The Family Announcement

We planned to tell the family when we went back to Chi-Town for the holidays. We wanted to get home early enough where we would be able to tell everyone in the same day thanks to the day and age of social networking. We played it right though; it would have been horrible if my sister in law said something on Facebook and my mother in law read it before we told her. My husband had the best idea for telling everyone. The day of my first ultrasound, I had made photos out of the ultrasound for everyone in the family and on the back I wrote, "you're going to be a" and filled it in with grandparents, aunt, etc. It was perfect. Right from the highway, we went to Panera to meet up with my mother-in-law. Perhaps we should have been in a more secluded place since when we gave her the envelope and said "Here's an early Christmas gift" and she opened it, I think all of Panera knew what was going on. It was a great moment. From there, we went to my parent's house. This was going to be a difficult time as my mother was diagnosed a few years ago with Alzheimer's. My fear is that she would not understand or forget. I was jumping in with both feet though. We went to the house and my dad was there by the door. My mom was happy to see us as always. We sat down and my dad go us something to drink and we said, "We have an early Christmas gift for you guys" and handed them the envelope. My dad grabbed his reading glasses and opened it up and read the back and looked at the picture. He then told my mom what it said and gave her the picture. They were both very happy and excited. And yes, mom knew as she started talking about when my sister and I were babies. It made me feel wonderful. We then went over to my father-in-law's house. There were a lot of people to tell there; one father, one step mother, 2 brothers and one sister. The key was making sure that at least my father- and step mother-in-law were there as one of the brother's knew and the others would definitely welcome the news on Facebook the second we said something. Unfortunately, when we got there, my step mother in law was not there. We had decided to wait since we were told that she would be home soon. In the meantime we were talking with dad and he offered us some drinks. I ended up getting some water and my husband had some wine. "Did you want some wine?" dad asked. "No thanks, I'm good." I responded. "It's sweet red. I thought you liked sweet red." he persisted. My husband jumped in and said, "She likes white wine." "Oh, well, we have white too!" he insisted. "No no no, I'll just have some of Cheetah's" I replied. Oh great. What the heck am I going to do? I know you're thinking, just tell him, but we really had a plan and we were going to stick with it, by gosh! Cheetah said that he would take the glass and I said that I would try his. I had the glass in my hand and dad was staring at me. A droplet of wine touched my lips and I brought the glass back down, even swallowing as if I took a swig. "It's really good, but I'm OK." Thankfully, he didn't probe anymore. Finally after about 15 minutes after the wine incident, mom got to the house. We waited for her to settle down and then we gave them their envelope, "Here's an early Christmas present. Open it together." One looked as the other opened the envelope. They were quite excited and "Congratulations" were given around the room. By far though, my sister in law had the best reaction. Unfortunately, I didn't see the other two brothers to say whether theirs was better or not, but for me, her's was the best. She came downstairs from preparing our room and we handed her the envelope, when she opened the envelope, she let out a yelp with her eyes widened and mouth opened. Then she started to exclaim, "Oh my goodness, are you serious??" It was a wonderful moment. The following day when my sister and her husband came in, who had already knew, we visited by my mom and dad's house. The best moment was when my mom asked, "Did you tell her?" It really warmed my heart.

The Peanut

I had my first ultrasound this morning. I was excited and anxious all at once. All I wanted to know was after this journey, was it in the right place and did it have a heartbeat. Those were the only things that really mattered to me at that point.

My husband came with me. It was a great moment for both of us. When the assistant showed us to the room, she told me to undress from the waist down. Pretty normal I guess, but not really to my husband. "What are they going to do?" I replied, "I have no idea. I've never done this before." I've been to my usual appointments, but this was not like any of those. This was for all the peanuts.

As I lay on the table, I cannot recall what was going through my mind. I didn't know what to think or expect. I also never understood the paper robes/cloths they gave you to wear. My doctor came into the room and I think that was when I thought, "is my bladder empty" or "here we go."

As she sat down, she used the ultrasound wand and the husband and I watched the monitor. There it was. I couldn't believe it. In the right place and everything! She told me to lie still so we could listen to the heartbeat. When we heard it, we finally understood when we would hear our friends talk about hearing that heartbeat for the very first time. We too were experiencing that moment. The husband thought it sounded like a train; I thought Celo Green was in there beat-boxing. About 1 inch big and had a beat per minute (BPM) of 177. The husband and I looked at one another when she told us. That's around the BPM of our greyhound! But there it was, in all it's glory!



I was at a loss for words when we left. We scheduled the next appointment and we were on our way. As I write this, I don't think that I've stopped shaking. It was one of my most happiest moments.