I will never forget it. I took the usual home pregnancy test the morning of Monday, October 19, which I have become accustomed to taking (and failing) for almost a year now! Hubby went to work early that morning and our bathroom is set up with two different lights, usually that early I choose the one further away, so you're not bathed in a floodlight-like light first thing in the morning. I did a quick glance at the test (I've always flunked in the past) and decided I had flunked that one too! Oh well, I told myself, there's always next month!
I moved along to the rest of my morning routine, which included turning on a better light to brush my teeth. That's when I noticed another faint line in the test window. I rubbed my eyes and tried to convince myself that I was dreaming this, I've been wanting to see this for well over a year now, I knew I had to be tricking myself. So, I grabbed the test and ran it to better light. Could it be?
I'd like to tell you that I came up with some wonderful way to announce the pregnancy to the hubby (as I had always planned) but, I was in such shock (and denial) that I began snapping photos with my cell phone. I immediately sent them to hubby's phone (he was driving to work--safe, right?!) and asked him what this looked like to him? A positive pregnancy test? We both agreed, but I secretly decided I would take another after work that day.
So, off to work I go, wondering all day if it really could be?! Let's just say, I was thankful the classroom I was working in had a student teacher in it, who was doing all the work, as my mind was clearly not on educating the student's. I anxiously watched the clock and waited for school to end. At the sound of the bell, I waited for all students to be gone and promptly asked the student teacher if there was any other assistance she needed from me? I was so thankful when she said no and I set out (practically running) toward Rite Aid.
In Rite Aid, I sat down on the floor of the pregnancy test aisle and read every label on every box. Then, I remembered some research I had done in the past on the reliability of Clearblue Digital Tests. Besides, that box had 2 tests in it, so I could test twice if we still did not believe the results. I rushed home and told myself I should wait for my hubby to return from work, but I knew with his job, it would be impossible for me to predict the time of his return and quite frankly, I just could not wait (I also had convinced myself that I could always use the second test stick after he got home, if we truly needed it as proof). So, test #2 was conducted and again, we got a positive.
Again, I would like to say that I waited until my husband got home to announce that we were indeed expecting, but I could not do it. Everything I had ever planned about this moment went up in smoke! I was so shocked/excited/overwhelmed/crazed that I did not know what my plan used to be or even why I ever had a plan in the first place (I am so OCD). So, I texted the hubby another photo and we confirmed it right then and there (over cell phone radio frequencies) that I was indeed pregnant!
When the hubby finally came home from work that evening, we rejoiced and sat down to dinner to discuss LOTS of things. During that dinner conversation, we also debated on when to tell our family and friends. We discussed miscarriage statistics and thought perhaps it'd be better to not say anything until the end of our first trimester. But, then we discussed the very close relationships we have with our parents, grandparents and siblings. We felt that these special people, might be shocked and/or a bit hurt if we did not share such news with them for several months. So, it was decided that we would share the news with our parents that evening and the remainder of our very immediate family either that evening or the following day (as time would allow).
The next step: how would we tell our parents? Hubby came up with the idea of using the photos of our pregnancy tests as the announcement. So, we decided to email the photos to our parents as we were calling them and encourage them to check their email for new photos (if you're close to either family, you'll know it is not uncommon for us to share photographs back and forth, as I am sure many of you do).
My parents were first. My mom answered the phone and we made small talk (I did the best acting I could do and she was definitely buying that "nothing new" was going on). I asked her to check her email. Again, this is so common for us to do, she thought nothing of it. I wish you could of heard her screaming through the phone, when she opened that email and found those two positive pregnancy tests staring her in the face. She immediately called for my dad to come see an important email. My dad spent a few seconds in shock, asking "whose are those?" My mother's classic response "well, they're not mine." Now my dad was doing the screaming, then they both began screaming together. We spent a good half hour discussing the details, the process of raising children and recalling memories from my mother's pregnancy and my childhood (all while my parents paced the house, bumping into one another every few minutes). It was a lovely conversation and experience, to say the least. They could not have been more excited!
Next victim, my sister! I used the same photos I had saved earlier on my phone to text my sister, as she is more of a text-junkie than a computer-junkie. I only attached the photos, no words, no explanation. It took what seemed like forever for her to respond (I was talking to my parents during this time and we were all going crazy waiting for her response). Her response finally came and it read "YOU'RE PREGNANT?" and the following "OH MY GOD CONGRATULATIONS." And then we spent the next few minutes texting and I promised to call her after I finished up my phone call with my parents and after the hubby finished up his phone call with his.
Final announcement for the night (it was getting late) was hubby's parents. The process with my parents worked so well, we decided to do the same process with his parents. Hubby made small talk with his mom for quite a while, then asked if she had checked her email recently. Our beautiful niece was just born, so I assume when hubby told her I had sent some photos, she thought they would be of her. Hubby put his mother on speakerphone. She seemed somewhat confused for a second or two, then very excited. She immediately called to hubby's dad to check out some photos that had been sent to her. Still on speakerphone, we could hear his very excited reaction and sincere CONGRATULATIONS! Hubby spent a while on the phone chatting with his parents about the details and other things before getting off the phone for the night.
After his discussion, I called my sister back and we talked for a good while. Hubby fell asleep on the recliner (unusual for him, the next day we'd find out that he had come down with the flu, thus causing his lack of excitement for the night). Due to how late it had gotten, we decided we'd save further announcements for the following day and we headed off to bed. We made those announcements, as planned (to VERY EXCITED grandparents and hubby's siblings) after hubby got home from work on Tuesday. That same night (Tuesday, October 20) I ended up taking hubby to the E.R. for swine flu like symptoms. We were happy to find out he did not have swine, just influenza and he was ordered to stay home for the remainder of the week. We spent all of last week keeping our distance, washing our hands, resting, eating healthy and as the hubby found more strength, reading up on what to expect over the next few months (and years!) of our lives with the new addition.
We also spent the week debating on when to tell the remainder of our family and friends. We are still struggling with the "right moment" and honestly do not know when it will be. Our first doctor's appt. is this Wed. (exactly a week and 2 days from when we found out). We have debated on making an announcement after this appt., as we have already heard that word has gotten out to some and worry it may continue to spread, thus causing some hurt feelings. We've also discussed how much we'd like the support of our family and friends and I think we've almost decided that the more prayers we have and the bigger support group we have, the better off we will be, regardless of what happens. So, we're still not sure when the BIG announcement will come for many of you, but I think, what we do know is that it will likely be sooner rather than later. I cannot imagine not having the support of all family and friends should the worst happen.
Until then, I have struggled with the idea that our baby will not have these memories if I keep them all inside, so I came up with the idea of a private, anonymous blog (not yet linked to our main blog) for security purposes. I want to remember this experience, I want hubby to remember this experience, I want our baby to know about this experience and I want family/friends to know about this experience. I already feel like I have experienced so much (in just one week) and all of it has remained unspoken. I do not want these moments to go unspoken. I want them to remain words in stone, so we can look back over them years from now and remember what it all felt like.
So, this blog will remain anonymous and private until we make that announcement and link it to our main page. We hope this will not cause any hard feelings, it's just something we haven't quite figured out enough to come out and share, just yet.
I estimate I am 5 weeks and 1 day along, but we will confirm this at our doctors appt. in a few days. To close, for now, here are the photos we shared in those emails and text messages. ENJOY!
I moved along to the rest of my morning routine, which included turning on a better light to brush my teeth. That's when I noticed another faint line in the test window. I rubbed my eyes and tried to convince myself that I was dreaming this, I've been wanting to see this for well over a year now, I knew I had to be tricking myself. So, I grabbed the test and ran it to better light. Could it be?
I'd like to tell you that I came up with some wonderful way to announce the pregnancy to the hubby (as I had always planned) but, I was in such shock (and denial) that I began snapping photos with my cell phone. I immediately sent them to hubby's phone (he was driving to work--safe, right?!) and asked him what this looked like to him? A positive pregnancy test? We both agreed, but I secretly decided I would take another after work that day.
So, off to work I go, wondering all day if it really could be?! Let's just say, I was thankful the classroom I was working in had a student teacher in it, who was doing all the work, as my mind was clearly not on educating the student's. I anxiously watched the clock and waited for school to end. At the sound of the bell, I waited for all students to be gone and promptly asked the student teacher if there was any other assistance she needed from me? I was so thankful when she said no and I set out (practically running) toward Rite Aid.
In Rite Aid, I sat down on the floor of the pregnancy test aisle and read every label on every box. Then, I remembered some research I had done in the past on the reliability of Clearblue Digital Tests. Besides, that box had 2 tests in it, so I could test twice if we still did not believe the results. I rushed home and told myself I should wait for my hubby to return from work, but I knew with his job, it would be impossible for me to predict the time of his return and quite frankly, I just could not wait (I also had convinced myself that I could always use the second test stick after he got home, if we truly needed it as proof). So, test #2 was conducted and again, we got a positive.
Again, I would like to say that I waited until my husband got home to announce that we were indeed expecting, but I could not do it. Everything I had ever planned about this moment went up in smoke! I was so shocked/excited/overwhelmed/crazed that I did not know what my plan used to be or even why I ever had a plan in the first place (I am so OCD). So, I texted the hubby another photo and we confirmed it right then and there (over cell phone radio frequencies) that I was indeed pregnant!
When the hubby finally came home from work that evening, we rejoiced and sat down to dinner to discuss LOTS of things. During that dinner conversation, we also debated on when to tell our family and friends. We discussed miscarriage statistics and thought perhaps it'd be better to not say anything until the end of our first trimester. But, then we discussed the very close relationships we have with our parents, grandparents and siblings. We felt that these special people, might be shocked and/or a bit hurt if we did not share such news with them for several months. So, it was decided that we would share the news with our parents that evening and the remainder of our very immediate family either that evening or the following day (as time would allow).
The next step: how would we tell our parents? Hubby came up with the idea of using the photos of our pregnancy tests as the announcement. So, we decided to email the photos to our parents as we were calling them and encourage them to check their email for new photos (if you're close to either family, you'll know it is not uncommon for us to share photographs back and forth, as I am sure many of you do).
My parents were first. My mom answered the phone and we made small talk (I did the best acting I could do and she was definitely buying that "nothing new" was going on). I asked her to check her email. Again, this is so common for us to do, she thought nothing of it. I wish you could of heard her screaming through the phone, when she opened that email and found those two positive pregnancy tests staring her in the face. She immediately called for my dad to come see an important email. My dad spent a few seconds in shock, asking "whose are those?" My mother's classic response "well, they're not mine." Now my dad was doing the screaming, then they both began screaming together. We spent a good half hour discussing the details, the process of raising children and recalling memories from my mother's pregnancy and my childhood (all while my parents paced the house, bumping into one another every few minutes). It was a lovely conversation and experience, to say the least. They could not have been more excited!
Next victim, my sister! I used the same photos I had saved earlier on my phone to text my sister, as she is more of a text-junkie than a computer-junkie. I only attached the photos, no words, no explanation. It took what seemed like forever for her to respond (I was talking to my parents during this time and we were all going crazy waiting for her response). Her response finally came and it read "YOU'RE PREGNANT?" and the following "OH MY GOD CONGRATULATIONS." And then we spent the next few minutes texting and I promised to call her after I finished up my phone call with my parents and after the hubby finished up his phone call with his.
Final announcement for the night (it was getting late) was hubby's parents. The process with my parents worked so well, we decided to do the same process with his parents. Hubby made small talk with his mom for quite a while, then asked if she had checked her email recently. Our beautiful niece was just born, so I assume when hubby told her I had sent some photos, she thought they would be of her. Hubby put his mother on speakerphone. She seemed somewhat confused for a second or two, then very excited. She immediately called to hubby's dad to check out some photos that had been sent to her. Still on speakerphone, we could hear his very excited reaction and sincere CONGRATULATIONS! Hubby spent a while on the phone chatting with his parents about the details and other things before getting off the phone for the night.
After his discussion, I called my sister back and we talked for a good while. Hubby fell asleep on the recliner (unusual for him, the next day we'd find out that he had come down with the flu, thus causing his lack of excitement for the night). Due to how late it had gotten, we decided we'd save further announcements for the following day and we headed off to bed. We made those announcements, as planned (to VERY EXCITED grandparents and hubby's siblings) after hubby got home from work on Tuesday. That same night (Tuesday, October 20) I ended up taking hubby to the E.R. for swine flu like symptoms. We were happy to find out he did not have swine, just influenza and he was ordered to stay home for the remainder of the week. We spent all of last week keeping our distance, washing our hands, resting, eating healthy and as the hubby found more strength, reading up on what to expect over the next few months (and years!) of our lives with the new addition.
We also spent the week debating on when to tell the remainder of our family and friends. We are still struggling with the "right moment" and honestly do not know when it will be. Our first doctor's appt. is this Wed. (exactly a week and 2 days from when we found out). We have debated on making an announcement after this appt., as we have already heard that word has gotten out to some and worry it may continue to spread, thus causing some hurt feelings. We've also discussed how much we'd like the support of our family and friends and I think we've almost decided that the more prayers we have and the bigger support group we have, the better off we will be, regardless of what happens. So, we're still not sure when the BIG announcement will come for many of you, but I think, what we do know is that it will likely be sooner rather than later. I cannot imagine not having the support of all family and friends should the worst happen.
Until then, I have struggled with the idea that our baby will not have these memories if I keep them all inside, so I came up with the idea of a private, anonymous blog (not yet linked to our main blog) for security purposes. I want to remember this experience, I want hubby to remember this experience, I want our baby to know about this experience and I want family/friends to know about this experience. I already feel like I have experienced so much (in just one week) and all of it has remained unspoken. I do not want these moments to go unspoken. I want them to remain words in stone, so we can look back over them years from now and remember what it all felt like.
So, this blog will remain anonymous and private until we make that announcement and link it to our main page. We hope this will not cause any hard feelings, it's just something we haven't quite figured out enough to come out and share, just yet.
I estimate I am 5 weeks and 1 day along, but we will confirm this at our doctors appt. in a few days. To close, for now, here are the photos we shared in those emails and text messages. ENJOY!
The first test, that I just knew could not be right
The second test, that confirmed it all
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