The emotional impact of a positive pregnancy test

You’re standing in the bathroom, staring at the test. Your mind is racing. Then it appears, two lines, or a cross in my case, and suddenly it hits you: “I’m going to be a mum.” For a moment, everything stops, and then just as quickly, everything changes. This moment is often imagined in a certain way, what it will feel like, who you’ll tell first, how happy you’ll be, but for many women, it’s far more complicated than that. Even if this is something you’ve been hoping for, it can still feel like a shock, a deep realisation that your life is about to change in ways you can’t fully grasp yet. There might be excitement, but also fear, overwhelm, and uncertainty. You might find yourself moving between emotions, feeling joy one minute and something heavier the next, a quiet thought like “I can’t do this” or “Why am I not reacting how I thought I would? Shouldn’t I feel happier than this?” And alongside it all, a subtle but powerful shift, the sense that things will never quite be the same again. There’s a name for this, matrescence, a psychological and emotional transition into motherhood. Just like adolescence, it’s a period of profound change, not just physically, but hormonally, emotionally, and mentally, which is why it can feel overwhelming, confusing, and at times disorienting. These feelings don’t mean you’re ungrateful, unhappy, or going to be a bad mum. They mean something in your life is changing, deeply and irrevocably. But when we don’t have the language for it, it’s easy to turn inward, question ourselves, and feel like we’re getting it wrong before we’ve even begun. This is the space I support women through, matrescence from conception through early motherhood, helping you make sense of the overwhelm, the doubt, and the identity shift so you can move through this transition feeling more grounded, confident, and less alone.