Mallory and I have spent a good deal of time talking about the terrors of becoming pregnant too soon after the first. I’ve repeatedly expressed that “two under two” (two kids under the age of two) is my worst nightmare.
As you may know, after you give birth, it’s a bit tricky to really know the status of your fertility. Things are getting back into a rhythm and every tiny change you might feel in your body feels like it could be a pregnancy warning sign. Mallory and I would talk about these signs with dread, yet we remained at least 90% certain that the things we were feeling were nothing. Most of the time we were right.
As you probably know, I finally set and met my goal of getting pregnant. For Mallory, having a 7-month-old meant that a second pregnancy was still a distant goal. For every weird symptom she felt on any given day, we both hoped, out-loud, that she wasn’t pregnant.
How does that old saying go? If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.
Well, it’s a good thing that Mallory is my best friend because there’s no other way that when she came to me the morning she took a positive pregnancy test that she would still be my friend after my reaction. I insisted that she give me 5 minutes to laugh maniacally before we actually talk about the reality of her having babies that will be 16 months apart.
I’m sorry. I had to laugh. We spent so much time talking about the dread of this situation that I don’t think we ever truly believed it would actually happen. It’s not exactly the best timing for the next stage in her life (she’ll be moving to Japan soon). But, I also wouldn’t have laughed if I didn’t actually feel joy and excitement about the news. Yes, it’s a curve ball, but it’s going to be so much fun to see her daughter become a big sister and to share our time being pregnant and raising two kids.
Que Sera! Now we’re facing reality and get to commiserate in reliving all the pregnancy symptoms we had forgotten about. We get to share the same excuses for avoiding certain activities while also indulging in others. People around us seem to also keep getting pregnant now, so it’s fun to act like we posses some sort magic fertility powers. People keep their distance.
For now, we mostly delude ourselves at how “fine” having two kids will be. In the not too distant future, we’ll have a big fat reality-check. At the very least, we’re going to have some fun new blog content to share about it all.
Two and Three Quarters 