It Just Got Real

Same old same old

For some reason I was expecting a lot of immediate changes both physically, mentally and emotionally but the reality was we carried on as usual like nothing new had happened. My wife still had the same slim physic as usual, conversations with each other remained the same with only a small portion discussing baby stuff and activities together stayed constant. It was.....a little weird but also a little comforting. Your world doesn't all of the sudden turn upside down because a + sign showed up on a stick and that relieved some of the anxiety of me preparing to be a dad. I had time (about 8 months) to prepare, learn and plan.

The first of many changes

Although my wife told her closest friends and we told close relatives at Christmas, we had decided to wait to tell everyone else the big news until the three month mark. That was proving to be a little difficult as there are unavoidable signs that people pick up on. Let me preface that my wife and I had a fairly outgoing social life and by that I mean we would, on a fairly regular basis, go out to dinner, attend various social functions, visit a local tavern, host dinner parties, etc. If there was one constant it would be that there were beverages of the alcohol variety. That's not to say we over did it....but that did happen on occasion. What I'm trying to say is that people were picking up on cues that raised suspicions. Coupled with the fact that my wife was no longer able to participate on our co-ed volleyball team, she had to decline signing up for spring and summer soccer and the ever growing bump on her stomach, it was getting more and more difficult to keep the pregnancy a secret.

Alas, the time had come. We could finally officially share the news. We did not make any grand announcement on Facebook or anything like that. We simply told friends, extended family, colleagues as it came up. For example.

Work colleague: "Good morning"
Me: "I impregnated my wife"

I'm paraphrasing there but that's how it came up in conversation organically.

It was right around that time where my wife still only had a little bump and we both thought "should it not be bigger at this point?". Then in the span of about 72 hours she doubled in size and it was evident that she had "a bun in the over".

We signed up for prenatal classes with the city, started to compare and shop for baby furniture, get unsolicited birthing and parenting advice, received a few hand me downs ....basically things just got real.

Next up: The Lists