We just bought our first house, and Matthew had already torn down a wall the second day we moved in because he couldn’t watch the game while in the kitchen. Oh, Lord help us. Our first major renovation… scratch that, our first RENOVATION period. We’re quick to blow through our savings to finally build our dream kitchen from scratch.
We’re excited,
we’re pumped, and then….
we’re SURPRISED!
Well first things first, I had just gotten off birth control, and the doctor told us we had 3-6 months until we could actually get pregnant. We thought, awesome, that’s plenty of time. Little did we know, we conceived the week I stopped taking birth control! I give all credit to this prenatal I was taking for my skin and hair that made my body SO ready to make babies. Rewind a little to peeing on a stick, now that was a trip. My first one came up blank; pulled out the second one… and a question mark pops up… WHAT IS GOING ON!? I figured it’s all in my head and I ignored it for a few more weeks. It sort of hit me when I randomly fell asleep mid-day out of nowhere in the middle of a conversation with my parents and Matthew. They joked and asked why I was so tired? If only you could see my face when realization hit. Procrastination drains from my system and I take another test quicker than you can say “baby” and sure enough I see a “YES”… and I’m thinking…
Yes what? “Yes, you’re going to have a baby and you need to start buying diapers RIGHT now”, or “Yes, you can continue renovating your kitchen and carefree spending?”
Still in denial, I decided to get confirmation from the doctor letting them know I don’t think I’m pregnant and an ultrasound is really unnecessary. Disregarding my ignorance, they put the stick thingy and some goop on my stomach and immediately I see a little peanut on the screen and a fast-thumping sound fills my ears. Shocked at what’s going on I ask the doctor,
“What is that?!”
She laughs and says, “That’s your baby. You’re 8 weeks.” EIGHT WEEKS!? What the hell have I been doing for 8 weeks? I’m filled with so many emotions as she prints out pictures of the little human. I drive realllllly slow back home debating on when, how, and what to tell Matthew. A wave of excitement washes over me and I decide I want him to be just as surprised as I was, so I wrap up our little peanut’s ultrasound to give to him for his birthday.
So, turns out I couldn’t make it to his birthday. I waited about a week and cracked. Deciding at 11pm middle of the work week, during the football game, after he had just finished washing all the dishes to make him open an early birthday gift is not the way to go. Let’s just say his enthusiasm to open the gift did not match mine. However, once he opened it, he was surprised, then excited, then full of happy tears. I recorded him, but then I cut the video off so that no one could see us both sobbing in each other’s arms uncontrollably.
I do have to show my mother-in-law’s reaction video of us spilling the beans because… it’s just too good not to share.
Fast forward to week 39 of an easy basically symptom-less pregnancy and 30 pounds later, I wake up and I feel like I wet the bed! (I know, sorry, pregnancy can be gross). I disregard it, take a shower, and start packing our lunches for work. On our commute in, I casually tell Matthew, “I thought for a second my water broke this morning.” He immediately starts asking a million questions and texting all of his friends and family. I tell him, “It’s nothing and I don’t want to be late for work!” Our friend Demo is frantically calling us both at this point, adding more pressure to go to the hospital, my contractions are getting stronger, and Matthew’s demanding response was something like this, “I’ve been timing your contractions, they are 5 minutes apart, you’re ignoring your pain, and we’re going to the hospital.” I roll my eyes and let him drive me straight to the hospital. At 8am… calmly walking up to the front desk, the staff asks, “How can I help you?”
“Hi, I think we’re in labor.”
Just so you know I was completely fine UNTIL we actually got to the hospital. They confirm my water did actually break and it was in fact “Go Time”. I must say Matthew is one hell of a breathing coach for watching youtube videos of lamas classes on our walk from the waiting room to the labor & delivery room, because he got me through to 7cm without any drugs within a few short hours. Even the nurses were in denial that this baby was coming out anytime soon. The nurse came back from her hour lunch and panicked when she basically felt the head coming out. Of course, our doctor was not in the building, no one was ready and what was once a quiet room of Matthew, and I, and my 4 minute miserable contractions, it turned into a zoo full of people running around prepping tables and shouting for supplies and instruments. The doctor did end up giving me an epidural around 7cm dilated, thinking I had a lot of time left. Had I known it would be less than an hour later I would have just toughed it out. I pushed for 25-30 minutes and boom… there was our little sumo-wrestling looking baby. No seriously, we both looked at each other and said whose baby is that? She was a tiny 7lbs 9oz, with the chubbiest pillow cheeks, full thick black hair, small almond shaped eyes, and the most beautiful thing we’d ever seen.
Welcome to our world little Pia Hope Harvey!
Come to find out, Asian and Caucasian genes overpower Jamaican genes and Pia looked just like me (for now). Sorry babe.
Our little peanut finally arrived and she’s beyond our expectations. God blessed us with this little surprise and what an amazing, rewarding and joyous journey this was, is, and will be! We love you, our little Sweet P!
We’ve heard the craziest birth stories! What are your birth stories? Comment below!
P.S. How did you get ready for baby, and what kind of baby shower did you have?
