The day my dreams came true!

Tomorrow is April 13th. Last year, on April 13th it snowed. How do I remember that? Well, I remember everything about that day. . .it's the day that I found out I was pregnant.

It was a Friday and before work that day, I headed to the doctor's office. They required a pregnancy test each month before starting on the medications again. Usually, I had taken numerous home pregnancy tests beforehand, but not that month. I hadn't taken a single one. I was tired of wasting money on them. I had developed, what they believed, was OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. I was pretty uncomfortable and having a lot of cramping and the only thing they allowed me to take was Tylenol (which did nothing to help.) I was supposed to go in on the 16th, but they wanted me to come in sooner so that if I wasn't pregnant, I could take something to get relief.

Afterwards, I headed into work and my cell phone rang at 10:30 am. Normally, I called in to a messaging system to get my test results a few hours later. When I picked up the phone and it was Dr. Tjaden, I figured he was calling about the OHSS. But, then. . .he matter-of-factly said that my pregnancy level was 297. "My. . .what? I'm pregnant?" I asked. "You are VERY pregnant!" he said. You see, pregnancy tests detect a hormone called HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin.) It takes about 2 weeks for this hormone to be at a detectable level, which for home pregnancy tests, is about 25-50. With mine being so high, my doctor informed me of the chance that not only was I pregnant, but pregnant with multiples. My head was spinning. I immediately called Ryan to tell him the news and then I somehow had to get through the rest of the day at work.

April 13th is also a special day because it is my niece's birthday. Upon arriving home from work, Ryan and I decided to go tell the family. Because it was snowing heavily, we didn't make it to everyone's house that night. Our first stop was Dillons to buy a dozen flowers and we headed over to Joel and Laura's. Laura was in the middle of giving voice lessons, but I gave Julia her flowers with a little card that read," I thought you might like some flowers by the dozen. . .I also thought you'd like to know, you're getting a new cousin." It worked out really well since Joel had her read the card aloud. Laura stopped her voice lesson and everyone was ecstatic. Afterwards, we headed over to my parents'. I gave them a frame with a little poem (of course) that read:

I do not have a face to see
Or put inside a frame.
I do not have soft cheeks to kiss.
I don’t yet have a name.

You can’t yet hold my tiny hands,
Nor whisper in my ear.
It’s still too soon to sing a song
Or cuddle me so near.

But, all will change come December
That’s when they say I’m due.
I’m your new grandchild
And I cannot wait to meet you.

All I ask between now and then
Are your prayers while I grow
And pray for mommy and daddy too
(They tried hard for me, you know.)

I cannot wait until I learn
Of God’s wondrous plan for me
I cannot wait until I become
Part of this family.

Now, I didn't write this poem. . .I found it online and merely altered it to fit our situation. It took awhile for my parents to realize what it meant. What an amazing day that was. . .one of the happiest days of my life and one that I'll always remember.