How We Found Out

I'd had a "feeling" for about two weeks that I was pregnant, but all the tests I'd taken had come back negative. Then, David's beloved grandmother, Nana, passed away, and he had to head back to Minnesota for the funeral before meeting me in San Francisco for a pre-planned weeklong vacation that we couldn't cancel. I had a terrible sinus infection & tracheal bronchitis for the first four days of our vacation that necessitated a trip to a random San Fran doctor + antibiotics and prednisone. Basically, instead of being on vacation, I was cooped up in a hotel room blowing my nose every three minutes and sleeping. Not so fun.

When I could finally walk & sort of talk again, we were due to meet a friend & her fiance for tapas on Russian Hill. I decided to take another home pregnancy test so I'd know whether or not I could have a glass of sangria. It came back negative (cue the feelings of disappointment) and so I had one glass of (very very diluted, not strong at all) sangria. The next day, we left for Napa Valley, and something pinged in my brain to say, "Why don't you offer to do all the driving and not drink? Just in case." So, that's what I did.



We arrived home late on a Saturday night to find our elderly 11 year old cat, Amelia, very sick. She had hidden from the petsitter the entire week, which wasn't unusual, so none of us knew she was ill. We rushed her to an emergency vet where she was diagnosed with advanced kidney failure, and it was the kind thing to do to let her go, even though it hurt us like you can't imagine. I bawled like a baby.

That Monday was Valentine's Day, but since we'd just spent a week on vacation, we didn't do anything - we were also pretty emotionally wrung out from Dave's grandmother passing and having to put Amelia to sleep. Instead, I did laundry and tidied up around the house - so romantic. The next day when I got home from work, I had a feeling and took *another* home pregnancy test (I think I may have single-handedly driven up the value of EPT's stock, I bought so many of the darn things), but the single 'negative' line appeared right away. Figuring it was negative, again, I tossed it in the trash next to the toilet.

A couple of hours later, I was, well, let's just say I'd drunk a lot of water and nature took its course. I happened to glance over at the trash and though, "Huh. I wonder." I pulled the test out of the garbage and Oh. My. GOD. Two lines. The second was a little faint, but it was definitely there.

In my head, I'd had all these visions of coming up with cute ways of telling Dave we were expecting once it happened, from putting a "Big Sibling" onesie on the cats (quickly dismissed) to writing it down in a card and waiting for him to figure it out.

Instead, in my utter shock, I hollered in a shaky voice, "Daaaaaaaaaviiiiiid?" He, thinking I was injured, came sprinting into the bathroom to rescue his lady love, only to find me sitting there holding the test in my hand, my jaw on the floor.

All I could say for the next few minutes was, "There's someone IN there!" and grin like an idiot as my heart pounded. Dave alternated between excited and "Are you SURE?" He insisted I take another test first thing the next morning, which I did: Another faint-but-definitely-there positive.

We scheduled a doctor's appointment with our GP for the next day, Thursday the 17th. There, she did a urine test that came back.... Negative. What the---? She was as puzzled as we were, so took some blood to do another test, but the results of that wouldn't be back for at least 5 days.

For the next few days, I kept buying and taking more home tests from all different brands - hey, I wanted to KNOW! Each test came back progressively more and more "positive" and dark, until I caved and bought the expensive digital brand that immediately flashed "PREGNANT". Total # of positive home tests: Seven. Yep, I'm impatient.

We finally decided to tell our families on Monday, February 21st, even though the doctor's blood test wasn't back yet. THAT was fun. We skyped with Dave's parents first and made his mom squeal, then cry (sorry, A!!!), then mine - my mom squealed and my dad just said, "NEAT!" over and over for a minute.

So, yes, Child, that is how we found out you were on the way. I didn't have any real symptoms yet, but oh, that was coming down the pipeline. More on THAT later.