Feb.12th

One year ago, today, we found out we were having a baby. Feb. 12th is our Valentine's Day. It seems like yesterday that I went to Target, praying no one would see me, walked down the aisle with the tests, quickly knocked a test into my basket and ran to the checkout. After taking numerous tests that screamed "You're pregnant!!!" I called Kristie and made her go to the Dr's office with me. We came up with a plan to tell Brad, which involved my Godkids, and told him at Kristie's house that night. Apparently our plan didn't work very well, because he thought we were telling him that Kristie and Jose were expecting another baby! haha. I remember, after getting over the shock, dreaming about a growing belly and wondering how we'd decorate the nursery. I remember trying to imagine what it would be like during the ultrasound to find out if we were having a boy or a girl (truth be known, we both really wanted a boy). I remember being terrified about delivery and invisioning bringing him/her home from the hospital a few days after birth. We knew immediately that if it was a boy he'd be "John Carter" and a girl would be "Bridgette" (we still can't think of a middle name that goes with it). [as a side note, one of Carter's favorite nurses at Duke is Brigit Carter--it was fate!]



But, I never imagined what the future really held in store for us. It didn't even cross my mind to think that we'd have anything but a perfectly normal pregnancy and a perfectly perfect little baby. Ten fingers, ten toes. We certainly weren't worried about a silly ol' diaphragm. There are multiple sets of multiples in my family, so that was the only concern we had--how many little ones were growing in there? I knew we could handle twins; Mia & Tyler taught me that you can handle twins as long as you have Cheerios in stock! Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that in a few months, we'd be told that our child has a life-threatening condition; that he'd have surgery soon after birth; that he wouldn't be able to breathe on his own; that his birth would be anything but normal; that my entire pregnancy would be tainted with the thought that my baby might die.



It's amazing to me how much has happened in just one year. Our lives have been completely changed. We have a miracle, in the flesh, who giggles, cries, sleeps, poops, eats... But, when he cries, we're thankful he CAN cry and when he's two and colors all over the walls, we'll be thankful that he's alive to color on the walls. It brings me to tears to think of the gift we've been given.



Thank you for continuing to share our journey with us.