Gut Feeling in Seoul!

Someone asked me this question in a social media site. I made a long answer so I thought why not create an article about it too?

I had shared before that I had a miscarriage in 2017, an ectopic pregnancy where I ended up getting an operation. Two years after, my husband and I never thought that I would become pregnant again. In my heart, I am okay if I won't get pregnant soon but we were not also using any contraceptives or whatever. We were only praying for God's perfect time and will on this matter.

In the year 2019, a lot of things had happened to us, we traveled to many different places, we went to Davao, Taiwan, Tokyo, some more local destinations, and the last on the list was in Seoul. Thinking about it, I realized how we had made the most out of 2019 and it ended with a bang indeed!

So, let me tell you how I found out I was pregnant and some side stories.

I have always marked my bullet journal with the days when I get my monthly visit. They're always in red of course and on the last week of November, our scheduled trip to Seoul, South Korea was set. It was a trip that we thought we won't be able to pursue because of the visa processes and all but thank God, a week before our flight, the visa was approved! I can't anymore remember though how much I had spent going to the consulate and the amount of money spent for that. I regret not documenting it but for sure I would be able to recall that if I would search online. I still remember the building where the consulate is and I hope that's the same location.

Traveling during red days is a pain in the ass, only women can relate to this so I had been waiting for my visitor to arrive. I checked my last visit and found that I am already a few days delayed.

I thought I might only be having a delay because, at some point, there were months before where the red days arrive a little later. I just brushed off the idea of being pregnant and we proceed with our Seoul trip on November 29.

I underestimated the weather and temperature in Seoul thinking it won't be that cold during autumn, not to consider that our trip is at the tail end of November which means it is also the end of autumn and winter is just commencing.

So upon getting out of the airport, I was greeted by the cold breeze, I was on my skinny jeans and some jacket but they were not enough to warm my body, thank goodness I was wearing shoes!

The bus was our refuge, it was warm and very comfortable. But as soon as he went down to our bus stop, the freezing cold breeze came again and the bad news was that we had to walk from the bus stop to our hotel for around ten minutes. It was the longest ten minutes of my life.

Recalling that I am glad my baby was safe in my tummy. We arrived at the hotel with freezing hands, I could barely make it move!

Traveling internationally, food will take a huge chunk of our pocket money so the technique was to buy snacks and food at convenience stores! My favorite is Onigiri, this was what kept us alive in Tokyo.

Onigiri is rice with viand wrapped in a seaweed sheet. I love seaweed!

However, I noticed it smelled very bad. I never had experienced that until we were in Korea. I thought I bought a bad onigiri so I didn't eat what we bought on our first day and just left it in our hotel room's fridge.

However, when we were in Myeongdong Night Market, I had no appetite for all the good food in front of us. I never felt hungry looking at them and I had been covering my nose because of the bad smell. Whatever was in front of me, I disliked the smell.

This was the case in all our five-day trip to Seoul. I only eat for the sake of eating so I have the energy to move around but never really had the right appetite for eating. Thinking of it, I am happy and grateful that I was able to walk kilometers during our trip while not eating that much. I am grateful my baby stayed there safely.

On our way home, while inside the subway train, we were standing as the train was full then at a stop, one of the seats got available but it was a seat for pregnant women.

No one sat there and some stranger pointed me to sit instead. I obliged and sat there, there's a sign in the seat about giving it to pregnant women and my husband was laughing saying, you might be pregnant for that stranger to offer you the seat. I just brushed it off. My husband even teased me that he'd take a photo as a remembrance but I stopped him.

I already had a gut feeling that I might really be pregnant. I have been delayed for around two weeks already!

We arrived in Mactan early morning as our trip from Korea was 11 in the evening. We napped and upon waking up at around seven in the morning, I had the urge to take a pregnancy test, we always keep some kits at home. The kit has been staying in the storage box for months and it was the first time that I tried it.

It stated two red lines for a positive result. I peed, got some samples dropped into the kit, and waited.

One bar showed... then another red bar! Oh my goodness! I am pregnant! I shouted while in the comfort room and ran towards my sleepy husband who got up when he heard me shouting, he thought there was a cockroach or something that made me shout.

I regret doing that though, next time, I will keep it from him and then film his reaction but at that time, he hugged me, I hugged him, it was an unexpected end of 2019 for us.

And that's how I discovered that I was pregnant. I already had a gut feeling and the PT was just a confirmation. On our visit to the OB, we found out we were six weeks pregnant already!

Today, recalling all those things made me smile. It's just a perfect time, God gave us Matti at the end of 2019, after all our travels, we were able to save our 13th month's salaries for my pregnancy, then pandemic happened, hubby and I worked home-based during the entire pandemic until today. Now, I wonder how was it in your case? Was there some drama when you learned about it?