In Africa, as soon as a woman marries, she is expected to be pregnant in the shortest possible time. It is a common practice for people to count down to your pregnancy or childbirth from the time of your Marriage. This was no different for Tess. She expected to be pregnant not long after marriage, but did not expect it to be that soon. A few weeks after her wedding, Essy resumed work as per usual and on one of the days during the celebration of a colleague's birthday party, she got compliments on how she was glowing and how marriage had been good to her. She perceived it to be the usual practice of teasing amongst them and sis not think much of it until it was time to dine. She took a sip of Coca-Cola and felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. She tried again and felt that same pain. Tess decided to pause and reflect on all the compliments she had received that day. Tess had always had an irregular menstrual cycle; hence, missing her period as a sign of pregnancy was not an option for her. Moreover, she had her period the Monday after her wedding on Saturday; hence, pregnancy around that time was not so much in the cards for her. Notwithstanding, she decided to buy. Pregnancy kit on her way home, just in case. The next morning, she woke up at dawn, peed on the stick and saw a very faint line on the section that meant positive.
Tess was confused. What did it mean? She had never heard of a faint line; was she pregnant or not? She quickly took her phone and started googling to find out any necessary information. After a while on the Internet, she found both exciting and scary facts. Turned out she could be pregnant, but a faint line meant it was very early and could also disappear. In the morning, she showed the kit to her husband and tried to explain to him what she had found out on the Internet. Just like most African men, he brushed it off and told Tess to wait and confirm with a doctor. Tess had also read on the Internet to give it a week, and the line would be deep if she were indeed pregnant. So Tess scheduled with her husband to see a doctor the following week. That week was one of the longest weeks Tess had ever experienced. She did not know if she should tell her parents or not because she did not want to raise their hopes if it turned out to be nothing. Se the other hand was trying her best to be careful in her walking, sleeping, eating, climbing, doing everything to ensure that she did not do anything to lose the pregnancy that was now forming, according to Google.
The night before the doctor's appointment, Tess bought another pregnancy Kit to confirm the second time. She woke up at dawn like she did the previous week and peed on the kit. She checked and voila, it was a deep positive. Tess was happy, but the actual confirmation would come from the doctor. That morning, she told her husband and showed him the deep kit. He said okay, and they for ready to go see the doctor. When they got to the hospital, Tess explained everything to the doctor, and he ordered a scan just to be sure. It was a private hospital quite close to the house, and they had a pregnancy section, so Tess entered the scan room with her husband and met the lady in charge of the place, who was heavily pregnant herself. She asked Tess to lie down, lift her top and lower her trousers a bit so she has access to her abdomen. The lady explained that because it is very early, the baby would be in the abdomen. She put some gel on a device and put it around Tess's abdomen. While she did that, Tess and her husband Nathan could see everything the lady was seeing on another screen. She explained whatever was going on there to the couple and told them that her pregnancy had happened, but it was too early to tell anything concrete, and the pregnancy was probably just about three weeks old. She was, however, able to identify a heartbeat and congratulated Tess and Nathan. Tess did not know how to react; this was happening. She was happy and quite worried at the same time. One thing that calmed her was her mother. She knew her mother was very experienced in the knowledge of pregnancy and childcare, as she had seen her be there for other people several times. She therefore resolved to rely heavily on her mother for support on this journey. Since they lived close to Tess' parents, they drove there, and Nathan continued to work while Tess stayed with her parents. Tess was an only child and had not lived with extended family. She has no experience or knowledge of pregnancy and had not witnessed anyone close to her in that situation either. She had a lot to learn; she had a lot of reading to do. Life as she knew it was going to change forever; she had to brace herself for the journey ahead. In the middle of their conversations, Tess said to her parents: Mum, Dad, I am pregnant.