You're Pregnant Dummy: Some Obvious Misdiagnosed Symptoms

I spent one long, gruesome day in Kenya making circles between the bed and bathroom. I claimed food poisoning that somehow my sister-in-law, Laura, new to be a mis-diagnosis of my vomiting.

Although it's never happened in my entire life, I attributed my missed period to the stress, anxiety, and hectic schedule of the Kenya trip. That one was a stretch, but somehow I convinced myself it was an accurate diagnosis.

Cravings for garlic, orange juice, dill pickles, onion bagels, provolone cheese, tuna, and cranberry juice, pounced on me at sporadic moments. “I'm just really homesick and want some comfort foods from America.” Shouldn’t I have found it strange that a week later even the smells of those foods were making me nauseous? During a Costco run, I convinced Seth to let me buy a colossal jar of pickles, a big package of provolone cheese, two bags of onion bagels, and massive liters of cranberry juice. Now, two months later, the pickles and provolone are still chillin’ in our frig . . . sorry Seth :( Every time he attempts to eat the provolone, I am revolted by the smell.

I had severe nausea the entire three weeks after returning from Kenya. We were taking antimalarial medicine which can have strong side effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hallucinations, seizures, etc. (the list gets worse . . .) I was nauseous from the medicine of course!

Our friend, Whitney, asked us if we were having any hallucinations from the antimalarial medicine. I said no, but that I had been having very vivid dreams nightly. The vivid dreams have continued. Every morning I wake up with a bizarre story for Seth about my nighttime adventures.

Seth and I had truly convinced ourselves that I was just dealing with the physical after affects of a grueling trip, but just for reassurance, Seth finally convinced me to take a pregnancy test. I kept telling him that if I didn't take it, then I could just go on pretending I wasn't pregnant whether I was or not. I knew I was being foolish, but it was comforting to go on with life as “normal.” He finally convinced me that putting off taking the test wasn't going to change the outcome, so we ran to the pharmacy, looked up the Korean word for pregnant on our phone’s English/Korean dictionary, and finally got the point across that we wanted a pregnancy test. The pharmacist asked if we wanted two, but we were so positive that the result would be negative that we insisted we only needed one.

One line = negative, two lines = positive. The second line appeared before I had even finished the process. Squeezing my eyes tight, I stepped out of the bathroom and wailed, “I think I'm pregnant.” Seth instantly put his arms around me and said, “What’s wrong. This is a good thing.” After crying for a few minutes while he comforted me, I explained that I wasn't disappointed; I was just utterly shocked and scared. If it had been up to us, we most likely would have waited three more years to start having kids.

We double checked the pregnancy test with the directions, and beat ourselves over the head for not buying two tests. Feeling silly, we ran back to the pharmacy to buy another. The pharmacist laughed and tried to explain a different way to take the test that might lesson the probability of errors. On our way home to take the second test, we got celebration Cold Stone. Seth said he could see the stress in my wide, bloodshot eyes, and in my pacing, fidgeting, and blabbering. The second test glowed two double lines just as instantaneously as the first. With such overwhelming news, we “called in sick” to Bible study.

It's a baby!