It was clear that there was no medical intervention that would help George, so Rich and I agreed to move forward with getting married. A week went by and he started to seem so hesitant as he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it because it was “JUST PAPERWORK.” (Even until this day, we joke about this) One night, we got into a heated discussion about the fact that it was a big deal to me because I was changing my name. His rebuttal was that he wanted to make sure I had the perfect ring, the perfect proposal and everything I deserved. He didn’t want to put pressure on his family and told me to not get my hopes up because it was expensive to travel from the UK. It was hard to argue with him, but I ensured him of how happy and so in love I was. He briefly mentioned that we had agreed to legally get married to his family, but downplayed it. Little did he know, I was making plans behind the scenes. I spoke to his sister and mom to arrange a date that they could come so they would see us get married. Flights and hotel were booked— YAY! The plan was for them to show up the day we were getting married.

Two weeks later, I briefly mentioned I started contacting venues for a private dining room and this provoked another argument. He wanted to know why I was only looking for a venue for 10 people and I had to tell him a white lie about the people I had in mind. I told him that he told me to not expect his family to travel for our wedding and that he hadn’t even told them we were actually following through. He quickly messaged his mom to tell her she needed to come to the US — yes or yes. The next day he was desperately messaging everyone and we had to come up with lies to convince him that there was no chance they would make it. His sister told him she had an important trip booked for the dates we planned to get married and he was devastated. His mom couldn’t bring herself to tell him she couldn’t make it, so after a long day we decided to surprise him via Skype. Rich couldn’t believe it. Although things didn’t go as planned, I was beyond thrilled to see him as happy as he was.

At this same time, my mom was trying to secretly plan a baby shower, which I totally intervened. I started getting involved and planned our wedding and baby shower. I wanted to make sure that Rich’s family had the best experience during the short 5 days they’d be here. We were finally enjoying our pregnancy and Rich planned a bunch of fun activities in September. He took me to see Sam Hunt, a friend from the UK came to visit and we spent the weekend in Lake George, and on my birthday he took me to a 3 star Michelin restaurant— Jean Georges. That night we went to see Wicked, which I had wanted to see for years! My birthday was such a special day as we really enjoyed our little George.