A Christmas Miracle

I think deer are magical. Brandon saw a buck on our hill the same day he taught Walden, and the two shared a moment. This morning, we looked out the window, and there on the fresh snow was a lone doe. We watched her for some time as she grazed around the yard. Deer are signs of good things--of life, peace, and nature. This deer reminds me of another sign:

Before I found out there was a baby, my sister Jenny had a dream. And in that dream, I gave everyone in the family a tiny box with a picture of an ultrasound wrapped inside. "Aww, cute," I thought. But it was just a dream, and I was busy finishing up teaching the fall semester. And fighting off nausea.

With the semester behind us and a week before a house full of guests arrived, Brandon and I transitioned into host/hostess mode. Jenny and her beautiful son Carson, along with a whole party of fantastic people from Mom to Erin and Steph to Zach and Kyle were spending the holidays with us. So the week before they came, we were busy with preparations: cleaning, shopping, cooking, shopping.

I had attributed the nausea to some medicine I was taking. But it persisted, even after I stopped taking the meds. Hmmm...

The Saturday morning before our final Christmas shopping excursion, I found an old pregnancy test in my makeup bag. Why not? I took the test, only to confound myself as to what two pink lines may mean, since I had thrown away the instructions. I frantically googled "how to read a pregnancy test," and up popped pictures of girl wearing a t-shirt with two pink lines above the words "Surprise!"

So Jenny was right. Her dream told the future. Merry Christmas indeed :) A deer in the snow.

Brandon, being the ever-wise older man, encouraged me to hold off telling anyone until the risk of miscarriage was past. I called and scheduled a doctor's appointment, and we couldn't get in until the second week of January, nearly a month away. So, even though I was aching to share the good news, I waited. I didn't give out ultrasound pictures for Christmas, but the symbol of a gift remains. Once we had our first ultrasound, which gave us a little monkey with a heartbeat and an August 6 (5th Anniversary) due date, I told Mom and my sisters. Jenny said she had known all along.

Now we're exactly a month away from the next telling ultrasound, St. Patty's Day. If it's a boy, he's already set with a few Mom-sent boy newborn onesies. If it's a girl, I'm hanging a chandelier in her room, and maybe a picture of a young doe.