- Journey to motherhood

Positive Parenting starts 2009 with another new series - Being Pregnant. It will not be like the same old diary-type event. Instead, we have an exciting package lined up for you with Emma Dalton-Brown, as her body and mind changes, as she shops for baby clothes and prepares for the experience of childbirth. You are in for an interesting ride.

Unless you've been pregnant, it's difficult to understand how it feels, to see a positive result on a home-pregnancy test.

It was a Saturday afternoon four months ago when I decided to take THE test.

By most standards, it was still early to be doing it, but something led me to the bathroom cupboard, which happens to be full of them!! I'd gone crazy in the pharmacy some weeks ago. Just in case, I thought I'd buy six. Two come in a packet, so, really, I only bought three!

Attention to details

Never mind the fact that my sister-in-law had brought another three, along with the 21 ovulating testing kits from foreign! So a woman can get rather obsessive about procreation, but who's paying attention to the details?

Anyway, imagine my surprise when I saw the word 'pregnant' printed in front of me. I went straight for the fancy test that comes with the ovulating kit because I thought if any of them was going to detect hCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) hormone this early, it would be this one. I rushed into the den to tell my husband the news and followed it with: "How did this happen?" To which he replied, "You really don't know?" He continued, "I was wondering how long you'd take to tell me." According to my spouse, who is usually quite unobservant, he'd known for a few days and wasn't sure why I hadn't mentioned it sooner!

I was not convinced, so I spent the next hour drinking a litre of water before doing another test. This time it read, 'not pregnant'. Now what? Was I with child or not? I got on the phone to a friend, who was knocked up herself, and she told me to take a third test in the morning, when the hCG hormone levels were at their highest. Talk about the longest night of my life. We even cancelled a dinner date with friends because I couldn't sit still.

The following morning confirmed what my dear hubby knew to be true. From that moment on, my life has changed. Nothing matters more than bringing this kid safely into the world. The only things that have stressed me out are those that threaten to hurt our baby. The reality of another human being growing inside of me has altered the way I look at everything.

Of course, the first thing one should do is book an appointment with an obstetrician. Although these home-pregnancy tests are nearly 100 per cent accurate, you want to be absolutely certain! You know, ensure that there is a valid reason for suddenly eating massive amounts of food or feeling nauseated at the mere sight of it, falling asleep at your desk, the increasing size of your chest and the getting up four or five times per night to relieve your bladder!

Nervous

I remember this appointment clearly. From the moment I woke up in the morning, I was nervous. Okay, I'm lying. I'd been jittery about it since the day it was set up! What if I were not pregnant at all? Although it hadn't been that long since I thought I had a growing embryo inside of me, discovering that it was all false would be similar to losing the baby itself. I know this sounds asinine, but the rate at which I'd become attached to the notion of being a mother was unsurpassable. I was hooked. I didn't care about the worries that came with parenthood. We'd started the journey of becoming a mummy and a daddy, and nothing was going to ruin that.

Emmadaltonbrown@gmail.com