Day 1

Well this is just nuts! I took a pregnancy test this morning. Imagine my shock when a little "+" showed up in the window!! I decided to stop taking my pills this past fall. Jay and I kept trying to do the math and figure in the Army and deployments and PCS and I realized the best time to have a baby shouldn't be up to me. It should be up to my body, and greater forces at work. So we adopted the "if it happens, it happens" attitude. We both promised not to get our hopes up, and not to get disappointed if it didn't happen right away.

For all my excitement and hoping, I was truly shocked to see that test. I knew the next logical step was to go to the health clinic for a blood test, but it was only 6am!! I tried to go back to sleep, but my mind was racing in about a million directions. I finally fell back asleep about an hour later, and woke up at 9. I called the clinic, and realized I didn't need an appointment. Just walk in and get the blood work. I went to the admin office, and they set me up with some labs. Headed downstairs, where the guy drew blood almost without me knowing it. Sweet! I waited a torturous hour and a half and went back.

It's confirmed! Blood doesn't lie. Here come the battery of questions, forms, and mixed feelings of excitement, fear, anxiety and impatience. The nurse was all kinds of scatterbrained and I had to keep correcting her. Me. The one who just found out she's "with child" for the first time, correcting the lady who's been a nurse for 20+ years. She was only slightly more shocked by the existence of my appointment book than the fact that I'd already been taking prenatal vitamins. Amazing.

Sidenote: Try explaining to the pharmacy clerk, "No, I'm not pregnant or breastfeeding" when you're getting a prescription for prenatal vitamins.

My favorite part of the day, of course, was when my phone rang and I knew it was Jay. I was at work but working with another girl, so I could take my phone outside while she was in the store. We talked small talk for a minute, because I wasn't quite sure what to say about this recent development. When there was a slight lull, I said, "So you're going to be a daddy." Silence. Silence. Followed by, "I am? Are you serious?" I've known Jay a long time, and I've finally found what can make him speechless. I was still in shock, but I'd at least had a few hours to let it sink in. I told him about my day, and I think we both just kind of sat there, shocked and excited, for most of the conversation.

I went to bed knowing there was this tiny little life that we had created, that God and my body had decided we were ready for, and it was pretty amazing.