As perspectives changed, they realized parenthood was something they wanted

THE PARENTS: Jordan Price, 35, and Steve Mayernick, 35, of Fishtown

THE CHILD: Parker Klaus (PK), born May 24, 2022

HIS NAME: They liked the way a “P” name sounded with “Price-Mayernick,” and Klaus is for Steve’s grandfather, a Holocaust survivor who spoke 12 languages.

They were both in line for a beer-and-food event, and Jordan heard a guy in front of her telling friends about his previous day’s adventure: He’d been on his way to a wedding when his car ran out of gas and he realized the key fob, left on top of the car, was long gone.

He took SEPTA home and never made it to the ceremony.

“I was telling this story when a lovely woman behind me in line chimed in and called me a clown,” Steve recalls.

That was Jordan, who has a habit of entering strangers’ conversations. “We sort of clustered and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon over plates of food and Brooklyn-brewed beers,” she remembers.

A few months later, Steve invited her to breakfast. Was this a date? “I got there and quickly realized it was not a date. But I thought: This is a person I want to be friends with.”

That’s what they remained — strictly platonic buddies who got together for movies and hangouts, oblivious to their friends’ suspicions that they were secretly dating — for six months.

March 2016 was a turning point. “I’d had some feelings for Steve, but he realized it and made a move. It was like a switch was flipped: Oh, we get it now,” Jordan says.

Their first “proper date” was at Pumpkin on South Street. Within a few weeks, they were calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend. “Steve said, ‘I love you,’ shortly after that, I followed suit, and we were all in,” Jordan says.

They moved in together in late 2017, with some up-front talks about their cohabitation preferences and expectations. “I love my solitude and alone time. Jordan does, too. I think those early conversations have paid dividends,” Steve says.

» READ MORE: After five years of hard work and heartbreak, they welcome a baby girl

In May 2019, Steve planned what he said was a belated dating-anniversary gift: a scavenger hunt that took Jordan to locations including her favorite workout studio, brunch with a friend, and finally to their building rooftop, where she spied a cake bearing a miniature, tuxedo-clad Gritty made of fondant and the words “Marry It Me.”

They planned a wedding for spring 2020. But when they realized that “this pandemic was not going anywhere,” they arranged to get a marriage license virtually from a Bucks County clerk, then held a masked, socially distant ceremony in a Fishtown park.

It was May 1, just months into the pandemic. “We had a few immediate family members … the city was a ghost town, no cars out, people popping out of their windows,” Steve recalls.

They celebrated afterward with a leg of lamb take-out dinner from Zahav and honeymooned “south of our backyard,” Jordan says. “It was a bright moment in a very dark time.”

They’d talked about children — Steve is one of four siblings; Jordan is one of five — and decided to start by adopting a dog, which turned out to be a challenge during COVID-19. Finally Jordan located a woman who needed to rehome her 10-week-old goldendoodle.

“When we got the dog, I saw a side of Jordan I’d never seen: wanting to love and take care of another soul and how she didn’t let that get in the way of her independence,” Steve says. The routine, the shared responsibility, and the need to cooperate on discipline styles “played a big part in knowing we would be successful and happy having a child.”

At the same time, Jordan felt reluctant to bring a child into a world governed by COVID restrictions. After an abnormal pap smear in fall 2020, her doctor said her ability to conceive and bear a child could be at risk. “It was a very confusing time,” she says.

Meanwhile, they planned a second wedding — or, weddings, plural: three different events, all in the same day, each with about 40 guests to remain under the capacity limits for health and safety.

As the pandemic dragged on, their perspectives on parenthood shifted. “My aspirations were never tied to motherhood,” Jordan says, “but there was a very gradual realization for me: This was something I did want.”

“I worried about [parenthood] interfering with my career,” Steve says. “The pandemic reframed everything. I knew we would be able to make it work, that there would be balance and shared responsibilities and mutual empathy.”

» READ MORE: After marriage, they both wanted children, sooner rather than later

One night, after a sushi dinner at which Jordan instinctively avoided any raw fish, she took a pregnancy test in the middle of the night. Then another. “Yeah, I had a feeling,” Steve murmured when she told him.

The pregnancy was smooth. “I felt really great, really comfortable in my skin,” Jordan says, although unexpected congestion at 33 weeks called for humidifiers and some nights spent sleeping in a different room.

As the due date neared, she prepped and froze meals they could eat later. They read and discussed parenting philosophies, finding they were drawn to the less-obsessive French approach made famous in Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman. “We’d observed a lot of helicopter parenting in our circle; we didn’t want to be like that,” Steve says.

Jordan’s top goal for delivery was: have no expectations. And when Parker made his appearance — after she labored at home, then at Jefferson Hospital, with about 90 minutes of pushing — ”his delivery was as painless as one could be. He came out in one fell swoop. It was great. He latched right away.”

Steve found himself startled by the range of new-parent emotions, including frustration, anger, and guilt; it reassured him to talk with other parents and learn that they cycled through similar feelings.

It also helped to have a pediatrician remind them that the early days were all about survival — Parker’s and their own.

“My fear was that I wouldn’t have room in my life for myself and a child,” Jordan says. “I found that my life made room.”