The Day We Found Out About YOU!

Saturday

Jake and Ben went to the new Avatar land at Disney's Animal Kingdom super early this morning while I was still sleeping. They wanted to be there first to ride the new rides. Ben has already been, and I get to go on Tuesday for free with my Main Gate pass, but Jake won't be here Tuesday so he bought a ticket so he could see it. We decided to meet up after they're done there. Ben has to be home by 1:30 to go to work anyways. 

At 1pm is when I get a call from Ben. They're just outside the neighborhood and the truck broke down. It won't move. 

"Ok so what do you want me to do about it? But why did you call me?"

Dang I'm cranky. I feel like I'm in the back of my mind observing this a judging myself but cranky McKenzie is in control. 

I call AAA. I know that's why Ben called. The AAA membership is in my name. My Dad buys it for us every year for Christmas. But it's under the Nevada club and we're in Florida and I have to freaking call the Freaking Nevada number, be on hold for half an hour, then be told they have to transfer me to the freaking Florida number and go wait on hold there. I know this, because I've been through this before multiple times and I know I can't just call the Florida number, because when I do I am prompted to put in my membership number, which freaking recognizes my Nevada flag b code within the membership number and sends me to the Nevada line anyways. And today I'm pretty sure this is all on purpose because the world hates me. 

Cranky McKenzie is in full force.

I get my request put in and someone will be out within an hour. They recommended calling 911 since the car was stuck at a stop sign in the road. Ben was conferenced in on the call and the AAA agent hangs up so I'm left with just Ben on the line. 

"So what should I do? Should I call 911?" 

Does he sound extra whiny, or is that just me?

"Figure it out yourself! I'm not your mom! We know the same amount so make a decision for yourself!"

I knew I would have to apologize for that later before I even said it but I still said it. 

"I'll drive down to you soon. I know you need to get to work." 

After I hang up I hear the thunder from an approaching storm. I postpone driving down longer than I should. 

I get another call. "Hey! How are you... I just saw the Cottle's drive by!"

"ben why did you call me? Do you need something."

"No... I... sorry, I shouldn't have called."

Dang I'm being so mean! Even cranky Mackenzie admits it!

"I'm sorry. Did the Cottle's see you?"

"Yea they did."

"Okay I'll leave now. I'll see you soon."

I get to the broken down truck and find Jake and Ben standing on the grass to the side of the road telling angry drivers to "go around the truck." 

"Yes we know the truck is in the middle of the road, we see that... yea we tried moving it... no it's broken down, it won't move... yea, just go around it." 

Still they would get angry like we did this to them on purpose, or would look inside the truck as they drove by, still unsure what was going on. 

"Should we call 911 then?" Now I'm the one asking. But just then the Malquest's show up and don't even ask if we need help before they pull over onto the grass and get out of their car. 

"How can we help?!?"

Because Grant was there, they now had enough muscle to push and steer the truck onto the side of the road.

Seriously, the Malquest's were our heros! And just like that they were on their way like they save lives as part of their daily routine all the time. 

It's 2pm already and so ben quickly goes on the hub and puts in that he'll be 10 minutes late to work and we call an Uber. But of course our Uber driver ends up driving off somewhere else and gets far enough away that we need to cancel it and request a new one, even though we know we waited long enough we would still be charged. Told ya.  Freaking world hates me. 

Ben changes his his late notice from 10 minutes to 20 minutes and the new Uber comes promptly to take him to work. 

Sitting in the car with Jake, all I want to do is complain. I get some cramps while we sit waiting for the tow truck. I guess my period is coming. Crap, I need a tampon. Bad timing. How do it do this, the tow truck should be here any minute. At least I'm wearing black pants. I guess I'll just wait until we get to the mechanic then find a Walgreens. 

The tow truck guy calls. 

"Hi. Yes. You're on Lake Hancock Blvd. ?"

"Yes, we're at Seidel and Lake Hancock."

"Okay, I'm on Lake Hancock and I do not see you. Are you on Lake Hancock?"

Hejryavhrndjajsnrjwj!! Is this guy a freaking idiot? Does he think the road is 2 feet long?

"Yes we're on Lake Hancock. Where on Lake Hancock are you?"

I hear the GPS say turn on Porter in the background

"Oh stay in Lake Hancock and keep going south! We're south of to on Lake Hancock at porter. Just go south and you'll see us!"

I hear the gps remind him to turn on Porter. 

"Don't turn on Porter, that will take you the wrong way. These streets are knew and the GPS doesn't know that Lake Hancock goes all the way through."

He decides to turn into Porter. He tells me how GPS just goes a different way than I would...

I'm not exactly patient with him on the phone after this but I continue to talk him through it and  he arrives. 

I calm down. I shouldn't be so mean and cranky. And he's super nice back. Gives us cold water and offers to take it to our requested mechanic for us. We don't even have to go. It's Saturday anyways and they're closed so he'll just drop the truck off at the mechanic and leave the keys in the drop box. 

We rush home to get Seth because we have Disney plans and fast passes already scheduled. I decided that I should quickly take a pregnancy test just in case, mostly for the piece of mind that I'm fine riding roller coasters. 

I knew it would come back "not pregnant." I had already put in the tampon and pad because I felt my period coming. 

I used one of the new digital ones that counts down for you. That was fun. I quickly changed into work out clothes because it was stormy and I was not willing to be sticky all day since we just planned to get wet (and we were definitely doing splash mountain!). 

The count down ended and the next screen showed the results. 

Pregnant

My immediate reaction was to throw my hand over my open mouth from my dropped jaw so hard that it made a loud noise. I couldn't believe it. I spent a good 30 seconds staring at it. Then I started pacing. 

What do I do with this new information? I was giddy. Perma-smile all the way. Ear to ear grin with a few uncontrollable quiet high pitched squeals. Ben's brothers were just outside the bathroom in the kitchen snacking. I was already dressed with the door open. I can't tell them before Ben right? 

I walk back into the bathroom.  

How in the world could I walk out like this though and not say anything? I look like a giddy idiot. They would think I was having a stroke or something.

I walked back out of the bathroom. 

I walked back into the bathroom. 

Okay I need a plan before I do something I can't take back. No. I'm spending the rest of the day with them starting immediately, how could I not tell them. Why no tell them? Because I'm not supposed to in case I have a miscarriage? Screw that. If I have a miscarriage I want my loved ones to know. I know I can't handle that crap by myself. And telling them I had a miscarriage without them knowing I'm pregnant is way harder for me and harder for them to sympathize anyways. I'm telling my loved ones even if it's not socially acceptable! Plus I need them to help me out and carry my backpack and know I'm not going to ride roller coasters. 

But I won't be telling the world for a while, cause strangers offering advice is not my forte to handle. 

I walked back out, test in hand, grin on face, and that's all I needed. 

"Congratulations!"

Jake knew right away of course. Seth may have no figured it out right away but I'm sure Jake would explain as I packed up my bag and texted Jaime. 

Jaime called me right away and celebrated. She knew exactly what to say and what not to say. No "hopefully this one sticks" or "of this one does stick, it will be great!" We talked as if we knew the future and knew what would happen at the end of a pregnancy and that was exactly perfect for me right then. I was letting myself be excited, because I've learned that keeping yourself from being excited now, doesn't take away the pain of a miscarriage. 

Jaime then gave me the exact advice I needed right then in my completely frazzled state. Drink lots of water, eat healthy, take it easy. She told me that this is when the brain is developing and that really resonated with me. Suddenly I was aware of this little one inside of me and I was willing to do anything and everything for the little one. 

I quickly found a healthy snack so I could take my prenatal vitamins and drank a tall cup of water and asked Seth to throw some more water bottles in the back pack. I texted a couple other super important friends. I was sharing the news. I would wait to tell our parents with ben together on FaceTime. 

It took me 30 minutes to finish packing up what should have taken only 10 seconds to pack. Frazzled does not begin to explain my crazed state. I must have said "I'm sorry" a hundred times to Seth and Jake. I knew we had fast passes to get to. Just before we left, I quickly washed my pregnancy test and threw it into a cute bus and put it in the backpack. 

"Do you guys mind if we have dinner at Ben's restaurant so I can tell him?"

"I've was been hoping we could eat there."

Jake's smile is calming, it's good he was there. Seth nodded in full support. I'm so happy that I wasn't alone and have such supportive family with me at this exciting moment!

We walked around the world at Epcot and rode Soarin and the finding Nemo ride and Soaceship Earth. We had a super healthy lunch inside the land. And I had to stop frequently for bathroom breaks since I made sure to drink lots of water. 

Then we started our way to Magic Kingdom. I had to be pretty annoying at this point. Of course all I can think about is pregnancy, but there has to be a limit to how much a non pregnant person can hear about it. 

Our first stop at Magic Kingdom was at City Hall to grab a "first visit" button which I wore on my belly hoping Ben might notice when we visit his restaurant. With some time to spare before our dinner reservations, we rode people mover together and I went hunting for Pokémon while the boys rode space mountain. 

Then we headed over to Jungle Skipper's Canteen to eat dinner and tell Ben the exciting news. 

 I told everyone we came into contact with at the restaurant that Ben was a chef there and that we wanted him to come out because I had a surprise. He usually comes out before we order and then later brings out an appetizer before our meal. But the waiter came back for our orders and still no Ben. Then even our food arrived an no Ben. The whole half hour we sat there I had my eyes glued to the kitchen waiting for him. 

Finally, as we were eating our dinner, I see him start to walk towards us. I'm so excited, but I'm always excited when I see him so he doesn't think twice about it. I stand up and hug him. He doesn't feel the button. We hold hands while he talks to Jake and Seth about their food and I brush his hand over my button. He still doesn't notice it. 

I wait for him to finish talking to them about the steak he made for Jake, but I wasn't fully listening. Just waiting for my moment. I reach down and grab the box I had ready in the table, and hand it to him. Seth is filming on his phone. Ben is 100%!shocked for a brief moment then works to compose himself because he's at work and he knows that he's "on stage" as Disney calls it (aka: In front of guests). He's happy and excited and surprised and stunned, but also cordial.

"Really?"

"Yea that's not a test I can cheat on."

We hug and he returns to the kitchen. We finish our meal and wait for the checks. 

Someone from the table behind us peeks around (oh there are other people at the restaurant. Yep, didn't notice anyone) and said to us "my daughter and I were watching and that was super sweet! I don't know what happened but she was super excited about it! We thought there was some sort of love story going on, like maybe he was going to propose or something."

I then opened the box and showed her the pregnancy test. 

"I was showing my husband my positive pregnancy test."

"Oh you didn't have to show me that."

"It's okay, I'll never see you again so I'm fine."

It was 9:54pm after we finished our meal and we had time to run and get into one line before the parks closing time of 10pm and the boys chose Splash Mountain. Why not? We'll be heading home after and the restraint never pushes against my belly on that ride so I could join!

Ben got off work in time for us to pick him up from the cast member bus stop on our way home. He showed a little more of his giddy excitement after that. We laid in bed and I showed him my new Glow Nurture app that now tracks my pregnancy instead of my cycle. We were 4 weeks and 5 days pregnant. Little one is the size of a red lentil. 

Stay strong little one. I believe in you. We got this thing together.