Testing 1, 2, 3

I’ve taken several pregnancy tests in my 14 years of marriage. And I’ve had a range of reactions to the results. Surprise, disappointment, shock, disbelief, and (of course) joy! I’m not going to tell you which reactions go with which test results.

Okay, honestly, I probably experienced each of these emotions with each of the test results at different times. But no matter what I was hoping for or expecting, I always thought it was exciting just to take the test. After all, the results could be life changing! Because of this excitement, I confess that my impatience has led me to take pregnancy tests in some unlikely places—namely, in the bathrooms at Target and at a Chinese restaurant. (No, I’m not lying. Also, both of these tests were negative.)

My point is that finding out you are going to bring an entirely new person into the world is a huge deal. And since you’re reading this magazine, I’m guessing you most likely already know this from experience. Not much can compare to that feeling!

When my husband and I found out that I was pregnant with our first child, we laughed, we smiled, and we wondered what kind of parents we would be. The hopes, dreams, and plans had begun.

Then, just a few weeks later, we had a scare and thought that I had lost our baby. We went to the emergency room, and after a couple of hours of tests and heartache, the doctors told us that we had experienced a “threatened miscarriage.” We still weren’t in the clear, but just knowing that our baby was alive gave us such hope!

Seven months later, Callie Elizabeth Partridge was born. Our reactions to seeing her sweet face more than topped our reactions to seeing those two little lines on the pregnancy test that announced her coming! She was here, and she was ours. And our lives have never been the same.

Twenty-two months later, Caleb Aeden Partridge came into the world, and twenty-two months after that, Kathryn Dorothy Partridge made her entrance. Three children under the age of four had now been entrusted to our care. What a blessing! I mean, it wore us out, but what a blessing!

It’s been more than 12 years now since my first pregnancy test, but I am still taking tests. Daily, actually. No, not the kind where you wait for the line to appear in the window. And not necessarily the kind that gets you excited about taking it. In fact, many of these parenting tests can be quite taxing. They demand a lot of mental and emotional energy, decision-making, and refereeing. Also coffee. Lots of coffee.

The testing will continue. In fact, I’m being tested as I’m typing this. The results aren’t always positive. But that’s okay, too, as long as I’m learning from it.

I have to go now. Pop quiz.