First it is summer. We are finally sleeping at night, we have time for us, we are in a routine. Our babies are toddlers, and they are delightful. We are the small family we always wanted to be.
In creeps this unfinished business. Suddenly I feel like this IUD is exactly what it is - birth CONTROL. I can't escape the thought that infertility taught me to let go and yet inside my body is something with CONTROL in the title. I need to face the unknown. Need to face possibility. Need to test my strength now that I am where I wanted to be.
We talk. We discuss. Do we want to open ourselves to possibility? We feel pretty balanced as we are. Kyle worries I will end up where I once was. Heartbroken. Depressed. Disappointed. Desperate. And I say, therapeutically, I need this. I remind him that it wouldn't be about trying for a baby, but to just let life happen. He listens.
We decide together. Ditch the IUD.
I feel free.
We move on.
Within a month I am disappointed in myself.
I suddenly don't want to nurse the babies anymore. Could I be pregnant?
A week later. I still don't want to nurse. I feel tired. Am I?
I start craving spice. I describe my favorite Vietnamese and Thai foods to friends and feel like crying in my desperation to eat it all, now.
I have a talk with myself. You don't even want to be pregnant right now. It terrifies you. You're back at your old tricks...one sleepy afternoon and it MUST be pregnancy, huh? You're psychotic. You made a mistake, removing that IUD. You weren't ready for the unknown. Don't let Kyle know you're obsessing over this. Just don't. You promised him you wouldn't go back there.
I decide I will take a test on the sly. Clear the slate. Confirm what I know must be true. I am not pregnant but I am insane. Move on.
I don't buy a test. There's no good time. No good time?
I am tired. I want spice. I am peeing awfully frequently.
I fess up to Kyle, sheepish. I am obsessed with this idea that I'm pregnant. I can't shake it. I'm so embarrassed. I need to take a test, and then I will move on.
I have no idea what he thinks.
He buys a test on his way home from work.
Seven weeks have passed since my IUD was removed.
I tear off the cellophane wrapper and run into the bathroom.
I look forward to breathing again.
I pee.
I start to set the test on the counter when I see the blue plus sign.
A blue plus sign.
A blue plus sign.
A blue plus sign.
The symbol I dreamed about through three years of infertility. The moment I coveted with every desperate cell of my being - casually taking a test, only to find that, indeed, I am pregnant.
