Baby Mikels

Long before Ted and I had planned this vacation, but knew we were expecting, we had both wanted to keep our blog up to date.  We knew it would be a treasured item and we would be able to look back on our journey and share the memories with our kids someday.  Unfortunately, every other life event like two summer courses, a month of 12 hour work days, camping on the weekends, and what have you all got in the way.  Now, here we are on month five with nothing to show for it.  Therefore, it is my hope during this trip I take some time to sit and reflect on our experience so far and what it has and will mean to me.

Time to start this from close to the very beginning, sparing certain details of course!

I shall rewind to April 19th.  It was a beautiful Friday and we were to start an intercession course in Cedar Rapids with one, if not the, best teacher I have ever had. The course was a Friday evening and all day Saturday course. I left work at 3:30 to make a quick stop at Hy-Vee for two of the most crucial items I have ever purchased.  The first, as many of you know, is something I can't live without.  And I did that day, up until 3:30.  Chapstick!!  I had run out of my favorite kind which I typically keep a bountiful stock supply at home, but obviously had not been keeping good inventory records.  The other item, "the test".  Ted didn't know I was purchasing one, but I felt compelled as it seemed my body was acting strangely to me, most noticeably at work, and only one thing which really set me off to question myself.   Strangely, in a department close to mine, while they had been on layoff in the weeks prior they were doing some major cleaning to their undercarriage system.  At first, when I would walk by, I just assumed their cleaning chemicals were quite powerful and that was to expected- the smell, etc. But by the second week when they have completed their work, and I walked with my colleague past this department and asked him if he could taste any weird particles on his tongue and each time he answered no, that was my first resounding clue.  

So fast forward to the day I make my second purchase at Hy-Vee, I guess I would say I had a "feeling".  By time I got home, Ted was already there and sitting on the couch.  I recall walking in and setting my purchase on the kitchen counter, walking out to say hi, and proceed to tell him what I bought and what my intentions were. I believe he laughed at me and blew it off like it was no big deal.  I proceeded to take the test, and while the results were stewing, got ready for class.  After a few short minutes, not the least bit nervous, I read the results.  I was convinced it was true, that we were indeed pregnant!  I walked non-chalantly out to the living room with the test and tell Ted we were expecting.  His first words I do believe were "nut uh"!  I showed him the test, his eyes squinting at the faint positive line.  He wasn't convinced, which in turn made me second guess the results. After a minute, I swear to God we had the most awkward hug of a cross between excitement and unsureness if you could ever envision such a thing.  It was maybe 10% excitement if that.  So, after minute, it was determined it was time to head to class and a stop at Walmart on the way home to confirm or truly deny the first test.  The whole drive down to Cedar Rapids was then spent guessing if it was indeed true or not.  I was still convinced and Ted was truly not.  The next five hours were spent counting down the time until that fateful drive home.  And by 10:00 we rolled into Walmart.  Walking in like anxious school kids, we found our way to the tests and spent another 20 minutes analyzing the best one to get. Oh wait though, Ted wanted us to buy not one, but two because how could you possibly convince him on something that was only 99.9% accurate!  We make it home, I run two tests, and sure enough, two more faint lines and I knew. Ted, still, didn't like the fact that it wasn't a mathematical equation and didn't spell out 1+1=2!  So, while there was pure excitement from my side Ted honestly wasn't convinced until two weeks past that.  And even then, I truly believe he wasn't 100% certain until our first doctor appointment and the reality set in when we listened to the heartbeat!  So there you have it, the story which shows it takes a small army to convince an engineer that there isn't always a mathematical equation proving results!