Shouting Out to Our Favorite Sugar Daddy
Jason and I were married five years before we got pregnant with Shane. We both were on the same page and wanted to travel and experience our married lives together before we grew our family. After a few years of constantly being on the go, our lives started to get mundane, and we wanted more meaning to our existence. We realized that it was time to create our family.
Around that same time, we went to friends’ wedding in Hawaii for a week at Thanksgiving. We said, “Hey, paradise wouldn’t be a bad place to start practicing.”
At the end of the week, on the plane ride home, my body felt different. I was burning up on the plane, which is completely odd for me. I am always freezing – especially on planes. Jason just looked at me like I was crazy.
I still felt off a few days later, so I purchased a two-pack pregnancy test, but it came back negative. I was so disappointed. But Jason and my family said it just wasn’t meant to be and not to get discouraged. We had just started trying to get pregnant.
By mid-December, we went to Jason’s work holiday party at a Western Restaurant/Bar that had a mechanical bull. After a few drinks, I rode the bull and danced on the bar. I had a great time that night, but I wish I could say the same for the next morning.
About a week later, I woke up in the middle of the night and just knew I was pregnant. I got up and performed the second pregnancy test. Sitting alone in the dark bathroom, I just knew it would be positive. And it was! I couldn’t contain my excitement. It was about 3:30am and I woke Jason up. He said, “Yeah that is great. I’m going back to sleep now.”
I just couldn’t even think of going back to sleep so I lay in bed just letting a wide range of emotions run through me. I was elated, happy and excited; but, at the same time, I was scared and worried about the unknown of actually giving birth. Also, I had to admit I was hoping that riding the bull and drinking hadn’t had any adverse effects.
At that point, I wasn’t even worried about raising a little baby; I was just worried about how it would come out of my body. YIKES!
A few hours later, even though I was only a few weeks pregnant, I called my close relatives and let them know the good news. Everyone was excited. For the next few weeks, I felt like I had the greatest secret and I was sort of glad to keep it to myself until it was time to share the news.
My pregnancy progressed without any hitches: I didn’t have any complications (thank goodness), I was healthy as a horse, and big as a house.
Since I was 35 years old, Jason and I decided that I would have an amniocentesis to find out if there were any birth defects, but the positive side of the risky and painful procedure was that we would find out the sex of the baby. They used 3-D ultra-sound to let us know we were having a baby boy. Later, a chromosome test confirmed that report.
I think that up until that point, it was mostly about being pregnant and not so much about the little person growing inside me. I had been open to a boy or girl; but Jason really wanted a son and did not hide that fact.
So as we left the genetic testing office that day, Jason shared his dreams of having a son with me. He had visions of coaching soccer, playing video games, watching sports…all the things dads like to do with their sons.
Fast forward four months.
Our healthy baby boy, Shane Loyal, was born on Aug. 24, 2004. Everything went without a hitch and, once the baby had entered this world, then we started worrying about this little human being and how the heck would it fit into our lives.
Well, Jason was awesome to me during the labor and it continued when we left the hospital. The exhaustion of labor, giving birth and being awake 24/7 nursing the baby was taking its toll on me. All I wanted to do was go to bed when we got home from the hospital and, thanks to Jason, that is exactly what I did.
I didn’t nap too long, but Jason had me covered like a glove just like he has since I’ve known him, but especially since Shane was born.
Jason has never tried to pass off his fatherly duties. He always says yes to giving baths almost every night – and that has been for 7 years now.
Right from the get-go, Jason was a hands-on daddy. I think he changed one diaper, a month or two before Shane was born. Otherwise, he had no real experience with infants. But since Shane’s birth, he probably changed over one million diapers. (And I’m saying that with my little pinky sticking up.)
In desperation one night, he read the entire book, “The Baby Whisperer,” so we could sleep train a sleepless Shane, who is an amazing sleeper even today (and that ain’t no joke).
In what seemed like an instant, Shane went from being an infant to a toddler to a pre-schooler and now he is about to be a first-grader. I am proud to say that Jason and I have stood shoulder to shoulder from day one – but with me being a bit fragile and a baby myself – he has certainly done most of the shouldering.
I pride myself on being a great mom, but Jason is patient and kind. He is one of the most positive individuals I have ever met. He is rarely grumpy – even if you wake him up super early in the morning. Jason’s motto in life is that FUN is the best thing to have (although WIN is the best thing to do).
Jason is sort of a big kid himself, which is why he is such a great dad. He loves amusement parks, zoos, museums and even Medieval Times (which is where we took him for father’s day last year because he begged us to).
Today, his dream has come true: For the last few years, he has been Shane’s soccer coach and will be again this year; they both love to play X-box and games on the iPad like the Mystery and Zoo Games; and lastly, Jason’s favorite thing to do is watch football, drink beer and eat chips with Shane (but sans the beer for the little man).
Shane is a very lucky boy and I’m a very lucky Mom. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful man in our lives. And, even though I think Father’s Day is a Hallmark holiday, I did want to give Jason a sentimental gift of letting him know –in black and white – OK, maybe pink and orange – how much he means to Shane and I. (Although, Mommy is accepting gifts for writing such a nice post .)
Jason is a diamond broker and my sugar daddy. Can you say ba-bling? OK, this isn’t about me, but Jason.
So– most importantly – I would like to thank you Jason for not making Medieval Times a Father’s Day tradition. I don’t think I could have handled the mutton leg, mead and jousting for a second year in a row.
Comments
Post a Comment