The day Mom found out
Mom was more than two weeks delayed, and she had this nagging suspicion that things just may not be right. She had been anovulatory for a few months early in 2001, and back then there was one thing she did first of all – and that is to check if she were pregnant. Standard procedure, so to speak. Just to eliminate the doubts and worries. She had a little spotting a few weeks back, and she thought that it was the start of her period. Little did she know that she would have the biggest shock of her life a few weeks after!
So off to the pharmacy she went and with trembling hands (really!) opened the package and used it (it’s so simple, these home pregnancy kits, you can use any-time-of-the-day urine, and the sensitivity is quite high). After only five minutes of waiting, she cautiously peered at the window and saw this:
Holy cow! That’s a positive, if I ever saw one! The vertical lines were a bright pink, no doubt about it. Mom thought that that exclamation mark hits the nail on the head, because was she so surprised! Give her a break, it’s not everyday that she gets to be greeted by a news like this!
Now, Dad, unlike other conventional dads, wasn’t around for Mom to hug or maybe punch (depending on the mood of the occasion, I’m afraid). Fortunately that time Daddy Baggy is on ICQ (well, what are instant messages for, but heaven-sent goodies for long-distance couples) and Mom immediately sent a message to him: “The pregnancy test I took turned out positive.” And she then sent by file transfer the photo of the test result to Dad. Now of course Mom and I don’t have any idea of what Dad’s immediate reaction was, but his reply was: “Is that true?” Gee whiz, we can get a false negative result, but the chances of a false positive? Maybe Mom just happened to have some trace amounts of hCG* in her urine, duh?
It took some time before Mom and Dad realized how they would have to radically alter their plans for the future. I was in the plans, of course, but not this early. They were thinking of waiting for around two or three years more before embarking on this new conquest of parenthood.
But hey, life is indeed full of surprises. I just may be the best thing that ever happened to them. 🙂
*human chorionic gonadotropin – hormone secreted soon after implantation; it is detected in pregnancy
tests to confirm conception.