Very definitely pregnant
I always envisioned the scenario in which I first find out that I'm pregnant would be beautiful and memorable. Perhaps I would experience a delicate bout of morning sickness and take a pregnancy test. Perhaps I would then be elated at the positive result, miraculously not spill the beans to my husband straight away even though I have a tendency to tell him everything the exact minute that it happens to me, and keep the news a secret until I've finished planning an elaborate, romantic home-cooked dinner (in this dream scenario, I can also cook), during which I would break the news to husband.
Well. Best laid plans of mice and men and just-realized-they-might-be-pregnant women, and all that. That's not how it happened.
What did happen was that I went out on a Friday night to a club, as per my usual weekend shenanigans, but curiously, everything I imbibed that night tasted strange. I thought that the Uber that took us back home smelled awful, though my husband said it didn't smell bad at all. Also curious. I then remembered that I had been uncharacteristically ravenous over the past two weeks and that my breasts felt tender. But that's PMS, right? Maybe I should take a test just in case.
I took a pregnancy test as soon as I got home, and was so shocked that the two lines indicating a positive result came up after just 10 seconds that I yelled for my husband to come into the bathroom while I was still sitting on the toilet bowl. (This is how we both knew it was an emergency: I never let my husband see me on the toilet bowl.) I made him scrutinize the pregnancy test ("Am I reading this right? This can't be right") and quickly dismissed it as being inconclusive. False positive, obviously. I'll just drink a gallon of water and take another test. When the second test came up positive, I wondered how possible it was to get two false positives in a row. Logically, very possible, right, since the tests were from the same manufacturer... right?
We went to a clinic the next afternoon to get tested and have our theory about false positives proven right, only to find out they don't do pregnancy tests on a Saturday afternoon. The doctor said I could come back on Monday, or head to a hospital. I was still pretty sure I wasn't pregnant but didn't want to wait until Monday to find out, so we went to the Accident & Emergency ward of the closest hospital to do a blood test.
I want to say it was a nerve-wracking one hour wait for the results, but I was so convinced that it was going to come up negative that it seemed distant and abstract to worry about the possibility of a positive result. When the A&E doctor finally saw us, he immediately launched into asking me about the date of my last period and whether my husband and I were married. (In retrospect: maybe shouldn't have worn ripped jeans and a band T-shirt that day.) He must have thought it was such a given that I was pregnant that we had to remind him to tell us what the result of the blood test was, like it was an afterthought. His response was along the lines of "Oh yes, you are very definitely pregnant."
Well. Ok then.
In hindsight, I can see that all the signs were there, but I can also see why I thought I couldn't have been pregnant. We weren't trying. My period was late, but I have ridiculously long cycles. My breasts were tender, but that sometimes happens before I get my period. My appetite was huge over the past two weeks, but I've been working out every day so that didn't seem completely implausible. And I didn't experience any morning sickness at all: ironically the only pregnancy symptom that I was aware of was the one symptom I didn't get.
That was a month ago, and I'm now in the last week of my first trimester. We've had two scans in the space of that time, and have seen the baby develop from a blackberry-sized blob at 7 weeks to a teeny lime-sized human at 11 weeks. We've been taking weekly bump photographs, which seems to be a futile exercise for now because there is no discernible evidence that anything of note is going on in my stomach. We've heard a (very rapid) heartbeat, which was pretty cool. We saw the baby move around during the ultrasound, which was even cooler. I've not had any morning sickness at all, for which I am immensely grateful. I've not really developed intense specific cravings, but have felt overwhelming urges to eat: cherry tomatoes, celery, kolo mee, Iranian kebab with rice, Red Delicious apples, raspberries, blackberries, oranges, mangoes, green guavas and baby carrots (I appear to be carrying a very health-conscious fetus). We've picked out names and decided we don't want to find out the sex of the baby until I've delivered. I've only bought one baby thing so far, which I'm immensely excited about: Bellybud speakers to stick onto my stomach so I can play music and audiobooks for the baby.
Life is mostly the same, but on a fundamental level, it already feels different.
I feel like the real star of this story so far is this unexpected, impossible baby. Congratulations on your conception, baby! You managed to sneak into my womb without anyone realising. Now that you're in there, stay put and grow strong. 28 weeks until we meet!
Well. Best laid plans of mice and men and just-realized-they-might-be-pregnant women, and all that. That's not how it happened.
What did happen was that I went out on a Friday night to a club, as per my usual weekend shenanigans, but curiously, everything I imbibed that night tasted strange. I thought that the Uber that took us back home smelled awful, though my husband said it didn't smell bad at all. Also curious. I then remembered that I had been uncharacteristically ravenous over the past two weeks and that my breasts felt tender. But that's PMS, right? Maybe I should take a test just in case.
I took a pregnancy test as soon as I got home, and was so shocked that the two lines indicating a positive result came up after just 10 seconds that I yelled for my husband to come into the bathroom while I was still sitting on the toilet bowl. (This is how we both knew it was an emergency: I never let my husband see me on the toilet bowl.) I made him scrutinize the pregnancy test ("Am I reading this right? This can't be right") and quickly dismissed it as being inconclusive. False positive, obviously. I'll just drink a gallon of water and take another test. When the second test came up positive, I wondered how possible it was to get two false positives in a row. Logically, very possible, right, since the tests were from the same manufacturer... right?
We went to a clinic the next afternoon to get tested and have our theory about false positives proven right, only to find out they don't do pregnancy tests on a Saturday afternoon. The doctor said I could come back on Monday, or head to a hospital. I was still pretty sure I wasn't pregnant but didn't want to wait until Monday to find out, so we went to the Accident & Emergency ward of the closest hospital to do a blood test.
I want to say it was a nerve-wracking one hour wait for the results, but I was so convinced that it was going to come up negative that it seemed distant and abstract to worry about the possibility of a positive result. When the A&E doctor finally saw us, he immediately launched into asking me about the date of my last period and whether my husband and I were married. (In retrospect: maybe shouldn't have worn ripped jeans and a band T-shirt that day.) He must have thought it was such a given that I was pregnant that we had to remind him to tell us what the result of the blood test was, like it was an afterthought. His response was along the lines of "Oh yes, you are very definitely pregnant."
Well. Ok then.
In hindsight, I can see that all the signs were there, but I can also see why I thought I couldn't have been pregnant. We weren't trying. My period was late, but I have ridiculously long cycles. My breasts were tender, but that sometimes happens before I get my period. My appetite was huge over the past two weeks, but I've been working out every day so that didn't seem completely implausible. And I didn't experience any morning sickness at all: ironically the only pregnancy symptom that I was aware of was the one symptom I didn't get.
That was a month ago, and I'm now in the last week of my first trimester. We've had two scans in the space of that time, and have seen the baby develop from a blackberry-sized blob at 7 weeks to a teeny lime-sized human at 11 weeks. We've been taking weekly bump photographs, which seems to be a futile exercise for now because there is no discernible evidence that anything of note is going on in my stomach. We've heard a (very rapid) heartbeat, which was pretty cool. We saw the baby move around during the ultrasound, which was even cooler. I've not had any morning sickness at all, for which I am immensely grateful. I've not really developed intense specific cravings, but have felt overwhelming urges to eat: cherry tomatoes, celery, kolo mee, Iranian kebab with rice, Red Delicious apples, raspberries, blackberries, oranges, mangoes, green guavas and baby carrots (I appear to be carrying a very health-conscious fetus). We've picked out names and decided we don't want to find out the sex of the baby until I've delivered. I've only bought one baby thing so far, which I'm immensely excited about: Bellybud speakers to stick onto my stomach so I can play music and audiobooks for the baby.
Life is mostly the same, but on a fundamental level, it already feels different.
I feel like the real star of this story so far is this unexpected, impossible baby. Congratulations on your conception, baby! You managed to sneak into my womb without anyone realising. Now that you're in there, stay put and grow strong. 28 weeks until we meet!
First photo. Graphic edits by baby's dad, for the benefit of baby's uncle, who couldn't make out anything from the ultrasound (to be fair, baby's mom initially couldn't either).
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