I know there are lots of women who say they just *knew* that they were pregnant. I was much too skeptical for that. In early August I thought, “Well, I could be pregnant but I’m sure I’m not.” I was convinced it would take at least a year. On Wednesday or Thursday I experienced fairly intense cramps only on the left side of my abdomen. I thought it was likely early cramping and the onset of my period. I also remember that on Friday I felt really dizzy when I stood up from sitting or laying down and I thought it was a bit odd. That used to happen to me when I wasn’t eating a well-balanced vegetarian diet but it hadn’t happened in a long time. I also felt “off” at yoga that weekend and like my body just wasn’t cooperating like usual.

I had thought I’d wait until the following weekend to take a pregnancy test, maybe even take one when we were in Montana. But that was a week away and I was just starting to wonder and wanted to know. Mostly because I thought I wasn’t pregnant so I just wanted to put it behind me and look ahead. I was fretting about it on Sunday morning, going back and forth about whether or not to test and Chris said, “Will it make you feel better to take a test?” I said, “But I just know I’m not pregnant and I feel silly.” “Just take one,” he said.

So I went to the bathroom and took a pregnancy test but I didn’t look at it. I left it on the bathroom counter so that Chris could check it. I went and laid in bed with Chris to wait.

Chris went to check the test and when he walked into the bathroom…silence. He told me later that he was getting out the instructions to verify what he was seeing! He called, “Kels, I think there’s a second line here…!” I could not believe it! He came into the bedroom and we stared at the test, of course we took a picture of it. There it was, a faint second line. Immediately we were googling “false positive pregnancy tests” which essentially don’t exist. It was totally surreal and so so exciting.

We went to The Coffee Shop for Sunday breakfast, just smiling at each other. We remained cautious in our excitement, acknowledging that many pregnancies end in miscarriage. That was still something we kept in our minds until we heard a strong heartbeat at 12 weeks. But of course at the same time the anticipation of bringing a little baby into our lives was growing too.

Already the experience of finding out seems like a long time ago. So far time has seemed to go slowly during my pregnancy, and I’m thankful. I had been wishing to speed up the first trimester to get over my nausea and to know that our baby was health and growing. But now I’m trying to savor and remember this time…I bet I’ll be ready for time to hurry up again as we get closer to April!