Our Journey Part #7

The news of our unusual quintuplet pregnancy had leaked to the public the week before and phone calls began trickling in from local media outlets. However, we didn’t want our story made public knowledge quite so early into the pregnancy in case something tragic should happen. I remember one news anchor in particular was extremely pushy. I’m sure her job is to break any big story before the other news stations catch wind of it. I don’t respond well to pushy people (I’d already switched doctors so outwitting an overbearing anchorwoman was a piece of cake!) so that made it easier to keep our big news a secret a little while longer. I also wanted our tiny hometown of Princeton to have the first opportunity to break the story. We had an interview with the Princeton Daily Clarion and 98.1 WRAY one afternoon. After that first interview everything is a blur. Luckily, Rob is quick on his feet and a very smooth talker. I left most of the talking to him, and he did a fantastic job. It was really stressful sitting through all the interviews. We wanted people to share in our story, but what we were going through was a very personal and scary situation. How do you determine where to draw the line? It wasn’t long before readers started weighing in. I didn’t pay much attention, but there are always those people out there who have to put their two cents in even when they have no idea what they are talking about. The comments generated by people from the newspapers were mind blowing. I decided the best course of action was to refrain from reading it, but only after I set one very judgmental, poorly informed person straight about the process of infertility.

I have one memory of my pregnancy that is funny and I hope to never forget it. It was about 6:00am Christmas Eve morning 2006. I was 20 weeks 2 days along. I looked like a big full term pregnant person. I got up to go to the bathroom. Our bedroom was right off the living room and across the hall from the bathroom. As I walked out of our bedroom I looked to my right and saw someone standing in our window. It scared me to death! I immediately turned around and woke Rob up. He got up and looked out our bedroom door into the living room. Sure enough, I was right. Why would I joke about something like that? Rob and I respond to situations like these totally differently. I would like to hide and be quiet and hope they go away. Rob runs out of the bedroom shouting at the top of his lungs, but the guy didn’t leave. Rob then yells at the guy that he is going to get the gun. In the mean time I am asking if I need to call 911. Of course we decide that law enforcement would be a good thing since this guy seems to be unafraid of Rob’s threats. Where is the phone? That is what runs through my head now. Cordless phones are the only way to go these days. I mean, you can take them anywhere in the entire house and leave it. That way, it is close by when you need it next time. So, where is the phone I ask again? On the charger! In the kitchen! About 10 feet away from the window that has a scary man standing in it! So, what does a very pregnant woman do in a situation like this? She crawls on her hands, belly, and knees the best she can to the phone. With the phone in hand, I crawl back to the bedroom, where I ask again…Do I need to call 911. YES!!! So, I sit on the floor by the door and get on the phone with a dispatcher. I’m whispering like I am trying to keep the guy outside from hearing me. I am telling the dispatcher that the cops need to come right now because I don’t want this man to die. Isn’t that silly, my husband is being heroic and protecting his family and I am trying to save the scary prowler outside. I am listening to the dispatcher and the police talk back and forth and know they are near. All the sudden the scary man walks away from the window. We don’t see him anymore. As the police make their way to the door, we realize what has happened. Down the block and across the street is a car dealership lot. They have a huge bright light that is high enough in the air that it shines on our house. At that very time in the morning, our neighbors were loading their car to leave for Christmas. The neighbor was standing in his driveway taking in the fresh air and the light from the dealership cast a life-size shadow of him in our window. We have curtains over the window, so it looked like someone was standing right up to the window. It was the perfect light outside with him in the perfect spot and I getting up at the perfect time to have this situation happen. How crazy is that? Two cops came to the door. One was annoyed and not friendly, the other happened to be a guy I knew growing up. He was friendly, and decided they should look around just to be sure. Looking back, that was hilarious. We were so embarrassed that we didn’t tell anyone what had happened. It had to look pretty real for both of us to think the guy was real. I’m lucky I didn’t go into labor after that stress. Needless to say, I couldn’t go back to sleep after that.