Air Force Wife Life: Should We Stay or Should We Go? Part 1

At the beginning of Summer 2010, Justin and I had been in Okinawa for a year and a half. At the beginning of the year, we started pinching pennies and stashing extra cash away so we could take leave and go home to Tennessee to visit for a while. Tickets were at their cheapest $1300 for that time of year and we had to buy two! That's why we only went home that one time. Anyway, the week before we left for Tennessee, Justin and I had a long discussion about kids. We were only 21 and had been married for two years, but we felt as if that's what was missing from our life. That week, we decided to go off of birth control and just let nature take its course...not try to get pregnant but not try to prevent it. The following week, we were on a plane bound for beautiful East Tennessee. It felt so good to be home and to be back where we came from, where we fit in. Being able to sleep in and not have to hit the snooze button and procrastinate work for an hour felt so nice. Good food. Good people. Good times. But all good things must come to an end. We found ourselves back at McGhee Tyson Airport after just a short month saying our "see ya laters" to friends and family. Our other life, the hectic Air Force life, awaited us on the other side of the globe. Back to reality we went. When we landed at Naha Airport around 10:30 pm, our friend, Kasey, who we graduated high school with and just so happened to be stationed at Kadena as well, was there to pick us up. When we got back to base, I remembered that I had forgotten my toothbrush at my dads and told Kasey that I needed to stop at the shopette to get a new one. While I was in there, I passed by a shelf of pregnancy tests. As I glanced over at them, I thought "I haven't had a period in over a month. Better pick one of these bad boys up just in case". The next morning, well, afternoon (jet lag is a bad word), we rolled out of bed and started our day. I went to the bathroom and pulled the pregnancy test out from under the bathroom sink. I had it hidden from Justin because I didn't want to freak him out until I knew for sure whether I was preggo or not. Anyway, I did my business on the little pink stick, sat it down and waited. One pink line popped up, not pregnant. I was just thinking "Okay. No biggie. My cycle has just been thrown off since I haven't been on the pill in a while. I'll start soon". A few days later, after the jet lag had worn off and we had gotten back into our work routine and all that fun jazz, I realized that I still hadn't started. So, Saturday morning (about a week and a half after we had returned from TN), I peed on the other stick and waited, not expecting anything. I sat it down, washed my face and went about my business. Then I glanced down at the stick and saw TWO pink lines! TWO! I had to do a double take just to make sure I wasn't seeing things! There it was, staring me in the face. PREGNANT! I was shocked. Happy, but shocked. I wasn't expecting it to happen that fast. After all, I had only been off the pill for a week. Just call me Fertile Myrtle! Anyway, I ran into the living room where Justin was sitting, pee stick in hand, and yelled "Justin!! There's two pink line! Two pink lines!!" He smiled and hugged me and then said to me in all seriousness, "That's great! What does that mean?" I honestly thought he was kidding, but much to my dismay, he wasn't. I screamed, "I'M PREGNANT!!!" Then it hit him! Holy cow. We're going to be parents! We were so excited and couldn't wait to tell our friends and family back home what the Tennessee air had done to me! Too bad we had to wait until it was morning in Tennessee. Being 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time made it tough to tell good news when it happens! I had a pretty scary pregnancy the first few months. (Maybe I'll blog about that another day but I have to get on with the rest of this story before I bore y'all to tears) But on March 4, 2011, God blessed us with a happy, healthy, huge 9 lb 10.1 oz 22.5 in baby boy named Silas James McCullough. We were in heaven.

I told you that long story of how I found out I was pregnant to tell the next story...the story that explians the title. Stay tuned. Until then, enjoy some pictures!