One Year Ago...

On October 24, 2008 I had the day off of work. I can't remember exactly why - maybe a comp day or something? It was a Friday, that much I know for sure. I had returned from my annual Girl Trip a week earlier and hadn't felt myself. At first I thought it was altitude (we were in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina) - but we really weren't that high up. Then I thought it was just being around 11 other women for several days. That is a lot of women to be around.

The entire Girl Trip I pretty much felt like this:
(actually that is me at a Corn Maze in North Carolina, "Sars of the Corn")

Anyways, we came home and I still felt bad. The best way to describe it was that I was just off, slightly. So on the 24th I was home alone and it finally dawned on me that I possibly could be pregnant. Possibly.

It had only been six months earlier that I was finally diagnosed with PCOS and endometriosis- which explained my weight gain, erratic cycles and skin breakouts. We were led to believe that it was going to take major effort to have a family. I had been on a few medicines that could help infertility and was scheduled to have surgery for the endometriosis in Nov. and then we would aggressively tackle the infertility or maybe we would just accept it and move on - we honestly hadn't decided.

So on October 24th, with Jon at school and still in my PJs, I ran up to Walgreen's to buy a home pregnancy test. I splurged and bought the name brand kind because you don't mess with something like the accuracy of a pregnancy test.

Imagine my surprise when two bright pink lines popped up in a few seconds. They couldn't be more bright, it was as if they were blaring their pink at me so that I wouldn't doubt it. At first I smiled and then I panicked. Jon and I hadn't seriously discussed having a family money-wise. We had no plans for daycare, had no clue how much insurance was. What about diapers? How much are those anyways - and where exactly do you buy them? A zillion questions flew through my mind as I called my mom. I secretly willed her not to answer. She didn't. Whew. I wasn't ready to admit this to anyone yet but I had to tell JBB.

I personally hate surprises - I want to know all the secrets before everyone else does so there was no way I was going to wait all day for JBB to come home and have some silly dinner with baby carrots, baby potatoes, etc. I called Jon & he didn't answer. I called the school and told them it was an emergency - he had to call me back ASAP. I couldn't wait ASAP so like all 21st Century relationships, I used text messaging for really important news.

"I'm pregnant" is all the text said and a few seconds later a nervous but very happy Jon called me back. We were thrilled and in shock at the same time.

I can't keep secrets so I called my sisters and then my best friend and then e-mailed my girl trip friends. We were able to wait a few days until Halloween to tell my parents.

"We have some scary news," we said at a church carnival. "We're having a baby!" They were ecstatic.

For Jon's parents we had to wait even longer, which was hard because we see them so often. Jon's brother and his wife were pregnant at the time and coming in town for baby showers. We wanted to wait until the showers were over to tell them.

"One last present - for Grandpa & Grammy Burns," we told them after all the guests had left. We turned on the DVD player and a little movie I made came on:



I can't believe it's been a year and that our baby is here with us. What a beginning to an amazing life journey.