We had made an appointment to meet our OB-GYN before getting pregnant so that we would get to know him better and to see if we were the right fit. He came highly recommend from our good friend who has 5 kids and his reviews online were also insanely good (one woman even said she might consider getting pregnant again just to have him as a doctor…what?). He seemed quite surprised to see us since we weren’t even pregnant and were perfectly healthy and had no specific questions. He was friendly and told us to go on another honeymoon and find him again when we were pregnant.

After my negative pregnancy test, I was still experiencing crazy mood swings and heat flashes. I noticed myself getting to the edge of tears and rage when we go to a restaurant and they had no seats… and was also getting a bit more fatigued. I decided to take another pregnancy test in a few days. I read online that it was important not to take TOO many pregnancy tests because it will really affect your mood and it can get obsessive. I decided to wait a few days and also bought another brand that had better reviews online. I used First Response for my first test, which claims to be able to detect a pregnancy earlier than other tests. However, online reviews were actually quite bad for this brand and many claimed that this test came back negative while other tests revealed that they were pregnant. I also read that early detection tests can sometimes detect a “chemical pregnancy”, a very early miscarriage that occurs before 5 weeks. Regardless of whether it was the brand’s problem or just that I tested too early, I decided to buy a Clear Blue pregnancy test and carried out the test again. After waiting patiently for a few minutes… the results were in!

Jerry was with me when we saw the result and the bathroom was instantly filled with laughs, cheers, and hugs. It felt a bit surreal because I kept looking at it and even though the instructions on the results were so clear, it still didn’t feel real. Was there was this tiny thing developing inside my body? Should I take another test to be sure? I spent the rest of the day looking at this test a few more times. Staring at these clear lines… as if I had misread them. I then made an appointment with my GP to get the blood test done. A few days later I got the call that it was a confirmed pregnancy but that the HCG levels were a little low and that I should come back for a follow-up test in a week to make sure it is all progressing in the right way. This was my first experience with all the waiting and worrying that comes with pregnancy. You instantly wonder “what could be wrong?”. Luckily, the results from the follow-up test was perfectly normal and the doctor said that the initial low results could just be due to a miscalculation of date of conception. There will be a few more tests, waiting, and other worries in the future!

According to the doctor, I was about 4 weeks pregnant at the time. It definitely happened a lot faster than we expected (less than a month of trying) but we felt so incredibly blessed and lucky! It really took a few days for the idea to dawn on me: I was going to be a mother! We are going to be a family. In many ways I still felt like a child myself! But I also knew that I was ready for this. We are so excited for this new adventure!