How the Egg Cracked

Nathan and I married in June of 2008. We were both 21, incredibly young by today's Western standards. We dated through our last two years of high school and into college. Shortly after I turned 20, Nathan asked me to marry him by playing out a scene from The Hobbit. in which Bilbo must guess the answer to a series of riddles--or do I have it wrong? Perhaps Golem was the one who was supposed to answer the riddles. I have not read The Hobbit myself, but Nathan is an avid Tolkein fan. He proposed to me on a dark wintery night in the middle of the woods, meant to look like a cave to replicate the setting of the scene in the book.

So we married in June. Nathan had already completed a double major in math and physics, and I was working towards a BFA in dance. Originally a nursing student, I switched to dance after a year and a half when I perpetually fainted at the sight of blood in my labs. I guess nursing was not meant to be.

Shortly after our one year anniversary, which we spent at a beautiful bed and breakfast in the Finger Lakes region, I came down with a horrible case of strep. Being on birth control, I knew that extra precautions had to be taken while on antibiotics. I think that nature had other plans.

Nathan and I traveled to the Adirondacks to visit his parents while they were on vacation on August 9, 10, and 11. Once there, I noticed that my extreme fatigue and irritability that I had experienced during the week was not going away with extra rest. I had just completed a three week internship with the Limon Dance Company and was exhausted. Furthermore, every morning I was so sick to my stomach that I found myself dry heaving when I took my morning vitamin. On the morning of the 11th, I asked Nathan to go to the store to get me a pregnancy test. He insisted that I was not pregnant, but I insisted right back for the test. Sure enough, it was positive.

This rocked my world. With a baby due in April, I knew that I needed to complete my degree a semester early. In this case, I would not be able to get all of the credits I needed for the BFA, so I reverted to a BS in dance with a minor in creative writing.

That's the beginning of this story.