December 14, the Day Everything Changed

Jason and I have been trying to get pregnant for just under a year now. It has been a year of some unexpected trials. At least I though that things would just work themselves out immediately and that we would probably get pregnant very quickly. But that’s not the way things worked out. Month after month, I would be disappointed by the negative pregnancy tests.

After a few months, I got a prescription of Clomid. I did not expect it to work during the first month. I guess I didn’t want to allow myself to hope to get pregnant, only to be disappointed again. So by not expecting it to work, I was thinking it wouldn’t be so much of a let-down. (For the record, I'm not so sure that that's an effective strategy to avoid disappointment.)

I took a couple pregnancy tests after my period was late. Both of them were negative. Even though I thought I had prepared myself for that, I was really disappointed. At about day 40, December 14, I went ahead and took one more test before calling the doctor’s office to get another prescription. The test showed two very clear pink lines! Impossible! I could not believe it. I think I still didn't let myself start to believe that I could really be pregnant.

I ran some errands that day. When I went to Walmart, I bought another test just to be sure. Lo and behold, I am finally pregnant. I was somewhere between shocked and elated… alternating between incessant smiling and crying in joy. Jason called me that morning around 11. I had been trying to think of some witty, cut e way to tell him the news when he got home from work that night (something involving an Ohio State onesie that I would somehow manage to get my hands on in a mere 4 hours). While we were talking, he asked me if I had taken another test that morning. I immediately started crying and told him that we were pregnant! He was very excited, seeming much calmer about everything than I was feeling.

We found out that we're pregnant on December 14th. We seem to be consistent at having gigantic life changes happen in early to mid-December. We got married on December 10, 2006. We moved from Los Angeles to North Carolina right around the same time in 2009. And in 2010, we found out that we're adding the newest member to our family.

We needed to decide when we were going to tell our parents. Because we’re going to Indiana this year for Christmas, we decided to tell Jason’s parents while we’re there. My parents were going to come to visit over New Year's, so we decided to tell them in person then.

We had life group that night. Jason and I discussed whether we should tell them so early, because I was only 6 weeks along – not even halfway through the first trimester. Most miscarriages occur in the first trimester. We decided that I would probably explode if I didn’t tell them. After the discussion that evening with our group, I told them all that we were finally pregnant. All of these people had been praying for us to get pregnant. God answered our prayers. I feel so blessed.

I called the doctor’s office to make my first prenatal appointment. They said that because my insurance was changing, I would have to wait to get the new insurance information before making the appointment. So my first appointment will be in early 2010.