If you hadn't already heard

I’m going to be a dad.
Seriously; this isn’t a hypothetical, one-day-in-the-distant-future statement. Sometime around September 9th, to be precise.
Paula’s about 10 weeks along, almost out of her first trimester and in relatively good condition, we figured it’s time to let people know. Besides, it was turning into the worst kept secret ever; like trying to keep a colander from draining water. The ‘Circle of Trust’ was decimated worse than the Mountain West at the hands of the Cougars. If you only have connections to the Roberts side of the family, this might be news to you; otherwise…
It’s been an interesting January. I sort of alluded to this in my first post of 2007 as that’s when we found out that we are on our way to be parents – December 30th. And there was no degree of normalcy to our discovery.
Paula became sick two days after returning from NYC with a high fever and went into the doctor. They couldn’t find anything wrong and figured it was some type of infection, so they prescribed some random anti-biotic. Well, after she took it she started throwing up – like immediately after she took the pills – and they were never able to work.
Saturday morning her fever was up to 103 and off we went to the hospital. Her pulse was up to 113 bmp and with the temperature, they admitted her quickly. They’d taken her for a series of tests and left me chillin’, watching Rocky train in Siberia to take on Ivan Drago in Rocky IV in our room. In comes the doctor.

DR: “Where is she?”
ME: “They took her to do some tests.”
DR: “Who are you?”
ME: “The husband.”
DR: “I guess it’s okay then. Well, she’s pregnant. You can tell her when she gets back.”

That’s right – I KNEW MY WIFE WAS PREGNANT BEFORE SHE DID!!! A rare experience, to say the least; and when she got back in I told her. She was a little out of it from some medication they put in her IV, so her reaction wasn’t one of elation. It was more like “Are you serious?” I was.
It was so early in her the process the ultrasound couldn’t spot anything in her uterus; it did spot something up by the ovary and the doctor warned it might be a tubal pregnancy, which would have to be terminated or Paula would die. It was hard to get too excited with a “Congratulations, your pregnant…but here’s the caveat” revelation. All in all, the revelation was somewhat anticlimactic.
But all is well; looking at the ultrasound Paula had last week, we are the proud parents of…a little kidney bean. That’s what it looks like. Paula said that during the ultrasound that the little heart was beating like crazy, so it’s a person in embryo; additionally, with little Beckett being born and seeing pictures of the Nerf and Linds as parents, it excites us even more.
The doctors never figured out what the fever was about – personally, I really think that it was divine intervention to keep Paula from keeping down the antibiotic. According to the ER doctor, the antibiotic she had been prescribed was something she never should have been given as a pregnant woman as it could have done damage to the baby. Tender mercies of the Lord.
Thinking about being a dad has been the only time I’ve smiled while being out-of-my-mind nervous. It’s crazy and wonderful. I’ve recently re-read “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” and it continues to become more real. Much like when I married Paula, realizations of my weakness are magnified (in a good way) and it allows me to take a close look at myself and see how I can – and should – improve.
I’m going to be a dad.