Adam and I have wanted to become parents since day one. In fact, long before we ever got engaged, I recognized him as the father of my future children, which is when I realized he was The One.
I stopped taking birth control last August, started taking prenatal vitamins, and have been charting my BBT (basal body temperature) every morning since then. However, Adam and I weren’t ready to try just yet because we were still in a holding pattern as far as life, career, and home went. Translation: I didn’t want to get knocked up while living with my parents. Additionally, as it turns out, living with parents = not so conducive to “sexy time.”
We decided we’d start trying for a baby at the beginning of the new year, when we’d both be living in Japan for my job, and when we’d finally have a space to call our own. Because I’d been keeping a fertility chart for several months, I was starting to recognize the pattern that my cycle was taking every month. I read a lot of fertility/pregnancy books, googled endlessly, and asked a ton of questions on several baby forums. I recommend reading “Taking Charge of Your Fertility” by Toni Weschler – it takes all the guesswork out of our lady parts, unveils the mystery, stamps out taboo, and explains exactly what goes on down there. It was really fascinating to read about how my body was designed to work, and then watch it happen, just like clockwork, every month.
Fast forward to now, when we’re living in Japan… January 11th marked our 2 year anniversary. A couple weeks later, after watching my temperature stay up for 18 days straight after ovulation (13 was the norm – known as the luteal phase), and noticing the absence of “Aunt Flo,” I knew something was up.
I waited till I was about a week late, and we took the pregnancy test today… I say “we” because Adam was right there with me, sitting on the bathtub while I peed on the stick. He set the stopwatch and we waited. Longest 3 minutes of our lives, let me tell you. We were so giddy and excited, but I kept telling myself, ‘if it’s negative, that’s okay. It’s only the second month we’ve been trying… we can try again next month.’
I’ve been kind of nervous about the whole thing because I’m 31 years old and I keep reading how our fertility declines after your 20s. I also have had friends who have had trouble getting pregnant, are going through or have gone through fertility treatments, or have suffered miscarriages. Reading about infertility, miscarriages, and how common they are doesn’t help either. Adam says I’m the only person he knows who develops more worries and fears the more information I collect. Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?
But lo and behold… three minutes later, I peeked through my fingers and the test showed TWO lines! We’re PREGNANT! Hallelujah! We got all teary-eyed, we hugged, we danced around the bathroom, we laughed… it was such a magical moment. We are so thrilled, excited, nervous, giddy, amazed… we see God’s unmistakeable plan working in our lives every single day. We are truly, truly blessed.
We’re waiting until we’re back in the country (end of March!) to share the news with our family. We can hardly wait.
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