Well, it’s official….Bryant & I are going to be parents. AHHHHH!!! What a scary thought. If you know either of us, I’m sure you'll thought the same! But yes, we’re both really excited, but it still doesn’t seem real yet. No really…I think I’m faking it. And it’s all Stew Messer’s fault.
Let me start by describing my pregnancy from the beginning - jinxed. A friend of mine, Stew, started a nasty rumor back in early February that I was pregnant, and has been telling people ever since. Well, it took him 8 or 9 months, but it worked. He jinxed me. Punk. My stellar baby planning plan was to wait at least until I was 28 or so to pop one out. I won’t go into details of the stellar plan, because they’re all shot to hell now, since Stew had to go and ruin it.
Let me back up and describe D-Day….as in “discovered I’m jinxed” day. Stew just happened to be telling people at lunch that I was pregnant one day (which happened to be a Wednesday, by the way. No really, it was a Wednesday….no intended alluding to the legendary Mr. DC!), and something hit me….. “Oh f*ck. I’m pregnant.” Driving home from work that day, I kept having this internal argument with myself. The following is a script is what sort of went through my head on the 20 minute or so commute:
“No way. There’s no way….Bryant & I have always been careful…..well, I might as well check….yeah, that’s it, just prove Stew wrong……holy cow, I feel sooooo pregnant right now…..but I haven’t been sick…..nah, Stew’s playing mind games with me…..wtf??......I think I feel a kick…..yep, that’s definitely a kick…oh god, I'm pregnant.”
This argument in my boggled mind somehow directed my car to the local Walgreens where a plethora of “family planning” devices are sold. Time out. “Family planning?” Who the crap PLANS this kind of thing? (oaky, lots of people, but NOT me!) Every person I’ve ever seen in that aisle at Walgreens or Wal-Mart, or some other “Wal” store, has been a terrified, knocked up teenager who is thinking of ways to keep from being grounded while breaking the news to a pair of irate, “We’re too young to be grandparents” grandparents. Actually, now that I think about it….that’s probably EXACTLY what I looked like trying to decide on which “family planning” test I would take home. Anyway, I digress. I picked out a random 3 pack and took them home.
Once home, I chugged, and I mean CHUGGED about 6 glasses of water so I could relieve myself onto one of these weird little sticks (which apparently you’re not supposed to do, since it dilutes the variable – oops. I was never good at science anyway.) Sure enough….all three tests said, “yes, dumbass…you’re pregnant.” Then came the dilemma of how to break the test results to the husband. Two words to describe this conversation. Awkward turtle. Poor Bryant. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I remember just throwing out a jumbled string of random words related to babies and pregnancy, and him giving me the “WTF" look. You know that look. So I had to show him. Despite the three positive tests, neither he or I believed it since I wasn't sick and had no real symptoms, so back to the family planning aisle at Walgreens we went to grab a two packer of a different kind of test. Yep. They were positive too. I just remember the words “oh” and “f*ck” running through my head.
Skip ahead a few days. I scheduled a doctor’s appointment, so that I could get a professional opinion and they could tell me I was faking it and Stew truly hadn’t jinxed me. I call
ed my all-knowing sister about the appt. wondering what would happen at the doctor’s. Here’s what she said….and yes, this is a quote. “Oh, this will be the easiest prenatal appointment you’ll have. They’ll ask some questions and you’ll have to pee on another stick.” Can you say LIAR?? I almost died that day. Really. I had everything from cameras to needles shoved in me. (I apologize if that is too much information, but it’s the only way to describe what a horrible near-death experience I had). Yuck, I think I might yak in my mouth thinking about those needles and the THREE EXTRA LARGE VILES of blood they not-so-nicely extracted from my body….or maybe just faint. Either way, not good. And my hands have gone weak thinking about it…..ugh…but yes. The doc confirmed the jinxation. (Is that a word?)
Skip ahead a few days. I scheduled a doctor’s appointment, so that I could get a professional opinion and they could tell me I was faking it and Stew truly hadn’t jinxed me. I call
ed my all-knowing sister about the appt. wondering what would happen at the doctor’s. Here’s what she said….and yes, this is a quote. “Oh, this will be the easiest prenatal appointment you’ll have. They’ll ask some questions and you’ll have to pee on another stick.” Can you say LIAR?? I almost died that day. Really. I had everything from cameras to needles shoved in me. (I apologize if that is too much information, but it’s the only way to describe what a horrible near-death experience I had). Yuck, I think I might yak in my mouth thinking about those needles and the THREE EXTRA LARGE VILES of blood they not-so-nicely extracted from my body….or maybe just faint. Either way, not good. And my hands have gone weak thinking about it…..ugh…but yes. The doc confirmed the jinxation. (Is that a word?) I do have a sentimental moment to confess. Despite all my nay-saying about finding out I was knocked up, when I saw the embryo (fetus? baby? whatever.) and the heart beating away during the ultrasound…wow, don’t know how to describe it, but it was by far the coolest thing I think I’ve ever seen. The doctor gave me a picture of it to take home, and suddenly all my optimism and hopes were dashed. The fetus looked like a gremlin. Wonderful. Of course I would have a fetus in me that looked like a devilish character from a scary movie. Why would I think I would have a normal looking kid? And no, I’m not talking about the cute fuzzy little gremlin called Gizmo that we all know and love. No, I’m talking the scary, big-eared killing machines from that horrible Christmas horror movie.
Since that appointment, I’ve been fortunate to not be sick or have any major symptoms (except getting fat...but that could also be due to my new I love McDonald's diet!), which is why I still think I’m faking it. I think I’ve figured it out though. Stew’s playing a huge joke on me and the doctor’s in on it giving me a gremlin picture. Bastards. Anyway, I figured I’d share the story with all of you, so you can be forewarned when peeps start spreading rumors about you. And by all means…do NOT involve Stew Messer in your “family planning” plans. :-)