Episode 2: She's a "Yes", I'm a "No".....Together we make "Maybe's". - Part 1

Back in 2000, my wife and I were still in our first year of marriage. I was working for a car rental company, and my wife was working for a freight forwarder. 

At the car rental company, I worked Monday through Friday. However, they had a rule that one weekend per month, we had to all come in on Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to noon. 

On one particular Friday, just before that month's chosen Saturday to work, we were called into the big boss's office and informed that the company we worked for had been bought out by a larger car rental company. Because of this, we were told that our entire office would be laid off in a few weeks. 

I felt my heart fall into my stomach. My mind started raising about what I would do. Where would I go? I needed to find a job urgently. I'm married now. I have bills. I need gas money.....and a wife who likes shopping! Something had to be done! 

As luck would have it, that very next morning, I not only had to get up and go to work for 4 hours....but I had to leave work, and scramble down to Griffin, Georgia, to be a groomsman in one of my old high school friend's wedding. I told myself I would just smile, and not say a word about the job situation, as this was my friend's day, and I would NOT be bringing it down, or taking any attention from him and his new wife.

That morning, I was lying in bed as my alarm had not yet gone off, when my wife woke me up, calling me from the bathroom. "Hey Captain, can you please come here?".  Half asleep, I very groggily replied "What...what's wrong?".  "Just come here. Seriously, I need you to come here". 

So, I rolled out of bed, and zombie-walked across the floor to the bathroom door. I think I may have run into a wall or two on the way. Comprehension has never been my strong point first thing in the morning.....that requires coffee! 

When I stepped into the bathroom, my wife quickly turned to me with something in her hand, held it out to me, and said "Look at this!". I looked......I saw it.....and my brain short-circuited. (404 ERROR! ...DOES NOT COMPUTE! MEMORY CORRUPT!). The object in her hand was a small stick of plastic, with a little digital screen on it, that just had two straight lines going across the screen ....Deep down, I knew what it was, but I really just needed to hear someone say it. "OK.....what is that?", I asked. 

"I'm pregnant!" my wife exclaimed. 

I have to tell you that 10 cups of the strongest coffee in the world, followed by a 6 pack of red bull, could not have woken me up any faster than that.  Immediately, my eyes were WIDE open, and I was 400% aware of everything around me.....including my heart rate....which had just gone into a Jamaican dance number. 

We both agreed that we would not say anything at the wedding (remember that. It comes into play later), as this was the bride and groom's day, and we did not want to take attention from them. 

I don't remember getting ready for work. At that point, I was on autopilot. I know I got to work and rushed to finish, so I could leave precisely at noon. 

My wife was there to pick me up at noon, with my tux in the car, we quickly left to drive down to Griffin for the wedding. 

We arrived at the church and went inside. My wife went into the room with the bride, and I proceeded down the hall to the room for the groom and groomsmen. 

My best friend from High School (we will call him Isiah, after his favorite basketball player of the time) was also a groomsman at this wedding, so both of my friends were there. As should be expected, the groom was a little nervous, but not too bad. Everything was going perfectly normal ....until....

(Do you remember how my wife and I said we were not going to say anything at the wedding, about her being pregnant?)

Suddenly there is a knock at the door, and the groom's mother comes in, runs straight to me, all excited hugs me, and says "Congratulations! I'm so excited for you...DAD!"

Both of my friends froze, and stared at me in confusion. For just a second, I could almost hear the sound of an old radio that can't find a clear signal. My friends had no idea what she was talking about. I politely thanked my friend's mother, and then explained to both of my friends that we had just found out that my wife was pregnant. "Why didn't you say anything?" they asked. I explained that I was going to wait until after the wedding. Maybe after they got back from their honeymoon, as I wanted this day to be about them, and not me and my wife. 

It turns out that my wife had forgotten that she had mentioned to the bride, a few days earlier, that she was planning to take a pregnancy test.....so when my wife was talking to the bride, the bride asked her if she had taken it. My wife didn't want to lie, so she told her, and said it was positive. I am told that the bride, all bridesmaids, and mothers who were in the room, began hugging and congratulating my wife.

The rest of the wedding consisted of people (most of which we had never seen before in our lives) coming up and hugging us or rubbing my wife's belly (which she was not really thrilled about), and congratulating us...all while we try to be polite, and not make a big deal. We felt bad about taking attention away from the couple we were there to celebrate in the first place.

The bride and groom were incredibly sweet about it, and also hugged us and congratulated us. They assured us that it did not bother them at all. I really hope that was true, and they weren't just being polite. 

After the festivities ended, we left and drove home, finally taking a moment to really let everything sink in.

It took a few VERY tense months, for me to find a new job (the economy was in the toilet at the time, and very few companies were hiring). 

After a few months, I (Thankfully) was able to finally find a job, and it actually paid better than the one I had been laid off from (God is good!!). From that point, I was much more able to enjoy my impending fatherhood, and it was the happiest, and most scared, I have ever been in my life. But I was SOOO excited to finally meet my first child. For me and my wife, those last few months of pregnancy were the longest months of our life…..at least up until that point.

The day finally came, and I was like a kid on Christmas morning, waiting for my parents to wake up so we can open presents. My wife ended up having to have a C-Section, and I will NEVER forget leaning over to watch them pull my baby girl out of my wife (Yes, I looked. I didn't find it gross or anything. It was my baby, and that's all I could think about). As soon as her little face was visible, I saw a spotlight hit her...angels began singing.....this newborn baby looked at me like "PUT ME BACK!  I DID NOT ASK FOR THIS"! 

“Um…..sir?” A nurse asked me. “Can you please turn off the flashlight and the Walkman playing the church choir music?”…. “Oh….sorry” I said, as I turned both devices off.

They put the baby up next to my wife, and we both cried a little. Then the nurses, took the baby to a nearby table to clean the baby off, and take all of her vitals.....and she immediately peed on the nurses (I laughed). My little girl was making her unhappiness with being messed with, known right from the start. 

In no time, they were putting her in the little roll-away bassinet to taking her to the nursery, then putting my wife into recovery. I was told I needed to leave, but I could go with the nurse to take my daughter to the nursery, so I did that. I was absolutely blown away by how wide-eyed and alert she was, just minutes after being born. The hospital we were in had JUST opened the new maternity wing a month or so earlier, so they were still doing tour groups through it. One such tour group just happened to be walking down the hall, when we were wheeling my little girl past. I could hear several of the people exclaiming "Look how awake, and alert she is", as my newborn baby girl just calmly looked around at everything like it was just another day. I couldn't stop smiling.

As the nurse turned down another hall toward the Nursery door, I stepped off to go let our family and friends, who were in the waiting room, know that she was there. They all jumped up to head to the nursery window, to see her for the first time. 

I then walked past and knocked on the nursery door to be let in. They let me in, and I waited for them to finish all of their poking and prodding at my daughter, to confirm that she was good and healthy. They kept her bottom half covered this time, just in case. Once they finished and wrapped her in a blanket, they then handed her to me. 

Finally, I had my baby girl in my arms, and as most fathers, I think, would say, it was absolutely mind-blowing. The idea that I helped make this little person. Half of her genetics came from me. She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. 

Immediately, our whole world revolved around this adorable little child. How could we ever love anyone this much.......that would be answered for us in the next post. 

                                  (to be continued.   lol)