I’d just spoken to Ellis this morning, and told him I was late. We both thought nothing of it. But Natalia eyed me and told me to check it out. It turns out she was right: I actually was pregnant. I thought nothing of the light period I’d had, or the sickness following our lunch at Knife. But as the days passed, I counted down to my next period. And it never came.
I took the test to shut her up. When I saw the positive result, I blamed the plus sign on the test being old. It had been in my apartment for a year. Pregnancy tests expired, didn’t they?
Refusing to take it for a fluke, Natalia dragged me to the store. I took the generic, and blamed the generic’s cheap brand for inaccurate results. Dragging me back to the store, we purchased one of every brand we could find on the shelf. And they all gave the same results.
Pregnant, pregnant, pregnant, and fuck yeah, you’re pregnant.
I peed on the last pregnancy test in the house. Pregnant.
“I’m pregnant!” I screamed. “How did I get pregnant from pre-cum?”
Natalia swung the door open and looked at me. “You really want to have this conversation?”
“He pulled out!” I said.
My sister-in-law cocked a slightly unkempt eyebrow at me. She repeated herself. “Do you really want to have this conversation with me?”
I sighed. “Who gets pregnant from the pullout method?”
“Everybody. Now pull up your pants and clean up all these tests. We have to get you some prenatal and start looking for baby things.” She came back to add, “We’re going to have to alter your bridal gown also – unless you don’t mind waiting until after the baby to throw your wedding?”
“Oh no! I completely forgot about that!” By my calculations, I was almost a full three months pregnant. That’s at least how long it’d been since Ellis left. “I’m going to be as big as a house when he comes back!”
I panicked. Looking at the pile of sticks with those tell-tale plus signs, I didn’t know how to feel. I was a pure mixture of emotions. I was excited, because I really wanted Ellis’s baby, and was ready to start our family. On the other hand, I was sad because he wasn’t going to be here to share in the magic of the experience.
“Should I call him?” I asked, tossing the pile of sticks in a bag. “Should I save these and mail them to him? How do I tell him?!”
“Is he on Skype right now?”
“No, he’s probably asleep. He told me he was headed to bed when I spoke to him.”
“Well you can just wait to let him know the next time you speak to him.”
“But I don’t want to!” I whined. “I don’t want anyone else to know until I tell him first!”
“You don’t want anyone else to know until you tell him first, and until after the first trimester. That’s the riskiest time for a pregnancy.”
“I think I’m three months,” I patted my tummy. “Why aren’t I showing yet?”
“No idea lady,” Natalia replied. “But all this wine in the fridge is off limits from now on.”
I groaned. We’d purchased several bottles of wine for a pizza, wine, and Netflix marathon during this stormy afternoon. But, with a baby on the way, that wine would have to be substituted for sparkling grape juice.
At the store, I brought the prenatal and grabbed all the baby magazines from the shelf. Call me eager, but I had been waiting for the moment to read all the baby stuff, and now was the perfect time. Natalia rolled her eyes, reminding me that the magazines didn’t know everything, but I shooed her, insisting that I needed to have them to be prepared.
“You can never be fully prepared for a baby,” she said. “You just have to be ready to be a mother.”
I looked in her eyes and replied. “There’s no time like the present.”
***
I’ll never forget the look on Ellis’s face when I surprised him. When he logged on to Skype, I’m sure he expected a regular chat, followed by a Skype sex session. Instead, I greeted him with a close up of the pregnancy tests.
“Baby… we’re having a baby!” My squeals were met with shock. His expression was priceless as he processed the news.
“But I pulled out…”
“Yes, well, that’s exactly what your brother said when Natalia got pregnant with Jordan,” I replied. Natalia poked her head in the doorway and yelled, “Congratulations, Ellis!”
“Are you okay?” Ellis’s expression was still frozen in amazement.
“Yes, baby. I’m fine. I just… wow.” He tried to turn his face away from the camera to hide the tear that rolled down his cheek. “It’s time. I have so much to look forward too. I can’t wait to come home.”