Knocked Up Abroad

Disclaimer: This post was written on August 11th. I am now 6 weeks 1 day pregnant and will follow up soon!

Today I am 4 weeks and 5 days pregnant (based on my ovulation date) and I go in to my general doctor for confirmation of my pregnancy. I am still in a state of shock that everything has happened so quickly! Allow me to introduce myself and fill you in on my conception story…

My husband and I (who I will refer to as Mr. Expat Bud) got married on the rainiest day of the year in 2008, September 13. Since that day our life has been a whirlwind in the best way possible! Two weeks after we recited our vows we made a big move across the Atlantic to Dublin, Ireland.

Dublin, Ireland - City Centre

Mr. Expat Bud has dreams of completing his PhD in Irish History and what better place to do so than where it all happened? Fast forward several months and we’re still in Dublin, loving life. I was fortunate to get a job in my field (marketing) and Mr. Expat Bud has about 8 months (conveniently!) left of his program. We decided about 6 months ago that I would get my Mirena IUD removed in May and begin trying for Baby Expat Bud! I didn’t get my first visit from AF for about 5 or 6 weeks (which seemed like forever!) But after I did I had a nice, short, 27 day cycle – not pregnant yet, though! The following month (July) I decided to chart, and used OPKs and Pre-seed. Something must have worked because after returning from a weekend away in Cork I got a very faint line on a Target brand HPT (I was 10 DPO)! Mr. Expat Bud and I tried to remain calm as the line was indeed very faint and I’ve read some bad reviews on Target brand tests showing false positives. The next morning we got the confirmation we needed in the form of a digital Clearblue Easy test. Time to celebrate!!

Since then we’ve been marking the days off the calendar, waiting patiently to get out of “the danger zone” first tri. There are days I am so incredibly ecstatic and day-dreamy about the little one growing inside me, and there are days I freak myself out with statistics and horror stories; though I try to snap myself out of the latter mindset as soon as I find myself going there.

I am looking so forward to sharing my journey with all of you. It will no doubt be an interesting ride. It’s one thing being pregnant for the first time, but a whole ‘nother story when I’m going through the ordeal in a foreign country!

Cheers!

Expat Bud

P.S. For those that don't know what an expat is (I didn't before I became one!), here is the definition, courtesy of Wikipedia:

An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence. The word comes from the Latin ex (out of) and patria (country, fatherland).