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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

How Many Pregnancy Tests Does It Take...


Sometimes things don't go exactly the way you imagine. When I still lived in Slovakia, there was a TV commercial (I want to say it was for Nescafe) in which you got to see a sequence of happy life moments. Picture a young couple. She hands him a little package, he opens it and pulls out a pair of tiny shoes. His eyes lit up once he realizes what the message means, then he hugs her and the scene changes to something else, perhaps a little girl getting a kitten for her birthday. I don't remember the rest anymore. I remember that particular scene because back then, that was how I imagined my pregnancy announcement would go one day.

When I found out I was pregnant with Kai, I was so shocked and overwhelmed I couldn't think straight. It was a planned pregnancy, but I did not expect for us to succeed on the first try. I stumbled out of the bathroom to tell Peter (no cute little shoes, no box, probably not even a smile on my face) and found him on the phone. Which was not what he was supposed to be doing in such a moment.
"Who are you calling?", I asked.
"My parents", he answered. I could hear the ringing sound and hastily ordered him to hang up.
"Huh?"
"Hang up, hang up, hang up now!"
So he did. I showed him the stick. He studied it. I was nervously glancing at the phone waiting for it to start ringing. It was just a strange situation. The best word I have to describe it is "awkward".
         
Fast forward to last Wednesday. Knowing that with Kai I got pregnant instantly, the waiting made me anxious and grumpy.
"Do you think it's too early?", I was clicking through all the web-sites on the internet that explain the process of conception and implantation.
"Yes, it is too early," said Peter, barely paying attention, "it's only been 5 days."
"But," I went on arguing, "if everything happened really quick and it is almost midnight, which means it's 6 days, it could show on the test already."
Peter was staring at his monitor, completely missing the drama of the moment.
"You don't understand," I raised my voice, "I need to go pee on a stick!"
"OK," sighed Peter, "go pee on a stick."
         
So I went and peed on a stick and of course, it only showed one line, which meant I was not pregnant. I was mad at myself and I was mad at the stick. I knew it was too early to test and I knew Peter said so, and I was angry about all of it. I took another test about 3 days later. It was the earliest (according to the web-sites and the test instructions) that I could get an accurate reading. One line. Not pregnant. I started wondering if Costco sells pregnancy tests in bulk.
         
I got up this morning and went to the bathroom. Kai was running around and Peter was still in bed. I decided to give it one more shot. You can see the results on the picture above. I took Kai and we jumped in bed to show it to Peter. He glanced at it and said:
“Why are you showing this to me? It only has one line.”
“No, it has two!”
“Well, the other one is really faint.”
“Yes, I know it is faint. That's the way they show. It's there, though.”

Peter was clearly still in doubt, and I find myself crashing from the cloud nine and heading for the concrete, because I realized that this was the end of my commecial dream to come true. I went upstairs, snapped a photo of the pregnancy test and e-mailed it to my sister and my parents. My Mom called to tell me she can only see one line, but if I think there are two, then she is very happy for us. At that point I could only concentrate on fighting tears at least until she hung up.

All of you out there who had to struggle to get pregnant, or struggle to adopt, or struggle to give birth – I completely understand if you think I am a selfish, undeserving bitch for worrying about the perfect message delivery, instead of just keeping quiet and enjoy what matters the most - the fact that I am pregnant right now! You don't have to tell me – I know.

But I promised to be honest, and this is how I felt, honestly, until I finally got to talk to my sister, who also happens to be a mother of four. She looked at the picture, slapped her forehead laughing and said: “Of course it's there! Holy crap sis, YOU ARE PREGNANT!” So now, I can finally move on from a stupid commercial and focus on being the best incubator I can be to get Kai a sibling who will one day uplift his mood with one sentence. Cheers to that!

12 comments:

  1. I was wondering how you would handle this on your blog, how long you would wait, etc. I applaud your journalistic integrity. Congrats lady!

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    1. Thanks Anne Marie! I want this to be a serious journal of pregnancy and all things related (with which I don't mean to say it can't be funny). It is not exactly within my comfort zone to cover personal things in front of the whole world, but you know where magic happens - right outside one's comfort zone. I am ready for it!

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  2. journalistic integrity, indeed.
    thanks for sharing! i look forward to reading about the months to come and seeing you a little too.
    HUG!

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  3. You are a fertile woman! Congratulations! I'm very interested to see how you progress in the pregnancy. BTW I can totally see the second line ;)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I can't believe the speed of conceiving. We have a picture of a Goddess of fertility in our bedroom and I think she'll be fired after this one, ha!

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  4. Stumbled upon your blog and really enjoyed this entry! (I can relate... My announcements to my husband weren't commercial material either. Maybe next time!)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Becky - we are done with having kids, but if you succeed and have a good story, please do let me know! 😄

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  5. That is so awesome. I hope you and your family stay happy and healthy by the grace of god. There are some people who are trying to get pregnant and some of them are following planning for a baby method which is very effective method.

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