Three and a half months ago, my husband and I met in San
Fransisco to celebrate our anniversary. We spent a busy weekend
enjoying the city: we attended a company picnic on Friday afternoon, a
VERY delayed dinner on Friday night, and then went to the California
Academy of Sciences on Saturday afternoon.
I was absolutely, positively exhausted when we left CalAcademy. I
mean, ready to melt, too tired to hold a conversation, too wiped out
to act at all normal.
“What would you like to do?” Ben asked. “Would you like to return to
the hotel to take a nap, then head out for dinner?” We were going to
hibachi, which I LOVE, to celebrate our seventh anniversary. The only
problem was I was hungry NOW. I didn’t know how I was going to make
it through the car ride, let alone a nap.
“I’d like to eat. I think a little food will pep me up more than a
nap would.”
“Are you sure? Because it would be really easy to go back to the
hotel …”
“Yes, I’m sure. When I’m really tired, it either means that (a)
I’m really tired, or (b) I’m really hungry, and in this case, I
think it’s the latter.”
“OK, then!” Ben answered, and we were off to hibachi.
We got to the restaurant around 5:30pm and opted out of the
traditional, cook-in-front-of-you meal and instead got a table in the
empty back of the restaurant. The waiter seated immediately.
I began to feel better after my first bowl of mushroom soup.
After the entree, I was back to my old self, and after dessert, I
felt fantastic.
“Would you like to walk along the bay shore with me?” I asked Ben.
“Why, yes! That sounds lovely! I was actually going to ask you the
same thing!” Hand in hand, we walked out behind the restaurant and up
the waterfront.
A quarter of a mile down the boardwalk, Ben suggested that we
head out onto the rocks right by the sea. I stood on a rock,
which made me feel almost as tall as my husband, and he took my
hands in his and said quietly, “Katherine,” (which is when I knew
he was saying something big) “we’ve waited long enough; you’ve
been very patient, and I thank you for that.”
I drew my breath in. Was he really going to say what I’d been
HOPING he’d say for three years now?
“I’d like to start trying to have a family.” Oh my goodness. Tears
welled up in my eyes. “Let’s have a baby!”
“Oh my goodness! Thank you! Thank you so much!” I pushed my
sunglasses up to the top of my head for a minute so that he could see
my eyes. Tears were flowing down my cheeks. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
***********************
I woke up on the morning of Tuesday, October 6. Three days before my
cycle should theoretically have been over, but … what the heck, I
thought as I took a pregnancy test out of its plastic wrapper. I
didn’t feel pregnant.
I sat on the toilet and peed on the stick. I looked at it, and as
soon my urine crawled up to the place the “pregnancy” detector lay, a
bright red line appeared. I wasn’t sure what to think at first.
Assuming I’d misread the test, I waited for the control line to show
up. It did. I looked at the key on off to the side, and sure enough,
two lines means “Pregnant.” Oh. My. Goodness. I checked again just
to make sure. Then I went upstairs to tell Ben.
First, I rooted around in one of the boxes we’d mailed ourselves from
South Carolina to see if I had by chance missed the “Curious George”
book I’d bought. No such luck. Then, I went downstairs and checked
my suitcase again. No luck there, either.
Instead, I printed out a letter, folded it up, asked Ben where I could
find an envelope, stuck the test in there, and then presented him with
the document.
“Should I open this now?” he asked, looking warily at the envelope. I
knew he wondered why I typed up a letter instead of just talking to him.
“Yes!” I said excitedly. I was going to spill the beans if he didn’t
open it right away.
He pulled out the paper, which read,
October 6, 2009
Dear Daddy,
It’s official — you’ve knocked Mommy up! See you in June!
Love,
Bemis B.
P.S. Somebody named Jake is supposed to give you a present, but Mommy
lost it. ???
“Are you … you mean you’re … are we having a baby?” he asked.
“Mmm-hmm!” I confirmed, tears running freely down my face. I wrapped
my arms around Ben in one of the happiest, tightest hugs I can
remember. “We’re having a baby!” I whispered.
******************
Around lunchtime, I stuffed three skeins of brightly colored yarn into
a Priority Mail box along with a letter to my parents. It read pretty
much the same as the one to Ben, except I cleaned up, “You’ve knocked
Mommy up!” a bit and changed it to,
Dear Grandpa and Grandma,
I’m officially looking forward to meeting you on June 12! Grandma, if
you wouldn’t mind chrocheting me a baby blanket, I’d be much obliged.
Thanks!
Love,
Bemis B.
Two days later, after I’d been online long enough for Mom to be sure I
was awake, the phone rang. Mom was in tears.
“Congratulations!” she cooed. “I’m so happy! That’s fantastic news!
I called Dad as soon as I opened the package and he immediately wanted
to know what was wrong. ‘Nothing!’ I told him. He wants to call you
after I’m done with you. Are you sick yet?”
Thank you, I said, and no, I’m not sick yet. I’m still not sick.
This has caused MUCH concern and worry for me; all the women in my
family get sick. Except, apparently, me. What if my pregnancy isn’t
real? What if there’s no baby at all inside me? What if I’m just a
nutcase? What then?
On the other hand, I’ve been thinking about my very positive pregnancy
test and wondering if I’m having twins. Or if maybe I was actually
pregnant in September. Either one would be great — I always wanted
to be a twin, and I’d love to be an extra month along — except if I
WAS pregnant in September, I’m concerned about the gallons of sweet
tea that I lived on during our cross-country road trip. And the
Plavix I was taking. And … yadda yadda.
******************
Two weeks later, we went to our OB appointment, where all my fears were put to rest. Bemis is about the size of the eraser on your pencil, there’s only one of him, and he’s doing well. I’m nauseous pretty much all the time, which is why I eat like a starving dog — ironically, if I’ve imbibed enough, it staves off the sickness. I’m pretty tired, too; I suspect that I didn’t notice it before because I’m always tired anyway, but now come 4 o’clock in the afternoon I need to take a nap. Also, on the way to church Ben likes to listen to choir pieces. This used to be fine by me, but now I start bawling every time we get to “Joy to the World”.
I’M GOING TO BE A MOMMY!!!
Life is good =)
