The Times, They Are A-Changin'

Yep, I’m pregnant.

I know that most of my friends have read my blog about children entitled “Isn’t she knocked up yet?” I know this because of the MASSIVE amounts of emails, calls, dirty looks, etc that I received in response to it. Some told me that I was their hero, able to articulate without fear what so many are thinking. Others were horrified and thought that I was an insensitive jerk, and somehow took it to mean that I hate ALL children and think anyone who has them is an idiot (not the case at all.) Either way, most people who know me know that I am not what you would call a “lover of all things child.” However, anyone that knows me WELL knows that although I have had certain hesitations about turning my life upside down and becoming a mom, I still always intended for it to happen some day.
About a year ago I made a deal with Chris (who has been ready to become a daddy for about three years) and with God that I would “stop preventing” pregnancy (please note that “stop actively preventing” and “start trying” are two VERY different things, especially for those of us actually educated in Biology 101.) I decided that I would put it in Gods hands (I can almost count how many of my friends are calling me an ignorant fool right now) and hope and pray that when the time came that I did get preggers, that I would be content and eventually, excited. Towards the end of last year, I started feeling more like I was closer to being ready, and less dread toward the idea of a family (one that involved more than my fabulous self, my fabulous husband, and our two fabulous puppies). My main hesitation remaining though, was the fact that my best friend, Catheirne, who had been wanting to get pregnant for almost two years, still wasn’t. I didn’t want for her to have to be happy for me (the girl who complains when we’re out to lunch and a small child starts peeking at us over the booth, Catherine thinks it’s adorable, I find myself plagued with a complete and utter disdain toward the parents of the little tike who are allowing their child to invade my personal space.) I started praying this winter that although I trust whatever timing God has planned for my family, I just asked Him to let Catherine be first.
God is a funny, funny man. Three weeks ago Catherine informed me that she was finally pregnant. I think I was more happy for her than I would be for myself. Not two weeks later, while still wrapped up in the excitement of becoming an “auntie,” I found out that apparently she and I really do do everything together. We’ve been accused of it before (we’ve had the exact same car twice, worked in the exact same office or restaurant three times, we were both Dental Assistants (despite her degree in History and my pursuit of Psychology), we both lived in Northern Virginia, Blacksburg, and then Richmond together, she ended up falling in love with one of Chris’ groomsmen whom she first met at our rehearsal dinner, our husbands are both IT consultants, and both worked for two of the same IT consulting firms, and last year when she quit her job to take a “sabbatical” I pronounced her crazy to turn down all that added household income just to sit around the house and read magazines…I followed suit and quit my job two months later. Despite our obvious differences in personality, likes/dislikes, etc, we have lived parallel lives and now we will be having babies within three weeks of each other. Pretty amazing.
So yes, I am going to be a mommy. Due date is October 16th. It’s going to be a crazy year and things are definitely going to change a bit starting in October, but it’s truly for the best. It’s a new chapter of my life and I’m excited to be turning the page.