Ladies and Gentlemen, I am happy to inform you that your regularly scheduled program no longer exists.
You see, Hell Week was a little more eventful than we anticipated. But then again, would one expect anything less from the Best household than me discovering that I will be going (cold turkey) caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and ibuprofen free for the next 9 months during what is arguably the most stressful week of our lives? What's life without a little high-level drama??
I was empathetic enough to wait until DHB finished his last exam on Friday (which he survived beautifully by the way) to break the news so that we could enjoy and process without distractions. With the board exams over and life changing good news... well.. As you might imagine, there were dropped jaws, tears, laughter, and lots and lots of napping.
DHB is incredibly superstitious (a quality I find ridiculously endearing in a scientist) and I'm just paranoid (not quite as endearing under any circumstances). That said, we decided to wait until we heard a heartbeat to tell the world...
---Let me just pause for a minute and explain. I take secret keeping to an extreme. I am incapable of superficial small talk, so if I'm sitting on something that I can't share, I find the easiest way to do this is to go off the grid. That's why you haven't heard from me since the day I discovered the news. Sorry about that!----
This was the longest 11 weeks of my life but two weeks ago we heard a heartbeat that reverberated off of the walls. Two days later, we had our first ultrasound (again, more jaw dropping, tears, laughter - and there's always napping these days). This child, whom we will refer to as 'MoonPie' until it makes its debut (and possibly after), was literally bouncing off of the walls. It was like watching a game of pinball. The child was bouncing like it was on a trampoline, twisting, flipping, waving, kicking and just generally having a complete and total blast. That's my kid, always entertained and never a dull moment! My mother says the hyper activity is because he's a boy. My Kara says that its because the child has access to decades of extreme caffeine reserves that could fuel the army of a moderate sized country.
So, moon pie is scheduled to make the big debut on May 3rd, but who really knows. The biggest lesson I have learned from the first phase of this experience.... you can not predict, plan, schedule, or manage this experience. As you might imagine, this is a MASSIVE revelation for me... but amazing all the same. For the first time in my life I truly have almost no control of my body, my mind, my emotions, my reactions, or my needs and wants and I can honestly say, I have never been happier. I have never been more relaxed and I have never been so excited to be surprised each and every single day. I'd say so far, this is an amazing introduction to our grandest adventure yet.
Its good to be back! I've missed this!
