Flashback to three weeks ago.
Thursday, June 1st: I was supposed to start my period. Or so I thought. I was confused (and this will make sense to those of you who chart your cycles) because I knew exactly when I ovulated, but my morning body temperature didn’t go up until four days later. I started counting from the day my temperature went up, not from the day I ovulated. I thought it was strange when I didn’t start my period on Thursday, and referenced my little book for some guidance.
It turns out, I was supposed to count those four days when my temperature was still low. So I realized on that particular Thursday that I actually should’ve started my period on Sunday, May 28th. (Did you catch that I realized this on June 1st? Four days after I should have started my period?)
“Huh,” I thought, “Then that means that I’m most likely…. Noooo, surely not!”
I was sure that I had just miscalculated or misunderstood something in the book, mostly because I didn’t want to be disappointed again. I decided that I would wait until Friday morning before I took a home pregnancy test.
I didn’t even really tell Dave what was going on. Or rather, I kinda-sorta gave him the “I think I might be late” hint, but he ignored it because he thought I was over-reacting (as I tend to do with a lot of things in life).
Friday, June 2nd: My alarm went off at 6 a.m. Normally I hit snooze for at least a half-hour, but there was no way I was going to be able to go back to sleep. I rocketed out of bed and did the whole peeing-upon-the-stick thing. And even though my cat followed me into the bathroom, like she always does, I managed to avoid hitting her in the face this time.
The instructions say that it takes three minutes for the results to show up. Mine showed up in a few seconds.
When I saw the word “Pregnant” in the little digital read-out screen, my hands started to shake and I started to cry. I didn’t know what to do because Dave doesn’t usually wake up until after 8:00, and it wasn’t even 6:05 yet. I paced back and forth around the bathroom for a couple of minutes trying to decide what to do. (And even though our bathroom might be bigger than some, pacing is still awfully silly in that small a space.)
“If I wake him up now, he’ll just be grumpy, and he might not be as excited about it as I want him to be,” I thought, “and that might set a whole negative precedent for the rest of this pregnancy, and then our child’s entire life, and I don’t want something this important to start off on a bad note. Maybe I should let him sleep. But then if I do, he might wonder why I didn’t wake him up for something this big.”
Finally, I decided to hell with it. I ran into the bedroom and jumped on the bed.
Me: (poke) Honeyhoneyhoneyhoney??? (pokepokepoke) Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup!!! (pokepoke)
Dave: (snoring…) Mmmph?
Me: I know it’s really early but you have to WAKE UP right now!!!
Dave: (much unhappy groaning)… why?
Me: I have a late anniversary gift for you, but you have to open your eyes.
[Aside: the anniversary comment seemed appropriate, since it’s most likely that we made this baby on the night we celebrated our anniversary.]
We went back and forth like that for a bit, then finally Dave woke up and opened his eyes. I showed him the home pregnancy test. His eyes were all blurry and he was completely confused at first, wondering what this little stick thing was that I had shoved into his hand. Finally, he was like, “Wait, does that say… PREGNANT??” Yeah, it sure does! He did the happy dance – while still lying in bed, which was pretty hilarious. I cried some more.
[Second aside: when I was trying to wake Dave up and having such a hard time with it? He told me later that he thought I was just waking him up to remind him that it was trash day. Ha!]
That was one of the hardest days ever to prepare for work, because I was so distracted all morning. And when I finally got to work (late, of course), I had to fight the urge to scream, “I’m pregnant!” down the halls like some sort of modern day town crier. (I managed. Barely.)
We told our immediate families that day. I called my sister first, because she’s three hours ahead and I knew she’d be awake and already at work. I didn’t get to talk to my dad until that afternoon, because he had been at the golf course all day and he doesn’t have a cell phone. That was kind of fun:
Me: Hey Dad, what are you doing next February?
Him: Um… No idea. Why?
Me: Because that’s when you’re gonna be a grandpa!
He was completely shocked. I found that hilarious, because he knew we were trying, so I don’t know why it surprised him as much as it did. I suppose he hadn’t considered it because he didn’t want to think about his precious little daughter having sex. And now he has to acknowledge that I’m really not a virgin anymore. Poor guy.
So, that’s how this whole little journey got its start. Next: how my entire freakin’ extended family found out even though I had insisted that I wasn’t going to tell anyone until my second trimester. (HA!)
Ha. The waiting to tell people? It doesn’t work. The day I found out I was pregnant with Gaby, I called both my best friends (after calling Ernie, who was already at work) and told them, and then went to work and told Gwen. It was so early, I hadn’t even figured out when I’d be due yet.
Ah see, I’ve known my due date since the first hour. Thank you, ovulation-calculator.com!
For the record, I’m due on February 2nd. Groundhog Day. Go ahead and insert your own “what if it sees its shadow and wants to go back in” jokes here.
“If I wake him up now, he’ll just be grumpy, and he might not be as excited about it as I want him to be,” I thought, “and that might set a whole negative precedent for the rest of this pregnancy, and then our child’s entire life, and I don’t want something this important to start off on a bad note. Maybe I should let him sleep. But then if I do, he might wonder why I didn’t wake him up for something this big.”
That made me laugh. That thought process alone proves you are pregnant. Yes, I’m joking. Cat has not become irrational or anything. 😉
Big congradulations to both (er all?) of you!
Oh I loved this entry!! Congratulations. 🙂
hey! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Hey, well done you two. Should I ask if you are hoping for a boy or girl and the big question – will you want to know before the big push?
Oh how exciting!