When we found out I was pregnant

26th of June 2019

For so many years, I’ve been told I would probably never be able to get pregnant. And to be honest, I’ve always been quite afraid to be a mum, so I didn’t think of it that much really.

We’ve been together for over 6 years, and are getting married this fall, so of course, we’ve talked about having kids. Since Philip is 6 years younger than me, I’ve never felt any stress about making any decision, “maybe in the future” has been our strategy about kids.

16th of June

I was expecting my period to arrive this day, and I was photographing a 3-day wedding in Skåne. My period is never late, so when it didn’t arrive I was a bit concerned. I took a digital test the upcoming week (during the evening), and it said “Not pregnant”.

22 th of June

It was a midsummer celebration in Sweden, and we joined a big party for the evening. We took the car there and could sleep over if I wanted to drink wine. But I didn’t feel like drinking, so we took the car home during the night.

24th of June

My first symptom of the pregnancy showed. I was giving the cats food, and almost threw up when I felt the scent of the cat food. It has never been a problem before. Philip laughed and said “Are you pregnant?!”.

26th of June

My period is 10 days late, and I have a strong feeling I’m pregnant. I can’t describe why cause I don’t have any obvious symptoms.

I have a really stressful day at work, finishing for the vacation, and I asked Philip to buy a pregnancy test at the grocery store. When I got home at 6:30 PM, he had dinner at the stove, and he wanted us to eat before taking the test, but I wanted to take it right away.

The only tests available in the grocery store was non digital ones. I took one and waited, Philip checked on the dinner. I saw a very weak stripe, and I was not sure if it was IT. I took another one, it showed the same.

At this point, I panicked.

I had to open the window in the bathroom to take deep breaths. I just sat on the floor, rocking back and forth, couldn’t understand. I asked Philip “Are we ready for this?!” and I could tell he thought so, but he wanted me to decide. After 2 minutes I calmed down, and I felt so confident that I wanted this baby. Keep in mind, I’ve never longed for a baby, ever. I wasn’t even sure if I could get pregnant, so this was a real shock for me. We left the food on the stove to go to a pharmacy to buy a digital test, and we were giggling through the store and looked at each other all the time. Back home we took the digital test, and it immediately showed “Pregnant”, and then “1-2 weeks”.

I can’t describe the feeling that moment. I never thought that my biggest fear for so many years, could make me so happy.

When we got this result, I decided to immediately drive to my mum to tell her. It was a 40 min drive to Båstad, but I wanted her to know NOW. She’ve been longing for grandchildren for SO long, and she’s been very worried to never have any.

I told her I had a gift for our wedding, that she could wear (so she wouldn’t suspect anything). Her first reaction was “WHAT THE HELL” hahaha…. I think the picture speaks for itself 😉 She was so happy, finally grandma <3

The same week we told my sister, Philips parents and brother, and our closest friends. Everyone was SO happy for us, and it felt quite unreal. I was already in week 6, and I was SO happy I haven’t started to feel nauseous yet.

7th of July

We were in Iceland when I started to feel nauseous for the first time. We had driven for very long that weekend, so I thought I was just tired. Little did I know, this nausea would stick with me for the rest of the month….

I never threw up, but I felt nauseous from I woke up until I went to bed. I had a few days and moments without, but I was really struggling. I’m really bummed I didn’t ask my midwife about this, but I thought I could only get help if I threw up. I kept thinking “tomorrow it will be over”..

13th July – I’m so, so tired…

I was so happy I had vacation during July, cause this period was really hard. I had to take 1-2 naps every day, and I didn’t feel hungry. I was just so so tired, and felt nauseous all day. Philip was a hero during this time, he did everything at home and took good care of me.

18th of July – The first ultrasound

I was so nervous when we waited for the midwife to find our baby on the screen, cause she had to search for a while. Finally she found our little baby with a ticking heart. I cried so much when I saw this, we were pregnant FOR REAL?!

We payed for this ultrasound ourselves (700 SEK at Mama mia in Helsingborg), to find out how big the baby was. She had some trouble to measure it, but it was 11mm at the time. She wrote week 7+2, so we we’re moved 10 days back.

If we’re counting from the first day of my latest period, we’re in week 12, but from the ultrasound we’re in week 11 next week. We’re counting from the period, until we can see more clear how big the baby is. We will probably do another ultrasound soon just to make sure, so we don’t miss the CUB test. We will, of course, keep the baby as long as it’s healthy, and just want to be prepared if it has a higher risk for more chromosomes.

I’ve been really emotional this week. During a couple of days I cried so much, and I couldn’t stop. Philip was so sad he couldn’t help me, cause I couldn’t tell why I was so sad. Hormones…. 😉

31th of July

I reached the point where I can’t stand the nausea anymore, so I tried “Postafen” and it worked…. O M G I’m in heaven! I’m really mad I didn’t tried it earlier, but at least I can work and live as normal again. Hallelujah!

2th of August

Hello week 12! (according to the last period)

We decided to go public with this already. I’m having a hard time keeping this a secret (both for myself and because my belly is really showing!). I also need to change my schedule a lot for the upcoming months, so I want to prepare my customers as early as possible.

When I’m writing this (2th of August), I’m feeling really well. I’m so happy to have reached week 12, and I’m happy to be back at work. I had my first maternity shoot in ages yesterday, and it was just as usual, so thankful for that! From not being able to leaning forward without getting a taste of the breakfast, I’m happy “Postafen” worked so good for me.

I will of course keep you updated during our pregnancy!

FAQ

I suspect I will get a lot of questions, so I gathered them here:

“Will you check which gender the baby has?”
Yes we will!

“When is due date?”
21th of February 2020

“How did you get pregnant unexpectedly?”
I stopped using birth control pills 3 years ago, and have since then used different apps to control when I’m fertile;-)

“Will you do more tests than CUB?”
No we will not.

“Will you book a maternity photographer, if so, who?”
I’ve always been confident I wanted to do this, but after Iceland (where we took a lot of pictures), I decided to take my own pictures with help from Philip. I really want to have “my style”, so if I can wear my own dresses, pick locations/light, edit and everything, I’m happy 😉 I know A LOOOT of talented maternity photographers, I just feel more comfortable to do it myself.

“For how long will you work?”
I will not book any workshops or maternity shoots after December, but I will keep working from home/the studio until the baby is born, as long as I feel ok.

“Will you go on maternity leave?”
I will, for how long and when we don’t know yet. Since I have my own business I’m not worried about this. Philip will probably take the majority of the days since I can decide my schedule as I like.

“How does Philip feel about the baby?”
He’s really emotional about this, and he is so happy to become a dad <3

“Will the pregnancy change anything for upcoming releases?”
Yes, it will! I will release 2 workshops in Sweden this fall (that I planned to release next year), and I will also open some of my programs earlier than I planned. Some projects will be postponed to the future. Luckily, I haven’t booked any weddings for next year yet, I’ve said no to all inquiries until after this seasons ended.

We’re so excited about this, and SO happy to finally be able to share this with you <3

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Emelie Ohlsson (soon Bernborg!)

Emelie Ohlsson (soon Bernborg!)

Expert at chocolate, passive incomes and making people laugh.

Follow me on Instagram @emeliebernborg

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About Emelie
32 y/o from Sweden

I started out as a blogger in 2005, writing about my sister Paulina who I lost in the tsunami 2004. I was 17 and had just survived one of the worst natural disasters in Thailand, and my blog became my way to cope.

It was a true nightmare, and I knew I had to use it as a force to continue my life, and I found that force in photography.

I’ve been photographing hundreds of weddings and maternity shoots, and also educated over 6000 photographers in Scandinavia. I want to give everyone a force to fulfil their biggest dreams, to make their lives better and happier.

“What would you attempt to do, if you knew you could not fail?”

I’m honest, always happy (almost) and I truly believe that everyone can do whatever they want. I serve people to make them feel powerful and beautiful in front of my camera, and I serve photographers to never give up.

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