How I knew I was pregnant

I feel like I hear people all the time say, 'I knew I was pregant because...'. Well, just so I don't forget how I knew, here's my story, which is more of how I didn't know!

Late August was the first month we were going to officially 'try' to have a baby. We were planning on September, but it just happened that 'prime time' would fall the last week of August. So we gave it a shot, did the few things you're supposed to do when you're trying and just hoped for the best. Being it was our first month to try, we weren't expecting it to happen and were prepared to keep trying as long as we needed.

A couple of weeks went by and for some reason, I just felt like it didn't work. No big deal, we'd try again the next month. Aunt Rose was due mid-September so when at the first KU game over Labor Day a couple of beers made me feel a little queasy, I looked at Nick and half jokingly said 'well, maybe it worked after all.' I didn't really think it did, so when the next night I had crazy heartburn, I didn't really think much of it. We had a housewarming party with some of Nick's friends and I decided not to drink because of the heartburn and the fact that the day before it had made me feel a little off.

The next weekend, we had another housewarming party, with the same group of friends and the heartburn was back. This time I thought it was from something I had eaten so I just ignored it. I was having some slight cramps and Aunt Rose was due that next week. I had taken a pregnancy test the Friday before just for the heck of it and it was negative. Or so I thought - there was a 'faint' plus sign but I thought it was just how the test was supposed to look and took it as a negative. Somehow, a few girls at the party seemed suspicious and were asking me if I was pregnant since I wasn't drinking. I said no, honestly believing I wasn't.

That Monday (the day Aunt Rose was due) was the Chiefs Monday Night Football game. We were going to the game and to tailgate with a huge group of friends. I took a pregnancy test that day at lunch to be sure I was ok to drink and it was negative. As we were tailgating, we found out that a bunch of friends from the party that weekend had all thought we were pregnant and were talking about it after we left. Nick and I were cracking up and in fact, we were all joking about it! I told everyone that I wasn't pregnant, as I had just taken a test that day.

Well, the week went on and still no sign of Aunt Rose other than normal cramps. I started looking online and sure enough, a lot of women said they had cramps during the first few weeks of pregnancy. I didn't want to get my hopes up, as we had a false alarm just a couple months before that felt very similar to this one. I waited as long as I possibly could to be sure we'd get the most accurate test reading. That Friday morning I woke up so early, knowing I was going to take the test. I decided to use the 'pee in a cup' method rather than directly on the strip to try and get more accuracy. I did the deed, set the test down and went to throw everything else out in the garage. That took maybe a total of 15 seconds and by the time I got back, here's what the test said:

I was so in shock, I almost didn't believe it. I went to wake up Nick and showed it to him and couldn't even get the words out! I was crying and laughing and speechless! Luckily he's the calm one and just stayed calm and said how exciting it was. I took another test just to be sure later that morning, same reading. So I made an appointment with my general family doctor and around lunch time that day, she was able to confirm the great news!!

So, that's my long, drawn out story for how I knew (or didn't) that I was pregnant!