Until I met Martin, I was adamant
that I would not have kids. Blame my
brother’s birth or Little House on the Prairie, I saw no meaningful benefit or
upside to the childbearing process and corresponding aftermath in comparison to
the consequences of childbearing. Martin changed all that. And so, after 2 plus years of marriage and
one serious pep talk from my friend Kim (who has 3 adorable kids) I have found
myself pregnant after only a few weeks of trying… apparently birth control does
work and my worries for the past 7+ years weren’t for nothing!
Like all good things that require
you wait, I found out about the exciting news two days after Martin had left
for his annual week-long fishing trip to Norway. And so I was left on my own,
waiting for his return, before I could tell him the big news. I used the time to research doctors, book the
first appointment, take another test to confirm the results and come up with a
cute way to tell him when he returned. I
ended up buying a fun card and little onesie with a teddy bear hugging the
state of California noting “made in California”. He opened the gift within hours of his return
home and the look of surprise, disbelief and then pure joy brought me to
tears. We are officially having a
baby!
Once Martin was in on the secret
and the doctor confirmed our hopes, we then had to devise the plan of when and
how to tell people… we ultimately wanted to wait until 14 weeks but travel
plans and family visits required a bit more thought and coordination…. First up,
the new grandparents!
Luck would have it that Martin’s
parents were in town for a 3 week visit in October and would be leaving right
around the 8 week mark. While it was a
little early, we couldn’t pass up on the chance to tell both sets of parents in
person and together. Martin and I
thought it would be great to tell them at our house and then head out to dinner
to celebrate... the tricky part was convincing my parents to come into the
city. After much thought, we decided to
use the only card we had, we told my parents that Annegret was cooking her world
famous goulash for dinner to entice them over.
We knew my dad would never say no.
So when my parents arrived at our house the last night of Ernst and
Annegret’s visit, with no hint or smell of goulash in the kitchen, we had to
act quickly. Martin announced to the
parents that while we didn’t have and couldn’t offer goulash, we had something
even better…. A baby on the way. The look
of surprise, disbelief and pure joy made both Martin and I laugh with happiness
and excitement! I think my parents were expecting to wait a few more years and
Martin’s parents had given up hope of grandkids all together. After celebratory drinks at home and dinner
at Original Joes, my parents left with words of congratulations (and advice to
take care of myself) and Martin’s parents left the next day with promises to
return every month.
With the parents down, it was on
to the friends and family. For the most part, we were able to make it to the 14
week mark however due to some unavoidable travel plans and upcoming weddings,
we were required to tell a few friends early… which unfortunately resulted in one
or two awkward consequences. Who knew
such good news could result in so drama!
But I digress.
With all of the stress of the
first trimester and potential for things to go wrong, we greeted Week 14 with
relief and excitement!
We took the opportunity to tell the
family over Thanksgiving (which happened to fall right at 14 weeks). And that weekend our friends and family both
abroad and at home received emails, texts and phones calls to share the
news. I told an incredibly supportive
boss the Monday after Thanksgiving and the rest of the office on Thursday with
a simple declaration to the ladies “well ladies, I got knocked up” which was
greeted with clapping, cheering and the entire floor sending their love and
well wishes. The support and excitement
we received back from everyone in our lives put the pregnancy glow to my ever
smiling cheeks.
The say it takes a village and it
feels like the village is 100% there to support me and Martin in the upcoming
months and beyond.
