Surprise!

Christmastime was a whirlwind of activity. I have yet to download the photos to add to our blog! With sick kids, a constantly-working husband, holiday festivities, shopping, baking, parties, visits to friends and neighbors and the elderly, all the while feeling like I had some sort of persistent flu bug that wouldn't go away... well, it has just been impossible to keep up with emails and blogging.

I never get sick. I never get the flu shot because I've never needed it before and I've never regretted not getting it. I have the immune system of a horse (do horses have great immune systems?... I just always assume that "healthy as a horse" comment has some clout). I proudly and mercilessly fight off anything that comes my way. When someone in my family gets sick, I whip out my get-well remedies and heal them overnight (for this, Jordan thinks I'm a witch... and because I can predict weather, have strange psychic abilities and put hexes on him from time to time... but we won't go into any of that, ha ha). But, then all of the sudden there was this relentless nausea and exhaustion that would not go away no matter what I tried. There was absolutely no way I was pregnant, so I ruled that out. NO way. So, I pushed through the holidays trying to ignore my symptoms waiting for them to pass.

Two days after Christmas the symptoms not only hadn't subsided, they had gotten worse! Not only that, it was affecting me in every way. All of the sudden egg nog tasted like Lysol cleaner might taste. Then it happened to the broccoli. I couldn't figure out what was happening to me! I was beginning to question my super-human ability to fight infectious disease. Was I becoming soft in my ripe old age of 29? Then, it happened. I gagged while brushing my teeth one night. That has always been the tell-tale sign for pregnancy in the past. I LOVE to brush my teeth. I will sit and brush my teeth for 10 minutes if I have the chance, but when I'm pregnant I gag on the toothpaste and can't stand it for longer than a couple of minutes, tops. So, at the store, just to humor myself, I bought a pregnancy test. I snuck it into the cart the same way Jordan sneaks in soda pop and junk food. It was going to come out negative anyway. But, I threw in a kit with two tests... just in case.

As soon as we got home I stealthily ventured into the bathroom upstairs... where Ava followed me. I opened the pregnancy kit, laughing to myself about having even bought it and just knowing it would come out negative. As Ava pulled on my pant leg crying for me to pick her up and Beckham hollered for me downstairs (he still didn't know where I disappeared to), I watched two pink lines appear instantly in the indicator window. Pregnant, eh? Nope. Couldn't be. That one was defective. I threw it away instantly.

I mentioned it to Jordan in passing a few minutes later. It went something like this: "So, I took a pregnancy test a few minutes ago... and it says I'm pregnant. But, I'm going to take another test because something is wrong with that one. I probably didn't do it right (total lie - I have done at least 20 of these in the past few years while trying for baby 1 and 2)." He excitedly embraced me and told me he loved me as he congratulated me, completely baffling me by his utter excitement. Couldn't he see I was terrified... and nervous... and TERRIFIED?! I kept a calm, cool face as I explained I would just go ahead and take another test the next day, no big deal.

Yeah, right. Like I was really going to wait an entire day.

Less than an hour later, the kids were in bed and I quite literally ran into the bathroom and tried again. Two pink lines appeared instantly. Huh. Two positive pregnancy tests. Go figure. Both defective? I mean, I just COULDN'T be pregnant. That's not how it works. An an "experienced" mom of two, har har, I know how this goes. And the way it goes is this: we talk about having a baby for about a year, then we try to get pregnant for a year, then we inform the doctor that it has been a year with no luck, at which point I start the round of fertility medications for several months, all the while taking pregnancy test after pregnancy test, month after month, hoping for a positive reading, until the time has finally come when I see those two pink lines on that plastic contraption I have grown to both despise and love... and THEN we give everyone the wonderful news of "Hooray we're pregnant!"

Now, here I was, with a baby who was just shy of turning one, still nursing, and we'd only barely decided to try for baby #3 on a whim a few weeks ago (our third and final - and might I add: fearful - attempt at making babies ... we both knew we wanted a third, but we both felt like the longer we waited the more we'd chicken out, so we took the "now or never" approach).... Could it really happen THAT FAST?

YES... YES, IT COULD.

And Baby #3 wasn't going to give us the option of backing out or deciding to wait a year or two. This baby is on it's way, ready or not!




P.S. And, after the initial fear and denial, I am very excited about this :) I was afraid because I know exactly what I'm in for, but thankfully I love every minute of this relentless - yet rewarding - job called motherhood. I was in denial because it seems like it was TOO easy. It's like as soon as we made this spontaneous decision it just happened overnight, which is a new experience for us. I'm used to the year of planning, the year of trying, and then the 9 months of being pregnant - it's always a 3 year process. Now all of the sudden it's this instantaneous event that makes perfect sense and no sense to me all at once. For starters, Jordan, the logical-about-everything-super-planner was so on board with trying for a baby with no prior planning, no spread sheets, no diagrams or budget forms or calendars of due dates based on conception dates - he was just all for jumping into this decision. Secondly, as soon as I found out I was pregnant, he wasn't at all shocked and surprised, only excited and happy. Come to think of it... maybe Dr. Thomson has been slipping fertility pills into my drinks for the past few months and planned this whole thing??? Tricky man.

(AND, on a side note, if anyone knows of student who would like to live in D.C. rent-free for a semester while getting paid as a part-time nanny, I'm definitely considering hiring someone to help me out for the first few months!!!)