According to some new mamas I know, the things you think you'll remember about being pregnant become a hazy blur once the baby actually comes along, so I'm writing it all down so that one day, in about 5 years, I can sit down next to my son and say "Look! Wanna see what it was like for mummy having you in her belly?", so he can say "Not really, Thomas is on".
So here goes: 31ST JULY 2012 - The day my life got flipped turned upside down
I first had an inkling I might be pregnant while I was on holiday in Spain with my mum and 2 of my brothers. Aside from the one big giveaway - the late period (sorry) - a couple of other things felt a bit out of sync. There was lovely Spanish food everywhere, and I didn't fancy any of it, which is incredibly unlike me. I couldn't sleep either, and when we went to Portaventura, a huuuuge themepark in Salou, something was telling me not to go on the jerky, bumpy rides.
Without going into too much detail, I wasn't particularly worried when we got to Spain on the 24th July and I was a few days late already. I've never been like clockwork, exactly. But by the time we were going home, after turning down Sangria on our last night and nearly fainting at the airport, the penny had finally dropped.
Despite all that, it was still a massive shock when I finally got round to doing the test. There was no way of doing one in Spain. The nearest pharmacy was a 20 minute walk from our apartment, and I couldn't guarantee the instructions weren't going to be in Spanish. So I waited until we were back in Britain - but I was getting seriously impatient on the way home from Stansted. I spent the whole journey home desperately willing the ridiculous traffic to fuck off. When I got in, there was a letter from HM Revenue waiting for me. It was a tax rebate for £2000! It distracted me for approximately 20 minutes, while I fantasised about buying a car and plucked up the courage to go and get a test.
The instructions clearly stated NOT to look at the test for 2 minutes after you'd finished peeing on it, but my self control is low at the best of times and I peeked at the stick after about 10 seconds. There was already a very clear '+' sign forming in the little window. It just got darker over the next 2 minutes as I stared at it open mouthed. There were no two ways about it; I was definitely having a baby.
Another couple of minutes went by while I sat on the bathroom floor, laughing in shock, before I went downstairs, wordlessly showed it to my mum and then burst into tears. I wasn't upset at all, just confused and in shock. Mum's reaction was brilliant. She just said 'Oh! Well, that explains a lot!', then gave me a massive hug while I babbled on about being sorry, and happy and terrified all at the same time.
The next person I had to tell was Ben. He was at work, so I killed some time by taking another test (just to be sure) and thinking about how the hell I was going to tell him. In the end I tried to play it all inconspicuous by firstly giving him the leather bracelet I'd bought him as a souvenir. While he was trying it on, I got the test out of my bag and said "There's this as well...", and handed it to him. He stared at it for a few seconds, said "Oh." followed by "OH!" and then, "I'm going to be a DAD!!?", got up, did a sort of jig, looked at the test again, gave me a cuddle and pretty much repeated the whole routine. It was lovely, having two positive reactions. Now I just had to tell everyone else. But we went to Nando's first - my appetite had returned...
