Finding Out

Isn't it funny how you rarely see those moments coming that will change your life? Take for example the day I met my husband. I was just a college freshman on my way out of a University of Michigan football game (Go Blue!) when some new friends I'd made at orientation ran into some old friends from high school. Enter Dan: 

I hardly thought anything remarkable would happen that day, much less something life altering. While nothing really felt different yet, little did I know I had just met the guy that would change everything.

 Fast forward 13 years to another day that started as any other – Friday, December 9th, 2011. I had a nagging headache pretty much the whole day and kept reaching for Advil, only to stop short of opening the bottle each time. I was positive that I wasn’t pregnant, but…what if I was? Pregnant women can’t take Advil! (Why I didn’t just take Tylenol, which is safe during pregnancy, is beyond me.)

“Maybe I should just take a pregnancy test,” I thought.  I actually had one that I could have taken at any time, but kept refusing on the grounds that I would be wasting it, since I knew I was most certainly was not pregnant. Then I’d have to go all the way to the drugstore – 6 whole blocks! – to buy another test the next time I got the silly notion in my head that I might be pregnant. 

In reality, there was every reason I could be pregnant. I was just determined not to play any mind games and get my hopes up, only to be disappointed with a negative test. So instead...I chose to play mind games with myself over whether or not to take an Advil. Makes sense, right? Right. 

I kept up this little battle with myself until about 5pm when I finally caved and went to dig up the test. Two minutes later  - positive! Wait...positive?! I looked from the test, to myself in the bathroom mirror, back to the test, and back to the mirror again in a state of shock. Then, I promptly and robotically put on my coat, grabbed my purse, and drove to CVS for another test, hands shaking all the while, but still too shocked to feel much. Twenty minutes later - positive again!

I sat there stunned for several minutes, hands on my belly, trying to let this momentous news soak in. I was filled with this amazing happiness, but at the same time, I felt numb. It was very surreal.

How should I tell Dan? I wanted to tell him immediately, of course, but definitely did not want to do it over the phone. Thank God he was due home from work soon! I quickly wrapped up the two pregnancy tests in a box with some Christmas paper and ribbon and left it on the table.

Then I proceeded to pace the living room for 30 agonizing minutes until he finally walked in the door. He saw the box, which I told him was an early Christmas present, and he asked if he should open it now or after dinner. Ummm..."do it right this second please!" I tried to tell him all nonchalantly. 

Who knows what he thought might be in that box, but a pregnancy test it was not. He looked at, as stunned as I had been, totally not able to process the news:

“Are you telling me you're going to go take this test now?”, he asked me.

“I already took it,” I said, smiling. “Twice.”  

He stared at me for a long minute, almost as if he was waiting for me to tell him it was all a joke, then started to smile. We sat there on the couch looking at each other like silly fools, our smiles widening until we both started to laugh. We hugged, did a happy dance, hugged again, and a little celebration ensued as we let it soak in that our tiny family of two was about to become three :)

 Just like the day I met Dan 13 years earlier, nothing really seemed different yet. I certainly did feel any different - though I definitely wasn't noticing that headache anymore! But, little had we known when woke up that morning that we'd be introduced to the existence of this tiny person that is, for sure, going to change everything!