What's in a name? Pt. 1 - RASHARD

SMS and I had been trying to get pregnant for over a year when it finally happened.  

We found out on a Tuesday morning - the first day of Rosh Hashanah - the beginning of the Jewish New Year.  It also happened to be the day after a Steeler's Monday Night Football game against Baltimore.  It was in that game that rookie Rashard Mendenhall was to start for the injured Willie Parker.  It was a big deal because Mendenhall had fumbled twice in the pre-season and the team had been playing pranks on him.  Hines Ward -- one of my all-time favorites and his training camp roommate -- made him carry a ball all around the training facility, even when they weren't on the field and stuff like that.  There was a lot of media coverage about Mendenhall and the jokes in the pre-game broadcasts and I was starting to feel bad for the kid.

"If we ever get pregnant," I said to SMS, "let's name the kid Rashard."

"Ok," he agreed.

We watched the game, as I always did at K.MAY's house where, on the dining table, I found a pregnancy test still in the wrapper.  

"Do you want that?" she asked.

"Sure," I said.  I had been throwing money down the toilet (literally), and had been peeing on sticks more mornings than not, for over a year.  A free pregnancy test was not something I was going to turn down.

That night the Steelers won and Mendenhall suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.  Less than 12 hours later we found out we were pregnant.  It was actually entirely too early, in my estimation, for a test to detect anything, however, a free test was like found money and I figured, why not?

Rashard The Fetus was born!