Deciding to Take the Plunge

Wowsas.

Holy shit.

We're having a baby.

My husband and I are definitely Type-A people. Meaning that even if we loved the idea of "let's just see what happens", we aren't necessarily going to follow it.

Because I am/was so interested in how people decided to have children, and there really aren't any books about that (trust me, I know), I am starting off this adventure with our process for deciding to have children.

My husband and I both are kid people. Meaning that we are the first to grab other people's kids at get togethers and generally, kids love us. I spent many years of my life babysitting and nannying (how DO you think I paid for college and grad school?!) so I never not wanted children. We are both also the oldest sibling in our families, so we grew up with little kids. Of course when you get married, you generally have some form of premarital counseling and generally one of the questions that comes up is regarding children. Do you want them? Do you have the same expectations? yadda yadda. We got married in the fall of 2007 and our response at that time was yes, we want them just not for a good 5 years.

Let's go back a bit. I don't know if you were one of these kids, but when I was younger and thought about when i would get married and have kids, 30 was my magical age. I was going to get married in my late 20s and have a kid the year I turned 30. Don't ask me why I was putting timelines on this stuff, I just did.

Of course we had the annoying "when are you going to have kids" questions from the day of our wedding forward. We generally could put a stop to them by replying, "Not for a very long time so quit asking". That is probably the single most annoying question you can ask a newlywed couple, FYI.

So when did we seriously start to consider it? December 25, 2008. We were driving back to our house after a few family get togethers and my husband said, "I think I want to have a baby". WTF. Are you serious. That was my response. No way. I am not having a baby now.

But, that is the seed folks. That is what got me starting to think, "Am I ready for a baby? Maybe I do want a baby?, etc etc". It probably wasn't until July that I was thinking that it maybe would be time to start trying. The problem is that for every person that tells you, "Oh we got pregnant the very first time we tried" there is that couple that has been trying to have a baby for over two years. AHHHHH! This is not an ideal situation for two neurotic people! What do you mean we can't plan EXACTLY when we are going to have a baby?!

I knew for sure that I didn't want to be pregnant before my best friend's wedding in August so in my mind, I just kept saying, "We'll discuss it in September".

So September came. I scheduled and went to a pre-conception appointment with a ob/gyn that most women in my office use and rave about. (Previously, I had just been going to a general practitioner.) He gave me the go ahead and told me to make sure to take a multivitamin. I stopped my birth control pill.

October came and we decided to take the plunge. I went to Catholic School where they ingrained in your head that the very SECOND that you had unprotected sex, you would be pregnant. Nevermind those awful Seventeen magazine articles "I got pregnant and am a virgin" where the unsuspecting 16-year-old gets pregnant because she had some semen on her thigh. (People in their late 20s KNOW what I'm talking about here).

Imagine my surprise when I got my period. Not pregnant. We officially were not one of those couples that look at each other and get pregnant.

So let's now talk about pregnancy tests and my impatience. Technically, the Mayo Clinic tells you that the most accurate time to take a test is the week AFTER you expect your period. Which means, you wait about three weeks to find out. Well, who the HELL has that much patience? Not I. Not when the boxes tell you you can find out 5 days BEFORE your period. Not when you can google enough to find one article/chat room where a woman found out she was pregnant before her period. So yes, I was taking tests beginning 5 days before I expected my period. I just LOVED peeing on that stick.

November came and went - still not pregnant. 5 more wasted pregnancy tests.

December came. Luckily with the hubbalo of the holidays that helped to take my mind off of it a little bit. D-Day was Christmas Eve. I took a test early that week. Negative (as early tests tend to be). Christmas Eve came and went. Christmas Day afternoon we were en route to my family's house and we stopped at a Walgreens. (And No, I could not wait 3 days until we were back at home - have you learned nothing from the previous paragraphs?!). I took the test in the upstairs bathroom of my mother's house (she didn't know this) and got a positive. Holy Shit. It totally is a weird feeling when you see the blue plus sign, no matter if you have been actively trying or not. My husband came upstairs and I showed him the stick. "Holy Shit". (We normally don't cuss this much, I promise). We had decided not to get each other presents this year, and I guess we each broke our promise. I peed on one more stick to make absolutely sure. (Hey, I bought a two pack and was just getting the hang of it!). Yup. Positive.

We're having a baby.

Holy Shit.

Wowsas.