Best Day of My Life

The best day of my life, I remember very clearly. October 6, 2008. I remember that date because it was the day I cut off 16 inches of my hair to donate to Locks of Love in honor of my mother who had been diagnosed with cancer 4 days before my wedding. It was the day I peed on a stick that told me I was expecting a baby.

Most people say that their wedding day is the best day of their life, and mine was pretty darned good, but to be honest, it was hampered by the news of my mom's upcoming ordeals. But, her and my father were by my side, I had my amazing friends and family around me, and I was marrying the man I love... so all in all, it was worth it. :)

To me, though, the moment that digital EPT stick blinked on 'pregnant,' my eyes flooded with tears of joy. Just remembering the moment gets me a little bleary. I have to admit, I am one lucky woman. I did not even imagine that I would get pregnant so easily! Rob and I were married on August 16, 2008. Previous to marrying, we had discussed our desire for children, and luckily we were both on the same page. We want babies!!! We were both 32 at the time of the wedding and were very ready to be parents.

I have always had a love for children, and even have a knack for working with them, which I use in my field of work as a speech-language pathologist. Being a mother is something I have wanted for as long as I could remember. There's no better feeling that having a little bundle of love fall asleep on you. Being over 30, though, I was becoming very aware of that biological clock. My original, and pragmatic, goal when I was younger was to have my first child before the age of 30 because the health benefits are so great. Yes, I am a goober, that IS why I wanted my first before 30. But I also know that once you reach 35, it becomes increasingly difficult to get pregnant, and I couldn't imagine my life ending up as me NOT being a mother (I had semi-jokingly told my parents that if I hadn't meet Mr. Right before I hit 35, that they shouldn't ask how I got pregnant)

So Rob and I decided to start trying immediately. When I got my period a week after the wedding, we were a little sad, but only a little as we'd only been trying for a week. Once I got home from the honeymoon, I started reading about ovulation and such and learned about when the best times to conceive were (12 days after the first day of your period if you're curious). I figured it would take us a while to conceive as Rob and I are both large people and hadn't been eating very well the month of the wedding. Also, Rob drinks WAY too much coffee, and like any good Irishman, enjoys his Guinness, which can impact the quality of the sperm, if you must know. So I started to eat healthy and cut out tea as much as possible, and Rob curbed his libations. I even went out and bought ton of baby books for conceiving and eating healthy, etc.

But the Gods of pregnancy smiled upon us, because apparently before we even bought the books, I was pregnant! From the date of the wedding, it took us about 3 weeks to conceive. I am still simply gobsmacked by that. My brother and his wife took 2 weeks to conceive, so I suppose we're just an abnormally fertile family. I just really assumed it would take me longer due to my weight. So seeing that stick say 'pregnant' was just about the most amazing thing I had ever seen. And I've now entered my newest cycle of life called motherhood.... which I really hope I don't screw up too much!!! :)