A funny thing happened on the way to 41

Apr 26, 2011 by cafebebemama

In November of 2010, I turned 40. I was a little bit distressed about turning 40 but what are you going to do? The alternatives aren’t terribly pleasant so it’s inevitable that you carry on and continue aging. I was enjoying motherhood immensely and was doing pretty ok as a wife and keeper of things household-ish. We ate, slept in a relatively clean house and had quite a lot of fun together as a family. Sure we didn’t have a lot of luxurious perks or holidays far and wide but we were doing pretty fine and dandy.

I even managed to secure myself part-time employment as a stay-at-home, freelance writer/blogger/social media maven and registered myself as self-employed. Things were good. I wondered for a while whether we were meant to have another child. Should Little Miss have a sibling so that one day, when hubby and I are no longer here to organise her life, Little Miss will have at least one friendly face to turn to? I rather enjoyed my life as an only child but I eventually grew to like, nay love, my brother and am quite glad that one day I won’t be an orphan. We had it so good with Little Miss. Surely we couldn’t be that lucky again?

And then a funny thing happened on the way to 41…

What the??? Hmmmm….no way!!!! I had been expecting my period at the beginning of the month. It never seemed to arrive. Strange, I thought… And then I started to calculate and begin to wonder. And begin to get very nervous indeed. On April 13, on the way home with Little Miss, I called into Morrison’s and after securing a few items for dinner, wandered down the feminie hygiene aisle. There before me lay a variety of choices amongst the condoms, lube and ovulation kits. It appeared that I didn’t need any of the aforementioned so I chose the least expensive test (a bargain 2 tests for the price of £4.00) and made my way home.

Little Miss thankfully fell asleep on the way so when we arrived back home, after depositing her in her bed, I ripped out one of the two pregnancy test, double checked the instructions (like they change!) and proceeded to wee on the stick. I glanced at the test a few seconds after replacing the cap and saw the control strip appear and within milli-seconds after, the other line reared up. It could mean only one thing…pregnant. After 3 mintues that second line was still there. After 2 days that second line was still there. Today, that line is still there. Just in case I screwed it up and somehow peed incorrectly, I took the 2nd test (I did pay £4.00 for them after all) about 45 minutes later with the exact same speedy result. PREGNANT.

Oh. My. God. Here are all the thoughts that ran through my head in those few hours after weeing on two sticks:

• I’m 40 years old. I’ll be 41 when this baby is born. I’m old.
• How the hell did this happen? (Don’t worry, I know pretty much exactly how and almost exactly when)
• Well, at least I have an excuse for my protruding belly.
• What will everyone think?
• When I go to CyberMummy this year, I won’t be offended when people ask when my baby’s due because this year I will ACTUALLY BE pregnant.
• How will my body hold up?
• Will everything be alright with the baby? The pregnancy?
• Surely we’ll not be as lucky this time around?
• Will I find out the sex?
• When can I tell people? How will I tell Mark?
• Oh. My. God.

A lot of thoughts in a relatively short period of time. I can tell you that I waited until we put Little Miss to bed that night to tell my husband Mark. I placed the 2 pregnancy tests on the arm of the couch next to the remote controls. After coming downstairs and sitting next to me on the couch, it took me practically turning his head to look at the tests for him to register what was in store for us. Thankfully, he was thrilled and still is which is incredibly reassuring! I’m still working on the rest of the thoughts at the moment.

One of the big questions has also been WHEN DO WE TELL PEOPLE? If you’ve done any maths with the dates on this post, you’ll realise that we are only about 7-8 weeks along. VERY early days. It may be stupid of me to even consider telling anyone let alone start blogging about it but there was no way I could keep this a secret for another 6-7 weeks until a scan officially confirms everything. First of all, I LOOK pregnant (gee, thanks a lot diastasis recti…I was within 10lbs of my 1st pre-pregnancy weight). Second of all, I’ve got events to attend, things to do and there was no way I could disguise or keep secret this nugget of news. I know I may be “jinxing” it but I would rather have everyone know and still be there to support us along the way should something go wrong than hide and have people wondering what was going on with me. So, you know. (Well, my family knew first, then close friends and now you!)

I’m planning to share our “mature” pregnancy journey with you along the way. I think there’s a special interest in that this is my second pregnancy at a later stage in life. I’m quite eager to blog about “what would I do differently” and explore different ideas and options for this pregnancy. And I’d like to take you on the journey as you’ve been privvy to most of the big items in our life for the last nearly-two years. I hope you’ll stick with us through this all. We’ll need all the support and advice we can get. I’m a bit nervous to say the least.

A funny thing happened on the way to 41. Cafe Bebe Mama got pregnant. All things being well, according to pregnancy calendars far and wide, a new member of the Joyce household will be joining us sometime in early December. What a great way to kick of 41 and end 2011!