Sunday, March 22, 1998: Two blue lines!!

It was a snowy weekend, & dh & I were at the mall getting haircuts. While we were there, I ducked into the drugstore to buy a home pregnancy test. It was day 43 of my cycle, which was a little on the long side for me, although not unheard of. Earlier in the week, I had started spotting. Thinking my period was starting, I popped a few Motrin & broke out the box of pantiliners. But then it stopped. And started again. And stopped again. Very strange.

I'd been very tired recently, lots of cramping & headaches. I just figured it was PMS. One thing made sense in retrospect -- climbing the stairs to the commuter train platform lately had me totally winded. "Geez, are you ever out of shape!" I remember dh observing helpfully as I huffed & puffed up the stairs after him.

Could I be pregnant? I'd had long cycles a couple of times since going off the pills almost three years previously. What would usually happen: I'd take a home pregnancy test. Negative. A few more days would go by. I'd call the dr, get a blood test, & my period would usually start before I even got the results back. The longest cycle I'd ever had to date lasted 56 days.

I honestly figured I was in for more of the same when I took the box into the bathroom & peed on the stick that afternoon.

Almost immediately, a bright blue second line popped into view.

"Whaaaa.... OH MY GOD!" I shrieked. Dh came running. I showed him the stick. I started to cry. We sat on the floor of our bedroom & held each other. Was this really happening? After so many years of waiting, planning, hoping?

The next day at work, I called my family doctor's office on my cellphone, took an "extended lunch break" & took the subway up to his office for a 1:15 appointment. He took my blood, asked me if my breasts were sore. (Not really.) "I really hope you're pregnant," he said.

"Me too," I said.

That night I stayed up until 12:45 to watch the Oscars ("Titanic" won all the big awards). I could barely keep my eyes open, but I found it hard to sleep too, wondering what the next day would bring.

(P.S. The stick went into the garbage. I wish I'd kept it, but I had no idea at the time that people even did such things...!)