Oh baby! We’re going to be (first-time) Parents!

Surprise! We’re having a baby!

Let’s go ahead and set the record straight from the beginning – this was all planned!

It’s been a topic that’s been discussed many times during our relationship, but at the beginning of this year, DJ and I had a talk about how we were both wanting to be parents. Sure, we aren’t married, but who said we were your typical couple to begin with? Besides, marriage isn’t needed to have a baby. I know some of you are rolling your eyes at this and highly disagree – we don’t care about your opinions. It’s 2021 for goodness sake!

We decided that “after winter” we would begin trying for baby Deal. It certainly didn’t take long, that’s for sure! I mean, we didn’t really wait until after winter, and began actively trying in about the middle of February. Numerous pregnancy tests were taken which resulted negative each time, but we didn’t sweat it. We knew our time would come when it should.

For the month of March we decided to begin tracking my cycle, just to have a bit better grasp on when we’d be most likely to conceive. About mid-way through the month, I knew that I should be expecting Aunt Flo any day … but days went by and she never showed. I took multiple pregnancy tests again – all negative. I thought it was strange that I was getting negative tests, yet my period was 12, 13, 14, etc. days late. But again, we just rolled with the punches.

I believe it was the day that my tracking app said I was 17 days late that I took yet another test which was negative. At this point I was kind of chalking it up to we just plain and simple weren’t pregnant. I mean, it wasn’t unusual for my period to be irregular anyways.

Then came the day of the positive test. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Saturday, March 27th, 2021
DJ was getting ready for work, and I was barely awake in our bed. I got an urge to pee, walked into the bathroom and decided, “let’s just take this last pregnancy test and see what happens.” I peed on the stick, waited a couple of minutes, and … negative. Negative again.

I stumbled back to our room, eyes half shut, and climbed back into bed. I scrolled my phone for a bit, made a decision to go shopping that day, and about 20 minutes later got out of bed to begin getting ready. When I went back into the bathroom, I looked at the pregnancy test again. It was POSITIVE *insert smiles from ear to ear and alllll the emotions!*

I quickly threw the test in my makeup bag, ran back into our room and climbed back into bed. Do I tell him now? Do I get a cute gift? Ahhh! We’re having a BABY!

Just a few minutes later DJ came in to kiss me goodbye, and I told him that I planned to go do a little shopping that day. Out the door he went, just like any other typical day (for him at least).

I jumped out of bed, took a belly picture (ya know, basically just a half naked photo because I obviously wasn’t showing at like 3 weeks pregnant, but #excited), and I began to get ready.

I had all of the emotions you could think of running through my body. I was happy, excited, scared, nervous, dancing, on the verge of tears.. you name it!

I went to Marshalls, bought a gender neutral onesie and searched high and low for a gift to tell DJ he was going to be a dad. I’d originally planned on getting something awesome from Amazon, but I couldn’t stand the idea of even keeping this secret until he got home from work, let alone wait 2 whole days for something to be delivered! Marshalls was a bust though, and so I went to the Hallmark store. There I found a DAD beer glass, and figured, hey, at least it’s something.

When I was cashing out, I asked the cashier if she had any gifts for a new dad-to-be, and she showed me these onesie & shirt sets that were on sale. There were only 2 left, with different sayings, and she wasn’t sure what the sizes were. Perfectly enough, there was a set with a medium mens shirt that read “DIAPER CHANGER” and a newborn onesie that said “GAME CHANGER” – SOLD! It was meant to be. (I found the same exact shirt & onesie set here on Amazon.

I immediately headed home trying to think up all of the ways to tell DJ we were pregnant. The onesie & shirt set, beer glass and neutral onesie were just gifts to give him once he knew. I spent basically the rest of the day on Pinterest searching for ideas.

Ugh, that was TOUGH to decide. Of course when you’re telling your partner that you are having a baby, you want it to be perfect. Should I put a bun in the oven and have him open it? Should I put a note on Foxy to meet him at the door when he gets home? The ideas were rolling, and some were really good but I couldn’t wait for supplies. This had to happen tonight!

Then it hit me – My brothers birthday was right around the corner (on the 31st), so I decided that I would tell DJ we had to make him a video to send on his birthday since he wasn’t coming home for it. Yes. That’s perfect.

I spent all day basically on pins and needles, anxious for him to get home. As soon as he walked in the door, I told him we had to make the video. I set my phone up and told him that we would count to three and yell “happy birthday” together, but I had other plans. I hit record and DJ began counting down “3, 2” … I stopped him. I was so nervous!

He began again. “3, 2, 1” – “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” he yelled, meanwhile I yelled “WE’RE PREGNANT!” He laughed when I said it and looked a bit confused. I then said “I’m serious,” to which he replied, “Oh my god, REALLY?!” The video goes on to show him picking me up and spinning in a circle, while I cried like the baby that was, at that time, just the size of a poppy seed in my belly. He asked when I found out and I had him open his gift. Gosh, what a moment to remember.

He later told me that he thought I was making a joke to my brother when I said that, which is why he laughed as he did, but there’s a running joke that it was really his initial “oh shit” reaction. LOL!

The video isn’t glamorous or Instagram reel perfection. I didn’t do my makeup or wear a cute outfit, and DJ was still covered in grass in his work clothes, but it was perfect for us and a memory I will cherish.

Now it was time to keep the. biggest. secret. of our lives! That was extremely difficult for us because we just wanted to tell our loves ones we were having a baby. We wanted to shout it from the rooftops! But we figured we should keep this to ourselves, at least for a little bit.

The following Monday (the 29th), I called and scheduled our initial prenatal appointment, which they pushed all the way out until April 29th! Crazy! At that point we knew we had a long road ahead of not slipping up on our secret to family or friends.

Oddly enough, even though that month felt like forever, it also went by fairly quickly. We attended our first prenatal appointment, where I was estimated to be 9 weeks along and had our first ultrasound the next day. Both experiences were overwhelming, but absolutely wonderful.

Now it was game time.
Time to tell all of the important people in our lives that we were going to be parents.

You’ve probably heard the myth that you should wait to tell anyone that you’re expecting until you are past the first trimester. This is typically because once you are out of the first trimester, your chances of miscarrying will have significantly dropped. That’s why many people wait. But I want to let the record state that this is a personal choice. You don’t have to wait to share your exciting news, and we sure didn’t want to wait any longer.

We wanted to be able to have our family and closest friends know about this little bundle of joy, and for them to celebrate with us for as long as they could! We also knew that by telling them at this point, if something were to happen (God forbid), then we had a seriously strong support system that would have our backs and be there to grieve with us.

We spent the next 2 weeks having dinner, stopping to see, FaceTiming and calling everyone who was special to us and letting them know our secret. It was all personal, memorable and perfect as can be.

We did wait until we were 12 weeks to publicly announce. But again, that is all personal preference. We just wanted to be able to soak it in with the ones closest to us before publicly sharing. We also wanted to wait even longer to announce publicly, but you let me know how long you keep the secret when you’re in the shoes we were in. It is a hard one to keep!

Not long after our 12 week mark, we found out that we were having a baby girl! Oh. Em. Gee. Can you even take it?! A mini me? A daddy’s little princess? My shopping partner?!

We are over the moon excited you guys, and we can’t wait to take you along on the ride.

I’ll be sharing as much as I can over on my Instagram, and I will likely be writing blog posts along the way. Be sure to continue following along on this wild journey!
It’s time to start a new chapter.

We’re going to be parents. Mom and Dad. HOLY CRAP!