And It Begins...

(This is one of a series of scheduled posts that I've written since I found out that Jacob and I were expecting our first child.  The original composition date is included below).

Aug. 21

It’s been almost a week since I found out that I was pregnant.  I suspected it a couple of days beforehand, but had “suspected it” before, spent a bunch of money on home pregnancy tests, only to take them, get a negative result, and get my period only a few hours later.  So, this time I decided that I was going to wait until I was a week late before I took one.  And then I changed my mind and decided I was only going to wait five days.  And then I decided that if nothing “happened” by the end of the day I was going to take a test… and then the lunch hour came and I ran to Rite Aid to buy one! =)  I never have been good with patience or surprises. 

So, only four days “late”, and only off of birth control for 3 months, I took a test in the bathroom at work, and… nothing happened!!  No double lines… and not even the “control” single line!  The test just didn’t do anything!  I was annoyed.  But figured it was a sign, so I decided to go back to my last plan and wait until the end of the day to try again.  But, the next time I needed to pee, I was in bathroom again with another test (I’d bought a two pack… it seemed like a good deal) and a paper cup—I wasn’t going to risk user error again by trying to get just the right amount of “stuff” on the stick. 

This time, within seconds, two blue lines appeared.  I was pregnant.  And, of course, I celebrated by pulling out my camera phone and taking a quick shot. =)

I had a very hard time focusing at work for the remainder of the day, but I somehow got through it, taking another quick break to make an appointment with my doctor to verify the home results. 

Jacob picked me up from the transit station that evening after work.  I wasn’t sure how to tell him, or what to say.  So, I e-mailed him the photo I’d taken and waited for him to check his e-mail when we got home.  I think his exact words were “whoa” or something similar.  We were both in shock.  Neither one of us were expecting things to happen quite so fast… but that kind of is our MO, so I don’t know why we were so surprised. 

I was (and still am, a week later) scared shitless.  With some excitement thrown in.  When I asked Jacob how he was feeling, he said, “This should be fun”. =)  Famous last words?

My doctor confirmed the results two days later.  We haven’t told our friends and family yet.  We want to tell our family in person, and with my parents living a couple of hours away, it takes a little bit of planning to make that happen.  Additionally, I’m still a little worried/superstitious/cautious about the “first trimester”, however, as I’ve already illustrated, I am not good with patience, so I don’t think I can bring myself to wait until after the 12^th week to tell people.  It’s killing me right now that I’m not able to shout it from the roof tops and tell everyone I know! =)  We’re going to plan on telling our families over the Labor Day weekend (I’ll be right around 8 weeks at that point).  I will probably tell close friends and coworkers pretty soon after that, and then make the public announcement (i.e. Facebook and blog) when I reach the second trimester.

P.S.  I got a couple of weird "signs" in the days preceding my home pregnancy test... pictures below!

Fortune cookie... I received it the day before I took the test, but still kinda weird

Advertising letter from Gerber... received within the week prior to taking the test. (Don't know why it's sideways, but I can't figure out how to fix it and have decided it's not worth the stress. lol)