Telling Baby Sharpie’s “Aunties”

Today we are celebrating Kim’s birthday, and the plan is to spend the day hanging out at the pool at the new W hotel, go up to our room and get changed, hit the bars at night and spend the night at the W. I had told Kim on Thursday that I was pregnant, and I also told Cristibelle (who is also pregnant – about 8 weeks ahead of me). My initial plan was to try to get away without telling anyone else…with Kim and Belle knowing I was pregnant, I figured they could ward off the alcohol which was sure to head in my direction. :) We are really early in the pregnancy (I was 4 weeks and 3 days at this point) and I know that the proper “protocol” is to wait until 12 weeks before telling the world. T.J. of course had didn’t think I’d be able to make it through the first hour (he knows me so well). Regardless, it had been awhile since I hung out with the girls, so I was excited for the day.

I picked up Shannon, Doreen and Corinne, and we headed to the W. When we got to the hotel, we met Julie, Lisa and Cheryl in the hotel room. As I walked into the hotel room, Julie pretty much thrust a bottle of vodka in my face and said "drink this cocktail or i know you're pregnant!" I pulled her in the bathroom and told her that I was pregnant and that I was going to try to keep it quiet for a little bit. And we tried to keep a lid on it for awhile. I made it through a few hours, dodging vodka being poured into my drink from Lisa’s stash in her beach bag and going in the hot tub with Cheryl and Doreen, but a turkey gouda sandwich threw me over the edge. We were sitting around the pool and decided to order lunch, and Corinne and I were going to share a meal. I was scanning the menu, and there seemed to be so many things that a pregnant person wasn’t supposed to eat. After much debate with Corinne on what we should order (which she is already like, "why are you so picky today") we settle on the turkey gouda wrap and in the back of my mind I’m thinking "OK, I’ll just take off the gouda, whatever." But Julie happens to be around (luckily :)) and she says "you can't eat that!" and I was like "I’m taking off the cheese" and she said, "no, the turkey!" and then i remembered she's right, deli meats are supposed to be a no no unless they are heated, so I just stared at her and I was like "this is really hard!" and she said "Just spill it, sista!" LOL and so I just blurted out “I’m pregnant!” and you could hear my friend's squealing from a block away! It was so much fun. And for anyone who is concerned, I ended up having a veggie wrap (and caramel popcorn!)

If I hadn't been with all of them that day/night, I’m sure I would have waited, but these girls have been through so much with me, and I would share with them anyway if (god forbid) something bad happened, so I was happy to share this great news with them.

by the time it was time for us to go out at night....there were only 5 of us left (Cheryl, Kim, Lisa, Julie and me) - and we were hanging out in the Living Room at the W and Kim thought we should confirm my pregnancy (I think she saw me lusting after the basil martini) so she sent the concierge to go buy a digital EPT test that says "pregnant" just to be super sure. (The concierge at the W says they will do “whatever, whenever” and they really mean it!) About 30 minutes later, he showed up in the Living Room with the test and Cheryl and I went into the bathroom, and guess what… yes, I was still pregnant! It was a great night.

Oh My God, WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

Written by Jen: We had been “trying” to get pregnant for a couple of months, so I had a general idea as to when I could test and see if I was pregnant. Yesterday was the day, and I used a cheap generic HPT that T.J. bought, and I thought I saw a faint line, but I couldn’t tell. I figured I’d try again this morning with another test and maybe it would be more clear. This morning, same story, I thought I saw a line, but I couldn’t be sure. I had T.J. take a look, he didn’t see anything until he compared it to an unused one, then thought *maybe* he saw a line… but we weren’t sure. I even brought them both into work to ask my coworker, Jen, what she thought. After some research and Googling, Jen decided I needed to use a digital test (and even found me a coupon for one) so we agreed I would buy the digital one and try again in the morning.

That night I had a board meeting for the Boys and Girls Club, which happened to be in the same shopping center as Target, so after the meeting, I went over to Target and purchased the digital pregnancy test. I was going to wait until the next morning, but... I couldn’t. When I got home, I went right into the bathroom and took the test. TJ was working on our new floors, and I didn’t want to tell him that I bought another pregnancy test (we still had a bunch of those less-accurate ones) since he thinks I spend too much money on all "that pregnancy stuff". When I saw the words “PREGNANT” I couldn’t believe it!

We had been trying and we both wanted this baby so badly, but I still couldn’t believe it. My legs got a little weak and I had to sit down as I felt a bit dizzy. For a brief moment (very brief), I considered not telling TJ until we were ready for bed because I really wanted him to finish the floors :) but, of course, I couldn’t even hold in the excitement, so I ran out and shoved the test in his face. He was adorable, so excited, smiling ear to ear, picking me up, hugging and kissing me and rubbing my belly, (even giving himself a “way to go” pat on his back) – it was an amazing moment. Of course the floors didn’t get finished, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.