Finding out about YOU, Baby!

Some background...

Brian and I had talked with two couples that we have met over the years that are BOTH in (or were in) medical school, like us. We could talk to couples all day long where one or the other was in medical school, but really there is absolutely nothing like both being tied down to medical school and so we really wanted to trust those who had gone before us and knew exactly what we were up against when it came to medical school, residency, and beginning a job as a physician. We had always planned to wait until residency to have our first baby; however, after talking to both of these couples, neither of which knew each other, theyboth strongly urged usto try to have a baby in medical school first instead of residency. It totally caught us off guard, but we really took it to heart and started talking to EVERYone who mattered in the Ross U. School of Medical administration office in New Jersey to see how this wouldwork for us, especially for me, the momma. It turned out that this was something that happened fairly often and that there were already some procedures in place to ensure a very smooth transition. I also met a General Surgery resident who had a baby in college, in medical school, and in residency- and SHE said that the easiest transition was in medical school. As we kept talking to everyone, & explored our options in Michigan (because we knew we loved it there and wanted to stay), it really became apparent that this hospital was the perfect place to have a raise a baby for medical students, and that the program we would be with would be every bit supportive (something very uncommon in as conservative of a field as medicine is). I will leave the specifics of this baby's "coming to existence" for a non-blog conversation :) but let's just say... we were not expecting a baby this soon or this out of the blue!

Back to the story...

As I have mentioned before, we were in Texas for the summer, starting in April, to study for our big test, take the test, then spend some down time with our families and friends before the real challenge of clinical rotations begin in the hospital this fall. Because my parents were doing a complete and total remodel of their house in the middle of these weeks, and because there were several events that, being back in Texas, we did NOT want to miss (Lindsey's graduation from college, Parent's Weekend with Allison & Brian's family), we ended up traveling ALL over Texas and the DFW metroplex in the middle of studying for this test. (Side note: looking back, I believe God has a reason for everything, and as antsy as I get being in one place for too long, I think He did it for my own good.)

Two weeks before the test, I travelled to Lubbock with my sister, Lindsey, while she was in an NCLEX-prep class at Texas Tech so that I could get a different study environment for a while and spend some alone time with her. Brian and I had decided not to tell anyone about when we would start trying to have a family and just wanted to keep it for us. But for some reason on this trip I just had a desire to tell her; I asked Brian and he said of course, so I did. She was super-excited, to say the least. But I told her that it would probably happen towards the end of summer or fall, and we left it at that.

Saturday night, I shared a margarita with Lindsey. Yep. Monday night, I wanted a glass of wine with dinner, but I just didn't feel like I should without taking another test. We had to go

to the grocery store anyways, so I grabbed one and literally had ZERO inkling of it being positive, so much so that I almost just did it in the grocery store bathroom but they were closed for cleaning! So instead I went home and took the test and just threw it on the counter and didn't think anything of it. All of a sudden though, I started to see what looked like the vertical line that would make out a plus sign! OH MY WORDDDDDD. I thought, "There is absolutely no way I am seeing this right, I must be seeing a shadow." But as I looked harder, and looked at it from about a million angles I might add, it still looked like a plus sign. I opened the door, and walked out slowly with my hand over my mouth. Lindsey saw me and said, "Is it positive???" I said, "Lindsey, I think it's POSITIVE. Go look!" She looked and said, "Britt, that is positive. WE HAVE TO GET THREE MORE TESTS!" hahaha. I will never forget that part! The nurse in her yelling "We have to get three more tests!" So literally, we packed up and went to the grocery store and bought a pack of three while I chugged water like I was walking through the Sahara. We got home and the next one was positive again, and the third one was negative (most likely too dilute by this point!). We are both crazy medical people, and even though we knew what this most likely meant, we could not sleep that night until we KNEW. So we did what any normal, logical person would do... we WENT TO THE ER. I am not an ER person at all... but I was in Lubbock and obviously had no doctor or any ties to anyone I knew there at all, so ER it was. The people in there probably thought I was off my rocker coming in at 10pm at night for a serum HCG test.

We were taken back to the administrative office pretty quick for paperwork. While giving them my insurance info and reason for coming in, she asked if I was here because of an accident. And I said, "Well it depends on how you look at it." :) Haha! She laughed and so did my sister, and I think it lightened the mood a little. :) We were taken back and the nurse practitioner on duty had the nurse take my blood, and then we waited. Linds and I had both brought study material so I sat on the bed and worked on things as best I could and Linds did the same. The NP came back in, somewhat stoic, and said, "So were you TRYING to get pregnant?" What do you even say to that?! I briefly muttered, "Well um kinda, but..." and he said, "Well, you're going to need this!" and handed me a prescription for Prenatal vitamins. :) It was actually really awkward but I think he was trying to make it very special so Linds and I definitely appreciated that. :) As we walked out the doors down the hall the nurse said, "Congratulations!" and that's when it actually felt kind of real! Outside we took a picture (as secretly as we could, ha!) and I could not believe, first of all, that I found out in LUBBOCK, of all places! And that I had borrowed Lindsey's Texas Tech sweatshirt (sinful!!) to wear that day, so it showed up in the pictures! Mom later told me that she found out she was pregnant with me while in Lubbock, so that made it better. :)

Brian had told me a long time ago that once we were pregnant, he wanted a big production for telling him about it! He said that he had to plan the perfect proposal, so this should be something I should do for him. Ridiculous, right? :) So I had to wait a WEEK, until that Friday, to tell him!!! It was TORTURE! Luckily, I did have two friends who had known that we were nearing the "possibly trying" phase, and I wanted to save the fun surprise emails and calls for everyone else, so I texted them both at midnight with a simple text of "Are you up?!" Kristy texted back "Actually, yeah!" and Sarah texted back "Congratulations!" which absolutely cracked me up! So for the next week I had to keep it between those two girls and Lindsey, which was so hard to do! Lindsey also called her boyfriend that night, because we were going to need his help getting some "supplies" from my parents house in DFW for the big reveal that would happen that weekend. She called him and said, "We're PREGNANT!" hahaha! She forgets that well, SHE'S not pregnant, but she has always felt this baby is somewhat hers. :)

That evening was absolutely crazy and from start to end it was just a TOTAL shock to find out about you, baby! I could not wait to tell your Daddy and the rest of the people who love you already!