Parenting...How did you find out you were going to be?

[Keith&Co.]

(Or, how did you break the news?)

When my wife and I first got married, sjhe wanted kids. I wanted dogs. We settled on three. Either three dogs, or three kids, or some combination.

About a year after the wedding, I got a call at work. She told me I was down to two dogs. I said okay, and hung up. Then I started bitching. Damn, I was mad. She just arbitrarily decided to change the agreed upon number on me. No discussion, just 'this is changed.'

My fellow instructors watched me rant for a while, then I explained the deal. THEY got it. "So, if you're down to two dogs, does that mean you're up by one kid?"

Called her back. She giggled. "Did you figure it out or did someone knock you upside the head?"

I had to admit, "Well, there's a reason you're on speaker right now... The head knockers wanted to listen in."

 

[Keith&Co.]

A friend of mine went to sea on the sub, came back, and when his wife picked him up at the pier announced that they were pregnant.

We've all heard the stories. Go to sea for a long deployment, come back after 3 months underwater to find your wife 2 months pregnant... And I guess they'd been teasing one of the junior kids about that very thing. So that's where his mind was when he heard the news.
Instant response was to ask, "Are you sure it's mine?"
"WHAT?! How could it NOT be yours?"
"Well, you weren't pregnant when I left...!"

She, of course, was not expecting this, because they weren't actually deployed on a deterrent patrol. They were testing a piece of equipment. They had been to sea for 5 days.

So there they were, on the side of the road, having a little biology lesson at the top of their lungs.

He's calibrated now, though.

 

[Bronzeage]

Family planning has always been a mystery to me. Babies are just something that happens. I've had friends who have a five year calendar with a month sometime in the future circled in red and the only mystery is boy or girl. I suppose that has it's benefits.

When I became an newly minted bachelor in my 30's, I sat down and took stock of my situation. The statistics were stark. Every woman who had at least one month's unprotected sex with me, became pregnant. From that point on, I took control of my family planning.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Well, the first time I kidnapped a hitchhiker and locked her up in my basement to become my sex slave, I forgot to buy condoms. Rookie mistake, I know, but what can you do?

But at least I was able to experience the joy of holding my son in my arms and then I also got a nice meal, so everything worked out in the end.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Well, the first time I kidnapped a hitchhiker and locked her up in my basement to become my sex slave, I forgot to buy condoms. Rookie mistake, I know, but what can you do?

But at least I was able to experience the joy of holding my son in my arms and then I also got a nice meal, so everything worked out in the end.

I had a similar experience, but minus the kidnapping, slave, meal stuff... and it was in a doctor's office.

 

[Rhea]

You got pregnant in a doctor’s office!?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

You got pregnant in a doctor’s office!?

The wait times can be really long. Gotta do something.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Trojan explosion. Rhymes with baby lotion.

 

[thebeave]

Maury Povich broke the news to me.

 

[Rhea]

Mine were absolutely not a surprise. We were taking temps daily while trying to get pregnant, so you can know in a matter of days - about 10 for us. The only surprise at that point is if you are STILL pregnant by 2 weeks or has a spontaneous abortion (miscarriage). If my temps went back down by day 11, not pregnant. Most times, though, I felt the extreme fatigue first. So my husband would wake up when he heard the thermometer beep. “And?” He’d ask. “Still 98 - we’re good so far,” I’d reply, or, “97.5 - that’s a scrap. Study up for next try in two weeks.” So he’d know withn minutes of when I knew. But we did learn in time how many miscarriages happen (a lot) and to not say anything to anyone until we got to 3 months. Though friends were not fooled when we went to a giant blues concert and my husband had a six pack of beer and I had a six-pac of Ensure.

 

[Playball40]

Not so much about how he found out as much as his reaction. Our daughter was still an infant and I was BFing full time (in short no cycle yet) when I had that 'pregnant' feeling. When it wouldn't go away I finally went to the doctor who confirmed and said we were about 9-10 weeks along from the look/feel of things, but ordered a TVS just to be certain. At the sono, the tech said...'well you're not 10 weeks, more like 7.....but there's two." Without missing so much as a pause my husband said "TWO WHAT?" He totally freaked thinking it had two heads or something......It just didn't hit him there could be twins.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Is there an old wives tale that you can’t get pregnant while breastfeeding? Because I’ve heard several similar stories.

 

[Toni]

Is there an old wives tale that you can’t get pregnant while breastfeeding? Because I’ve heard several similar stories.

Yeah. Pregnancy *may* be less likely but mileage varies, as Playball40 has so aptly described. Ovulation may be suppressed but it's not always suppressed. I mean, where do you think Irish twins come from, anyway??????

 

[Playball40]

Is there an old wives tale that you can’t get pregnant while breastfeeding? Because I’ve heard several similar stories.

Yeah. Pregnancy *may* be less likely but mileage varies, as Playball40 has so aptly described. Ovulation may be suppressed but it's not always suppressed. I mean, where do you think Irish twins come from, anyway??????

Yup. In our case Irish triplets.

 

[Rhea]

Is there an old wives tale that you can’t get pregnant while breastfeeding? Because I’ve heard several similar stories.

Not just old wives tale. It is true that breastfeeding can suppress ovulation for a while. For me it was 13 months, but for a friend it was only 2 months even though she continued nursing for a year. But either way, what you don't know is what month it stops suppressing ovulation until AFTER you have had a fertile ovulation. There's no warning sign.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Is there an old wives tale that you can’t get pregnant while breastfeeding? Because I’ve heard several similar stories.

Not just old wives tale. It is true that breastfeeding can suppress ovulation for a while. For me it was 13 months, but for a friend it was only 2 months even though she continued nursing for a year. But either way, what you don't know is what month it stops suppressing ovulation until AFTER you have had a fertile ovulation. There's no warning sign.

All part of that "intelligent design".