"Bean"

As I recently mentioned on facebook, it wouldn't be a proper Martin pregnancy if Adam weren't out of the country for a portion of it....

Despite the hubs absence, we are THRILLED to meet our newest little blessing - Bean. When we found out we were pregnant and were discussing that first ultrasound I asked him if he remembered how MC looked like a little lima bean. We talked about how we were so excited to see our second little bean. The name stuck. (Don't fear - just a nickname.... "the baby" is just too overused)

I suppose whenever anyone gets pregnant you like to hear the back story. Well, not the WHOLE story. I think we're all past the point of "the talk". We just like the thrill of knowing "was it planned?", "how long have you been trying?", etc. Well, I'll be blunt. It wasn't planned. We weren't trying. Adam will probably shoot me for sharing our ENTIRE lives with the world, but we practice natural family planning. I think its important to share that because so many people push that option aside when it comes to the "contraceptive" discussion. You're probably laughing right now because we are now pregnant. Well, we knew it wasn't the so-called "right time" if we wanted to wait before having another child, but we said "if it happens it happens and God knows what's best for us." I guess God thought it was time for Bean! That, or the fact that I am "Fertile Myrtle" as my mother jokes (On a side note, my grandmother was the proud mom to 12 children. Fertile Myrtle was an obvious choice for a nickname which is where my mother's comment stemmed from).

Knowing we played Russian roulette that month, I was aware that pregnancy was possible. When I started getting horrible lower back pain I immediately googled "low back pain in early pregnancy". Bingo. CVS run and stick peed on in all of 10 minutes........... "Not Pregnant". Ok, well that's good. Adam We wanted to wait a little longer so that's fine. Then over the next few days I noticed how INCREDIBLY tired I was getting. Not completely out of the norm considering I stay home with a 2 year old. Then, one day, I felt nauseous. Cue pee stick number 2.

PREGNANT.

Oh boy. Adam had spent the last week staying up until 4 am preparing for the final presentation he was about to give in one of his classes. As I heard the shower running, I knew I couldn't tell him. He had worked so hard on this and I knew if I told him we were pregnant right before it he would have nothing on his mind except baby. Not good when you have to discuss and defend a design plan. There are no babies drawn into the landscape design of main street.

This is where we ran into a HUGE problem. I can't even wait until Christmas to open presents. I used to check every hiding place in the house, find gifts, open them, and then wrap them back. I'm HORRIBLE with surprises and secrets. This was probably the biggest happy surprise secret in the world and I had to keep locked lips ALL DAY until Adam got home. Well, sort of. I called my best friend. Well, maybe two good friends. That was it...

Then I had to figure out a creative way to tell Adam. The first time around it was a COMPLETE shock and we were COMPLETELY unprepared. I phoned Adam immediately and told him to pick up a pregnancy test on his way home because the one I just took said I was pregnant and its obviously broken. Not the most romantic way to spill the beans.

This time I was going to do it right. I thought having MC involved would be cute so I came up with the idea of her giving him a card sharing the news. On the front it said "to my daddy" and then on the inside it had a huge "I", then a big pink felt heart, then a "U".  I love you. Under the heart it read "...and so will my little brother or sister ;)" Perfect.

I made the card right after Adam left. Then proceeded to look at, open, and read it the entire rest of the day. I would fold laundry then oddly think "ya know, I better check on the card" like it was going to disappear.

7:30 finally rolled around and I got a call from Adam saying he was on his way home. Score. I told MC a little earlier that day we had a surprise to give daddy so when I told her he would be home soon she was all too thrilled to grab his "surprise" and start screaming. Did she have any idea what this surprise was? No. But the kid is all about surprises so I just went with it.

I also knew I had to get Adam's reaction captured. He's very animated, much as I am, so I knew his reaction would be priceless. I set up the video camera and when I heard him fidgeting with the lock on the front door, I clicked it on.

MC ran to him screaming about his surprise and, after being prompted to raise the heart, proceeded to say "no you're not" for a full 2 minutes. I showed him the tests and although he wanted to disagree with the entirely too faint second pink line, the digital "pregnant" read out made it pretty clear.

We were overjoyed and couldn't wait to tell everyone. We knew it was bad luck to share immediately (as most people wait a good 12 weeks), but with Adam leaving for China soon we decided to tell our parents right after the ultrasound.

We asked them each for a Skype date and told them MC had drawn them a picture she wanted to show them. As she held up her Dora Magna Doodle, they didn't find a drawing. Only the words "I'm going to be a big sister". They were all stunned. Success ;)

We are both so overjoyed to be granted this huge blessing. We have no jobs, at the end of June we have no home, and right now Adam's in China, but we'll make it work. God has never steered us wrong before and I know he won't now. I imagine the next few months will bring an intense amount of stress and anxiety, but it makes for juicy blogs so congrats readers...

Hope you stick with us and enjoy another tale of pregnancy highs and lows. Guess we'll now see what happens when baby makes 4!!!