Growing up...part 2

On the last episode of Growing Up, the pretty little red-haired girl (moi) had just discovered she was, surprise! pregnant with Seth's baby...let's see what's in store.

As soon as class was over, I went to the University Health Clinic for confirmation of what the test said in the bathroom stall. As it turned out, the receptionist informed me all women's services staff were at lunch, and wouldn't be back for an hour. Little did I know, I had an audience listening to my request for services. I went to the library, killed a little time - and learned that the only false positive one can get with an HPT is in the event of a molar pregnancy...with this in mind, I still returned to the Health Clinic. That's me, the absolutely gotta know girl. This time, when I returned, I was told to wait until someone came for me. This is where my earlier audience enters.

CSU is not terribly diverse. It's predominantly white, with black students nearly always being the athletes. This huge black guy looked at me sympathetically and says, "Yo you must just be on pins an' needles, havin' to wait an' come back. I'd definitely wanna know - Whatchu gonna do 'bout it?"

I burst out laughing. He was taken aback a little bit. I answered him:

"Well, it's not your typical case of ' I got knocked up', you see," as I held up my hand, and flashed my wedding ring. "Our second anniversary is next week, and I graduate in December. I'm actually pretty happy with my unexpected graduation present." Seth would be too, right? The stress factor of insurance was eating at me. We had private coverage, thinking the employee portion of his employer's offered insurance was too high for us...and this private coverage had maternity exclusions. Somehow it would work out.

"Well in that case, congratulations! How you gonna tell Papa - got any creative ideas?" Big black guy pulled me out of my thoughts, giving me more fodder to mull over.

Right as I was replying, the nurse called my name. Saved by the bell...I was a bit uncomfortable discussing this baby with a complete stranger when my own husband didn't even know!

I gave the nurse my dates for the last period I'd had, she took my temp, pulse, etc., and I peed in a cup. Waited for a few minutes, then talked with a doc.

"Well, sweetie, you are pregnant...but barely."

"Barely? I thought it was kind of an all or nothing determination," I replied.

"Well, yes, but you see, at most you are 2 wks past conception, or 4 wks pregnant."

OK?

She then went on this long litany of miscarriage stats for the first trimester, second trimester, and the overall likelihood of a successful pregnancy.

I stopped her, once again flashing my ring, and making my stage of life known. "I don't know if you thought perhaps to put me at ease with all that information, being a surprise pregnancy and all -but you haven't. You have just scared the crap out of me. You see, I want this baby!" I then left the room, saying I would find a doctor who had a bedside manner for the remainder of my pregnancy.

I'm 21 for crying out loud! Why am I being treated like an unwed teenager? Sure, I'm young, but it's not disgraceful or anything.

I stopped at the pharmacy on the way home and talked with the pharmacist about OTC prenates vs. Rx prenates. He assured me the OTC were every bit as good. Being on a budget, I grabbed the OTC vitamins.

I tried to find a card that portrayed a witty, yet congratulatory message for a to-be parent. No such luck - grabbed a generic congratulations card. I scribbled some random message in it, and stuck the dr'.s rx for prenates in it. I figured Seth would figure it out.

He came home that night from work as I was cooking dinner. I'd taped the card to the coat closet door, being the first thing he would see upon coming home. He grabbed it and went straight to the bathroom (I'd forgotten that post-work habit in planning this whole card announcement thing).

Later, he came out...with a soggy prenates rx. He sheepishly said, "I had to go and when I opened it, it fell right into the toilet." I laughed, nervously, and told him it was ok, I had gotten some OTC prenates. He was excited, nervous, and scared...scared about the insurance issue, but overall happy, saying God would provide.

And provide He did...

June 30th had been the end of open enrollment for Seth's insurance at work. It was July 3rd. He was allowed to enroll via retro-dating his signature. We had maternity coverage!

Months flew by...I graduated from CSU, and then became a SAH-soon to be Mommy. I cleaned, organized, prepared our apartment for the birth of our baby.

To be cont'd