Since I've taken time to write about Nora and Isaac's adoption stories, it is only natural that I write a blog entry about our sweet little Penn-surprise!
As you can imagine, after having 2 super fast, fabulous adoption experiences that left us with a daughter and a son, we were feeling pretty fulfilled in the parental department. Our hearts and hands were full; our pockets were near empty; and, our sleep was almost back to what might qualify as "near enough hours" per night. In fact, I had recently given away pretty much all of my baby gear to a co-worker, and Wes and I had mischievously laughed about how while we were thrilled for our friends welcoming new babies, we were so glad that the sleepless, newborn stage was behind us.
Well, flash forward about a week after we had this honest conversation about the comfort and ease of having a family of 4, and we are celebrating Isaac's first birthday. I had carefully selected cupcakes from Pearls Cupcake Shoppe in Richmond and was SO excited to eat my Top Hat cupcake. The party came and went, and I just could not bring myself to eat a single snack or cupcake. Wes and I talked about it that night after the party, and we figured it was just the stress of getting ready for the party that off-set my appetite. When I finally sat down after cleaning up the house, Wes brought me a glass of red wine...and I could not even bring myself to take a sip. My body was definitely telling me something, but I wasn't sure what. I just figured, "Great, I'm about to get a stomach virus. Awesome."
The next morning was a typical one for a household with 2 toddlers: Nora was pulling Isaac around the house at top speed in his new wagon while Wes and I were still finding cupcake frosting smears on the walls and arguing about who had done more cleaning and deserved a break. We were hustling that morning because we were heading over to my parents' house mid-morning to visit with my sister, brother and sister-in-law, who had traveled from NYC to celebrate Isaac's birthday.
Wes decided to take the kids upstairs to the playroom so I could take a shower in peace (one of the greatest gifts a person can give the mother of their children). Since I actually had time to think while getting ready to take a shower, I decided I would treat myself to a facial mask. As I dug around in the depths of my vanity drawer, I saw an old, unused pregnancy test from before Nora was born. Ordinarily, I would think nothing of it, but for some reason, my gut said "just take the test". I was 90% certain I was not pregnant, but I thought, I might as well take it to rule out pregnancy as one of the reasons I could be feeling off. So, I took the test, left it on the counter and hopped into the shower with my facial mask on.
My shower was great and I stepped out, dried off and proceeded to get ready as normal. Just as I had finished putting my clothes on, I remembered that I had taken that test (for those of you who are not parents, this lack of short-term memory is a normal side effect of child-rearing). I looked at it and saw 2 pink lines. It had been so long since I had taken a pregnancy test that I could not really remember what the 2 lines meant (and I had found the test without a box in my drawer), so I jumped on my phone and Googled "pregnancy test, what does 2 lines mean?". Google said I was pregnant.
During the years when Wes and I had tried to conceive I had dreamed of these fun, cute ways of announcing to him that I was pregnant. Out of shock, excitement and fear, I just barged upstairs to our playroom and announced, "Holy shit, I think I'm pregnant!". Wes was rolling on his back, playing with the kids when he received this news, and he promptly tossed them off in disbelief and peppered me with questions, to most of which I had no answers at all.
We went in shock to visit my family after this, and then on the way home we stopped at Wal-Mart where Wes bought 5 more pregnancy tests of varying brands and styles. Each of those tests indicated the same thing: pregnant, pregnant, pregnant, pregnant and very pregnant. The very pregnant notice came from the test that tells you how many weeks post-ovulation you are, and I received the 5+ weeks result, which is the "most pregnant" you can be according to that test.
Once we got the kids to bed that night, reality set in and we were ecstatic!! In an instant we went from feeling like 2 children was perfect and being so protective over our sleep to feeling overjoyed that this baby growing inside of me had decided to join our family. We honestly could not have asked for a better surprise in this world.
My pregnancy was pretty great! I remained active, did not swell or suffer too badly from nausea, gained a moderate amount of weight, and slept really well (bonus!). Towards the end I developed some issues with high blood pressure, so I was induced at St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond at 37 weeks, 1 day and had a super easy and smooth delivery. David Penn joined us on Thursday, May 26, 2016 at 8:30PM, and just like his brother and sister, it was love.at.first.sight.
For those of you who are struggling with infertility, or have struggled in the past, I know your pain. Never in a million years did I think I would end up pregnant; infertility at some point becomes something that you mentally accept and emotionally tuck away. I can honestly say that Wes and I are incredibly fortunate parents to have 3 incredible babies brought to us through pretty miraculous circumstances. Not a day goes by that we do not count our blessings and recognize that we are not in the majority when it comes to those struggling with infertility.
If you are currently struggling with infertility or waiting on an adoption, hang in there. Things truly will work out the way they are meant to, and life will get easier. I promise.
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