Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Truthful Tuesday

Confessions from a Working Mom
I love the question posed this week on Truthful Tuesdays at Confessions from a Working Mom.  How did you tell DH (or your family) you were pregnant?  How did they know this was a great story?  We had been married for 6 months when someone asked us the fateful question, "Have you thought about when you want to have kids?" Not even if, WHEN we wanted to have kids.  WHEN.  My response was the same as it had been since we had gotten married, we wanted to be married at least two years before we talked about kids.  This time, when I gave my response, my husband looked at me and said "Shouldn't you be saying we are going to talk about it in a year and a half, we have been married for 6 months now."  I shushed him right up and went back to my two year stand by answer.
Fast forward a month.  I was 4 hours away helping with the leadership track at a youth event.  I was going to be there for 2 weeks and he was going to come up when he could.  I was EXHAUSTED.  You always stay up way too late at these things, so that wasn't too surprising.  A friend joined me midway through and we were up late one night and she was griping that she was feeling bloated because she was late, and she wanted to just start already.  I did a little mental math and realized that I was late too.  I didn't say anything to anyone because I was sure it was nothing.  The next day at my very first chance I ran to the drug store and bought a pregnancy test.  (a box of two actually) I hoofed it up the million stairs to my room and proceeded to do the test.  I know, I know, you are supposed to do it first thing in the morning, I had two tests on purpose.  I am not exactly patient so I looked at the test after about 30 seconds instead of the required two minutes.  Two pink lines.  What the heck? TWO PINK LINES? is that pregnant or not pregnant, HOLY CRAP, that's pregnant!!!
Remember, my husband is 4 hours away.  He wasn't supposed to come up for 2 more days and I did not see how I was going to last, even though I couldn't bring myself to tell him on the phone.  Then the unexpected happened.  In July a hurricane was threatening the coast.  We usually only get those threats in August and September.  Work was cancelled for him so he was coming up early.  This is the only time in my life I have been glad to live in a hurricane prone area.  He spent the next day battening down the hatches then drove up very late to be with me.  I had 2 very good friends I had confided in and we were discussing how to tell him.  I was terrified.  We had both said we wanted kids, but hadn't really discussed the nitty gritty of it all.  We came up with 2 ways for me to tell him.  First, Coca Cola was doing their Red Hot Summer promotion so we pried the top out of a bottle cap and custom made one that said we had won a baby, and second, my friends drew an elaborate tattoo on my belly that said "Baby" and pointed to my belly button.
My husband, who had worked his rear end off all day, and driven all night, got in around 2am.  He sweetly tried to sneak in quietly.  I sat up and turned on every light, blinking madly trying to be awake and not scare him.  He thought I had lost my mind.  I gave him the Coke and said "Look, we won something!"  He reluctantly took the bottle and looked at the cap.  He looked at me.  I showed him the tattoo.  He passed out.  No, kidding.  It took his brain a few minutes to catch up, and then he was wonderful.  We spent several days shell shocked, but then he said the very best thing.  He said that he was glad it happened that way because it would've been hard to know when the "right time" was.  He was exactly right.
So what's your story?? 

3 comments:

Confessions From A Work-At-Home Mom said...

I LOVE the moral of your story-- that there is no right time to have a baby. You can always have more money, a better job, a bigger house... but when is it wrong to add to a family you love?

~Elizabeth
Confessions From A Working Mom

Anonymous said...

I think that is a great story. It makes me think about how I am going to react when I find out. I like the Coke bottle idea, very clever.

Karen said...

I think that is a great story. It makes me think about how I am going to react when I find out. I like the Coke bottle idea, very clever.