We're Pregnant!!!

7/25/12

When Laura and I first started trying to get pregnant some time ago, I told her I wanted to be surprised when we got pregnant.  Well, I got that surprise this morning at 6:15 when Laura woke me up by turning on the lights in our bedroom and saying, "Sweetie, look look!!!" as she held the pregnancy test in her hands, "We're pregnant!"  Needless to say, I was shocked!!!

When she came into the bedroom this morning and was speaking to me, I knew something was different by the tone of her voice.  I was expecting her to be carrying our puppy into the bedroom to cuddle!!!  Instead, I opened my eyes to see the test with a little blue "+" sign!!!  I'm sure this little symbol indicating something positive will become the first of millions of positive things I see and experience as a dad; and I must say, I'm looking forward to it!!!

The first few hours of being a dad have been a mix of emotions as I've been inundated with tons of thoughts about the future; some happy and some scary!  I've always loved being around kids and babies!  I love holding kids and playing with little kids, and especially teaching kids...but now I'll have my own!!  It's sort of funny...whenever I held a baby before, if it cried, I could hand it back to the mom and I could forget about the baby crying and let the parents deal with it!  Now, if I hand my baby to it's mom when it's crying, I could potentially get slapped for not pulling my fair share of the weight!!!  Before, if the kid smelled, the parents would change the diaper and I would secretly giggle if there was crap everywhere when the diaper was opened...now, I'll be the one wiping the ass!!!

Last November a good buddy of mine that I used to teach with welcomed a baby into the world with his wonderful wife.  Since then, we've seen them a handful of times when they've visited from out of town and I've been able to hold the little guy and make funny faces at him!  In our frequent emails we exchanged, he always updated me about his son, Henry's, progress as a growing baby and how much joy the baby brought to his life and his marriage.  I'll be honest, I was often jealous to hear of his stories of laying on the couch and watching TV with his son laying on his chest or reading  a book with his son in his arms.  Now, I'll be experiencing that soon myself! 

A couple of months ago, a girl I teach with across the hall from me found out she was pregnant.  Her and I had discussed babies before as we realized during our brief passing time conversations in the hallway that our lives, marriages and futures were on very similar paths and timelines. 

Earlier this week, we met up with another buddy I used to teach with and had dinner with his wife an 11 month old girl.  It was fun catching up with him and his wife, but it was really entertaining to watch his girl during dinner and to watch how our friends' interaction with the baby throughout the meal:  A parent's 6th sense is amazing!!!

Of course, it's still waaayyy to early to know whether our baby will be a boy or girl.  My wife, who wants to know how the movie ends before it starts, will probably want to find out the sex of the baby before birth.  Whereas I like a good surprise, I'm not sure if I'll want to know ahead of time or not, though it would be nice to have an idea of what the baby is ahead of time.  I think every dad hopes for a baby boy and I'm no different.  There's nothing I'd love more than to have a boy and take him hunting and teach him how to play baseball and chase him around the yard playing with water guns.  However, over the past year, I've had lots of "baby dreams" in which Laura and I were parents of a little baby...each of those dreams involved a baby girl!!!  Over the past month, Lexi has shown me that I'm very receptive to daddy's girls!!!

I'll end the first chapter of this blog with some words of hope and optimism.  As I enter my 5th year of teaching this fall, I've met and worked with over a thousand students.  I've been priveledged to teach some wonderful young individuals, but I've also worked with some kids that have unfortunate things wrong with themselves or in their lives.  I'm not a very religious guy, but since I became a teacher I've often prayed for my wife and I to give birth to a healthy baby and for them to live a healthy and safe life, especially during childhood.  I'm frequently reminded of how precious kids are, and how special they are and I'm looking forward to bringing a child into this world with my wonderful life.  If you're a religious person, please keep our new baby in your prayers as he/she begins to grow.  If you're not a religious person, keep us in your thoughts and feel free to silently send your best wishes our way!  Thanks for being a part of my first day as a dad by reading my Daddy Diary!!!