Telling Ben the news...

On a whim, I decided to test for pregnancy friday morning (Sept 21, 2007.) I didn't really want to test because I was already convinced that this cycle was a bust. But I decided to test because Benjamin was at work and so if I got a negative result, I could be sad in private. After 13 cycles with no luck, I really wasn't expecting that morning's testing to be any different.

I took the test, went about my normal business and checked on the HPT a few minutes later. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw a hint of a line. I have gotten evaporation lines before (for those of you unfamiliar, sometimes a bad test will show a faint, colorless line when the result is actually negative) and I thought this must be one of those... except this line had color to it! It was baby pink. I quickly chalked the result up to a faulty test and tested again... and again... and again. I even went out and bought more tests, thinking the results were STILL wrong. Right after I tested with those tests, the results popped up... pregnant! I knew I wanted to think of a fun way to tell Ben since we've been trying so long and this has been such an emotional journey for us.

Around that time, I heard someone at the front door! It was Benjamin, home for lunch. I was so surpised... I didn't expect him to come home then! I had to grab all of my tests and my cup of pee and run and hide them in my closet.

I acted as normal as possible when Ben got home. I was so excited, but totally masked it. Once he left for the rest of his afternoon at work, I ran to the Naval hospital and got a urine and blood test. I just needed that hard evidence, you know? I think I was still kind of convinced that the HPT's were playing a mean trick on me. I had had a pregnancy test run at the hospital a couple of months prior when I went for my HSG. (They wanted to make sure I wasn't pregnant due to the X-raying they do in the procedure. Oh and FYI, a HSG is when they insert a catheter, insert dye through the catheter and take a real time xray to see if everything in the reproductive tract looks healthy.) My prior result was of course negative and they just handed me a little slip of paper saying that and I was on my way. But this time, a male nurse asked me to come to his office with him. When we got there he said "Congratulations! You're pregnant!" And my jaw dropped! I just started blurting out "This is so surreal, I just can't believe it! My husband and I have been trying for almost a year now and receiving infertility treatment... I can't believe this!" The nurse was SO nice and gave me a ton of helpful reading material and got me set up for a prenatal class the following wednesday.

After I left the hospital, I went to the bookstore because I had devised a fun plan of how to tell Benjamin our good news...

Benjamin's birthday was two weeks prior and I didn't get him a gift because he couldn't think of anything he wanted. He said that when he thought of something, he'd tell me. Well, I found the perfect gift! It was a book called The Guide for Expectant Fathers. I bought a gift bag and set it out on the couch for Ben to see when he got home.


Ben called when he was on his way home, so I made up a story about how I had bought a disposable camera to take pictures at the airshow we were planning on going to the next day. (We couldn't find our battery charger and our camera battery was dead. . . hence the need for the disposable camera.)

When he pulled into the driveway, I walked outside with the camera and was like "Honey, I'm testing this disposable to see if it works. Will you let me take a picture of you? Besides, I never see you in your khakis, you're always in your flightsuit!"

When he came inside, I said "The birthday present I wanted to get you FINALLY arrived. It's on the couch!" He was excited and sat down to open it. He unwrapped it. . .

And as he started reading the title, I said "Oh and here's your bookmark!" and handed him this:

He said "ARE YOU PREGNANT?!" I said yes and as soon as I did, I went to take another picture of him, but he was jumping off the couch to hug and kiss me. I was like "Wait, I'm trying to take a picture" and he said "No, I have to kiss my pregnant wife!" and this is the shot I got:

We are both so thrilled! And Ben says that this is the best birthday present he's ever received. :)

Hopefully we'll have a happy and healthy nine months! Our official due date is Sunday, June 1st, 2008.