Finding out the big secret...

The Facts

We found out that we are expecting our first child.

His Side

Ever since we joined a local gym, I have been getting out of bed at the way-to-early hour of 6:30. To some people, this may be a normal time to get out of bed and start the day. Not to me. Normally, I get to the gym a little before 7 and spend an hour or so working out. Then I’ll get home, have a snack and make our lunches that we will take to work. April 27th was different.

As I was finishing up on the treadmill, Kristi texted me to ask when I was going to head home. This may not seem like a strange question, but sometimes it isn’t common for her to even be out of bed and awake enough to text me. If she is up at that time, she’s busy getting ready for work. So, I thought something was up. I didn’t know what but my mind was working as I drove home.

We were in our second month of trying to conceive so I thought maybe she’s pregnant! But then I thought that probably wasn’t it. I figured it would take more than two months. When I got home, though, I was in for a wonderful surprise. I gave Kristi a kiss and she told me she got me a card. So I opened it, and as I read it, the message became clear. She also happened to be taking video of the big reveal so you can see it all over my face as the realization hits me. 

Needless to say, I was excited and couldn’t think about much else at work that day. I knew we were in for a big, thrilling journey that would change our lives forever.

Her Side

The Monday morning in question started out like most others. Nolan got out of bed to go to the gym at a ridiculously early hour (well, technically, anything before 8:00am falls into this category for me) and I stayed in bed so I could get a little bit more rest before the work week was to kick off. On this particular morning I had already told myself I would take a test just for fun… and no, I’m not talking about one of those millions of “tests” or quizzes you can take on Facebook at any given moment… I’m talking about a pregnancy test. Let me tell you how I expected that morning to pan out. I thought I would roll out of bed, take the aforementioned test, and continue to get ready for the morning just as normal because I fully expected it to say “NOT PREGNANT”. Boy was I in for a surprise when a short 3 minutes later that little stick said “PREGNANT”. I thought for a moment that my eyes were deceiving me and I was still in a fog from just waking up. So, I blinked a few times and squinted to make sure I read it correctly. Sure enough, it was there plain as day… PREGNANT. 

Moments after I found out the results, I texted Nolan to see when he would be home from the gym as I couldn’t contain my excitement or the news for much longer. By the time he got home I had a card ready for him that would share the good news. I acted pretty nonchalant (if I do say so myself) when he walked in the door and I acted as if I had come across a card that had been stowed away for a while that I wanted to give him. I managed to set up my phone to capture his reaction and it was glorious. You can see the look on his face as he realized what the card was saying… He is going to be a DAD!  I will NEVER forget that moment.

Now, after the shock of everything began to wear off I started to question the accuracy of the test I had taken. Yes, the company boasts the 99.9% accuracy of its test, but that .01% is what I was honing in on. So, I scheduled an appointment that day for a blood test with my doctor just to make sure I didn’t take the 1 in a million test that was faulty. Just as the doctor and I suspected, the blood test confirmed that I am indeed pregnant. I guess at this point I should admit that I took another home test later in the week because I still didn’t quite believe it. Nolan thought I was insane, but kindly kept all comments to himself… and yes, it still said PREGNANT.

Later that week I set up my OB/GYN appointment to have our first ultrasound. When they told me they like to set up the first appointment for somewhere between 8 and 10 weeks, I was disappointed. So, for a solid month all I had to go on was a home test and a blood test… well, and the occasional nauseous feeling and extreme aversion to certain foods, I guess. But other than that, I was forced to put my faith in the accuracy of those tests.

So, my first lesson(s) on this journey of being pregnant are trust and patience. Two things that aren’t always easy for me to embrace, but are proving to be extremely important for my sanity.

Words can’t express how excited Nolan and I are to be on this new journey in life together. To think that by the end of the year (if all goes well) I will be a mom and he will be a dad is something I can’t even begin to comprehend!