By now most of you have seen the Today’s Parent / First Response video on how my unexpected pregnancy was the best thing that ever happened to me (warning: may cause hormonal women to burst into tears).

As you know, TRM is all about providing women with support and answers when they need it most, which is why we were game to work with First Response on the “This is My Journey” campaign – a video / content series for Today’s Parent that’s aimed at sharing real women’s unique stories to help families understand that when it comes to trying to conceive and pregnancy, no two journeys are alike. (Click here to view them all)

Since we didn’t want to leave you hanging, we thought it was only fair to finish the story and tell you how my (surprise) pregnancy story unfolded and led me to where I am now – in my life (2.0).

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In May of 2013, at the age of twenty-five, a pregnancy test – which I admittedly took a solid 2.5 weeks after my missed period even though the First Response Pregnancy Test is actually famed for detecting the pregnancy hormone 6 days BEFORE your missed period (#denial) – told me the terrifying truth that I was officially slated to become somebody’s mother.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with becoming somebody’s mother – if that’s what one wants for oneself – but at the time, I had other plans and kids were not part of them.

So what did I do? I freaked out, of course.

I freaked out because I felt vulnerable. I freaked out because I was afraid. I freaked out because despite the love and support from my family and my boyfriend (and the constant presence of a tiny plus-one in my uterus) I still felt incredibly alone.

Five weeks later, a miracle from the fertility goddesses arrived in the form of a text message:

“Babe. I’m pregnant too.”

It was from Aleks – now the other (blonder) half of TRM. Our blunt and BS-free worlds collided in a perfect storm of positive pregnancy tests and sent us off on a mission to diversify the parenting conversation to include women like us: rebellious women.

From partners in pregnancy crime to real-life business partners, our journey has taken us on the ride of a lifetime.

Together, we made it through the initial shock of pregnancy (and the *surprise* emergency c-sections that followed). We spent our maternity leaves breastfeeding and sleep training and writing and learning to code and loving and nurturing and plotting and busting our asses. We worked at bizarre hours, between our day jobs and our “mom jobs.”

There were moments in the mix when we had to take a chance, or accomplish the (seemingly) impossible, but when those moments arose we beared down and greeted them head on because enduring the transition from maidenhood to motherhood – SURVIVING the transition from maidenhood to motherhood, had given us a glimpse at just how strong / brave / powerful we had become.

Our newfound mom status empowered us; so much so that we felt like we could legitimately do anything… so we went ahead and took one more leap into the unknown.

What began with two positive pregnancy tests (and two terrified women holding them), has grown into a vast community of mamas (and papas and aunties) who understand that support and understanding is where it’s at. They know that fears can be overcome if we admit them to each other. And they know that guilt and judgement go hand-in-hand (so we should be kicking them both to the curb simultaneously).

If you’re reading this as a newly pregnant first-time-mom (congrats!), what we hope you take away is that this road you’re about to travel down will throw at you a little bit of everything. It will make you smarter, it will make you softer, it will make you kinder, it will make you tougher, and it will humble the shit out of you… But it might just lead you to You 2.0, and that girl might just get everything she never knew she always wanted.

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Got a unique pregnancy journey that you’d like to share?
Tag #ThisisMyJourney to participate in the conversation.

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