First Time Mom:I knew I was pregnant almost from the moment sperm fertilized egg (or is it the other way around?) The signs were all there and I was keenly paying attention to them, firstly because the pregnancy was planned, and secondly because the timing couldn’t have been more spot on!! So yes I was constantly aware of the signals my body was sending me, from the unexplained sudden fever (during which I felt so great I could have climbed a mountain) to the abdominal cramps a few days later, to the missed period a few weeks later.
Therefore it’s probably ironic that my first-ever home pregnancy test (for which I was a nervous wreck and stayed up all night thinking about) came out to be negative. So much for body signals, hunh? My husband comforted me and said it’s okay, hardly anyone gets so lucky the first time they try. But I knew in my heart that the stupid imported so-called 99% accurate-even-if-taken-1-day-after-a-missed-period pregnancy test was wrong. WRONG. And I was right. I’d never felt more sure but I needed proof. Should I go see a doc? Get a blood test done? Get an ultrasound? What? I didn’t know. So I turned to the internet. And found out that often false negatives turn into positives if taken again after a week. Confusing? Basically all the online research convinced me to take another test in a few days—the longer I waited the more accurate the result would be. And so the interminable wait started.
I’ve always believed (and been made fun of) in being prepared. And so it was that the day I first suspected pregnancy, one of the first things I did was to start a course on prenatal vitamins and folic acid, which I’d bought and stored thanks to an earlier discussion with a doctor. Also, months earlier, I had spent an evening going through Liberty Books for that one perfect pregnancy bible, and bought the book which I now know is famous for being exactly that: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”. So you see, we’d been thinking about this baby and dreaming about it long before we decided that the time was right to put our plan into (heh) action.
However, in spite of all the planning and prep, I was totally unprepared for the onslaught of emotion that soon overtook me. My every waking thought became about the pregnancy and I just couldn’t concentrate on a thing. The negative test result just added to the confusion I was feeling. I didn’t want to talk to anyone for fear I would burst with my secret, which wasn’t even a medical certainty yet! My only point of communication was my husband, who was playing the waiting game just as anxiously as I was. Every day that my period didn’t come was a joy! I was almost physically willing myself not to menstruate, crazy as that sounds! And even crazier, I wanted morning sickness to start, so I could have further proof that my body was changing. I was a woman obsessed.
Finally, finally, a week later I bought another pregnancy test—they were out of stock on the imported ones—so I had to buy a cheap (Rs. 10 would you believe!!!) no-name, no-brand, inconspicuous looking, weird cardboard stick test that claimed that it was 100% accurate. Wonderful. At least the other one hadn’t looked fake. If this one turned out to be a hoax, there wasn’t even a customer complaint number I could call. Hell the product didn’t even have a name. Another restless night. This time I couldn’t wait till morning. I woke A up in the middle of the night and together we waited the requisite interminable 3 minutes for the result—both of us holding hands and telling each other that no matter what the result, we would be okay. I didn’t really believe that. And then, well, whaddya know. The crummy-looking thing was bright PINK—a positive! Dare I believe it? Should I trust this test? Could it possibly be right? One negative and one positive result. I was even, steven. And still no where near certainty.
The next morning I tried to schedule a visit with my gynecologist, only to find out she isn’t going to be available for a week! Oh no! I was not going through another week! No way! I needed to know and I needed to know today! Right now! This minute! So I called a family doctor and asked for an ob/gyn recommendation and hello-lucky-star-are-you-listening, she was available that very day. I took an appointment and went to see her the same day. She was hopeful and even congratulatory, but said she needed me to undergo a battery of tests (including blood test) before the pregnancy could be 100% certain. So off I went to give blood, etc, etc, and another day of waiting ensued.
I will never understand why stupid lab test reports don’t say “PREGNANT” or “NOT-PREGNANT” in All Caps, Arial, Centered, Bold. What greeted me instead at the lab was a sheet of paper proclaiming HCG levels of so and so mgcl and whatever and whatever. URGHHH. What the hell was I supposed to do with this medico geek-speak??? My husband went off to find a doc to decipher the code while I twisted my thumbs in the sterile waiting room of the lab. He finally found a doc who took one look at the report, laughed and said “mubarak ho”. Damn doctors. Don’t they speak English anymore??? All I wanted was a qualified medical expert screaming that “Yes you ARE pregnant”. Was that so difficult to do?? Finally we cornered the lab technician, who was a doctor, into looking me straight in the eye and saying the words. And he did. We sat in the lab half an hour after that digesting the news and alternating between stunned and ecstatic looks at each other.
