A bit of background... Part 1
Before I get too deep, I thought I’d give a little bit of background so that we’re all caught up...
I’m not the typical girl. I’m not into chick-flicks; I much prefer action movies where there are things blowing up, car chases, and cool special effects. I’m trying to finish my PhD in microbiology. I really don't like pink all that much. As a little girl I never dreamed about what my wedding was going to be like. I love my 5.7L V-8 formula firebird (I’m greatly saddened that I can't drive it until my son turns 1 since his car seat doesn't fit rear facing...so I’m driving a 'family car' now). Until recently I always had more guy friends than girl friends. But don't get me wrong, I do have some 'girlie qualities'. I love getting manicures and pedicures. I love shoes and shopping. Although I don't have the endurance or patience for shopping like most women, I do like to shop. I like make up and I spend a lot of time doing my hair (before the baby). I would love to combine all of my girliness into a day trip to a spa… I had a massage one time as a gift to myself for taking my PhD oral comprehensives… it was heavenly… and then to get a manicure, pedicure, and my hair done that would be the living end (you don’t hear that colloquialism much anymore). I guess to sum up these generalizations, I would love to have the money to match my shoes and my car to my varying moods ;-D
So all of that is to say I wasn't really expecting to be 'expecting'.
Babies terrify me...they seem so helpless and you can't ask them what they need/want when they're crying. Well, you can ask, but you probably won't get an intelligible answer. The first diaper I ever changed was my son's...in the wee hours of the morning after delivering him. I had to call a nurse to help me. under normal circumstances I probably could've figured it out; I am getting a PhD, after all, so I got a little bit going on in the ‘control tower’, but I was tired, light -headed from the loss of blood, and his crying was really getting to me and probably my neighbor who had delivered her baby (and not her first one… so she knew what to do with her baby which wasn’t crying at all) a few days before. It didn't help that he was so small (6 lbs 12 oz and 18 1/2in) and the diapers the hospital had were ridiculously large!! But I'm getting ahead of myself…
I had taken a home pregnancy test on Friday, May 14, 2004 before I got ready for school, which is after Nelson leaves for work. I didn't want to stress Nelson out unnecessarily. Well, the pregnant line came up quick and strong, even better than the control line. I was pregnant!! I kind of had a feeling that something was different this month. So I called my doctor and they said that they would call me back when the paperwork was ready for the blood work. I gave them both the home number and my cell. I had instant-messaged Nelson while I was in lab about doing something different that night…. having a date night. We decided to go to Black Angus because we (meaning me) could have Mud Pie… yummmm…
Anyway… I had decided that I would tell Nelson that night. I had wanted to go at lunch time to Wal-Mart and look for a bib that said ‘I love daddy’, but I couldn’t leave lab. So I decided that I would pick it up after Casiano lab meeting (that should’ve been short, but went forever!). So I talked with Nelson on the drive home and we decided that we would meet at Black Angus. this would work out well, I could go by the house, pick up his meds, feed the cats, and check for messages from the doctor because I realized that they may call home and leave a message, even though I told them to call my cell... that could ruin the surprise. Before going home I went to Target and looked for a bib. I couldn’t find anything that said daddy… is there not a market for babies loving their daddies? Finally, I found a burp cloth in yellow (good because we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl) that says ‘I love my daddy’. It was only $3.98… I didn’t want to put that small amount on the American Express. So… I looked for something else… I only had about 30 minutes when I entered Target and I was quickly running out of time. I looked over on the clearance rack and there was this cute one piece with feet terry cloth sleeper that was yellow with ducks on it. I love ducks!! It also had a separate bib with ducks on it and it was 30% off!!. Perfect…
So I headed to the cashier, paid, and headed home. I fed the cats, got Nelson’s meds, forgot to check the answering machine (which was ok because they didn’t call me back until Monday afternoon because the doctor was not in), and headed out. Just as I was pulling out of the driveway, Nelson called. I said I was just heading out and he said that he would go in a get a table. While I was driving there, I realized that I should’ve gone to the bathroom before I left… it’s already starting… and how was I going to tell him/give him the burp cloth? I thought about forgetting my jacket in the car and putting it on top and then asking him to go get it… nah, I didn’t think that would work… I’ll just hide it under my jacket and give it to him at some point during dinner.
I got there and found him and he looked so happy. It was so cool… he told me that I looked really good… must be that pregnancy glow!!! As I was eating my salad (I was starving… that’s not unusual) Melody, Nelson’s sister, called so I handed it to Nelson and told him to talk to his sister… so I could keep eating… I was so hungry!!! After he got off the phone, I asked him what she wanted and he said that there was a Partylite party and he told her that this was our date night so I probably wouldn’t be going.
She said, “What do you guys need a date night for? You don’t have kids! You not working on that right now are you?”
He said, “Well, not right now (we were in a restaurant)!” At that moment I handed him the burp cloth…
“What’s this?” I just grinned.
“What’s going on?” I just grinned and nodded my head, like get it?
“What are you talking about?”
“We are having a baby!”
“Really??!??”
“Yes!”
“Really!!?!!”
“Yes!”
We finished dinner with every now and then a “really?” and a “yes!” He said that he was really excited about it. We walked to the theater that was right near the restaurant and saw the movie Troy. It seemed like a really long movie because my bladder was getting quite full. But it was a good movie and it was really nice to be close and cuddly… us and the new addition to our family!
Nelson and I were thinking that we would wait until Father’s day 2004 to tell his family that we were pregnant. That would be after our first doctor’s appointment, which was on June 14, 2004, and we would know that everything was ok with the pregnancy and we would feel comfortable telling them. We thought that it would be hard for them to keep it secret until after the first trimester. However, while we were in church on May 23, 2004 we decided that we would tell them after church. So we asked Mark what they were doing after church. He said that they were going over to Sherry and Greg Villa’s. So Nelson asked him if there would be some time that we could get together today. We then went to ask Melody what was going on this afternoon and she also said they were going over to the Villa’s, she said we could come. So we decided that we would, we were thinking that while Mark was making the salad that they were bringing we would have a chance to tell them. Well, Mark left to go to the store to get the stuff for the salad. Melody, Nelson, and I were waiting for the girls. We couldn’t find them, so Melody and I headed to their house, and Nelson went looking for the girls and would bring them home. So Melody and I headed out. We got to their house and Nelson’s parents were there… I was worried that they would’ve gone out to lunch and wouldn’t be there, but they were home. So we waited for Mark and Nelson and the girls to get home. Nelson’s parents were getting ready to head out for some lunch. Finally, Nelson got there with the girls. The girls were changing clothes and Nelson’s parents were hanging out for a little bit to visit before they left. Melody was very anxious about heading out and was trying to get the girls to hurry up. Mark still wasn’t home. Melody couldn’t take it anymore so she went to wait in the car. So we all started heading out… I guess we’ll have to tell them later….
It’s like impossible to get this whole family together in one place at one time!!
As we were all in our separate cars Mark finally drove up!! We were so close! Nelson and I were tempted to tell them right there in the street, but we decided to wait. So we went over to the Villa’s house. I didn’t realize that other people would be there, but we hung out and had burgers and a lot of fun. After Lisa Amstutz left with her girls, we were sitting at the table talking for a while. On the way over we had dropped Bre off at a friend’s house and she had called Melody to come get her. Mark and Nelson left to go get her. After talking for awhile longer, Brian Chrissan called to see if Kiara was going to go with him and the Amstutz girls to go see Shrek 2. Just before that Kiara looked like she was about to collapse from exhaustion. So Melody was thinking that she wouldn’t go to the movie like they had planned. But after Brian called, Kiara came and asked if Brian had called. She then begged for Mark to take her… he was trying to talk her out of it. I was hoping it would work so that we could tell them… Man, it is so hard to get this family together! But Mark was saying that Nelson and I wanted to have some family time.
Melody then loudly asked Nelson, “Are you pregnant?”
Nelson said, “No, I’M not pregnant.” There was a lot of commotion going on for some reason. And then Melody looked over at me.
Softly, “Are you pregnant?” I sheepishly smiled and shook my head yes.
Screaming, “AHHHH…. REALLY!!!” I turned 15 shades of red.
Then everybody looked at us and she told EVERYBODY that I was pregnant… she was so excited and happy! Then Sherry leaned over and said, “I know why you’re so embarrassed… now you know everybody knows what you’ve been doing!” This is so not how we planned to tell them. Mark started saying that he knew it when Nelson was telling him that we wanted to get together. Melody said we should’ve told her and she wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to get out the door. Bre was so excited too and to share her birthday month. We then had to rush home to tell Nelson’s parents, before the rumor mill hit. Melody told Kiara to give the baby a hug and Kiara said that there’s no baby in there. We said that there was, it was just really, really small. She didn’t believe us. Melody said, “Somebody give this kid a talk!” That will come soon, I’m sure. Melody wanted to call Lisa, but Rod said that she couldn’t tell that was for us to do. So she called him on the way home to talk about it. We got to the house and told Nelson’s parents and they were so excited. His dad said maybe it will be triplets! Oh man, everybody that we have told has said, maybe it will be twins! On the way home Bre even said, “I want them to have a boy… and a girl!” Oh boy! Nelson’s mom was excited to be able to tell her friends that she was going to have a new grandbaby. She asked what color the nursery was going to be… I told her I have no idea. I was waiting on Nelson to realize that we needed to move the cat furniture and the treadmill out of that room.
Well, it all worked out in the end, but it sure wasn’t how we had planned and a whole lot more people know!!
We wanted to tell my Dad about the pregnancy by giving him a license plate frame that said “Happiness is being a grandparent” or something like that. He was going to be visiting over Memorial weekend, so we thought that it would be a perfect time to give it to him. So the Saturday that he was driving down, we went looking for it. We went everywhere, but couldn’t find one anywhere!!! It seems as if these are sold only in places that grandparents know about. I remembered seeing a grandparent’s t-shirt at Target, so we decided we would do that. But before we could go to the store we had to stop by and see what Melody had got for the baby. She had been at a garage sale and picked up a little picnic bench and slide by Little Tykes that she said was very expensive. So we put those in the car and headed out to Target. Dad was going to be here any minute! Thankfully they still had the t-shirts and we got one that said “World’s greatest Grandpa” and headed out. On the way home Dad called and asked where we were. We said we’d be there in just a minute. So we got home and I said, “I know it’s a little early for Father’s day, but we thought that we should give this to you now!” and I held up the t-shirt. My dad was grinning, but not understanding. He finally said, “Are you trying to tell me something?” And I said “yes!” He grabbed me and started hugging me and cried! We hugged for a long time. Then my dad started worrying and asking a bunch of questions!!!
I’m not the typical girl. I’m not into chick-flicks; I much prefer action movies where there are things blowing up, car chases, and cool special effects. I’m trying to finish my PhD in microbiology. I really don't like pink all that much. As a little girl I never dreamed about what my wedding was going to be like. I love my 5.7L V-8 formula firebird (I’m greatly saddened that I can't drive it until my son turns 1 since his car seat doesn't fit rear facing...so I’m driving a 'family car' now). Until recently I always had more guy friends than girl friends. But don't get me wrong, I do have some 'girlie qualities'. I love getting manicures and pedicures. I love shoes and shopping. Although I don't have the endurance or patience for shopping like most women, I do like to shop. I like make up and I spend a lot of time doing my hair (before the baby). I would love to combine all of my girliness into a day trip to a spa… I had a massage one time as a gift to myself for taking my PhD oral comprehensives… it was heavenly… and then to get a manicure, pedicure, and my hair done that would be the living end (you don’t hear that colloquialism much anymore). I guess to sum up these generalizations, I would love to have the money to match my shoes and my car to my varying moods ;-D
So all of that is to say I wasn't really expecting to be 'expecting'.
Babies terrify me...they seem so helpless and you can't ask them what they need/want when they're crying. Well, you can ask, but you probably won't get an intelligible answer. The first diaper I ever changed was my son's...in the wee hours of the morning after delivering him. I had to call a nurse to help me. under normal circumstances I probably could've figured it out; I am getting a PhD, after all, so I got a little bit going on in the ‘control tower’, but I was tired, light -headed from the loss of blood, and his crying was really getting to me and probably my neighbor who had delivered her baby (and not her first one… so she knew what to do with her baby which wasn’t crying at all) a few days before. It didn't help that he was so small (6 lbs 12 oz and 18 1/2in) and the diapers the hospital had were ridiculously large!! But I'm getting ahead of myself…
I had taken a home pregnancy test on Friday, May 14, 2004 before I got ready for school, which is after Nelson leaves for work. I didn't want to stress Nelson out unnecessarily. Well, the pregnant line came up quick and strong, even better than the control line. I was pregnant!! I kind of had a feeling that something was different this month. So I called my doctor and they said that they would call me back when the paperwork was ready for the blood work. I gave them both the home number and my cell. I had instant-messaged Nelson while I was in lab about doing something different that night…. having a date night. We decided to go to Black Angus because we (meaning me) could have Mud Pie… yummmm…
Anyway… I had decided that I would tell Nelson that night. I had wanted to go at lunch time to Wal-Mart and look for a bib that said ‘I love daddy’, but I couldn’t leave lab. So I decided that I would pick it up after Casiano lab meeting (that should’ve been short, but went forever!). So I talked with Nelson on the drive home and we decided that we would meet at Black Angus. this would work out well, I could go by the house, pick up his meds, feed the cats, and check for messages from the doctor because I realized that they may call home and leave a message, even though I told them to call my cell... that could ruin the surprise. Before going home I went to Target and looked for a bib. I couldn’t find anything that said daddy… is there not a market for babies loving their daddies? Finally, I found a burp cloth in yellow (good because we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl) that says ‘I love my daddy’. It was only $3.98… I didn’t want to put that small amount on the American Express. So… I looked for something else… I only had about 30 minutes when I entered Target and I was quickly running out of time. I looked over on the clearance rack and there was this cute one piece with feet terry cloth sleeper that was yellow with ducks on it. I love ducks!! It also had a separate bib with ducks on it and it was 30% off!!. Perfect…
So I headed to the cashier, paid, and headed home. I fed the cats, got Nelson’s meds, forgot to check the answering machine (which was ok because they didn’t call me back until Monday afternoon because the doctor was not in), and headed out. Just as I was pulling out of the driveway, Nelson called. I said I was just heading out and he said that he would go in a get a table. While I was driving there, I realized that I should’ve gone to the bathroom before I left… it’s already starting… and how was I going to tell him/give him the burp cloth? I thought about forgetting my jacket in the car and putting it on top and then asking him to go get it… nah, I didn’t think that would work… I’ll just hide it under my jacket and give it to him at some point during dinner.
I got there and found him and he looked so happy. It was so cool… he told me that I looked really good… must be that pregnancy glow!!! As I was eating my salad (I was starving… that’s not unusual) Melody, Nelson’s sister, called so I handed it to Nelson and told him to talk to his sister… so I could keep eating… I was so hungry!!! After he got off the phone, I asked him what she wanted and he said that there was a Partylite party and he told her that this was our date night so I probably wouldn’t be going.
She said, “What do you guys need a date night for? You don’t have kids! You not working on that right now are you?”
He said, “Well, not right now (we were in a restaurant)!” At that moment I handed him the burp cloth…
“What’s this?” I just grinned.
“What’s going on?” I just grinned and nodded my head, like get it?
“What are you talking about?”
“We are having a baby!”
“Really??!??”
“Yes!”
“Really!!?!!”
“Yes!”
We finished dinner with every now and then a “really?” and a “yes!” He said that he was really excited about it. We walked to the theater that was right near the restaurant and saw the movie Troy. It seemed like a really long movie because my bladder was getting quite full. But it was a good movie and it was really nice to be close and cuddly… us and the new addition to our family!
Nelson and I were thinking that we would wait until Father’s day 2004 to tell his family that we were pregnant. That would be after our first doctor’s appointment, which was on June 14, 2004, and we would know that everything was ok with the pregnancy and we would feel comfortable telling them. We thought that it would be hard for them to keep it secret until after the first trimester. However, while we were in church on May 23, 2004 we decided that we would tell them after church. So we asked Mark what they were doing after church. He said that they were going over to Sherry and Greg Villa’s. So Nelson asked him if there would be some time that we could get together today. We then went to ask Melody what was going on this afternoon and she also said they were going over to the Villa’s, she said we could come. So we decided that we would, we were thinking that while Mark was making the salad that they were bringing we would have a chance to tell them. Well, Mark left to go to the store to get the stuff for the salad. Melody, Nelson, and I were waiting for the girls. We couldn’t find them, so Melody and I headed to their house, and Nelson went looking for the girls and would bring them home. So Melody and I headed out. We got to their house and Nelson’s parents were there… I was worried that they would’ve gone out to lunch and wouldn’t be there, but they were home. So we waited for Mark and Nelson and the girls to get home. Nelson’s parents were getting ready to head out for some lunch. Finally, Nelson got there with the girls. The girls were changing clothes and Nelson’s parents were hanging out for a little bit to visit before they left. Melody was very anxious about heading out and was trying to get the girls to hurry up. Mark still wasn’t home. Melody couldn’t take it anymore so she went to wait in the car. So we all started heading out… I guess we’ll have to tell them later….
It’s like impossible to get this whole family together in one place at one time!!
As we were all in our separate cars Mark finally drove up!! We were so close! Nelson and I were tempted to tell them right there in the street, but we decided to wait. So we went over to the Villa’s house. I didn’t realize that other people would be there, but we hung out and had burgers and a lot of fun. After Lisa Amstutz left with her girls, we were sitting at the table talking for a while. On the way over we had dropped Bre off at a friend’s house and she had called Melody to come get her. Mark and Nelson left to go get her. After talking for awhile longer, Brian Chrissan called to see if Kiara was going to go with him and the Amstutz girls to go see Shrek 2. Just before that Kiara looked like she was about to collapse from exhaustion. So Melody was thinking that she wouldn’t go to the movie like they had planned. But after Brian called, Kiara came and asked if Brian had called. She then begged for Mark to take her… he was trying to talk her out of it. I was hoping it would work so that we could tell them… Man, it is so hard to get this family together! But Mark was saying that Nelson and I wanted to have some family time.
Melody then loudly asked Nelson, “Are you pregnant?”
Nelson said, “No, I’M not pregnant.” There was a lot of commotion going on for some reason. And then Melody looked over at me.
Softly, “Are you pregnant?” I sheepishly smiled and shook my head yes.
Screaming, “AHHHH…. REALLY!!!” I turned 15 shades of red.
Then everybody looked at us and she told EVERYBODY that I was pregnant… she was so excited and happy! Then Sherry leaned over and said, “I know why you’re so embarrassed… now you know everybody knows what you’ve been doing!” This is so not how we planned to tell them. Mark started saying that he knew it when Nelson was telling him that we wanted to get together. Melody said we should’ve told her and she wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to get out the door. Bre was so excited too and to share her birthday month. We then had to rush home to tell Nelson’s parents, before the rumor mill hit. Melody told Kiara to give the baby a hug and Kiara said that there’s no baby in there. We said that there was, it was just really, really small. She didn’t believe us. Melody said, “Somebody give this kid a talk!” That will come soon, I’m sure. Melody wanted to call Lisa, but Rod said that she couldn’t tell that was for us to do. So she called him on the way home to talk about it. We got to the house and told Nelson’s parents and they were so excited. His dad said maybe it will be triplets! Oh man, everybody that we have told has said, maybe it will be twins! On the way home Bre even said, “I want them to have a boy… and a girl!” Oh boy! Nelson’s mom was excited to be able to tell her friends that she was going to have a new grandbaby. She asked what color the nursery was going to be… I told her I have no idea. I was waiting on Nelson to realize that we needed to move the cat furniture and the treadmill out of that room.
Well, it all worked out in the end, but it sure wasn’t how we had planned and a whole lot more people know!!
We wanted to tell my Dad about the pregnancy by giving him a license plate frame that said “Happiness is being a grandparent” or something like that. He was going to be visiting over Memorial weekend, so we thought that it would be a perfect time to give it to him. So the Saturday that he was driving down, we went looking for it. We went everywhere, but couldn’t find one anywhere!!! It seems as if these are sold only in places that grandparents know about. I remembered seeing a grandparent’s t-shirt at Target, so we decided we would do that. But before we could go to the store we had to stop by and see what Melody had got for the baby. She had been at a garage sale and picked up a little picnic bench and slide by Little Tykes that she said was very expensive. So we put those in the car and headed out to Target. Dad was going to be here any minute! Thankfully they still had the t-shirts and we got one that said “World’s greatest Grandpa” and headed out. On the way home Dad called and asked where we were. We said we’d be there in just a minute. So we got home and I said, “I know it’s a little early for Father’s day, but we thought that we should give this to you now!” and I held up the t-shirt. My dad was grinning, but not understanding. He finally said, “Are you trying to tell me something?” And I said “yes!” He grabbed me and started hugging me and cried! We hugged for a long time. Then my dad started worrying and asking a bunch of questions!!!
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