Passing the Pink Line Test (or How I Found Out I was Pregnant)

The first thing I noticed was the constant hunger. I’d finish a big meal and suddenly feel empty, as if I hadn’t eaten a thing. Then the fatigue came on out of nowhere. It seemed especially bad in the evenings. Sometimes it would be so bad that my eyelids would literally flutter under the weight of my sleepiness until I succumbed to a brief nap. I’m not a person who takes naps so this was extremely odd for me. Finally, I noticed some severe mood swings where I internally felt rage at seemingly insignificant things. Because of these symptoms, I decided it was time to take “the test”.

I peed in a plastic cup, stuck the stick in there for 5 seconds (not one second more, or one second less for fear of invalidating my results) and then put the cover on the tip and laid it gently down on the counter. Within seconds one pink line appeared. I compared it to the diagram. It said, NOT PREGNANT in all caps. I covered the stick and it’s cruel pink line with the directions and took a shower.

In the shower I wondered what was wrong with me. What were the hunger, fatigue and mood swings about if it wasn’t a baby. I started to think something was wrong with me. After I got out of the shower I realized I was probably overreacting and I wasn’t dying. Perhaps I was one of those rare women that had a false negative. I returned to the directions to read what they said about false positives and accuracy. I lifted the directions only to find that my stick now showed two pink lines. The new line was slightly lighter in color, but quite distinctly a line. I grabbed the directions. It showed two pink lines as PREGNANT with this caveat, “One line may be slightly lighter in color.” And suddenly I felt numb, sat on the couch, smiled, then cried, and waited for my husband to get home.

It wasn’t a big surprise—Jeremy had noticed some of my uncharacteristic behavior, but it was shocking to stare at the reality of those little pink lines and think about how our lives had just changed so significantly in the matter of one afternoon.

We contemplated whether or not we should tell immediate family. It seemed like such a hard thing to keep secret. Ultimately we decided to share because if something does go wrong and we miscarry it would be good to have their support. We were going to be in Las Vegas for the weekend for Booboo’s 80th birthday so we decided to tell Jeremy’s parents in person. But, in the meantime I called my Mom, Dad, and Brother. Obviously, they were thrilled. My Mom started planning the nursery. My Brother started contemplating names, and my Dad just laughed and proclaimed, “I can’t wait to meet the little tyke.”