...I never really had this with the girls, but it has been hitting me hard this time already. One day I went before I took the kids to the park and still felt like I had to go again before we even left! We went to the zoo that week as well. It takes about an hour to get there and I went before we left. I still had to stop at the rest area and go on the way! Even though I know it's caused by hormonal changes in early pregnancy, I always thought women were full of crap who said they had to use the bathroom a lot in the first trimester. Whoops!

*And the icing on the cake was....Getting a sunburn on a rainy, cloudy day at the beach! Totally legit. I peeled and everything! (Now that I think about it, guess I'm not going to get to wear that brand new swimsuit very much now. :/ Figures since I finally gave in and bought one!)

My family all thinks I'm crazy, but I get more sensitive to the sun/prone to burning when I'm pregnant. (I know I'm not the only one out there!) It seems like it gets worse with each pregnancy too! Guess it's a good thing this is the last one. I'm already feeling like a vampire after last week. Who gets a sunburn on a day where it's so cloudy that it rains off and on?!

             For pretty much the entire week after Father's Day (and my husband's birthday week), I kept getting the nagging feeling I should take a test. I especially thought it would be fun to find out on, obviously, Father's Day or John's birthday, but I kept talking myself out of it because, ahem, we hadn't really “done much” that month. What were the odds?

             I finally said something about it to John Friday and we talked about how it was pretty strange how much sun I got at the beach and the kids didn't (Their little red cheeks and noses were gone the next day.) and that he was just thinking that morning that he had a feeling I should take a pee test. (He is the reason I took them the first two times and found out about both pregnancies! Ha ha) Lo and behold, I picked up some cheapies at Walmart (seriously, ladies, they work just as well as the expensive name brand ones!) Saturday evening and got a very obvious positive!

             Ok, I didn't mean for this post to get THIS long, but it's hard not to get excited about something like this, right? What led you to finding out you were pregnant in the past?