Surprise!

So many, should be all, of you know now that we are expecting our second child! Since I'm counting on the fact that most of you know, I'm going to tell you guys the story of how we found out number two was on the way!


Many years ago, I wrecked while dirtbiking and tore some cartilage in my right shoulder. For years, I dealt with it but shortly after Jayson came home from deployment, the pain was getting to be pretty bad and I decided to look into my options. After a painful procedure that was done to determine the extent of the damage inside, it was obvious that I would need surgery. I completed six weeks of physical therapy and had every intention of continuing with the surgery. I was graduating from Stevens-Henager in a few weeks and decided to wait until afterwards to set up the surgery. However, the surgery wasn't in my cards at that time; becoming a mommy was! I found out I was pregnant in June and the surgery had to be put back.

Fast forward a little more than a year and it was August of 2011. I had a six month old and was going back to school. We finally had health insurance again and decided that it was time to do the surgery. I had to redo the physical therapy section and we had to wait on approval from my insurance before we could proceed any further. Waiting for the approval took a lot longer than we anticipated; we didn't receive approval until the middle of January. Even though we knew it would be hard having my dominant hand in a sling for anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months with a soon-to-be-one year old at home and being math class that semester, we decided to go ahead and schedule the surgery.

February 1st. My surgery day. I was incredibly anxious because I was going to need so much help to do just the daily things, like getting dressed and washing my hair; let alone taking care of my family but I knew it needed done. We went to the surgery center to check in and do the last bit of paperwork before I had surgery. Jayson's dad, Jay, stayed home from work to watch Peyton and help us after we were done. We went sure how long the surgery was going to take since it was a pretty complicated one; I had gone through three doctors before I found one who was willing to take the case, but I was prepared for whatever needed to be done or so I thought!

Jayson and I were called back into the room and I was told that I needed to undress and put on the hospital gown and booties. For those women who have had surgery or that work in the medical field, you know that a pregnancy test is always customary for women before a procedure, just to be sure. They told me while I was changing, to go ahead and give them a sample to test. No problem, I knew I wasn't pregnant because I had just had my monthly visitor.

After I was done changing, my nurse came back into my room and started to hook up my IVs and the necessary tubes I would need during surgery. We started in on the small talk and I told her that we had one little boy at home who would be having his first birthday soon. I also explained to her that I had had to postpone this surgery back in 2010 because I became pregnant with him. She laughed and said "Well I'm glad I can take care of you today!" Seconds, if that, after saying those words, a voice called my nurse's name from beyond the partition.

"Julie, can you come out here for a second??"
Julie looked at me, smiled and said "I will be right back to finish getting you prepped." I told her that it was fine, that I was in no hurry to go because my nerves had started to kick in by this point.
Jayson was sitting in a seat behind my right shoulder, checking the latest news on the upcoming Superbowl and I turned to say something to him but was interrupted by the curtain in front of me being pulled back. I saw my nurse, Julie, and a second nurse who I assumed was the voice from a minute ago. Julie had gloves on and was holding a paper towel in her hand and she had a look on her face that was a mixture of shock, amusement and excitement. Before I could register what that look could possibly mean, she asked me the age old question....

"Jenifer, when was your last period??"
"....uh, a couple days ago, I thought..." was all I was able to say.
"Well honey, this test says that you're pregnant," and from behind her, the second nurse "And these tests are accurate within 24 hours."

As I turned to see the look on Jayson's face, all I could see was the top of his head as he was still reading the Superbowl news and was completely oblivious to what was going on.

"Jayson?!" I managed to say to him.
"What?" was the the response I got, almost like he was too busy to look up.
"Honey, we're pregnant again!"
"....hahahahahaha....." (I know, such a supportive one huh?? :))

Then it was Julie again, "Well honey, we aren't going to be able to do this surgery anymore. Looks like you're going to have to postpone it again!" She began to clean up the area, the other nurse took a quick Polaroid picture of Jayson and I for a souvenir and Julie and I continued to laugh about the recent turn of events.

Knowing that there was no way I was going to be able to go straight home, Jayson and I decided to go to breakfast and take a minute to ourselves. At this time, we were still living with Jayson's parents and had to debate on whether or not we would tell them right away. I had called my mom and aunt, both who knew I was having surgery that day, and told them a white lie. Something had happened to the doctor, some family emergency and he had cancelled all of his procedures that day. I was supposed to wait until he contacted me before rescheduling my surgery. I wasn't completely sure if they bought the story but hoped it would give me at least a couple days. However, not knowing when my morning sickness would start, Jayson and I decided that the best thing to do would be to tell his parents right away.

A quick trip to Wal-Mart later and we had a gift bag with two newborn size onesies, one in blue, and one in purple. We headed home and explained our white lie story to Jay and waited for Debbie to come home (she had a class to teach that morning). Shortly after we got home, she came in and we told them we had a gift for them. Debbie was the one to open it up but Jay was the first to understand it. After explaining it to Debbie, we all hugged and laughed. What a crazy morning it had been!

That was in February. It is now July and sometimes I still don't think it has entirely hit me that our second baby is on the way. I'm getting more and more excited but this pregnancy has been difficult for me and knowing that my due date is right around the time midterms fall in the semester has me a little worried but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we're just hanging on for the ride!

Baby #2 at 19 weeks