I invited the East Coast daughters for a spontaneous family weekend. Two birthdays and a baptism were planned, and I wanted to bring the family together to celebrate.
Initially, they were both receptive to last-minute travel, but when they had time to think...the last minute vacation excitement faded.
One daughter informed me, "I'll more than likely be ovulating this weekend, and I can't miss the window."
This is something I would have never said to my mother. Foremost, because I wouldn't have even been aware of when I was ovulating and things of such intimate nature weren't expressed to one's mother.
Knowledge of conception in our family has changed drastically for two reasons: technology and transparency.
Within days of conceiving, another daughter called to let us know she was pregnant. She and the father-to- be were beaming. Absolutely beaming rays of sunshine through the FaceTime call. I've never seen anyone so happy to be pregnant.
"How did you know so quickly?" I asked, for in my motherhood years, confirming a pregnancy took months and a visit to the doctor's office for a pregnancy test. Now my daughters measure their HCG levels and confirm pregnancy within days.
And yet...I've never seen parents-to-be so sad, when their life plan ended in miscarriage.
The first daughter to get a Phd in a science field had trouble getting pregnant for her first time, so she did her research. It became a science project of sorts and after eight months of unsuccessful conception, she became pregnant. She'd cracked the code and went on to help a cousin, and became the number one consultant for her two sisters. How many friends and acquaintances have been include I have yet to ask. Once she had helped her sisters, she became the insider, the consultant, and the first to know the good news.
Aunts are just as important as grandmas and grandpas.
So if all things go as planned (because these things are very well planned and calculated) and we are blessed, as a family participant in the planning of children, I will have two new grandchildren in January 2024.
That's nine months away.
I've yet to book my flight.
Because science is second to nature.
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