Read It in Shock and Awe (which is pretty much how we felt about it too)

So when it came time to write this post, I hesitated. As I have been doing for the last few weeks. At a certain point you’re supposed to admit to important changes in your life, but I have to say I’ve always had a hard time talking about the really important changes. Like, we sold our house, and the question was, Should we tell people? The answer: ehhh, we’ll tell them some other time. I can say I wasn’t like that when we were engaged, but I think a large sparkly thing on your finger is message enough. This has been much more subtle. For sure. Well, subtle until right about now. I haven’t been completely honest with you, audience. We like to say that we make all our major life changes at once- selling our house, starting a new job, and to a degree that is completely true. But in the middle of all of this, I got pneumonia, which I haven’t had since Sophomore year in college- if Nicole, Abby or Cat are reading this I’m sure they will remember my “walk with death” well. Anyway, it happened again. I went to my GP- who is AMAZING. She’s wonderful. I wish that all doctors were that intuitive and such great listeners, and as a woman we went through the normal questions, which always inevitably include, “And when was your last cycle?” Sorry to the men who are reading this. So I consulted my calendar- as someone who usually can’t be counted on to remember breakfast I certainly can’t be counted on to pull out this date, and gave it to her. This was the point in the appointment where she stopped writing, looked at me, sitting, coughing, on the cold white table, looked at my chart again, looked at me again (this time really coughing and wondering how much longer until I got the drugs!) and said, “I think we should run a pregnancy test.” Those might be the strangest words anyone has ever said to me. And I’ve heard lots of strange things. It seemed strange and counter intuitive- clearly I would KNOW if I was. Women are supposed to KNOW. You know how you always see the glowing second trimester woman who says “I just KNEW!”. Long story short, friends, I apparently am not as in tune with my body as I thought I was. And I didn’t get the good drugs. I got the okay drugs and was told to drink a lot of fluids. So when I went home I told Matt this and he was in the same state of disbelief I was. I’ve heard many stories of how people found out they were having a baby and thought I would be more on top of my feelings, but mainly I just felt really weird about it. I was having a baby? What? Don’t worry, the reality set in a couple of weeks later, after healing from pneumonia and going straight into some not so pleasant morning sickness. Then came the cursing of morning sickness, hormones, having Matt fix these awesome meals only to have me turn them down (OR WORSE). Then Kate Middleton had to end up in the hospital and I told Matt that once again royalty trumps our news (remember, they got married 1 week before we did!). Poor Kate. I too was hanging out near bathrooms at all times but thankfully was never in a position where I even thought I needed to see a doctor about it. Then we hit a point where we felt it was time to tell people regardless of who else was announcing they were with child. Clearly our parents were first, and over Christmas we were able to tell our immediate families. who were in the same state of shock I was. There were some great reactions, and then there were some “really?” reactions. Trust me, we have had many of those. I think what sealed it for us was seeing the baby. I am not sure what i was expecting, but when the doctor pulled it up, there it was, waving its tiny fists around and flipping all over. My mouth literally dropped open. It is crazy to think about what’s going on in your body that you’re unaware of. Like a baby doing backflips in your belly!! WHAT??? So, there it is people. We’re having a baby! Soon! Or, as Liz Lemon would say, “Some dude jacked me, and now his sperm is growing in my stomach”. This blog is going to take a parenting turn for a while. Don’t worry I’ll keep posting the awesome stories my students give me, happenings in Raleigh and the greater world, and random thoughts. HAPPY BABY YEAR! We can’t wait to meet you!