Clean green and a heartbeat is seen

24 February, 2pm
First gynae appointment

We sat in the waiting room, I had just peed in the cup and now was looking at all the brochures that were on the table in front of me. Fashionable maternity wear. Exercise for pregnant ladies. UIF for working mommies. A lot in one go. I decided to focus my attention on the 'thank you' cards given to Dr. Howard by his mommy to be's. Most of them had pictures of their babies on them. I became emotional, it suddenly felt real.

Dr Howard welcomed us in, sat us down and congratulated us. He was able to tell us the possible date of conception and I immediately recalled that night. It was a romantic evening with pillows and blankets spread across the floor, and us just being, the perfect way to end off our first year of marriage. I'm someone who writes these things down!

He took us through the various birth options which he realised - at the sight of my reaction - was a bit premature. Went through our medical histories and told us about the various scans that may be done during the pregnancy to check on the well-being and growth of the little one. He then went into detail about the scan that was about to be completed. My concentration stopped when he mentioned the word vaginal scan.

I'm sorry what did you just say? In my mind I thought it was going to like the ones I saw on TV. You know where they put that jelly on your belly? Again, by my reaction, he knew he had to pacify me and tell me that because the little one was so little, a stomach scan could not detect him/her properly hence the v-scan. I was clean green – I usually am, so I was not worried about that, was just worried about it being uncomfortable. It was not.

I tell you, the moment you see a little flutter of a heartbeat on the screen you think of nothing but just that tiny ball of cells in front of you. Inside you. Flutter. Flutter. No audio, just flutter.

My husband and I sat there in awe realising the miracle of life and how blessed we were to be experiencing it.