The night our lives changed...

That sounds like an ominous title, but it was supposed to be exciting.  I need to work on my writing skills;)

Anyways, now that this news is out...

I wanted to say that part of the redesign of the blog here is going to include baby and family stuff.  It's going to be great...and honest...and probably gross...but hey, this is my space and if you don't like it you don't have to read it!  But I hope you will!!

Anyways, let me tell you a story.  It begins on a chilly February day...

Heather, my bff, texted me and said, "Running to Michael's for some crafty stuff, wanna go?" to which I replied YES!  She picked me up and we headed over to the store and walked around for a bit, bought some stuff and then on the way home got to talking about babies.  She knew that Dave & I had been off our birth control for 2 years, and while we weren't actively "trying" for a baby, we weren't preventing it.  It was getting just a little frustrating, to the point where we would have to become a little more purposeful in...things.  That's all I will say about that!

Anyways, I mentioned to her that I was about 2 days late and while for me that doesn't mean much, sometimes I'm a few days late or early, she jumped all over me and tried to convince me to go get a test right then and there.  I just laughed at her.  Silly Heather, she thought I was pregnant.  Plus, I was feeling crampish, and that was a true sign that things were normal like always.  How many times had I been just a day or two late, freaked out and tested?  Only to find out that no...no I was not pregnant at all.  It happened quite a few times over the past two years, sometimes I was glad, sometimes I was a little sad.  I wasn't quite ready for a baby most of the time!

Fast forward to the next morning.  I was at work when Dave texted me, "Hey what are we doing for dinner?" to which I replied, "Buffalo chicken wraps!!!"  He texted me back something like, "Seriously?  Again?  You've eaten buffalo chicken 4 or 5 times in the past week.   Are you preggo?"  He meant it as a joke, I think.  I had ordered it a lot when we were out, or made it at home a few times.  It made me think, could I be??  Are these cravings??  I still felt crampish, but I knew that could be a sign of pregnancy too.  I decided that when I got home later that night, I'd test if nothing had showed up by then.  At that point, I was 3 days late.

This was Wednesday, February 12th.  I'm not sure if you remember, but that night a HUGE snow storm was on it's way.  The big one.  I knew I'd be off the next day, and possibly even the day after that so it was good timing if I wasn't pregnant, I could be upset and not have to worry about work.  I didn't even think about the fact that I could be pregnant.  On my way home from work, I stopped at Target to pick up a few things, and I grabbed a set of tests just in case.  I was going back and forth at this point as to whether I should test that night or not.  I know it is better to test first thing in the morning, but something inside me just pushed me to think that tonight was good.  We ate dinner, buffalo chicken again, Dave joking about the pregnant text from that morning, and I just laughed along.  Right before Dave started getting ready for work, I went upstairs and took the test.

I set it down on the night stand and started cleaning up the room and playing with Frodo on the floor. I must have forgotten about it momentarily, because Frodo is so darn cute, so it must have been around 10 minutes before I thought, "Oh!  I should check the test!"  Seriously, at this point I still didn't think it would say what it ended up saying.  I picked it up.

Yes+  Wait...!?!?!?  Yes+?!?!?!  Does that mean YES I am pregnant?  Or YES I am right, I am not pregnant?  I seriously thought that in my head.  Baby brain already!  I immediately sat on the bed and teared up.  Oh. MY.  God.  Not in vain, but Oh. MY. God.  Help me.  I am pregnant.  This is actually happening, am I ready for this?  I walked to the hallway and gently called to Dave.

"Babe?  Could you come up here?"  He had no idea I was taking this test.  I didn't even mention it to him.
"What do you want?" was his oh-so-romantic reply.  The TV must have been entertaining.
"I need you to come up here.  I need some help..."  That always gets him to get up.  I'm short, I can't reach things.
"Right now?"  Good gracious.
"Yes.  Right now.  It's...an emergency."  Get your BUTT up here, is what I wanted to say.  But Ashley was here, and I didn't want her to hear me say butt.  Or something else.

He walked up the stairs and called into the room, not coming in, "What is it?"

"I need you to come here.  Inside the room."  He really isn't this stubborn when I need help!

"What?" he said as he rounded the corner where our bed is.  Then he stopped and saw my face.  Tears streaming down and splotchy.

"What?!  What's wrong?" I could see worry in his eyes.  So, I handed him the test.  He looked at it, and looked at me and said, "seriously?"  I nodded, crying harder now.  He had the same thought I did, "Wait, does this mean...YES you are pregnant?"  I nodded again and I think snot even came out of my nose at this point!

Then he hugged me and we screamed, quietly, and freaked out as silently as we could.  I asked if we should tell Ash, but he wanted me to wait.  Take another one in the morning, just in case.  It was a smart idea...false positives are rare, but then again it's me and rare things seem to happen to me so I agreed.  No sense in getting her all excited if it wasn't for reals.

We sat there for a bit, just staring at it, and then staring at each other.  "Our life is about to get really crazy..." is all we could say.  We kept on hugging.  He had to start getting ready for work.  He was in a daze.  I was in a daze.  Thankfully, Ash was going to small group and then spending the night at my MIL's that night, so I had the evening to freak out on my own.  Except, I had to tell my parents.  I had to!  The only thing was, a huge storm was coming, so I either had to tell them that night, or wait a few days until we could dig out of the snow.  I decided to go that night after Dave left for work.

I put the test in a baggie (hello, I peed on that thing and even though I cleaned it off, you know...it was a nice gesture) I had to show them the actual proof.  They weren't going to believe me.  I drove over, hoping the snow wouldn't start while I was out.  I let myself in, and walked up to their room, they were both reading books, and I just handed the bag to my mom.

"I have some news!" is all I said.  She freaked out.  I looked at my dad and told him it was a pregnancy test.  They were up out of bed and hugging me, like spring chickens.  Seriously, I haven't seen them move that fast in years!  Mom was crying, dad was teary eyed, they were overjoyed.

This night was full of special memories and moments with my family.  I was genuinely happy.  I knew it was right.  I knew it was real.  I didn't need another test, although in the next few weeks I took 3 more just to make sure it was still true.  I had a hard time believing it.  Actually, at 13 weeks and 3 days, I still have a hard time believing it!

The snow started falling that night and I starting planning.  Pinning on Pinterest, reading What to Expect (I had bought a copy from Goodwill a year ago for $.50 just for the heck of it) and just trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I am going to have a baby.  I am going to be mom.  What does that even mean?  I'm still not sure;)  I was happy though.  I am happy.  And terrified.

It hasn't been an easy road, but we'll talk about another time.  This is the first pic I took of myself as a pregnant me "in the know" in the snow.  Man, was I SO glad to have that 5 day weekend, it gave me time to get used to the idea, and not having to freak out at work!

So that's the story of the night that we learned our adventure was just beginning.  It is going to be a crazy ride!  Thanks to all of my family and friends that have shared our joy this week.  We waited for 13 weeks for a good reason, 13 is a lucky number for us, and sharing it on Dave's birthday just seemed totally perfect.  We were amazed at the love that was poured out to both of us this week.  This baby will have a village to love it for sure!  What a lucky little Bland;)

Cheers!