I woke up that Sunday morning (July 20, 2014) and it was
just like every other Sunday morning. There was truly nothing special or unique
or extraordinary about it. In fact, I barely remember the exact details it was
such a nothing day.
On Sunday all I was really thinking about was work the next
day. I had a huge event on Monday in which I was the project lead so that was my main focus. That and football. My beloved Melbourne Demons were playing Port Adelaide and I knew that
afternoon I would be enthralled in the game even though I was almost positive
Melbourne would lose really badly.
I had a cigarette in the morning with my coffee (a
disgusting habit I know but in the interest of full disclosure a habit I had
then nonetheless). And if I'm being really honest with you – I felt weird about
having that cigarette and I could NOT work out why. I don’t even think I
finished it.
At some point of that day I went to the local Italian
supermarket near my house which just happens to make amazing coffee. I was off
getting my second coffee of the day (still feeling totally normal) when the
girl in front of me in the line grabbed an orange juice from the fridge. And I
was looking at the juices and all of a sudden a nice, cold orange juice sounded
really, really, really good. Which is weird for me because I NEVER drink orange
juice. I never buy it, I never drink it, and before this moment I certainly
never craved it. But I grabbed one and while waiting in line I thought about
how when my mum was pregnant with me she craved orange juice and wouldn't it be
so crazy if I was pregnant? Which I knew I wasn't. But in that moment I thought
– but what if I was? So after paying
for and drinking the juice I decided to also grab a quick pregnancy test
because what the hey. I knew it wouldn't mean anything and it was just to be
sure. So I went and bought the cheapest one (because I was being SO SILLY). And
even as it was scanned through I cursed myself for being such a drama queen and
felt so stupid for literally going from 0 to 100 all because of orange juice. I
was probably just dehydrated for goodness sakes.
So I got home and put the bags from the supermarket on the
kitchen counter and my husband started putting the grocery things away and stopped when he
saw the pregnancy test. He questioned it and I told him the story of the juice
and how crazy I was being and how I WAS NOT pregnant but I had to be sure
because the thought entered my mind for a millisecond but I was most definitely
NOT pregnant. He nodded and we went about our day.
The G popped out to watch his little brother play basketball
just as I settled on the couch to watch the football (err… another cigarette
was had in the meantime). He asked if I would take the test soon please and I
said yes, yes, yes and he left. About an hour later he came home and it was the
first thing he asked about. But I hadn't even done it yet; I was still watching
the football and would wait until half-time or when I needed to pee, whichever
came first.
So half time and the urge to pee coincided and I thought, I
may as well do this. So I read the pregnancy test instructions carefully (I had
never done one before), and I even second guessed whether or not to even do it
because I didn't know when my period was supposed to come (I had only been off
the pill 6 weeks and gotten my period once so didn't even know what my ‘cycle’
was) and I thought to myself that I was doing this all wrong and it was stupid
but I had opened the packet so I would just do it anyway, whatever.
So I peed on the stick and put it down on the counter and it
said there would be one line for not pregnant and two lines for pregnant. I
washed my hands, fixed my hair, went to the lounge to check the score and
walked back into the bathroom. I looked down at the counter and there were
already two lines on the test. So I blinked 1000 times and kept looking at it
and the two lines just kept getting darker and darker. So I read the simple
instructions again (it said to wait three minutes and it had only been one
minute so maybe I keep waiting?) But the two lines remained. I put my hand on
my mouth and looked in the mirror and I was smiling.
My husband was IN THE TOILET during this time (we have 2
toilets which thank god). He can take a while in there so I just started calling
his name trying not to sound panicked but I was inwardly jumping out of my skin.
He came out of the toilet, came into the bathroom and asked, ‘are you
pregnant?’ but he was grinning because he thought I was joking. I then showed
him the test with my shaking hands and he looked at it and it was a collective
what the fuck is happening moment.
So we did what any couple with an unexpected positive
pregnancy test would do and we PANICKED. We immediately decided that the best
course of action was to go to the chemist and buy another pregnancy test
because (and don’t ask me how I got this theory) as I kept saying ‘people get
false positives all the time’. We jumped in the car and drove straight to the
chemist near our house which was always empty, ran in and because we were
likely the only customers the lady working there had seen all day she
immediately approached us and asked what we needed to which I replied, ‘your
best pregnancy test!’ in a volume which I thought was normal but was very
likely a scream. For some reason I overshared, telling her we had just gotten a
positive pregnancy test but ‘people get false positives all the time’, again –
no idea where I got this theory from. She calmly showed us where the tests were
and then told me that false positives were not common at all and that false
negatives were more likely and informed me that if I got a positive pregnancy
test it’s because I was pregnant. Then she asked if we wanted to be pregnant because my husband and I must have looked
like shell shocked teenagers (a question in hindsight that was totally
inappropriate) but because I wasn't quite myself I looked at my husband and
asked, ‘are we?’ He did not answer, probably because we were blurry images to
him at this point. So we bought the digital test, she congratulated us and that
stranger is the first official person to find out about our baby. Go us!
We got home and this time I took the test IMMEDIATELY after skulling
a huge glass of water. Because this test was digital all we had to do was wait
for the words Pregnant or Not Pregnant to appear. So we waited the few minutes
and then nervously entered the bathroom together where the words PREGNANT 1-2
WEEKS had flashed up on the test. I looked at my husband and we were both
smiling and then we hugged and laughed and cried at what a crazy thing was
happening to us.
So that kind of eclipsed all the things originally in my
head that day. Melbourne ended up getting close to winning that game (by three
points!) which normally would have been a game I was glued to, screaming at and
then cursing but I watched it barely noticing. My husband says it’s the most
quiet I have ever been during a football match. I also stopped stressing about
my work event and started stressing about, you know, having a baby.
I am still shocked at how it happened for us. I'm shocked at
how quickly it happened, how randomly we found out and how none of it is how I
thought it would go. I feel blessed and lucky that we got pregnant so easily
and without complications. It was a whirlwind of emotions – and if I'm being
really honest the emotions I felt after this day ranged from happiness to shock
to fear to worry (the worry continued on until my first scan). It was truly
overwhelming. But I will never forget that run-of-the-mill Sunday which
completely changed our lives forever.
