This post is about nine months late…my how time flies!
I had every intention of writing about my pregnancy – but before I knew it – baby #2 was here! I’m looking forward to sharing the actual birth journey…but let’s go back to where it all began.
Bobbi Elle was born on February 11, 2013. My husband, Bobby, and I knew that if we wanted more children, we would have to act quickly. We wanted our children to be close in age…and with me heading into my late, late 30’s – we didn’t have much time to waste. So we decided to start trying to conceive in November 2013…nine months after Bobbi Elle was born. We figured it took 9 months of trying to finally get pregnant with Bobbi…so if we started in November – we should be nice and pregnant at least by February of the following year. So in November, I started paying closer attention to my period/ovulation app. The week of ovualation was a busy week for me and we were also planning a quick family trip to Orlando. We packed up our rental van with Miss Bobbi, Khari (my step-son) and the nieces and nephew. We were meeting our cousin Jessie in Orlando with some of her friends and more family. It was a busy weekend for us and I completely forgot that we should, at some point, have sex. On that Saturday, as we were having a fun family dinner at the hotel restaurant…I checked my phone and realized – today is the last day to go for it! So i whispered to my husband – “ummmmm…you down for a quickie?? We can leave the kids at dinner and come back…no one will notice!” and without hesitation – he jumped from the table and damn near broke his ankle to get to the door. I asked my cousin to hold the kids down at dinner – “we have some business to handle..we’ll be back…” She gave us that look. And in our first try for baby #2 – it happened. During a timeout at dinner…taking less than 20 minutes…it couldn’t have been more romantic.
A few weeks later on my way to visit our friend Calyann, who had just had a baby…I started to feel funny…something wasn’t right. We were in for a long ride down to her house so I asked my husband to stop at a gas station for some ginger ale…I was feeling quesy. After getting some food in my system, I felt much better – and we proceeded to have a great visit with her and her new son. Heading home later that night – that same feeling washed over me. I decided to take a pregnancy test – not because I thought that it could have happen so soon…but moreso just to rule out that I wasn’t. Sidebar: why do we get so surprised, anxious, scared…when the stick says YES, knowing that we did the do and in this situation, this was our goal??? Sure enough, I felt all of those feelings…those 2-3 minutes were filled with anxiety and a million thoughts running thru my head…I actually waited 4 minutes before I looked down at the stick and saw – Y.E.S. My heart jumped a few beats. I took another pee stick test…the one with the lines…because the lines are better to read than the actual word YES. I had a third pregnancy test near by (clearly – I was prepared for this moment)…this test actually told me how far along I was…I was 2-3 weeks in. It was weird finding out so early. I was happy…excited…nervous…scared…overwhelmed. And now to break the news to Bob.
He was working on a photo shoot in our home so I waited until he was done. When he came upstairs, I asked him to grab something out of his bathroom…and there it was…the stick…waiting for him with open arms and remnants of pee. He walked in his bathroom – look at his counter and started to laugh. “I knew it once you told me to pull over for gingerale.” Funny, I just thought I was nauseous from not eating. But here it was. Our life was about to go into overdrive – it was time to breathe…give thanks…and prepare to embrace the crazy. Baby #2 was well on its way.
