And that's how I knew.

Inspired by this post at Swistle.

We've been married since November of 1999, and together for a bit over four year before that. While we knew we'd like to have kids someday, we held off adding children to our family because, well, we were really young, poor, and nowhere near being done with school. I was on birth control pills for a looooong time.

When Levi finished with grad school and got the big grown up Ph.D job, we decided that we could finally start to try. We moved to New Jersey at the end of 2006, and I ran out of my stash of pills in January. It was official. We were "trying" to have a baby. For months after, I was hyper aware of when my period was supposed to arrive and trying not to read too much into any symptom I might be having. But, of course I did get my hopes up over and over. It was a difficult time for me. I'm not of "advanced maternal age," but I was 28 so I worried a little.

But, enough about that.

From November 2006 to December 2007, we only had one car. I drove Levi to work every morning, and then turned around to go home. I'd finish my morning routine and then go to my office. Most of the time, I drove because it was faster to boot him out and head home. In the evenings, I'd move to the passenger side. If the book I had with me was good, I'd read on the way home. I tend to get carsick, but not if I'm in the front seat or reading.

But, anyway, one weekday afternoon, I had him drive home. It was awful. I was totally nauseous the entire 40 minutes home. That day, I attributed it to Levi's driving. My boobs were *killing* me, too, but my period was due soon and that was normal.

A few days later, on Friday, I bought a pack of three stick tests. I took one and got a weird error. It was kind of, maybe, a little early to test. My last period was kind of funny, and I thought this one might be, too. I decided to wait a few more days before testing again, just in case.

On Sunday, I decided that I wanted to reread the last Harry Potter book before the new one came on on 7/21. I didn't finish on Sunday, and decided to ride and read while Levi drove to work Monday morning. Then, I'd drive myself home like normal. At the time, the drive to his office was about 20 minutes. By the time we got to his office, I felt awful. It was happening again! And I continued to feel sick all the way home.

I had planned to test again that morning, but Monday's are never easy for me, and I'd been too sleepy when I got up. Tuesday (7/18), I remembered to test and it came up pregnant almost immediately! I stared at it... hyperventilated for a minute and then yelled for Levi. Our bathroom was at the back of the house and he was asleep in the closed front bedroom -- shut in with a noisy window unit air conditioner and fan. He didn't hear me.

So, I took my shower and then put the test on the kitchen counter for him to see when he got up to make coffee. He finally stumbled into the kitchen. It took a minute for him to figure out what test was, but then he ran into the bathroom (I was still working on my washing my face and putting my contacts in) and hugged me. :)

Going by the first day of my last period, my due date is supposed to be around 3/15/08.