Many people have asked about how we shared the news with our families. Since Joey and I had made it clear that our desire was to start a family right away and our families were happy about this, everyone was anxiously anticipating hearing that we were expecting for the first few months we were married. When it was obvious that this was not going to happen in our timing and our way, our families and friends stopped asking us about possibilities of pregnancies because they knew it was painful for us. So after two years, everyone was very very surprised!
I'll start with how I discovered I was pregnant. Because at one point we were really trying to get pregnant and that meant lots of tracking and timing, I am very aware of my body and the changes that take place each month. Even though I know what my body does, I still somehow convinced myself that I was pregnant each month and then had to deal with the disappointment that came when it was obvious that I was not. I think I was able to do this because the symptoms of early pregnancy are pretty close to those of being about to start your cycle. So this particular month was no different. I thought I was pregnant, even though pretty much everything in my body was reacting exactly as it had for the previous two years. I also did not think I was pregnant because I had taken two tests earlier that week. Whenever my family was near I always tried to take a test because I really wanted to tell them in person. They were visiting the week before and so I took a test, knowing it was early and it was negative. Then the last day they were visiting, Joey cut his ear pretty bad and I was helping him clean the wound and I got very sick. I am not that way with blood normally and so I was surprised that it took me longer to recover than it did Joey to get cleaned and banaged (which my dad had to do, cause I almost passed out!) My dad suggested that I was sick because I was pregnant and so I took another test just in case, and it was negative. So that Friday on my last day of work I kept praying all day. I would say, "Lord, you know that I think I am pregnant, and You know that I am not, please give me the grace and strength to deal with not being pregnant yet again." I kept praying that and praying that anticipating that at any moment I was going to begin my period. As that Friday came to a close and we had my good-bye party at work, I was driving home thinking of how happy I was for this new season to start and to not be working full time any more. I thought about how I still had not started my period and that maybe I would take a pregnancy test when I got home because it would be funny as this chapter closed that maybe another one would start. I finally decided I would and as soon as I got home I did. As I was washing my hands I leaned over and looked at the test and my heart stopped beating....there was a second line!!!! I didn't know what to do and i couldn't believe it, I ran and took a prenatal vitamin! As excited as I was in that initial moment, I knew the test I was using was kind of cheap and that there was no way I could tell Joey and get his hopes up unless I was sure. He was not home and so I grabbed my purse and headed to the store. Since we live in the country and I didn't want to drive all the way back to town, I remembered they had recently opened a Dollar General store about 10 minutes away. I went looking for the tests and hoped no one would see me! I got to the aisle and I could not believe it, there were NONE! I could not believe it. Then I noticed a little card with a picture of a pregnancy test on it. Apparently people are known to take pregnancy tests off the shelf, go to the bathroom and take them without paying, so they have to keep them behind the counter! This was hilarious to me, because I could never imagine doing such a thing! I bought two tests and a bottle of water, which I chugged on the way home so I would be able to take the test. Right away a plus appeared on that little strip and I knew I was indeed pregnant! So many emotions and so many thoughts, but mostly it was all shock. People had told me they thought after I quit my job that the decrease in stress might help me to get pregnant, so I was thinking that sometime after quitting my job it might happen, I was not thinking 30 minutes after and I would be pregnant! I kept saying, if all I had to do was quit my job to get pregnant, I would have done that a long time ago!
So this ended up longer than I expected so I will continue this post later this week with how I shared the news with Joey and then our families.
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