Hank's New Shirt

At the end of a very stressful week at work, I was venting to a few of my co-workers and dear friends, and I started crying. And once the tears started to flow, they just wouldn't stop. Now I'm not one to cry in public. When I cry, it is not pretty. My eyes swell, my face gets splotchy, and my nose could rival Rudolf. I was so embarrassed as my friends looked at me like I'd really lost it. One of my nearest and dearest suggested that I must be pregnant with all of this crying. I laughed and immediately said there was NO WAY that I was pregnant! We all had a good laugh and headed out the door for the weekend.

On my drive home from work her words echoed in the back of my mind. Could I be? Now way! We weren't trying. It wasn't in my "teacher's scheduled window" to start trying yet. But, what if? I needed to pick up a few things from the store, so I stopped, grabbed a few things, and went ahead and picked up a test...just to be sure.

As soon as I got home, I took one of the tests. I was in total shock when I saw the two pink lines slowly appear on the stick. My heart was racing with excitement. My phone rang, and it was my mom. I wanted so badly to share this news with her immediately, but I hadn't completely processed the idea myself and I needed to tell Ryan first! I tried to focus on our conversation, but my mind was racing. How was I going to tell Ryan? Should I take another test...just to be sure?

As soon as I got off the phone, I started digging through my closet to find a small package that was stashed away for safe keeping. Last summer when we started "trying" to have a baby, I ordered a special little shirt for Hank. I though that it would be the perfect way to tell Ryan the big news. However, our attempt at "trying" last summer was unsuccessful, so I stored it away for a later date.

After a little resistance, I finally got Hank to go along with the idea. When Ryan came home and saw Hank wearing a shirt, he gave me a puzzled look. It took him a minute before he actually processed what the shirt said. There was a familiar look of shock on his face. Then, the questions began. "Are you sure? How do you know? Should you take another test...just to be sure?" I'd already taken two tests, both with a pair of positive lines. "Yes, I'm sure." We laughed and then just let it "sink in."

My first instinct was to run out and tell everyone, but just to be safe, we wanted to wait until we'd been to the doctor and heard a heartbeat. However, we decided to tell our parents. The following weekend was Ryan's birthday and we would be seeing our parents. We took a few pictures of Hank in his favorite t-shirt. That was a feat within itself. I'm sure we looked like a bunch of fools bribing him with Bologna to sit and smile for the camera. But he's photogenic, and we managed to get at least one out of the hundreds we took. We framed the pictures and wrapped them for our parents to open. I regret not taking pictures of their expressions, but thought they might be suspicious if I was snapping pictures. Ryan's parents thought we might be getting another dog, but quickly realized what this truly meant. My dad had the sweetest smile on his face, and my mom's eyes were filled with tears. They've all been waiting a LONG time for this!


We are so thrilled to be parents!