The surprise

I sat nervously waiting for them to call my name. The technician came and pulled me out of the waiting room. I asked politely if my husband could come with me for support. She said she would see once her findings were done. So I entered the room with her and without Julien, feeling alone and just a little scared.

The tech smeared some hot gel on my belly and began to move the wand around on the gel. An ultrasound. I tried to see the screen, but it was turned away from me. I winced. It's not like it's painful to get an ultrasound, but when your bladder is full and you gotta go, it's not the most comfortable thing in the world to have someone pushing around on it.

The tech measured something, click click click. She measured something else. Click click went the mouse. It seemed to take forever. I had no idea what she was looking at,and from the non expression on her face I could only guess. Then she asked me what my husband's name was. She went into the waiting room, got Julien, and sat him down beside me. He looked anxiously at me, hoping for one answer but expecting another.

The technician hesitated for a minute, cleared her throat, and said "Well, Becky and Julien, I need to show you the findings. I don't know how you will react, so I would rather have both of you here."

Ok, now back up 2 months. It was Christmas. I learned I was pregnant on Christmas Day. It came as a total shock because we weren't planning it, and truth be told, I had no idea how far along I was. The pregnancy test had shown 5+ weeks. In a panick, I called and made an appointement with my doctor, who sent me for an ultrasound. Because I had had a miscarriage in the summer, she wanted to follow this "pregnancy" closely.

When I had that ultrasound done, the tech told me, "I shouldn't tell you this, but all there is is an empty gestational sac, and that at this point there really should be seeing a yolk sac, fetal pole, and even a heartbeat. I just want you to prepare yourself for the big possibility of another miscarriage."

The doctor, after seeing the results, decided that she wanted to wait to see if I would miscarry naturally like last time. And so I was scheduled for another ultrasound in a month's time.

So back to my story. The tech turned the screen toward us and said, "Do you see what I see?" Julien and I peered at the screen, terrified that it was still just an empty sac, or that it had dissappeard completely. The tech, now smiling, said, "Well, folks, there is definitely somebody home in there."

And then we saw it. A baby. A heartbeat. A little precious life growing inside of me. The tech showed us its little arms, legs, profile, and heartbeat. Julien's eyes filled with tears, and we breathed a collective sigh of relief. On the way out we thanked God for blessing us again. We looked at the souvenir picture of our second child in shock and disbelief. I looked at Julien and said, "huh. So what do I do about work?" Ah, my new job. I was still on trial period for another 2 months. But that is a whole other post.

It turns out that it was just simply too early during the first ultrasound to see anything. Had we gone just one week later, we would have seen everything she thought she would see. Because my body was adjusting to weaning my daughter, my hormones were pretty messed up and I actually conceived much later than I would have normally. Hence the surprise baby.

We're so thankful that this new little child will join our family. I'm also a little scared of my little toddler's reactions and how having 2 small kids will be. But I still have 6 months to get used to the idea. And I am so incredibly blessed.