April 9th, 2009 - "Is this what I think it is?!"

Paul and I really wanted to tell everyone about the news. Mainly to share our excitement with the people we love, but also just because it would be so much easier if everyone knew! It would explain some of the strange behaviors (not drinking caffeine, always being tired, not being able to remember anything). We'd hoped that we'd get the okay from our doctor to spread the word after the first sonogram. In fact, losing a week of the pregnancy meant we should wait even longer. The doctor suggested that we wait until at least 10 weeks to tell our families. By 10 weeks, we would have a 98% chance of a safe pregnancy (i.e., the risk of miscarriage would be down to 2%). As much as we hated to wait, the timing was actually good for us - it meant that we could wait until 10 weeks and tell our parents in person. Neither of us were very excited about sharing such important news over the phone. 

We'd been planning to visit my parents the second weekend in April to visit and deliver another surprise - a himalayan kitten. We secretly had the kitten for 3 weeks just waiting until we could get to Washington state. W also didn't just want to tell our parents. We wanted to something a little different, so we decided to make a copy of the sonogram photograph, put it in a frame, and wrap it up. We flew out the night of April 8th. My mom met news of the first surprise in the car on the way back from the airport. I sat in the back seat with her with the cat carrier between us. She was excited to see that I brought Remy (my youngest cat) for a visit. I explained that this one was actually for her ("Charlotte," now named Pasha). She already seemed overwhelmed by her first surprise.

We decided not to tell them until the next day. It was late at night and we didn't want the news of either surprise to overshadow the other. The next day we went out to Target to get some wrapping paper and to look for "I love Grandma and Grandpa" bibs. We didn't find the bibs, but we did find a scrap book for my mom. When we got back, we sat my mom down in my dad's office, gave her the gift bag, and told her to open it. She grabbed the picture frame first, and as she opened it, she said "Ooh, I love pictures!" She turned the frame over and looked at it for a second before exclaiming "Is that what I think it is?!" with a laugh. She started repeating that with tears in her eyes, laughing more. Dad was left confused, repeating "What? What is it?" Mom couldn't be bothered with getting him caught up. She was positively giddy at this point - crying and laughing and hugging Paul and I. We finally passed the picture to my dad who still wasn't sure what was going on. "What is this? What the hell is this?," not sure what he was looking at. Paul told him that it was our new pet turtle.

It was hard to wait that long to tell them, but we wouldn't have missed that reaction for the world. My mom kept saying how special this baby would be and was very happy to hear how well Paul was already taking care of both of us. We asked them what they wanted the baby to call them. Dad immediately said "Grumps." Done! All of us laughed and thought it was pretty appropriate. Mom's future name was less clear. She suggested "Grams" (vetoed), "Granny" (quickly vetoed), and reluctantly offered "Mom mom" (very luke warm). Paul suggested "G-money," which just may stick. Other names that might last are Nana (although Paul expects that Flossy will have first rights to it) and Nonni (Grandmother in Italian).