I had just finished my internship at Smoky Mountain High School for my TESOL MAT. Friday was my last day. Thursday night I had driven to Asheville and presented my last paper and had a congratulatory dinner hosted by our professor for our graduation.
Friday, I went to my internship, and then picked up the kids from school. In between the snacks, playtime, and naps, two things were occupying my mind...
1. Shew, taking care of three kids is hard. I'm glad you get to ease into this as a mom, starting with one, then two, then three. Triplets would be really hard.
2. Kudos to my friend for doing this every day!
AND the second set of thoughts in my brain....
1. I was tired. Not tired like tired from chasing three kids. Or tired from just finishing graduate school. But more tired than normal. My cooperating teacher had told me that I looked tired a couple times that week, but nothing had changed in my normal schedule.
2. I was hungry. It was the holiday season and I was eating lots of goodies and yet my clothes weren't getting the least bit tight. I felt like they should be, you know the cycle when you start to eat some good holiday food and your jeans get tight and then you think ,"Oh I need to work out,"....wasn't happening. I was really hungry all the time.
3. I was "late". I am never "late". Never have been since I was 12 years old. I am like hormonal clockwork. I was expecting to start by Tues or Wed at the latest and I was now 2 days late.
In the back of my mind, I knew I was pregnant.
I had told Jonathan Wednesday morning that I was waiting but I didn't feel anything, not a cramp or a mood swing. Thursday morning was the same. Friday, I was so busy with the kids that we barely talked about it until that night.
Saturday, Jonathan asked me if I was going to buy a pregnancy test.
I said, "I don't have time to go."
He said, "You are going to wait ALL weekend to take one?"
I said, "Unless you want to buy one, I don't have time."
So my sweet husband went and bought me our first pregnancy test.
I know you are supposed to use them in the morning for the best results, but as there are two in the pack I thought, well if it's negative I can take another in the morning just to check. So I went to use it in the afternoon when the kids were taking a nap and playing the wii.
But I knew already. I felt different. Those three things kept running through my head.
The stick turned blue immediately.
I stared at the stick. There was no question. I was excited. I was nervous. I couldn't believe that I was actually pregnant even though I knew I was.
I went outside and took a picture of the test, because I couldn't get a good picture inside.
Then I very calmly walked the stick upstairs to where Jonathan was playing with their 2-year-old.
I stood in the doorway and watched him play and he looked up at me. I nodded with a big grin on my face.
"You are?" He said.
Yes, I nodded my head.
And then he hugged me. The kind of hug that says way more than words ever could.
It was kind of surreal the rest of the day. We still had the three little kiddos to watch and we took them to Luminaries that night and fed them dinner and gave them baths and played wii...
but as we lay in bed that night, everything was different :)
It just so happens that this friend whose kids we were watching told me in an earlier conversation that one day I would always remember where I was when I took my first positive pregnancy test.
Little did I know it would be her bathroom ;)
We waited a WHOLE WEEK to tell our families because the following Saturday they would all be together for my graduation. It was the longest week of my life!
As I look at my sweet little boy today it's hard to believe it's been a year since I found out about him. It has gone so fast and yet seems like a long time ago at the same time!
I am so thankful for you, Micah Clark!
