News Travels Fast!

After I told Wes the news, it was all we could do to keep quiet about it. We wanted to be 100% sure though, so we waited until after the doctor's office confirmed that I was indeed pregnant. The appointment was on a Friday morning. I remember looking at a side view of my stomach in the mirror and thinking, Well if I'm not pregnant, then I am going on a diet!

The secretary told me the office opened at 8:30 and that I could come anytime before 9:00. I was there by 8:25. The nurse took a urine sample, which confirmed that I was pregnant. I breathed a sigh of relief and a huge smile broke out on my face. According to her calculations, I was already 5 weeks and 5 days pregnant, which surprised me. We weren't even trying the last month. How ironic.

Wes told me to call him "as soon as" I knew something, so after finishing up at the doctor's office, I called him at work. He answered the phone on the first ring, almost as if he was anticipating my call at that very moment. Our conversation went something like this:

"Hello?"

"Hey, baby."

"Hey. You're already through?"

"Yea."

"Well?"

"Well..."

"Well, what did the doctor say?!"

I laughed. "They said you're going to be a daddy."

“Really? Wow, I can’t believe it,” he said. I could imagine him on the other end, grinning from ear to ear. “I’m telling everyone in the office now, as soon as we get off the phone.”

We agreed to tell our parents in person, though, so we didn’t call them. We decided to tell them by giving them a gift, like I’d done with Wes on Wednesday morning. I found the perfect things too. For our moms, I got a coffee mug and a pillow that said, “#1 Grandmother” with a place for a picture. Instead of a picture, though, we put a note in there that said, “We thought you might want this on February 18, 2008.” For our dads, I got a matching coffee mug and picture frame that said, “My Grandpa is the bestest.” We put the same note in there too.

Well, we’d already planned to go to Wes’s Aunt Connie’s house that evening for his cousin Jared’s 26th birthday party. So out of his family, Aunt Connie was the first to know. The interesting thing about that was that Aunt Connie dreamed two weeks ago that I was pregnant. When she called Wes to invite us to the birthday party, she told him about the dream and asked if I was expecting. So telling her was pretty fun too.

Wes said, “Aunt Connie, you remember that dream you had? Well, guess what? Jennifer is pregnant now.”

Her eyes got so wide, and she put her hand over her mouth. “Oh, I’m just so happy for you!” was what she must have said at least half a dozen times before we left.

Out of my family, Aunt Suzie was the first to know. She happened to e-mail to ask how things were going, and I couldn’t keep it in. She was ecstatic too. And how ironic, that with both our families, our aunts were the first to know.

After we left Jared’s party, we drove to Wes’s parents’ house. Wes’s brother, Doug, was at the party, so he’d heard the news. Wes told him to go home and keep his parents up. When we arrived, we tried to make small talk for a couple minutes, but then Wes said to his mom, “You need to get Dad to come in here.” Still very clueless, despite the late hour, his mom went to get his dad.

Wes said to them, “We have something for y’all.”

I said, “But you have to open your presents at the same time.”

They exchanged a confused look and said, “OK.”

They figured it out at exactly the same time. They both looked at us, eyes wide, mouths dropped open. And then there were shouts of joy as they hugged both of us tightly.

After the initial shock and excitement, Wes’s mom said, “The only problem is it’s so late that I can’t call Aunt Pat.” She looked at the clock, then back at us, then back at the clock, then at Wes’s dad. She was squirming in her seat.

Wes’s dad looked at her and said, “She’s probably at the studio. Just call her. She’ll be mad if you don’t!”

A couple minutes later, we could hear her in the other room shouting into the phone, “I’M GOING TO BE A GRANDMA!” Everyone laughed.

We told my parents and sister the next night. We’d made plans to drive to their house and then eat dinner with them. When we got there, they saw us carry the boxes in and asked what they were for. I told them that we wanted to give them something before they went out of town the next day. (They were leaving the next afternoon to go to Las Vegas for a week.)

Before we left for dinner, we gave them the same instructions we’d given Wes’s parents. I found this out later, but they’d already figured it out, so there wasn’t the same shock element that we’d had with Wes’s parents. But they were still very excited for us. They hugged us and told us congratulations.

Then my mom said, “We need to celebrate. Let’s go to Olive Garden.”

Olive Garden is in Savannah, and it’s my favorite restaurant. Since it’s farther away and the wait is always so long, I normally only go there for my birthday. My parents treated us to dinner, so that was really nice. While we were waiting for our table, my mom was on her cell phone calling everyone in her family. Meanwhile, my dad was on his phone calling his family. Everyone was very happy for us.

On Sunday, we told our church family. We decided not to tell the kids in our Sunday School class, for fear that they would spill the beans. During praise and prayer time, Wes told everyone, “Well, I have a praise that I just can’t hold in anymore. Jennifer and I are going to have a baby.” Again, there were shouts of joy, and everyone started clapping. On the way out, they all congratulated us too.

On Sunday evening, I sent out the mass e-mail, and several of our friends were happy for us too. So I think it’s safe to say that this is going to be one loved little baby! Not just by us, but by friends, family, and church family. What a blessing.

In the very near future, I am going to start posting some pictures. Wes took a picture of me at 6 weeks and 5 days pregnant, and as soon as the film is developed, that will go up. Our first ultrasound is on July 18th, so assuming the pictures turn out well, I may post one or two of those also.