'In the service station toilet': 30 women on the moment they found out they were pregnant.

Like most things in life, apparently finding out you're pregnant doesn't always go down exactly how we see it in movies. 

Shocked and appalled.

As well as some unpleasant physical effects (hey tender boobs! Take a seat), there are some seriously crazy emotions that sometimes follow - joy, terror, anxiety, disbelief. And it's perfectly normal.

Watch: Here's a bunch of things pregnant people never say. Post continues below.

Whether you've had a long hard struggle with trying to conceive, or you've found yourself unexpectedly pregnant, the feelings and emotions that come with a positive pregnancy test are A LOT. And it's probably nothing like how you imagined it, right?

We asked 33 women to tell us how, when and where they were the very moment they found out they were pregnant.

Lex.

"My work toilet. Was about to meet a friend for a bootcamp session. I had just got off the phone to my husband (boyfriend at the time) who was heading out of range for a few days on a work trip. Bawled my eyes out. Turned out I was almost 12 weeks already. #Notlikethemovies."

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Rebecca.

"I already had a five-month-old baby, and was having a social game of tennis with mothers group friends. I was hit by a huge wave of fatigue and dropped the racquet and walked off the court. Perplexed, I sat watching on... and the penny dropped."

Paula.

"I was newly married (very young) and my husband was having his 21st birthday party. I didn’t feel well and didn’t actually drink that night. I went to the doctor with my girlfriend two days later and found out I was pregnant. So when my husband came home, I was like, “Surprise! Happy birthday, you're going to be a dad." I can’t really repeat what he said, but I think he was in total shock. He came around a few days later and apologised; it wasn't the birthday present he was expecting."

Kylie.

"I was in a bar in Istanbul about to order an apple martini, when I thought, 'I feel like I should take a test'. I just had this feeling. I finally found a chemist and spent 30 minutes trying to google translate 'pregnancy test'. I did the test at the hotel. I couldn't look at it. My husband told me we were pregnant."

Jessica.

"I was at work and had been feeling nauseous for a few days, and I believe my period was late. I 'went to the toilet' (went to buy a pregnancy test and then use it) and it said that I was pregnant. I think at that point I was maybe six to eight weeks pregnant. I ended up [terminating the pregnancy], around 10-12 weeks. As much as I wanted to keep the baby, my situation wasn't good to do that. The house I was living in wasn't a good place to raise a baby in, and I was in no position to move out."

Nicolle.

"I was so shocked, I made my husband go out and buy some digital pregnancy tests (it was about 9:30pm) because the test I used wasn't digital and it was open but unused, so I thought it may have been faulty. So I did three more tests and then went to my GP the next day to get a blood test because I had a weekend away for a wedding that I had planned to drink lots of wine at. 

"I was still in disbelief so went for another blood test the week after and went for a really early dating scan. It was such a nice surprise though, once the shock wore off I actually realised how nice it was to be surprised for once, so I decided not to find out the gender because I wanted that feeling again."

Tilly.

"I was given an offer by my close friend and boss to buy her law firm off her. I said, "Ahhh yeah, but let me just do a pregnancy test because I think I might be pregnant". I went to the bathroom as I already had the test, came back out and politely declined the offer to buy the firm because I was very unexpectedly pregnant. That made the decision very easy and I’m glad I didn’t buy it in the end. I'm glad I had my daughter instead."

Kate.

"I had just come back from the bottle shop with a bottle or red to enjoy with home-cooked pasta. I was feeling a little off, so I took a pregnancy test and found out I was pregnant! There was however a mix of emotions - glad I was pregnant but disappointed that I couldn't enjoy the red..."

Georgia.

"I dropped a heavy box on my foot whilst working interstate. When I was still limping around the office a couple of weeks later, my boss insisted I whip off to the hospital for an x-ray. "Might you be pregnant?" was a screening question. They decided to do a test just in case. In all my life, I’ve never felt so alone. I didn’t go through with this pregnancy - I was so young."

Sarah.

"I dreamed I met my adult son. As I walked towards him I said, "I've been waiting for you" and he said "I'm nearly there...". Two days later - a faint positive pregnancy test."

Carly.

"[After] multiple pregnancy losses I was OFF IT. I did not want to be pregnant anymore - I wanted to go to Japan, eat sushi, drink sake, snowboard and sit in hot pools. I only had sex ONCE that month. I don’t know how it happened. But it did. And I wasn’t any old pregnant. I was SUPER pregnant. So, no Japan, and two living breathing proofs that the ‘pull-out’ method doesn’t work."

Maggie.

"We were on a family holiday down the coast and my period was one day, which has never happened before - I run like clockwork. I was throwing a ball on the beach with my sister and I got hit in the boob. It hurt way more than the normal amount and I thought that was strange.

"That night I woke up with a stomach pain I’d never felt before and I think deep down by that point I knew... I told my husband, and he agreed we should do a test when we got home the next day. We drove the three hours home and the whole time my mind was racing about the possibility of being pregnant. We talked about how we would like to raise our kids, serious things and silly things. It was a nice feeling, but we were also trying not to get ahead of ourselves in case it wasn’t true. The first thing I did was go to the bathroom and get a pregnancy test. The first thing my husband did was get the lawn mower and start mowing the lawn.

"I did the test in the company of my dog, and when the two lines popped up pretty much immediately, I hugged my dog and told her she wouldn’t be the only baby around the house from now on. I walked out to the backyard and saw Chris going up and down the lawn and just held on to the last moment where I was the only person in the world who knew I was pregnant (apart from my kelpie). I asked him to come inside, he looked at me with a smirk, I gave him a poker face then smiled as I said, “I’m pregnant”. His smirk turned into a smile and we hugged and kissed and for some reason laughed a lot. It was a nice 60 seconds or so before he returned to the lawn mower and I lay on the couch thinking, "what the hell do I do now?".

Nikki.

"I'm single and had decided I wanted a baby. I was on round 12 of IVF, so I was pretty accustomed to receiving negative results. I decided I would work from home that day, as I'd been caught out on the train home receiving results before or had been at work, so I usually took a day off because I was always a mess the day I heard I wasn't pregnant. 

"After an anxious wait all morning, I got the call. This time it was one of the embryologists on the line rather than a nurse, which was unusual. When they said it was positive I asked if they were joking (of course they would never joke about it) because I was so shocked. Apparently everyone at the clinic wanted to be the one to tell me the good news."

Bri.

"I had been trying for nearly a year. When I was sitting at my beautiful nan’s funeral and listening to the list of grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren, I felt disappointed that I hadn’t been able to contribute to that list before she died; that she’d never know if I became pregnant or my children - if I was ever blessed with any.

"I sent a quiet little message out to my nan about it as I was sitting there. Right then I had an overwhelming sense of contentment and a warmth that I couldn’t explain in that moment. On my first morning back home after the funeral, I found out I was pregnant! I always kinda felt she knew or had something to do with it!"

Image: Canva/Mamamia.

Alicia.

"My partner was the one who said, "I think you might be pregnant, maybe take a test?" (we weren't trying). So I took a test and got a positive result. We were overseas at the time with no plans to settle down, so there was a lot rolling through our brains. But we couldn't discuss it because my sister was with us on her last day before she flew home. It was the weirdest day, this huge life change, and just pretending all was normal."

Rachael.

"I really wanted a bottle of wine and for some reason my gut was telling me to also buy a pregnancy test just in case, so I took them both home... I never did get to drink my wine."

Beth.

"I found out on Christmas Day after pulling my pregnancy test out of the bin. I hadn’t waited long enough so thought it was negative and chucked it. Checked the next day just to be safe... it was positive! Best present ever."

Megan.

"[I found out] in the public toilets at Joshua Tree National Park in the US on my honeymoon. I had bought a test earlier, planning to do it back at the hotel later that day, but I couldn't wait!"

Elle.

"We went away for a weekend in June last year between lockdowns. I was a day late and feeling a bit off... Tuesday morning, I woke up thinking it might be a good time to test. I was feeling suspicious. I went to the bathroom, and the result was instant. I snuck back into bed, and gently whispered, "Babe, I'm pregnant".

Shara-Louise.

"The first time I had my suspicions, so I went to a 24-hour pharmacy, grabbed a pregnancy test and then couldn't wait - so I went to the service station across the road and did the test in the toilet in the service station. Fast forward 16 years later, and the service station is still there, and it makes me happy every time I pass it."

Dominique.

"It was 4am, just before dropping my partner's mum to the airport. I just felt different. I did a test, and it came out positive. I told my partner, but he thought [the tests] weren’t accurate. We were two-to-three weeks pregnant."

Jess.

"I found out the morning I was FINALLY going to visit NSW from Perth during COVID border closures to meet my sister’s newborn baby on her 30th birthday. On the morning of my flight I peed on the stick and discovered I was pregnant! I was able to share the happy news with my family in person during what had been a difficult year of separation."

Amanda.

"I was getting physiotherapy on a broken wrist and had to roll my body over with my arm up near my ear, and my boobs were killing me. The next day I did a test, and it was positive. We had been trying for nine months so this was so exciting."

Kim.

"My husband is in the army, and he came home for two weeks over Christmas. I thought there was no chance we’d conceive then. I took a test, and it was positive! He left two days later and didn’t come home for seven months thanks to COVID."

Caitlin.

"I had already done a couple of tests that week that had come back negative, and early one morning I thought I would take another test because I still had one left. When it turned positive, I couldn’t believe it! I’d never seen one go positive before. Our [pregnancy] was very much wanted and ‘planned’ so I was really excited, but it took a few days (or weeks) to really sink in!"

Maria.

"My parents invited us on a trip to Vegas and I hadn’t seen them in a year. The day we met up was Mother’s Day, and I was a couple of days late (blamed it on the jetlag). Sneaked out with my mum to get a test and lo-and-behold, that was a dry Vegas trip."

Elizabeth.

"I almost fainted during a hot yoga class - so I asked my partner to grab a pregnancy test but didn’t use it for days as I didn’t think I was. We were both so shocked, as it was literally after our first time trying to conceive after ditching the contraception."

Katie.

"I was having horrendous 'PMS', called my husband and accused him of stealing my wallet. When I hung up I realised I was being slightly irrational. For some reason I decided that maybe it was a little more than PMS, so did a pregnancy test. Two lines came up immediately! It was actually only a month after our honeymoon, we decided to try for a baby, had one go, and it happened for us. Even though I chickened out and took the morning-after pill. I'm so glad it didn't work."

Sarah.

"I found out I was pregnant with my first on the day of the 2016 US election. I remember in the morning thinking that if I had a daughter, I could tell her that I found out I was pregnant the day the first female president was elected. I even wondered if Hilary could be a good name for a girl. Turned out to be a very surreal day. Suffice to say Hilary did not end up on our short list of names!"

Laura.

"I was really thirsty and tired so I took a pregnancy test. It came up positive, so I ran out to tell my husband excitedly. He was in the middle of organising our car insurance, he looked up in shock as I told him and then went back to his insurance quote, not knowing how to react or what to say."

Do you have a pregnancy story you'd like to share? Drop us a line in the comment section below.

Feature image: Canva/Mamamia.