Of course I think it was only natural for us to wonder if we were in the "right place" in our lives to have a child. Was our living situation condusive? Were we financially prepared? Were we emotionally ready for the lifestyle change? In hindsight, who knows if we ever would have felt ready.
It was Saturday afternoon, July 20th, when I finally decided it might be a good idea to take a pregnancy test. This was done mostly as a precaution to "make sure I wasn't pregnant" as I was scheduled for a test at the doctor that following week which should only be performed on non-pregnant women. Also, my chest had dramatically gotten larger over the last week. Chad jokingly urged me the previous night and again that morning to take a test, that I just might be pregnant since my boobs were getting so big. I think he liked to tease me about this, I don't believe he actually thought it was true.
I slipped quietly into the bathroom to take my test, without him knowing. I was sure it would be negative as it had been a few times before. I stepped back into the kitchen to get some water and let the 3 minutes pass before I could read my results. I slowly walked back into the bathroom and picked up the stick. Sure enough, it read PREGNANT. My heart skipped a beat. I looked at myself in the mirror, looked at my stomach and thought, oh my. Nothing could have prepared me for seeing that positive result for the first time.
For awhile beforehand I had imagined how I would first tell Chad the news when finding out we were pregnant. Would I tell him over a romantic dinner, or create some kind of surprise for him? All of that was thrown out the window. Instead, I found myself in a state of shock and couldn't think straight. All I wanted to do was to go to Chad and share my excitement and nervousness at what I had just discovered. I needed his immediate support and love. Into the living room I crept, stick in hand, no sense of romanticism what-so-ever. He looked at me. I had a funny look on my face, or so I assume. I held up the stick and let him read the result for himself. Afterall, he's the one who kept telling me to take the test, he should get to discover the news the way I did, ha! It took a couple of seconds for him to process what was going on. He smiled and his face lit up. I have to admit, I felt a little relieved when I saw his excitement set in. Now I laugh about how surprised we both were. Afterall, we had been married for 2 years, there wasn't anything holding us back. Although we weren't "trying", we weren't "not trying". Just to be sure, we headed off to Walgreens to buy 2 more tests. Sure enough, both were positive.
Of course we tried to figure out just how far along I could be. We contemplated waiting to tell anyone until we knew more from the doctor, but we were too excited to hold it in and knew we would need to cancel my orginal doctor appointment for that follwing week. Susan and Gary would for sure wonder why we missed the appointment. We decided we just had to share our news. We drove out to Susan and Gary's the next day. Susan figured it out. Although I can't say she really knew what she knew, until we said it, she definitely had a hunch. She said she could see it in my face. They were both ecstatic! It felt so good to have them share in our excitement and to have their love and support. Chad and I are both thrilled to give them their very first grandchild!
I called the docter first thing Monday morning and scheduled an appointment for next day. We even had a sonogram, which determined I was just 6 weeks along. I believe the sonogram is what really made things more realistic for Chad, especially when he heard the heartbeat. Thenthey took us in a room and gave us a diaper bag full of pamphlets, samples and loads of information. I think that's when it really hit me. It was alot of information, all at one time. And there we were, headed home, doctor-confirmed pregnant with loads of information in tow.
Now what?
