Big Brother Maximus

Since November we had been trying to have another baby. In November I found out I was pregnant but then I miscarried. This was very difficult for us. What made it more difficult was that we didn't get pregnant again right away. Months passed by and I would take a pregnancy test only to be disappointed by the clear words saying "not pregnant." During that time I started really getting into shape and started running 20+ miles per week. When I went to the OB she said I may be affecting my ovulation cycle. So, Ricky asked me to cut back my running. In May I took a pregnancy test before a missed period. It was negative. A day after my missed period I checked again. Still negative.

In the meantime Ricky and I had started to discuss adoption. It has always been on my heart to consider adopting, but Ricky has always been less than eager to discuss it. However, as the months went by, we both started believing that maybe that was God's plan for our next child- to adopt. So we started reading and researching. I started daydreaming about what our second child would be like- how old? What gender? What race? We contacted an agency and requested an application in the mail. On Saturday, May 11th we received the packet and started reading through it. We were quite overwhelmed by everything we were reading, but in my mind this was what we had to do- it was God's calling on our life. At that point I was 10 days late on my period, but assumed it was because of my running and that I had done some damage to my cycle. Just to be sure, though, Ricky asked me to take one more test.

I reluctantly went into the bathroom to pee on one more stick. I intentionally disallowed myself to feel any hope that the test would say "pregnant," but to my shock and surprise, it did. I could barely speak and I walked into the room where Ricky was sitting and I tried to tell him but I couldn't talk, I just cried and showed him the test.

The day we found out happened to be the day before Mother's Day, so we had an excellent surprise for our mom's the next day. Since then we have been pretty tight-lipped about it, wanting to make sure that we survive the first trimester before shouting it to the world like we did in November. Maximus is already the most precious big brother. When you ask him what he's going to be, he says "big brother," then points to mommy's belly and says "baby, sleeping... kiss it." Then he insists on kissing my tummy. He may not fully understand what it means yet, but I think he is already falling in love with his future best buddy and sibling.