I have been attempting to write since New Year’s, but it is surprisingly hard to be creative when there’s an alien creature inside you eating your brain. However, now that the two of us (2.5 of us?) are a little more used to what’s happening and my energy is coming back, I think I’m ready to dive in.
Let’s all take a moment for the soap box; shall we? Now just picture me falling face first off of it singing Christmas carols because that’s basically what happened.
On Christmas Eve I had the bi-annual conversation with my mother that we’ve been having for years now.
Her: I know you’ve chosen not to have children…
Me: Just because we’ve made the decision to put my career before kids does not mean we will never have children. It means that women in this century don’t have to get pregnant as soon as they get married… … Women’s lib… Feminism… etc. etc.
In fact, I was writing a post about this very conversation the day I found out we were pregnant. I was going to title it “Lessons & Carols,” and it went something like this:
Beginning your annual rendition of “Santa Baby” with a treatise on not needing a man to come down your chimney when you can buy your own presents is not as endearing at your family celebration as you may think.
Singing about ‘decking your halls’ with birth control will not make your mother feel better about the fact that you’re 30, and she still doesn’t have grandchildren.
I’d also made a note about “The Little Drummer Boy” song, but we can save that for the actual holiday season. So that’s where we were when we were surprised shocked baffled by this news. In fact, we were 99% surprised. And, as a little PSA for all of you sweet readers, I thought I’d post a chart from our doctor’s office.
It is true to say that no one in our household was willing to make the lifestyle change to 100% prevent children, but had we seen this chart sooner, we probably would have picked a method with more than 1 FREAKING STAR.
So I suppose I’m writing this post to tell you this: People don’t always talk about the feelings you have when you’re surprised by a pregnancy. We’ve been watching our friends try to get pregnant, struggle with miscarriages and infertility, go through the laborious process of adoption–these people have such a beautiful desire to love children of their own. We just didn’t feel that desire quite yet.
So when we found out about this “joyous news,” we were so stunned that we went underground. For the first week, I couldn’t decide if my nausea was baby-related or caused by the fact that I’d be a mother before 35.
This kid is coming into the world with an extreme desire to be the center of attention. And I’m happy to report that we are both finally more excited than shocked.
After all, a dose of crazy is the way some of the best things in our lives have started.
Fear not—Hannah & Husband will not become (God forbid) a “mommy blog.” But, like today, I will be noting some baby-related things that happen every once in a while for posterity’s sake. Tomorrow, I’ll even things out; I promise.