Pregnant
Thoughts
22 May 2002 — Week 25
You should know that your presence has been much-anticipated. Until there was you... there was just me (mommy) and daddy — only we weren't "mommy" and "daddy" yet — we were just Jen and Terry. Happy, yes, but truly craving the possibility of having a little one like you. We talked about having a baby a lot, but nature was working against us, and it just wasn't happening as easily as we thought it would. So after four years of trying, we decided to see a special doctor, who, after six months of treatment, was able to help us achieve our goal: pregnancy.
We found out on New Year's Day, 2002, that you would be entering our lives. The whole evening before, New Year's Eve, we thought and we wondered and we hoped and we prayed... but we didn't know for sure until the next morning, when I took the test, and there was a very faint pink line, which meant that you were already growing inside me — I just didn't know it yet. Your daddy and I stood in the bathroom staring at the little plastic test applicator.
"It's very faint," I said.
"Does it mean you're pregnant?" Daddy asked.
"It means we're pregnant."
And we hugged and cried and hugged some more. We got on the phone to call your grandma and grandpa in Florida, to tell them the news. They were very, very happy, and we could hear the smiles in their voices as they congratulated us because you were coming. Then we called your uncle Tom and aunt Ameake in Chicago, to tell them. They, too, were very excited, and happy to hear our wonderful news. And after that, we called your uncle Chris, who was out of town and rather sleepy when we called, so he sounded a bit groggy when he answered the phone. But he, too, was thrilled to hear our news, since he knew how much we had hoped that this would happen. Then we got in the car and drove to grandma Jacquie's house, where Daniela, Jorge, Mattias and Pam were all staying, and we told them all the good news in person. Everyone hugged us and smiled a lot and laughed, and I think cried a little, too, because they were so happy for us.
The last place we went was to great-grandma Honey's house, where Jacquie and Harold were staying, and we told the three of them the wonderful news, too... and again, we were surrounded by people smiling and hugging, making loud exclamations like, "Oh, my!" and "How wonderful!"
So you see, Owen, that you began your life surrounded by richness beyond words and without measure: the richness of the love of family — blood or otherwise.
