I will never forget the moment I found out I was pregnant with our first child. It was the moment that changed everything.
September 2007
A plus sign.
I sat on the edge of the garden tub, and my heart vacillated between soaring and sinking.
It had been just one month since I had walked the church aisle that Sunday night, knelt in prayer, and surrendered my desire to delay motherhood until my 30s.
At 26, I couldn’t imagine the heavy responsibility of caring for a child, much less a newborn. I had never been a natural with small children, and now I would be mothering my own?
But perhaps the test was wrong. This was a fluke. Surely people don’t get pregnant so easily? On their first try?
I slid my feet into my flip flops and locked the house before jumping in my silver Ford Taurus to drive to the nearest CVS drugstore. I bought more tests. Six more tests. Every single one turned positive.
We were having a baby.
As an external processor, I had to share this news with someone, fast. I couldn’t wait until Will got home from work.
I searched our holiday closet for a small gift bag, stuffed one of the tests inside, and topped it off with some fluffed up tissue paper.
Then, I drove to the church where he was working as the director of an after-school childcare ministry. I waited in the parking lot until he exited the building, got out of the car, and handed him the present.
“What is this?” he asked, smiling. Gifts is his love language, but it’s not mine, so he wasn’t so accustomed to receiving them out of the blue. It thrilled him when he did.
Will pulled the test from the bag, and he smiled. He picked me up and twirled me around.
We were going to be parents. Our lives were about to change forever—in more ways than one.
This was the moment that would change everything.
It’s hard to believe that special time was over eight years ago. In fact, the daughter those two pink lines represented turns eight in just a few weeks.
I later learned I was pregnant with more pregnancy tests–each additional time was a surprise but a blessing.
Forty-five percent of more than 600 women in a recent e.p.t. ®-conducted survey said their pregnancies were surprises as well. I have learned that good things can come when you least expect them!
I will always cherish the memories of seeing those little lines appear.
Truly, I can’t imagine what it would have been like in my grandmother’s generation and the ones before hers. In the days before home pregnancy testing, most women would make appointments with their doctors to confirm the pregnancy – many waiting up to eight weeks after suspecting they might be pregnant!
If you are a mother, how did you find out you were pregnant?
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Jill
I’m a seamstress and it killed me to have to stop making myself clothes while pregnant with my first. After he was born, I eagerly jumped back into sewing, determined to make a perfectly fitting pair of pants. But every doggone time I tried on my test garment, it didn’t fit right. I’d readjust, set the project down and come back about a week later to find out it STILL didn’t fit right. So frustrating!! My sister at the time had a 5 month old and found out she was pregnant again! Maybe, I thought, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to have my own babies so close together. DING! The light bulb went off, I took a test, and when I saw “> 5 weeks” next to the positive sign it hit me like a ton of bricks why those pants kept on not fitting no matter how many times I adjusted the fit. My second was born less than a year after my first!! They’re 2 and 3 now and I STILL haven’t sewn that perfectly fitting pair of pants.
Erin
WOW, Jill!! That is crazy but neat!! Congrats on those two toddlers, and thanks for sharing your fun story!
Zeinab
When I got pregnant, I knew it within the first week …I think its a matter of being connected to ones body and intuition more than it is a matter of having access to doctors and blood and urine tests. I also know several women who like me knew it without a third party involved and very early on in their pregnancies too. The busy lives that we live, unnatural environment that surrounds us and the poor nutrition we get don’t make it easy to connect with ourselves and God/ Allah…I am sure that if e.p.t was to do business in some very “grounded” places, they would be out of business…But they are a great solution for the world we live in today.
Erin
That is so interesting!
Keelie Reason
I did the pregnancy test thing like you. 🙂 I worked at cvs at the time. The pharmacist assured me that cheap tests were accurate. I was 8 weeks when I took it with all of my pregnancies.
It’s hard to say how much life changed since I had my boys, but I’m glad it did.
Erin
That is so funny that you were working at CVS at the time! What an advantage! I usually find out early–around 4-5 weeks!
Becca
We struggled to get pregnant with our first – in fact we’d given up on it ever happening. I took the test, determined not to cry again when it came out negative . . . and then it came out positive instead. We cried and laughed and said, “Oh crap, now what?” With our second, it was an off-hand comment at a work colleague’s seminar that made me think maybe I was. I have never smoked but I wanted to support her so I went to her seminar about smoking cessation. As part of the presentation she said, “Some people give up smoking when they’re pregnant,” and looked right at me. And I thought, Does she know something I don’t? Hold on, how long has it been since my last period? I gave it a couple more days, and then took a test – in a public bathroom because I couldn’t wait to get home – and then took another one just to confirm it. I was in town on my own. I bought a baby outfit and stuck it in a gift box and handed it to my husband when I got home. He just shined – this man who had told me when we first started dating that he never really wanted kids. Mine are 10 and 8 this year and every moment I spend with them is a blessing. Well, almost every moment. There are a few I could happily give up . . .
Erin
Thanks so much for sharing your stories, Becca! What wonderful blessings, and I love how your husband just shined!! It all goes so fast, doesn’t it?
Cassy
With our first, we knew within six days of conceiving because we were charting.
For our second, my best friend walked up to me, pulled me aside at my first daughter’s first birthday party and said “you know you’re pregnant right?!” I confirmed it with a test that night. (I got to return the favor when I guessed she was pregnant a couple years later)
With our third, we were driving and I popped a Tums and my husband said “yep you’re pregnant”. I insisted I wasn’t. He pulled into a pharmacy and said “ok if you aren’t then prove it”. Proud moment for the husband, he was right lol.
By the time we got to our fourth and fifth I was a pro at just knowing. Even though we miscarried our fourth, we celebrated and love all of our children from the moment of their conception 🙂
Erin
Oh wow on your friend knowing! How in the world did she know?! I am with you on celebrating every single one from conception! Thanks for sharing!
Janine
My husband and I were trying for months. We received a few positive pregnancy tests but they were not followed with heartbeats. So after we had two miscarriages we waited a little while and tried again. It was November 2014, This time I was certain that I was pregnant. my husband kept telling me I wasn’t and that I just wanted to be pregnant so bad that I convinced myself. But I knew in my heart. But I took like 4 tests at home and they all came back negative, I went to the dr and they came back negative. And I just kept saying “this is all wrong, I promise I’m pregnant, I feel it, I just know!” So Nov 12, 2014 I decided to test one more time. So I went to the closest store I could find in Alaska and the whole ride I just prayed, then I prayed in the pregnancy test aisle “God please make me pick the right test” (as if every other test would come back negative besides the one I chose, so I picked the second test in the bunch), I prayed as I paid, and I prayed my whole ride home, I prayed as I peed on a stick, and I prayed while I watched a big Ol’ positive show up on a stick! Then another stick! I was pregnant! I almost fell down the stairs running to tell my soon to be “baby daddy”. I jumped on him, screamed, ran to my neighbors house, who happened to be one of my greatest friends, and we celebrated. I wanted to go to the doctors to make sure though since I’ve gotten positive tests before but have yet to hear my babies heartbeats. Well I didn’t need to wait long because my morning sickness (I should say all day sickness) came on strong. I couldn’t even take a sip of water, so I went in to the ER. I said “please do a sonogram, please let me hear a heartbeat. I’ve never heard what a babies heartbeat sounds like” so the doctor agreed. As I laid there, I prayed again. Repeating over and over to the dr, please be a heartbeat, please. And the dr smiled and laughed and said “you’re going to be happy!” I yelled “THERE’S A HEARTBEAT!”, he replied “There are 2 heartbeats” I could not even contain my excitement, seeing my 2 little twin miracles on that screen. Those 2 little miracles just turned 1 in July and just like the positive test changed my whole world that day, the twins continue to do so with each day that passes!
Jenn
We were trying with our first and knew pretty much within a couple of weeks. But with my second, we went to a restaurant we’d been looking forward to trying for several weeks. We walked in the door, I took a breath and gagged and told my husband we needed to leave because of the horrible smell. He was totally bewildered and told me it smelled delicious. I kept insisting that the place smelled like raw sewage and so we left. On the way home, my husband suggested buying a pregnancy test. I took it and you know it was positive!