Sharing the News

Next up, who do we tell? and when? My initial thought was let's wait, let's tell everyone after we get an ultrasound. I guess I needed something tangible to tell me this was truly the real deal. No amount of plus signs or blue lines or whatever they were was going to convince me as well as a picture.

Here's the thing, as men and especially experiencing this pregnancy thing for the first time we have no understanding or appreciation for hormones, feelings, and the changes that the woman feels that make her truly understand that this is the real deal. We are visual creatures we need to see it, hear it, touch it, something to make it real. However, one of my biggest faults is a lack of patience and in the end that far outweighed my need to validate the pregnancy with my own two eyes.

First up Carrie's mom and dad. For anyone who don't know these two they have been waiting for one of their three kids to make them grandparents for a long time. Even though their oldest is only 31 they have been looking forward to this for a long time. Needless to say I wanted to hear the reaction. One of the great joys in life is being able to tell somebody something and it bring a smile to their face. So we call up the Sue and Steve. Carrie manages to talk them into both getting on the phone so she can tell them a funny story. After dragging it out a bit Steve asks her to get on with the story to which we learn he is standing in his underwear talking on the phone. So Carrie breaks the news, screaming follows as Sue realizes she is going to be a grandma. Clearly they are both very excited and after the initial surprise subsides and Sue informs us she will be purchasing an "I'm going to be a grandma" t-shirt, I remind Steve of a comment last summer implying the first grandchild would be the proud recipient of a $15,000 "bonus" if you will. My comment is met with silence and while I still hope that check arrives in the mail I'm not holding my breath especially with the recent election of every farmers worst nightmare Barack Obama.

On to my own parents. First up I call my mom. I catch her walking up the stairs to her office and after some casual conversation drop the news. Her excitement is a very welcome thing and something I enjoyed. She told a story about a conversation she had the day before when someone had asked if she had any grandchildren. Her reply was more true than she could have guessed "no, but I suppose it could happen at any time." I did unfortunately have to inform Sue that my mom Stacia would not be interested in a bulk purchase of the "I'm going to be a grandma" t-shirts but she was nonetheless excited about the news.

That evening I called my dad and told him the news. Those who don't know the men in the my family should understand that we aren't the best with emotions and news of this nature. The conversation though went very well. My dad David was excited and very willing to offer any advice or support he could throughout and I'm sure that is something Carrie and I will take him up on at some point. I think the highlight and what really sums it all up was when I said to him, "I bet this is a bit of a shock to you," to which he replied "probably not as much as you."

We told the parents, our siblings and lastly my grandparents and all were great calls to make. My 80 year old grandmother found out on her birthday, and while I didn't speak directly to my Grandpa Lee Duvall he has inspired the title of this blog when he sent an email to Carrie and I after hearing the news secondhand from my grandma. He told us he was happy to hear of our "scheduled parenthood." We both thought it very fitting of his personality and I have since decided it should somehow make it's way into this journal as my wife and I continue down this path, scheduled for parenthood.