Classic Scroll Frames Boy Birth Announcement
Shutterfly has personalized baby birth announcement cards.
View the entire collection of cards.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Breaking the News
Charlie was, of course, right. But, I did consider keeping the news to myself. Not for long--just until I processed the news, until the pregnancy was viable, until the child was born, etc. To be honest, I was a little worried about how he'd take it.
In the talks we'd been having about the future, having kids someday soon--"neither of us is getting any younger"--was important to us both. But the leap it takes to go from the hypothetical to the here and now is enormous.
As my pregnancy develops, I've read about cute and clever ways mommas have revealed the big news. How I wish I had one of those stories to share. Mine, though, could best be described as a fumble. Following my conversation with Charlie, I joined Shoots at his parents home to finish watching the Bobcat-Eastern Washington football game. Later, as we drove to dinner at McKenzie River Pizza, I asked him: "Hypothetically speaking, if I suspected I had developed some kind of health condition, would you want to know as right away, or once it was actually confirmed by a doctor?"
With that as the backdrop, you're probably imagining traffic noises and a crash to follow. That's just how it sounded in my head, once the words escaped my mouth. Instead, he eyed me with a measured look, took my hand, and said: "Hey, what's going on? Do you need to tell me something?" Shrugging it off as curiosity, I asked to talk about it after dinner. Subsequently, as we stood hugging in his living room, I explained that I wasn't sure how it happened or even if it was accurate, but I was, most likely, pregnant. And though my approach was far from flawless, his response was. It's something I will never forget. He kissed me and said: "I don't see this as a bad thing. Sweetie, I'm excited. It feels right."
And that is where this post should have ended. But having a profound dislike of getting things wrong, double checking my work (and others) is common practice for me. So, we reviewed the results and decided to try test #2. Funny thing, it didn't work. The control line didn't show which meant it was invalid. By this time, it is late and all the stores are closed. It would have to wait--which is no favorite of mine.
To tell the truth, it was a blessing. Because as it turns out, I was the one freaking out a bit. The possibility that maybe it was inaccurate was the cup of warm milk I needed to go to sleep. For a couple of hours, anyway. Then I was up researching all things pregnancy related: signs and symptoms, accuracy rates of home pregnancy tests, conception and due date calendars, etc.
At 5:55 am, I drove to Albertson's and bought a digital home pregnancy test. I'd read these are harder to misread as it says the word "pregnant" or "not pregnant," instead of using a plus or minus. And wouldn't you know, the word "pregnant" stared me in the face. When Shoots woke up, I told him and asked if he wanted to use the second test in the second package. He laughed and said he didn't. We agreed that I would go to my family doctor the next day and "make sure" with a blood test--but we both already knew we had a secret.
In the talks we'd been having about the future, having kids someday soon--"neither of us is getting any younger"--was important to us both. But the leap it takes to go from the hypothetical to the here and now is enormous.
As my pregnancy develops, I've read about cute and clever ways mommas have revealed the big news. How I wish I had one of those stories to share. Mine, though, could best be described as a fumble. Following my conversation with Charlie, I joined Shoots at his parents home to finish watching the Bobcat-Eastern Washington football game. Later, as we drove to dinner at McKenzie River Pizza, I asked him: "Hypothetically speaking, if I suspected I had developed some kind of health condition, would you want to know as right away, or once it was actually confirmed by a doctor?"
With that as the backdrop, you're probably imagining traffic noises and a crash to follow. That's just how it sounded in my head, once the words escaped my mouth. Instead, he eyed me with a measured look, took my hand, and said: "Hey, what's going on? Do you need to tell me something?" Shrugging it off as curiosity, I asked to talk about it after dinner. Subsequently, as we stood hugging in his living room, I explained that I wasn't sure how it happened or even if it was accurate, but I was, most likely, pregnant. And though my approach was far from flawless, his response was. It's something I will never forget. He kissed me and said: "I don't see this as a bad thing. Sweetie, I'm excited. It feels right."
And that is where this post should have ended. But having a profound dislike of getting things wrong, double checking my work (and others) is common practice for me. So, we reviewed the results and decided to try test #2. Funny thing, it didn't work. The control line didn't show which meant it was invalid. By this time, it is late and all the stores are closed. It would have to wait--which is no favorite of mine.
To tell the truth, it was a blessing. Because as it turns out, I was the one freaking out a bit. The possibility that maybe it was inaccurate was the cup of warm milk I needed to go to sleep. For a couple of hours, anyway. Then I was up researching all things pregnancy related: signs and symptoms, accuracy rates of home pregnancy tests, conception and due date calendars, etc.
At 5:55 am, I drove to Albertson's and bought a digital home pregnancy test. I'd read these are harder to misread as it says the word "pregnant" or "not pregnant," instead of using a plus or minus. And wouldn't you know, the word "pregnant" stared me in the face. When Shoots woke up, I told him and asked if he wanted to use the second test in the second package. He laughed and said he didn't. We agreed that I would go to my family doctor the next day and "make sure" with a blood test--but we both already knew we had a secret.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Genesis
Perhaps the shaky image at right could serve as the literary device I most love, that of foreshadowing.As all stories go, this one has a beginning, middle and end. Presently, the beginning is the only known piece. In time, the middle will reveal itself. As for the end, I'm not sure I will know of it in advance. I presume it will be my own mortality, as motherhood is unending.
Or maybe, Gilda Radner got it right when she said: "Some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity . . . "
As I look back, I suspect I have become more comfortable with Radner's view. But, I certainly wasn't on September 24, 2011. To be honest, facing reality--let alone contemplating the journey--was terrifying to me. Yes, I HAD always wanted to be a mother. But, with it now staring me in the face, anxiety set in. And then, there was the matter of it being a surprise. As a type A personality to the nth--having not planned this major life change threw me for a loop. We'll circle back to this notion in my next posting. Let's just say, "delicious ambiguity" was not a phrase in my vocabulary, it was completely beyond me and my reality.
As the month of September came to a close, I confided the "weirdness" I was experiencing to my girlfriend, Charlie. Repeatedly, her advice was "take a pregnancy test." Shrugging this possibility aside for about a week, I finally decided to buy a pregnancy test--mostly just to prove her wrong. As Shoots watched the Bobcat game at his folks, I opened the kit and followed the directions. When it came time to read the results, I took the above picture and texted it to Charlie. Asking her to read the results--because mine was "just a thin blue line, quite different from the picture in the example"--I held my breath as she called me with her answer. "You definitely are pregnant. The width of that line doesn't matter; that it's there does!" she said. "You've got to tell Shoots immediately."
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)