Jace

Jace Nashawn Atkinson

 Nashawn and I both new we wanted kids someday. We were both young and selfish and had decided we would wait for 2 to 5 years of marrage. We had just purchased a brand new Dodge Truck. My family and extended family were camping and Nashawn and I decided to take our new purchase up and show everyone. I can still remember sitting around the camp fire when my Grandpa Ernie asked how we would be able to pay for that truck and a baby. Nashawn laughed and told him that we weren't having kids until the truck was payed off.....so he said, "That puts us on a five year plan". My Grandpa laughed and told Nashawn he didn't think we would make it 6 months let alone 5 years! And boy grandpa couldn't have been more right!

Two weeks latter I woke up one morning and was getting ready for work when I started feeling very sick. I went to work anyway and by 12 felt better. However over the next five days the nauseated feeling continued and I even got sick several times. But like clock work by around 12 the sickness was gone. This all started around the 24th of July. I know your wondering how I would remember that. Well my brother and sister in law had both came for a visit on that weekend. They had just had their first child nine months earlier. And just like on previous mornings I was sick. In the late afternoon my sister in law and I were sent to the local fast food stand to get shakes for everyone. While there she asked me if I thought my morning sickness could be caused by the fact that I could be pregnant. I looked at her as though she were crazy and stated how that couldn't be because I was taking birth control. 

By monday morning I felt so sick that Nashawn asked his mom if she would drive me to the dr. because he couldn't get the day off work. She too just new I was pregnant but never said a word and took me to the dr. When the nurse came in we talked about how a month earlier I had been sick with a sinus infection and that they had given me antibiotics and that I thought maybe that I still hadn't recovered from the sinus infection. She drew some blood and had me do a few other tests then sat me in a room to wait for the dr. When the dr. came in he asked me how far along I was. "What" I said. "How many weeks pregnant?" he asked. I am not pregnant I told him. The dr. got really embarrassed and said they must have mixed up the charts. He left the room and I could hear him talking to a nurse. After a few minutes he came back in, laughed, and told me that the charts were not mixed up and that I was pregnant and thats what was causing my sickness. He said it was morning sickness. He gave me a prescription for pre-natial vitimans. I asked how I got pregant while on the pill. He said that when your taking birth control and you take antibiotics the antibiotics  can lesson the effectiveness of the birth control.  So out into the lobby in shock I walked, forgetting my mother in law. When I saw her reality settled in and not wanting to tell her before Nashawn I made up a story about having an intestinal virus. She just looked at me a smiled! She new the truth and also new I wanted to tell Nashawn first. I called him when I got home and he was in shock too.

Once we got over the shock and I got over morning sickness, pure excitement settled in not only for Nashawn and I but for our families as well. It seemed none of us could wait for Jace to arrive. Twelve weeks into the pregnancy Nashawn announce one after noon that we were having a boy and that he wanted to name him Jace. I wasn't so sure on either the name or the fact it was a boy, but Nashawn just seemed to know and wasn't a bit surprised at the ultrasound. 

Jace wasn't due until the 23rd of March. I had a Dr. appointment on March 8th and was planning to work for a few hours then head along with my mom to the Dr. (Nashawn, my mom, and my mother in law took turns taking me because Nashawn couldn't always get off work) When Nashawn and I woke up that morning I told him that I didn't feel good. He asked if we need to go to the hospital if I was in labor. I said no that I thought labor would hurt and I didn't hurt I was just tired. So he called my boss and told him I wasn't feeling well and he went to work. I slept a while longer then got ready for the Dr. Mom picked me up earlier and we went shopping then to the appointment. The Dr. checked me the asked if I was ready to have a baby today. I laughed! He said no really you are dilated to a 5 and ninety percent effaced, you need to go check yourself into labor and delivery and I will be seeing you in a while. 

I started crying worrying Nashawn wouldn't make it. No worry was necessary. He made it with-in the hour. I checked into the hospital at 12:30pm on March 8th and Jace was born, after what seemed like very long anticitpated hours of waiting on everyones part, at 12:27 am March 9th. I just keep crying its a boy....its my baby boy!! And Nashawn well......he was just so proud!

I love you Jace!!