How We Found Out

We always knew we wanted to start a family, but figuring out the best timing seemed to be a little tricky! Seth and I got married on October 1, 2016 and decided to spend our first few years as a married couple traveling, working on our hobbies and saving up to buy our first home! During Spring 2019 there were a lot of changes going on with my job, which came with a lot of uncertainty. I decided to start looking for a new position in the Fall. Seth and I had discussed we would start trying for a baby by the end of 2019. Let me also be clear, I'm a December baby and I know how it feels to have a birthday so close to other major holidays (literally I'm smack dab in the middle of Thanksgiving and Christmas). It makes life a little more complicated and Seth always seems to claim his wallet hurts a little bit more during this season ;) so when we talked about having kids, I knew I wanted to try and avoid a December baby as much as possible. I know, no matter how much I try to plan my life, God is always in control and has as bigger plan for me. But I was determined LOL. Well long story short, I ended up getting a new job and started with The Mirage in December! Which kind of put having a baby on the back burner. I knew it was going to be a stressful position and our busiest time of year with NFR Rodeo, New Year's Eve and Super Bowl right after. So we decided to hold off for a little bit. But I quickly realized life is too short to put this off for much longer. I even spoke with my boss who told me the exact same thing. I had heard so many stories of women in the Hospitality Industry that regretted not starting sooner and putting their career first before family. Knowing that, we decided January was going to be a good time to start trying.

Fast forward a few weeks later to February 11, 2020...

I typically wake up around 4:30 AM to workout before I leave for work. When I went into the bathroom to get ready for my class, I thought about taking a pregnancy test. I had taken one a few days prior on Sunday before church and it was negative. To be honest, this was my first time taking a test so I wasn't quite sure how it all worked. But my cycle was supposed to start that week. I even thought about buying an ovulation kit if we didn't get pregnant right away, that's the planner in me! So I took the test before I started getting ready and honestly forgot about it for a few minutes. When I went back to check I assumed it was going to be negative but to my surprise it read PREGNANT! I was in shock! Then I looked over at Seth, obviously he's still sound asleep --- who wakes up this early! But all of these thoughts started racing through my head... My heart started racing, hands slightly shaking... maybe it's not real, maybe it's a fluke. I didn't want to get my hopes up but we had talked and prayed about this for our family and I really thought it would take longer to get pregnant. Then I realized we'll have a Fall baby, I LOVE Fall! Our anniversary is in October then Halloween along with all of the best holidays. It's a special season! Then I thought about how we would share the news with our family and friends. I knew our parents were going to be so happy. If you don't know, Seth and I were High School sweethearts so this has been a long time coming! I knew I had to wake Seth up and tell him before I left for the gym. How could I not!?! As I'm almost done getting ready, he slowly starts waking up and turned on the TV to play in the background. I go over and said "look at this!" as I handed him the pregnancy test. **Mind you he's half asleep** He smiles and tries to squint as he looks at the stick. Poppy, our first baby (she's our Goldendoodle), is all excited now too and trying to grab the stick from him. He goes, "Is it a plus sign?!" Little did he know, we splurged on the digital tests ;) so it clearly reads "PREGNANT" in bold letters. He looks at me, smiles and slightly laughs with this shocked look on his face and goes "I guess your mom was right!" Rewind to many many years ago when my mom gave me "the talk" and reminded me that our family has always been extra fertile so I need to be careful. Well....she wasn't lying! We laughed and both laid there for a few minutes before I had to go. It was a peaceful moment between us as we realized, this is it...

We're going to be parents!