My First Mother's Day

Some things are like clockwork. When the clock stops, it causes some apprehension, a little excitement, and even some nausea. The week before Mother's Day I found myself clutching a coupon for a pregnancy test and standing in line at Walgreens. Heck, I even bought a can of soda to chug down to ensure I could pee the requisite 5 seconds. I wasn't about to be the reason this thing wouldn't work. After we came home, I did the deed. While waiting, I threw my head into my pillow, unsure of which way I wanted this to turn out.

Moments later, our future changed. Thankfully it wasn't one of those tests with line/dash hieroglyphics. I don't think my heart could have handled waiting to decipher pregnancy code. So there we were, future parents. A crazy, but still intangible change in our lives. There were tears, hugs, and a little jumping up and down. We couldn't be happier. However, we wanted to to wait until Mother's Day to tell our families.

Three days. That's a long time to lie to your mother's face. And I imagined her reaction in every possible scenario, but her actual reaction exceeded my every expectation. The night after we found out we bought two tiny onesies that said "I have the best Grandma." We wrapped each of those in matching gift bags paired with extra positive pregnancy tests (I was far more confident in my abilities the second and third go-around.)

Daniel instigated that our mothers open their gifts before dinner on Mother's Day. I was so nervous I could have just let the moment go by without saying a word. The instant my mother recognized what she was opening a onesie she exploded in squeals of delight. I've never seen someone so happy. My dad shed a tear or two and my in-laws were equally thrilled. For the rest of dinner my mom periodically broke into a smile that forced her to laugh. She just couldn't contain it.

16 weeks later, here we are. We just found out that it's a little girl wiggling around in there. I fortunately haven't been very sick and my stomach is just starting to puff up like a balloon. Things are really good. And we can't wait for January 18th.