Heaven!

Yesterday began at 6:00 AM when Chris and I sprinted into the Divine Providence Hospital lab for my blood work. Dr. Sasson did request that my blood work results be sent to him STAT, but I didn't exactly know what STAT meant in the Williamsport blood work world. STAT could mean immediately, or in a few hours, or sometime that day. Needless to say, I came home from the lab and tried to busy myself with work, waiting for a phone call from Shady Grove. 

At around 10:45, the phone rang. I could tell by the caller ID that it was Shady Grove. I took a deep breath, and answered the call. 

I immediately heard Dr. Sasson's voice.

"Rachel? Hi, it's Dr. Sasson."

 "Hi." (At this point, I was on the verge of crying, sweating, and vomiting simultaneously)

"I am standing here with Morgan and Stephanie and Jamie and we all want to tell you congratulations because you are pregnant! You did it!"

"What? Oh my gosh. No way!" (Insert blubbering crying, hysterical screaming, crying some more, and a few "I can't-believe-its" and "Praise Gods" and I think you can get the picture of my response). 

"I will wait a few minutes for you to catch your breath. Let me know when you are ready."

"Ok, I'm ready."

"Your levels look great and you are definitely five weeks pregnant. I want you to do repeat blood work on Wednesday and Friday, just make sure your levels continue to rise. I will see you for an ultrasound in a few weeks to make sure that everything is going smoothly, and then you will be formally discharged from Shady Grove to your own doctor in Williamsport."

This is the best I can do to recount the conversation. I just remember sitting at my desk being in complete shock that it really was happening, that finally, we had confirmation of a tiny life or lives that would be added to our family.

After I hung up the phone, I quickly changed and ran out of the door. I wanted to tell Chris immediately but I didn't want to do it over the phone. The whole way to his office, I was crying and smiling, in a state of pure joy. I am surprised I was able to navigate and make it there in one piece!

I texted Chris and asked him to come out to the parking lot. I saw him push open the door of the Children's Development Center. He wore a look of concern, but as soon as he saw me smiling, he started running to the car. He jumped in the passenger seat and grabbed me. 

"I'm pregnant. It worked. Oh my gosh, I'm pregnant!" 

We bawled our faces off for about fifteen minutes, sitting in the parking lot. He asked me to recount, word for word, what Dr. Sasson told me. I did my best. 

After about twenty minutes of in-the-Subaru celebration, Chris thought he should probably go back in to work since no one knew why he had flown out the door earlier. I will never forget seeing him practically skip back into work. 

While we are absolutely thrilled beyond words, we do realize that we can't tell the world right away. Heck, if it were up to me, I'd be telling anyone, whether I knew him or not!

We did tell our parents last night, however. My parents have really been on this journey with me and have been supporting us spiritually and emotionally for over three years. 

Upon telling my parents, my dad stood up slowly and walked toward me. He hugged me for a few minutes, tears streaming down his face, saying, "Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus."

My mom jumped up and down and hugged Chris and then me and then both of us.

Next, we drove to Chris's parent's house. While his parents were aware that we were facing some fertility issues, they did not know the extreme to which we struggled. 

Chris told his parents and his mom and dad just sat still for a moment in disbelief and then they jumped up and started hugging us. I think his dad was at a loss for words, and so all that came out was, "We're so proud of you guys," which immediately made me laugh because it sounded so funny! Proud of us for what? We should all be proud of Dr. Sasson and proud to be children of a miraculous God! 

I made them all swear to secrecy that they would not tell anyone else until we decided it would be a safer time to tell the masses. That goes for you too, cyber world! We are really pushing to wait to tell everyone until January. Here's to hoping we can hold out that long! 

All in all, it was such an emotional, memorable day for us. I climbed into bed last night, emotionally exhausted, yet indescribably content. I woke up several times throughout the night to Chris, grabbing my hand and whispering, "Just in case you forgot, we're pregnant."

Heaven. Pure heaven.