Not Quite On The Radar
April 13, 2006
Ok folks. I know I’m the new kid in town and all, but really…how am I still not getting proper coverage? I mean, Mom and Dad found out about me weeks ago – on March 25 to be exact. Mom just had that feeling, a certainty that something was amiss. Well, a-missing at least. To be perfectly blunt, an overdue cycle raised the flag. There had been one a couple of months ago, but false alarm – but what it did was to confirm that subtle shift from “what if” to “when will”. Dad, as usual, was blissfully unaware of a thing so when Mom came in and woke him up with a present he was utterly confused. I think his exact words were “huh? wha? a gift? huh?”. He opened the small box to reveal a Winnie the Pooh pacifier clip.
His response was once again limited to monosyllabic grunts – nobody said the DNA pool is that deep around these parts.
As the rusting gears in his mind slowly turned towards something resembling cognizance and he grasped the implication he looked to a tearful Mom and they knew that things were never going to be quite the same. She then showed him the test, with the faintest of “+” marks appearing. Even then, the reality didn’t quite hit, so they went to Target to get another test, just to make sure.
Ok. Let’s just get this out in the open. Target. That’s where my impending arrival was actually confirmed. Hardly the environs of someone of my stature, but I can’t very well gloss over the truth now can I?
So…wow. What to do? Who to tell? When to tell? The intent to not tell anyone lasted…into the parking lot. A call to big sister (aka Trish) came first…as did a long diatribe on her part about a frustrating house closing while she was returning from the doctor with Sophia. Poor Sophia had been feeling sick and was finally dozing off in the car. That is, until Tia Trish let out a huge cheer when she heard the news. Her yelling woke up poor little ‘Fia (an incident sure to come up again in future family get togethers). We then informed Tios Oscar and Shane and by the end of the day our parents. Poor Mabel was working late and in our excitement we called three times (waking up poor Oscar). She was sure something was wrong, but upon hearing the news (and saying “que chistosa!” cautiously, leery of a practical joke) she was wonderfully happy.
Not everything was smooth, however.
In what was simply the first of many tricks I’ll be pulling, I threw a major scare into the ‘rents just a few days later. On Wednesday, Mom was feeling lousy with painful cramps and other aches. Given the circumstances, a visit to the doctor was made the next day. After checking the ultrasound and estimating the days, it seemed that an ectopic pregnancy was possible, so a blood test was done with another that Saturday (April 1, of course). After days of profound worry, the tests indicated that all was well and my parents likely miscalculated the dates.
Math, not a strong suit in this DNA.
The follow up ultrasound on April 7 showed a blob. A blob that my parents can’t wait to meet soon. A blob that is me.
-Zy