About a month after finding out Becky was pregnant, it was difficult keeping it to ourselves. We were able to talk with the Parkers, but that was about it.

In mid-October, Becky’s mom came to town to see one of Becky’s performances (her final major performance before the inevitable break). It was at lunch after she flew in from the airport that Becky told her she was going to be a grandmother. Susan stood up and jumped up and down like a little girl on Christmas morning.

A week later, Steve and Anna drove in for the weekend and stayed at our place. Becky was busy that weekend with Nutcracker stuff, so she wasn’t able to hang out as much, so we didn’t have an opportunity to formally tell them. Instead, we hung up the ultrasound picture on the refrigerator to see if they would notice. The evening before they left (Becky was at rehearsal), Anna went to the refrigerator to get a beer and asked, “who’s baby is this?” I said, “ours.” She didn’t believe me until I pulled out the “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” book and all the other pregnancy literature we’d been collecting.

I told my sister, Stephanie over iChat on October 30, and my parents the next day. However, I was smart enough to hit “screen record” when I told my grandparents:

One month ago on June 16, Annabelle Katherine Dean was born. But like any good story, there is so much more to it. In the series “A Father Recounts His Daughter’s Birth”, I (the father) will recount my daughter’s birth.

Dating all the way back to…

October 4, 2009 (wait… THAT far back? Yep).

On October 4, 2009, we were going to Las Vegas for a weekend we had previously planned with our friends, Ian & Abbi. Becky woke up early that Saturday to go teach class as usual, and, surprisingly, I was sleeping in because usually I’m up early as well.

Becky woke me up around 7:30, but not with the traditional, “I’m leaving now, have a nice day. I love you” kiss. Instead, she blurted out, “I think I’m pregnant,” and showed me the test which showed two lines instead of one.

Unsure of how accurate it was, she went ahead and took the second test that came in the box. Again, two lines.

I grabbed my iPhone and looked up the brand of pregnancy test to see how accurate they really were. 99%. So we reluctantly rejoiced at the notion that in 9-ish months we’d be parents and our lives would change forever. But that wasn’t enough for neither Becky nor I. We wanted further proof. The kind of proof that the pregnancy test would actually say, “Pregnant.” None of this two-line nonsense. We wanted it spelled out.

So I went to the grocery store later that morning and bought a digital home pregnancy test and a bag of box of donuts (because it was still breakfast-time and I was hungry).

We were to leave for the airport as soon as Becky got home from work and had enough time to change. But there was still time for a third pregnancy test, and it was, as suspected, a positive test. PREGNANT.

On the way to the airport to meet Ian and Abbi to fly away to Vegas for the weekend, we recounted the fact that these were the very friends who told us they were pregnant almost immediately after they found out two years earlier, and that is how we justified telling them that evening over dinner at The Venetian in Las Vegas.

It was the beginning of a celebration that would last until June 15…

I want to say a few words about the new record I’m recording. It will be the first one in just short of five years. I’m not quite sure when the new record will be finished, I have the following promises:

1. The new record will be finished before my wife gives birth to our daughter. Finished is the key word there. Released, not quite sure. But we’re on schedule to finish all basic tracking by mid-April.

2. The new record will feature a rerecording a classic CGD song. Which one, you ask? Just look to my favorite town in Utah for the answer to that question.

3. The new record will sound nothing like any Nickelback album. Or at least I sure hope it doesn’t.

4. I will be posting new music soon. Hopefully very soon…

Thanks everyone for your support of this crazy little hobby of mine.