Telling Forrest then Telling Family

Forrest and I went to dinner the night I found out I was pregnant. I tried to think of maybe a creative way to tell him, or special place I could take him. Instead, I kept it a secret and just thought maybe the right time would just come. We go eat at our favorite hole in the wall restaurant in Hempstead, really the only place to eat. On our way there I was silent, a change for me so of course Forrest noticed. He asked me if everything was okay and I said yes but could not look him in the eyes. We go inside, sit down, and immediately our waitress brings us chips and salsa. We start eating and I realize that I am so anxious, I physically cannot swallow a chip. My heart was racing. I was without a doubt having at least a mild panic attack. I could not find any words to say much less those important ones I needed to.

After devouring several chips, Forrest eventually looked up from the table and realized I was just not myself (mainly because I was not devouring chips too). From there I don't know what happened, really, somehow it came out of my mouth as he asked what's wrong. Although I can't remember exactly what I said, I am a little glad I did not have a camera to document it all. The greater memories came later after coming home and talking about it. The shock was just so much and at a restaurant and out of no where! Wish I could say it was one of those moments where we were both overjoyed with tears or jumping up from the table with excitement, but no that is not the case.

Having said that, things took a turn later that night and even more so as the days went by. We came to a point where we were both over the initial shock and more focused on being excited. Forrest even came home a couple days later with a Babies R Us catalog, then plopped down on the couch to go through it. 

So... to sum up Forrest's reaction with two pictures: The first represents his initial reaction...

Then later that night, he became more like this:

The next day I called my Sister and my parents to tell them. It was my Sister's birthday and they were enjoying a day out on the beach. She was so thrilled and so proud. She said it was the best birthday present she could ask for. My Mom cried, then she balled. My dad was excited but I think not too happy with me because they were in Iowa visiting his family and I told him not to tell anyone. He is not the greatest secret keeper, but he did me proud on this one.

Then that night, we told Forrest's parents. We were going to take them out to dinner to celebrate but they had started some projects on the ranch. I knew I was going to see Cheri all day on Monday (we had a girls' outing planned) and there was no way I was going to be able to keep it from her. So we interrupted their evening anyways to tell them. They were both super excited. Something so neat about this moment was that Forrest's dad said he was on his tractor earlier that day, and he had this feeling that something was about to change in their lives. He thought to himself, "I know what it is... Bubba and Moof are going to have a baby." Then, can you believe it, we broke the news to them that very night.