I'm gonna have a little tiny baby!

It's official: 

 I'm pregnant! 

Jonathon have been trying since April and we found out December 11, 2011 that we are indeed going to have a baby. This month, we decided to hold off on trying during the holidays and pick back up after my birthday in February. I guess this relieved a lot of stress and totally unexpectedly, a baby was conceived! And I'm pretty sure it was Thanksgiving morning - haha. Sunday night, I had a sneaking suspicion that I was so I decided to test before we went to bed. I was thinking it would be negative regardless since you're supposed to always test in the morning, but I got 2 lines immediately - didn't even have to wait a whole 30 seconds. I freaked out, ran in the bedroom and threw the test at Jonathon who was already asleep. He wasn't sure what to say so he kinda sat there and stared at it and said "well, looks like we're pregnant" or something non-exciting like that. The next morning, I came in late to work and stopped at CVS to get more tests. And yes, I tested in the office bathroom when I got in and got 2 very, very dark lines. Go me :)

I'm a solid 6 weeks, 1 day pregnant today 

and my due date is August 11, 2012. 

I had my first OB appointment this past Tuesday with Dr. Stephenson who was fantastic. I'm actually disappointed she doesn't get to be my doctor for the whole pregnancy. Kinda strange, this military thing - my first appointment was at the Quantico clinic with one OB where they did bloodwork (but never did a pregnancy test which I found amusing...what if I was crazy and lied about being pregnant? they just wasted a whole 2 hours....but whatever! Figured that would've been priority numero uno!) and I signed more papers than I did when we bought our car. The rest of my appointments will be in Woodbridge, which is oh so convenient for me since it's about 10 minutes from my office. Woohoo!

My next appointment is when I'm 10w1d where I'll get my first ultrasound. Can't wait to see my little jelly bean (baby's nickname, by the way)!

Today was especially exciting. I got my first baby and maternity clothes from Angelfood (along with a box of food - mmmm) which is an organization that gives boxes of food to military families E-5 and below, as well as gobs of clothes. They have a whole room set up with clothes that you can pick through and just take whatever you need. I got a pair of maternity capris and a maternity skirt, and a whole bag full of neutral baby clothes. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be working on cleaning out the to-be nursery so that when I slowly start collecting baby items, I'll have somewhere to put them! It's a good thing I won't find out the gender for several more months, otherwise, I'd have already have the nursery bought and put together lol. 

one of my favorites - says "my best friend" and is covered in dogs hehe

So, that's pretty much it. My head is swimming with baby thoughts, so there's really not much room left for anything else at the moment. I think it's time for a nap!

Invisible.

It’s like I don’t even exist.

I can’t speak about other military bases, but Quantico is 100% centered on
kids and families with kids.
There are playgrounds on literally every corner – including directly across from my house.
There are like, 8 schools, just for this one base.
The CDC (child development center) is huge and apparently they’re building a second (or is this the third?) one…IN my neighborhood. I see the crane from my house.
There are extra-wide sidewalks everywhere for runners with baby strollers.
Even the military spouses Facebook page I’m a member of is focused on kids. Every day, I get about 10 emails with posts with questions all relating to kids:
My kid’s screaming, someone wanna come babysit?
My kid is so cute, please vote for him.
My kid just burped. Awwwww.
My kid had a gross diaper and it looked like green peas – what does this mean?

Seriously??

I’m a dying breed on this base: not super newly married, working full time, and childless. Because of these things, I am invisible. I can’t go get coffee or go to the mall because I’m at work. I can’t go on play dates because I have no kids. I’m not a newly wed so I can’t even bond over that. Everyone here gets knocked up just by their husbands looking at them, so I can’t even bond over the TTC (trying to conceive) ordeal.

And then there’s the dogs. With as many people that have dogs on this base, you think they’d be a bit more pet-friendly.
Housing screws you over if you have pets – I’m talking, you gotta pay $1000’s upon moving out.
All the playgrounds have “NO ANIMALS” signs.
There’s not a single dog park (actually – no dog parks within 30 minutes of me).
Barking dogs are enough to get the cops called on you (but of course kids running up and down the adjoining stairs and screaming babies and annoying brats on the playground with the squeaky swings don’t warrant any sort of attention other than their mother’s going “awwwww look at my baby”).

I have nothing against people with kids – obviously, since I’ve been trying to have one of my own for several months now. But, even though I’d give my left arm to be a part of this elite majority, I unfortunately cannot be in this group right now. So what am I supposed to do? How do I meet people? I’m sorry, but I want to go to a nice restaurant and stay out late sometimes – screaming babies and whiney kids just make it miserable. I love kids, but since I don’t have any yet, I want to enjoy life without them for a while, but that’s apparently impossible here.

And another thing. How the heck am I supposed to meet new friends? I’m telling you, it’s impossible. And frustrating. And makes the TTC process just all that more frustrating.