Backtracking

Since Jude is nearing his first birthday, I’ve got some catching up to do.  Fortunately, before he was born, I did a pretty decent job of keeping a pregnancy journal, so I can zip quickly through all this part.

To say Jude was an accident would be 100% false!  Was the pregnancy unplanned for at that moment in time?  Our answer would be…maybe :)  But, we’re firm believers that God had a plan for Jude Thomas Gardner before we did.  And for that, we’re thankful.  

The anxiousness surrounding any first-time pregnancy is imminent.  But, ours was heightened by the fact that this was a surprise, I’m a little bit of a spaz, and I had NO friends who had been through this.  I knew nothing.  First off, how did we really know something was growing inside of me?  Sure, this stick had a plus sign, and I was a little tired, but I wasn’t going to buy into this whole pregnancy thing until a doctor said, “Yes, you are pregnant.”  And, can you believe it, but the doctor doesn’t even want to see you to tell you that until you are 7 weeks along?  Isn’t that crazy?  I had a life growing inside of me, and needed some direction, but they didn’t want to tell me what to do with it until 7 weeks!

We decided to wait until we were past the first trimester to tell family and friends.  A few select friends knew of the pregnancy from the very beginning, but they were sworn to secrecy.  Hiding it from everyone else wasn’t easy, but it was fun holding on to this little secret with Lonnie.  When the time came to tell family, I think I stalled a few more days than necessary because I knew this was going to shake up a lot of worlds, and the excitement and fondling over my belly would not be contained.  Our baby would be the first grandchild on both sides, so we knew our family would flip.  And they did, everyone was SO shocked.  We announced the pregnancy with a onesie that read “I love my grandma (or grandpa, aunt, uncle)  Due 2/23/10”.  Some were slower than others in realizing what that message meant, ahem, Whitney.  But, everyone was thrilled.  Madness ensued; everyone knew that a new life was coming into the world.