The Day that Changed our Lives

Dawn and I wanted to have kids around the same time because we loved the idea of our kids sharing the same kind of close bond we always did. We were best buds growing up. (Although she did try to ditch me somewhat in the middle school years. But Mom said she would come back to me. And she did.) :-)

In 2004, we talked about having kids, trying to plan out the dates so we could either be pregnant at the same time or at least close. Dawn had the baby itch at that time. I, however, did not. And I knew that I would not want to have a kid until Xon was a little further along in his Ph.D., despite what everyone says about "making it work."

So when Dawn called from Minnesota on Wednesday, March 16, 2005, to tell us she was pregnant, I was sooooo excited--and yet a little sad that I did not have the baby itch, so we would not be having our first kids together. Not that she didn't try to give me the itch, though, with such e-mails as this one from August 18, 2005: “A weird thing about pregnancy - pinched nerves. I have one in my tummy just around the bottom of my right rib. Feels weirdo. Hurts too. Get pregnant.”

Well, I found out at 5:30 this morning that I can finally give Datya the news she has been waiting for! We're pregnant.

Xon and I talked about the idea of trying to start our family sometime around November, thinking it would take several months to actually get pregnant. When Xon got home from Utah in August, I thought I was at the end of my cycle. So we decided not to worry about it, knowing that if something weird happened and we did end up getting pregnant a few months earlier than planned, it would be ok. I guess you could say something weird happened. :-)

A week or so later, I was going about my normal life, and suddenly just "felt pregnant." I thought about it and realized that I had gotten dizzy once or twice (nothing major at all), I had been waking up to go to the bathroom at night--even though I went to the bathroom right before bed, and I NEVER wake up in the middle of the night needing to go to the bathroom--and I had a dull ache in my lower left abdomen. So after I dropped Xon off at the UGA vs. Western Ky. football game on Saturday, September 2nd, I went to Walgreens and bought a box with two pregnancy tests in it. I went home and took one that afternoon. The result was fast and clear. No preggers. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. But what did I expect? I hadn't actually thought I could be pregnant.

So again, I went about my normal life and did not give it a second thought. Until I didn't start on Thursday. Now I have often been pretty irregular, so this didn't surprise me at all. However, when I woke up this morning at 5:30 (we got up early to pack because we're going to my mom's this weekend), I thought, "You know, I still have a test, so I may as well just take it and know once and for all. Surely, the test would be able to detect by now if I were actually pregnant."

Now, the test is supposed to take 5-7 minutes, so I thought I had a few minutes to get my thoughts together. But about 2 minutes later, the result popped up. PREGNANT. WOW!!!!! I started shaking pretty hard and then realized that Xon didn't even know that I was taking the test--so how was he going to react? He has always said he would be happy with having kids at ANY time. He was just waiting on me to catch up. :-) So I knew he would be thrilled--but this was going to be a big surprise. So I paced around the bathroom, trying to figure out how to tell him, and now thinking that I would REALLY like to get to my mom's so I could share the news with Datya (who, by the way, had told me a couple of times in the past two weeks that she kept dreaming that I was pregnant). I decided I just had to go and tell him, so I came out of the bathroom and saw that he had gotten back in bed. In the dark, I poked him to see if he was awake, and I said, "I just took a test, and it says I'm pregnant." He said, "It does?" Then he got out of bed, looked at the test, stood there in shock for a minute, and then said, "It sure does." Finally, he said that it was awesome and that he loved me, and he asked how I was.

My thoughts are going every which way. I am amazed that it "took" the first time--when we weren't even really trying. I am a little in denial that it's real because I don't feel or look pregnant or anything. I am happy that it happened so quickly and we don't have to spend months trying--worrying that something might be wrong. I'm happy that I will have a little cousin for Baby Alex to play with. I'm happy that I will have my own "Baby Alex." I am thinking about what doctor to use and how to tell everyone and that Xon and I will certainly have something to talk about on our long drive today. Most of all, I just want to get to Kentuckyland to tell my Datya. What excellent timing for this trip! We plan to get another pregnancy test along the way just to be sure. ;-)