We're Pregnant!!

When it comes to motherhood, there are three specific moments in time with each one of our four children that I will always remember: 1. first learning there is life inside me, 2. finding out the gender (always ASAP of course), and 3. the day of the birth. My first "moment" came on July 3rd, 2004. My hubby and I had decided a month before that we would casually try to get pregnant. No looking at calenders or counting days, just to go about it stress-free and see what happens. Yeah, right. He may have gone about it so casually, but not me.

Two days before my "womanly event" was to start, I got up at 6am sharp and placed my sample on a skinny white stick, then impatiently counted 120 seconds. As I peered over the back of the toilet, my heart sank as I saw just one line through the tiny window. Ah well, I should have known it wasn't going to be so easy. Who gets pregnant after just one month anyway? (wow, was I naive about my fertile capabilities.) I was throwing the stick in the trash when I got a glimpse of a faint second line. My heart started to pound. Could it be? Truly?? Really, really????

Now, at this point I should say that I'd had this next moment planned out since I met my sweet man 6 years prior. He would come home from a long day's work, and I'd be wearing a little black dress, heels, and a string of pearls around my neck. (Apparently I had a subconscious desire to emulate Donna Reed.) The table would be set for a candlelit dinner for two, and I'd serve baby carrots, baby lima beans, and eggs. He would ask "Why such an odd meal, sweetheart?" And then I would excitedly tell him that I was with child. He would then sweep me up in his arms and we would talk into the night about our sweet bundle of joy growing inside me.

Jolt back into reality. Wait til that evening? Are you kidding me?? I had to tell him now! I climbed back into bed and tried to gently wake him up. "BILL!!!!! WAKE UP!!!!" Ok, maybe not so gently. But it worked. "What??" He may have been just a tad annoyed. I thrust the stick in his face. "Look! How many lines do you see?" He squinted, and after a second said, "two." "Do you know what this means????" "No." (I'm thinking he didn't care this early in the morning either.) "It means we're pregnant!!" I waited for his response- to roll over, sit up excitedly, kiss me.... He replied, "Oh." And went. back. to. sleep.

I was too excited to care. I'd wanted my whole life to be a mommy, and now I was! A tiny life was growing inside me. What a miracle. The next two days involved six more pregnancy tests (yes, I said six), a call to the manufacturer of the pregnancy test (just to be sure I was using the test correctly) and telling excited friends and family the good news. Oh, and Bill did eventually wake up, in which I retold the news and he responded in cautious excitement. Little did we know that day how much we were soon to fall in love with this precious baby, and how much joy she would bring to our lives. All we knew then is that our love together with God made this life inside me, and our world would never be the same again.