I have written a lot of things that I haven’t shared with you.  And because of that, I know what happened on February 24^th one year ago.   Here’s a little (lengthy) glimpse:

Conceiving K took us 13 cycles.  I told you earlier I was a spreadsheet person, so don’t act surprised that I knew that.  That’s not “forever”, but it feels like a long time when you’ve decided you’re ready.   Once we got pregnant, that pregnancy was smooth.  No blood pressure issues, no sugar issues, no swelling.  My weight gain was reasonable (for those with reasonable expectations) and all in all I felt pretty good the entire time!  We enjoyed taking belly pics, planning the nursery, had 4 showers thrown by far too generous friends, family, and coworkers, and soaked up all of the fun moments that pregnancy can bring.  Even the delivery was a smooth one.  My water broke in the middle of the night; we arrived at Labor and Delivery by 2:30 am, and had a beautiful, healthy, perfect baby boy in our arms by 11:44am.  He literally made eye contact with me the moment they handed him to me, and calmly held it while I talked to him.  I knew then he was something special.  He’s still something special.

Over the next two years we had multiple discussions about when and if to expand our family.  Do we definitely want more kids?  We want to try.  When should we start?  That’s a tough one.  We don’t want to rush it, but we don’t want to wait so long that fertility becomes more of an issue this time around.

We decided to start trying when our first son turns two.

Once we made that decision, the months waiting for “go time” seemed so long!  I started prenatal vitamins several months ahead of schedule just to get ready.  We wondered how long it would take.  I hoped to get pregnant by the following January (meaning it would take one year again).  K would be 3 and a half before the little brother or sister arrived.  We were such good planners!  We managed to wait until our goal.  My first ovulation window was right around K’s 2^nd birthday, so true to our plan, that’s when we tried for the first time.

Both Justin and I are career oriented as well.  We take our education and careers seriously, and try to support each other in seeking out challenges and growth.  Justin had just finished up with the PE exam, so we decided he could return the favor of taking the lead on evenings with K and house work, and I would study for the CPA exam.

My evenings were spent busily learning about equity method investments, derivative accounting, LIFO schedules, and other fascinating topics.  Justin and K were loving their man time.  This was working out nicely.

On the evening of February 24^th, I was particularly distracted in my studies.  For reasons I can’t fully explain, I decided to pull out a pregnancy test that was leftover from when we were trying for K.  I’m fairly sure it had expired.  And I wasn’t due for another day or two.  There was no reason for this test to work, but in case you haven’t figured it out, I was looking for a reason not to study that Sunday evening.

I quietly took my little test, went downstairs for a drink and a snack, then returned upstairs to the office to resume studying.  As I walked by I glanced at the test with no expectations.

Two lines.

TWO

LINES.

I looked closely at it again.  Can this be right?  Is this expired test faulty?  There’s no way we got pregnant on the first try.  That doesn’t happen to us.  Clear as day…two little pink lines stared back at me.