I took a few days off from dancing with the team, but I still went to my technique classes. My mom and my teammates tried to give me suggestions, but in the end it was my choice since it was my life and my baby. Apparently Fabian had left not only our team, but he also withdrew from all of his classes at the studio. I felt like it was partially my fault that he left because he didn't want to see me, despite what my mom and teammates had said. After a couple days though, I decided I would stay on the team until I was 3 months pregnant since that would be just in time for nationals. My mom took me to the doctors and I found out I was 1 month pregnant, and that my baby was doing fine. Looking at the ultrasound, my baby was so small, about the size of my fist, and thinking that small little thing was going to be a big, 7 pound baby was hard. I told the team about everything and sat out at that weeks competition. The group placed 2nd, and everyone said it was because I wasn't there, and that I was the one who made the team complete. When Fabian used to be on the team, he never was in our team branch because we would have sleepovers and parties, and he didn't want to come because apparently it was too "girly". It was kind of like we were the real team and he was a "add on" to it. My dance teacher wasn't happy Fabian left or that I would be leaving after 3 months pregnant, but she was happy that I was going to stick with the team through nationals. My morning sickness was still coming, but time went by and eventually it was the week of nationals. My dance teacher gave me a solo entitled "My Life is Going to Change" because I was going to be a mom, and I was going to be in our group dance entitled "the Wrath of the Roses" which was a group dance we had performed in the past. But, it was different mainly because Fabian was gone, so therefore we had to change some of the positions and choreography. Everyone on the team and the moms were all stressed out because if we won nationals, we would have a strong reputation in the dance world. The last 4 years that we had gone to nationals we always got 4th, 3rd or 2nd place. One year Annie had won 1st place for her solo, but other than that, we were losers at nationals. Everyone was on high alert, including my dance teacher who would yell at us frequently for little things like not pointing your foot all the way. Eventually it was performance time, and I was watching another girl dance on stage waiting to perform my solo, and I was super stressed. When they called my name I walked out on stage and went into my beginning pose. I did the solo the best I could, and I thought about my baby while I was dancing. At the awards ceremony, I was shaking. We were all so nervous, and we sat down on the stage, each of us squeezing each other hands, praying for a win. When it was solo time, I felt like my heart was going to explode. They went down the line, saying 8th place, 7th place, and then they got to first. The announcer said "And with 1st place, this dancer was a half a point away from second, and 1st place goes to........... Neptuna with Life is Going to Change!" I could not believe it! I bounced up and ran over to get my humongous trophy. I had actually won nationals! For the group dance, we placed 2nd, but I had actually placed 1st in my solo! I was on top of the world.
