Cautiously optimistic

Here's some visual evidence. Perhaps not the boldest of lines but a line nonetheless--this pic is (I think) the second of three tests in as many days which were all positive and the newer one being slightly "darker" than the last. Plus, IM had a blood test at the clinic today and...sure enough...it's positive and her number (70?...what are the units?) is about right. We're expecting it to increase with some regularity over the next few days and IM will have another blood draw on Monday...then again...then again....then again....for a while to establish that everything is a-ok. Meanwhile she gets to get injections from me for quite a while longer too!

The feelings are quite strange. We're both totally distracted and scared, happy, terrified, relieved.... Name the emotion and I'm pretty sure I'm feeling it a little bit.

Another interesting thing is how different this one feels compared to our last one about 4 years ago. I remember feeling kind of scared about the prospect of being a Daddy. I knew that I could and would do it but I was nervous about the prospect. Now I'm not nervous at all. I'm absolutely ready for it. We've been waiting and waiting and waiting to be parents for a long time now...so we're pretty much ready. I know people like to say "no one is every fully ready". Hogwash, we're ready! I think that I had decided in my mind that eventually...somehow...someway....we would be parents. It was just a matter of time and effort (and money) to get there (or here I guess). And I think I've pretty much considered us both a Mommy and Daddy in waiting. I'm so excited for everything that lies ahead.

"Cautiously optimistic", however, is our mantra and we chant it often. We're as early on in a pregnancy as it's possible to be--most would only call this a chemical pregnancy at this point. But a chemical pregnancy turns into a regular one almost all of the time. So we are optimistic and right now...at this moment...we're going to have a baby!