I’m starting a new series today that I am calling “The Journey.” The journey starts when you first find out you are pregnant and in this series will continue until the birth of your baby. I will discuss both the option of parenting and the option of placing. Some of these topics that will come up during the series may have been touched on in the past, but to be thorough I will include them in this series as well.

The first step that comes along in this journey is finding out you are pregnant. Perhaps your period is late, you are feeling nauseous, or have other symptoms and warning signs that may have you thinking you are pregnant. Nervous and anxious to know one way or the other, you finally take a home pregnancy test. Waiting those few minutes for the test to do its work, feels like an eternity and you are hoping, praying, and wishing that it comes up negative. But it doesn’t. It’s staring back at you, screaming that you are pregnant!

Or maybe you are further along and not feeling well, so you go to the doctor to discover you are in the second or third trimester of pregnancy! That scenario is a bit rare, but not unheard of.

Regardless of how you find out or how far along you are, you are probably overwhelmed with emotions!

Here are a few tips to help you deal with that initial shocking news:

• Before you start trying to decide if you should parent or make an adoption plan, give yourself a few days to breathe and deal with the reality that you are in deed pregnant.


• Find an OBGYN and make an appointment to find out exactly how far along you are.



• Stop any activities that may be harmful to your unborn baby.



• Depending on your situation, share the news with your baby’s father.



• Take care of you. You are probably feeling very overwhelmed and stressed, so be sure to take care of yourself. Get plenty of rest, eat properly, and drink lots of water.



• Tell someone you trust that you are pregnant.

Remember that you are not alone. Although, you may feel like you have little support, you are not alone. Many other women are faced with unplanned pregnancies so you are not the first going through this. And you certainly will not be the last.