It's a life-changing moment when the news comes: the test is positive, she's pregnant, you're going to be a dad. How did you (or your husband) react when you got the news? Be honest. What thoughts raced through your brain? Did your spouse react to your reaction? Did your reaction surprise you? Let's talk about the first moment of your Dadventure.

I came upstairs, after coming home from a skate session, she was getting ready for church, she just said, Here and handed me the stick... and had this huge grin... I grabbed her, hugged her, kissed her, and told her I loved her. We had been trying for a year and had even started talking about starting to talk about tests/atlernatives/adopting... We're really doin' this! Then I did the math... Dammit Vegas! HA! I lit up with anxiety (the good kind), as the house was not in order for a kid (it still isn't, and he's 11 months old). The determination to be a good dad began to take over, and will forever be swirling in my head. We had a name already for a boy, but not for a girl, so we started on that immediately too. But the tears didn't really flow until we heard that heartbeat... THAT was amazing. One of the hardest parts was waiting... for the first doc appt., and then still waiting a few more weeks after that before telling everyone. But man, that's kinda fun! I imagine reactions to the second announcement will be less enthusiastic, but I'll still be stoked.

The first child was pure excitement. I could hardly contain myself from telling everyone I saw immediately. Every stage was new and exciting and I wanted to know as much as I could.<br>We are pregnant again and this time it's sadly different. She told me by leaving the pregnancy tester on the counter in the bathroom (thanks for leaving the pee stick next to the sink). My reaction was more of, Oh, cool. It still works. I'm so in love with my first boy and trying to still be a good husband that I almost feel like I don't have enough left in me to care as much about this baby. I think I need to work on that before May.

I have a strong memory of feeling like we'd broken the rules, even though we'd been trying for a couple of months. As if, after trying NOT to get pregnant for so long, I was kind of stuck on that as the objective. I think I got a fleeting oh, no before I remembered, oh, right, this is a good thing. This is a GREAT thing. And then I kind of went apeshit from there.

Joy, anticipation, elation, nausea, explosive excitement, anxiety, pride, self doubt, amazement and shear terror - all at once.<br>After 9 kids, that feeling/reaction is still the same.<br>The question is always, how can I love/care for/serve/mentor another.... but it just happens. I love all my kids equally, differently, but equally. I appreciate the differences in their personalities, strengths & weaknesses. It is eye opening to see the aspects of my personality amplified in my bio-genetic results - the good, the bad & the ugly.(parts of my personality, not my kids- they are not ugly)

Well, seeing as I had my tubes tied about 3 years earlier, I think the words shocked as hell might fit! I think I cried for the first week. I was already through the first trimester though, so that was kind of cool (looking back that is. Now with baby #2 I feel like I have been pregnant for years already and have over a month to go yet!)<br><br>I SHOULD have know something was up when the Dr. called me and not the nurse. That should have clued me into something! We went right away for an ultrasound to see if the baby was where he should be and he was (didn't know he was a he at the time, of course).<br><br>So utter shock, terror and fear to start with!

My wife Lisa and I met at a club. Drinking. She was here from overseas on business and a little pleasure. heh. The rest you can figure out. We continued to see each other for the next couple of weeks, and then as quickly as it happened, it was over. She had to go home, and although we dug each other, it was too soon to make any committments, or promises for that matter.<br><br>Over the next few weeks, I kept a jar by my nightstand to stash any extra cash that I'd have at the end of the day so that I could buy a plane ticket by next summer to visit her. We kept in touch via email and phone. One day, she said to me I think I have an ulcer. I told her to skip work and get it checked.<br><br>A few days later, I flew back to Boston to visit my mom and sister. They met me at the airport and we sat down to a huge breakfast. I got a voicemail from Lisa Please call me. I excused myself and went to a payphone to make a calling card call across the ocean.<br><br>I'm pregnant.<br><br>I don't remember what I said. All I remember was returning to the table and trying my hardest to pretend nothing was up. Do you know how hard it is to scarf down a lumberjack-sized breakfast while your stomach is playing demolition derby with itself? I had to make normal conversation with my mom and sister while my brain was on threat level RED, running through scenario after scenario.<br><br>Fearful as I was, I knew immediately what I had to do. There was no question about that. The hard part was breaking it to my mom. What was I going to say? Uh, yeah, about those grandkids you always wanted...surprise! I'm having one shipped special to you overseas and it comes with a bonus daughter in law!<br><br>Luckily she was too overjoyed about the grandkid part (she rocks!) to even care how or why she would have one. So I called Lisa and told her to take a deep breath and dive into a whole new world with me. I emptied that jar of extra cash, bought a bottle of Jack Daniels with it and never looked back.

Yeah, I could not have eaten after that.

Amazing story. I'll never look at a flapjack the same way again.

Great story. Good for your Mom in the reaction to the news.

No accident here. We tried for a year before we went to a doctor. We went with doctor route for nine months with no success. I got a job on the other side of the river and she could not move because she's a teacher. We decided to take a three month break and go back to a doc later. We waited until our life was a little more together again and went back to the doc.<br><br>I was in the room when the doctor showed us our little smudge on the extremely-early-you've-paid-through-the-nose-for-this-type-of-care ultrasound. I was elated (and honestly a little relieved) and my wife cried. She didn't cry because of elation or relief, though. She cried because we worked for a long time and the best the doctor could come up with was that her new baby was a SMUDGE. Argh.<br><br>Not romantic, but it's our story. Someday we will tell it to our beautiful daughter, and she will roll her eyes, I'm sure.

I think Smudge is actually kind of cute. Don't tell your wife I said that.

The moment of surprise came early for us. We had just hardly been trying when all of a sudden my wife was trying a test and came running into the room crying and hugging me. By that point I was freaking out thinking, how the heck are we going to do this and pay for a baby. Not that you are ever ready money-wise, but we could be a lot better off. Sadly a day later she had lost it so we had to wait a while to try again. By the second time around it was about 5 months later and we had done a lot more to prepare ourselves. So when it happened it wasn't a huge surprise, but it was not so much of a stomach-churning moment as the first time. It was the same with her in the morning coming in and hugging me. It was a happy moment, but I have to agree with Concretin Nik that it didn't really hit home until the heartbeat. However it still really didn't seem to set in. I was a mess though when she was really born. I had kept it pretty cool until that point.

I came home from work, and wanted to have a serious conversation about our finances, so the conversation went something like Jami, we need to talk to which she replied Yes, but me first and I said Sure, what are you pregnant?<br><br>As up tight as I get about the $ some times, let me tell you that when she smiled back and we started chatting about our first baby....all I could think about was holy crap, it works! I'm going to be a Papa! Awesome!<br><br>I definately didn't want to ruin the moment by getting all heavy into money talk...save that for another day!

We had been trying for over a year. And before we even started trying I saw my OB/GYN and she seemed to think it would be difficult for us. So she imedietly prescribed clomid. I tend to be pretty anti-medical interventions in general so I never filled the script.<br><br>6 months later my father-in-law passed away. He was really the only relative that always asked So when are you having kids? I'm not getting any younger! So it was really sad that he left us before we had any success in that department. About 3 months after that Hubby asked me to go fill that prescription. So I did.<br><br>2 months later I actually broke down and decided to give it a try. Very first cycle on the meds and we were pregnant!<br><br>My reaction was excitement and RELIEF, and sadness. I think the first word out of my husband's mouth was, FINALLY! So I have a feeling he felt the same way.<br><br>The real excitement was 2 weeks later (I was high risk so had early ultrasounds) when we found out it was 2 babies not just one! I had a feeling it was twins, they run very strongly in my family plus the meds made my chances pretty high. My first question at that ultrasound was So how many are there? Tech said, I'm glad you said that! The rest is history.

My husband and I married very young, while I was still in college. We did not intend to have kids for a while, but had to find other methods of birth control, because my body did not respond well to hormonal contraceptives. Yeah... let's just say 95% still leaves 5% to chance...<br><br>I was actually on a backpacking trip with my best friend (and not my husband) when I started to suspect something was up... By the end of the trip, I was 2 weeks late, and unable to regulate my body temperature (hot, cold, hot, HOT). I called my husband and told him that I thought I might be pregnant, and asked if he wanted me to come home before I took the test. He said absolutely not, in fact find a test and take it NOW, as in before my 30 minute lunch-break is over NOW.<br><br>I called him back with the news, and all he could say was 'Shit. shit, shit, shit...' And then he went back to work. At that point he ran into an older friend of the family, to whom he spilled the beans. This friend, who had young kids of his own, was so excited for us, his excitement was infectious. By the time I spoke to my husband again, when he got off work, he had already called every single person in the address book of his cell phone. It was a wild emotional ride from there, and one that he apparently doesn't want to take, again, as he has decided he doesn't want to have any more. For the time being, anyway.

Are you serious? Take it again! I believe those were my exact words. I didn't know she just took the test. She walked out of the bathroom and hands me the stick. It was the one that says Pregnant or Not Pregnant and not the hieroglyphic +/- . Each letter rang out in my head. After the second on came back positive, I felt happy, panic, happy again, disbelief, and happy yet again. Even now, a couple of months before B-Day, I still find myself in total disbelief. I always wanted kids but coming to reality that not only I help create a little person that sits in my wife's stomach but also day in and day out, I would be responsible for this life. I can't wait til he's here, I finally have someone to play Lego's with!

We were not trying for a child. As a matter of fact, our relationship had been off and on for a year prior to finding out. I was shocked and a little anxious about all that a baby entails. After I insisted on her taking another OTC test and it too came back positive, I have been mostly just excited.<br><br>I sold my 350Z 2-seater (bye baby), bought a crib and some other furniture, painted the bedrooms, put down new flooring, and started saving money. Due date is in April and I still have a lot to do. This is the only bad thing but I have a feeling no matter how much I do to prepare, I will still have that unprepared feeling. All in due time I suppose.

I know that feeling all too well. I'd rather know I'm unprepared than thinking that I am prepared. Cause once that baby get here they are going to do their own lil thing. What did you buy to replace your 350Z? We got rid of my wife's Corolla and bought a used Jeep Grand Cherokee, a diffident trade up I think.

Yeah. I think you're right there.<br><br>I got the new 370Z! Just kidding. A well-used 2000 infiniti qx4. About the size of the jeep you mentioned. Definitly a different driving style from what I was used to but it has the Z beat in comfort so not too much complaining.

Wifey and I had been trying for a while...it seems that due to the nature of my job, I frequently wasn't there when her eggs were! We were going through those preggo tests quite a bit, every month hoping that it would come back with two lines and not just one.<br><br>They say that women's intuition is powerful stuff. It must be. I was about to leave on a four day trip the next morning, and she said to me I think I'm going to use a test... My response was really? But even if you WERE pregnant, I don't think you'd get a positive for another couple days! Isn't it a bit early? Do you have a 'feeling' or something? She did...and the test came back with the positive!<br><br>Funny-we took pictures of the stick with the positive indication on it...that was our reaction! That's how we told my sister...we gave her a picture of the preggo test!

That's pretty funny! We did that too, took pictures of our positive tests.

See the hilarious vid on this subject from DL. Thanks to our favorite funny dads, Owen, Omar G., Eric D., Travis H., and Gregg R. These guys tell great stories about when they found out about their impending fatherhood. Please add your own stories!

My wife woke me up from a sound sleep at 2:00 AM, thrust a digital pregnancy test stick that said pregnant in my face and told me she was pregnant. I sat up, grabbed the pee stick, stumbled over to the bathroom mumbling nonsense still half asleep and rubbing my eyes. Then when my vision came clear, I understood the confused rush a soldier in the field must have when they are stumbled upon in the middle of the night and woke up in the middle of a firefight (but in a good way).<br><br>Then I did something I'm still debating whether or not is weird. I photographed the pee stick display with my digital camera.