Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for March 15, 2024

She’s disappointed that it wasn’t +. She now knows that she does want to have a baby.

Yea negative, as we all thought.

Maybe she is thinking thar she may never bear any childrem? :-(

Needs to go see a doctor? Maybe it’s a different problem?

Just k!ll me now.

She needs to see a doctor.

Aww. It’s a common problem. You spend a good chunk of your life trying to not get pregnant and then a good long while trying to get pregnant.

Toni was confronting the worst case scenario. Now, she’s feeling the worst case wouldn’t have been that bad.

It’s still great to see Toni and the others back in the dailies again.

Looks like she’s confused about feeling disappointed? Unexpectedly disappointed.

Did you get a second test to double check?

Toni is getting mommy vibes.

Try, Try and Try again, This time with more enthusiasm

Could have been TJ’s????

Called it.

Can’t wait to watch TJ explain all of this to Brad.

The biological clock is ticking. She wants to have a baby while she still can. Though it’s hard to figure the ages for the characters since time moves so s-l-o-w-l-y in this strip.

I wonder if this will go like HIMYM and she’ll have started out career driven and not wanting kids only to find out she’s barren and feel sad that she doesn’t have that possibility. Honestly, I do feel like GnK would probably be more wise to just have Shannon be the surrogate niece-daughter cause that way they can keep Toni’s character consistent with having the justified feelings of not wanting to be a parent after having to basically do the work of a parent for her brother and his kid.

When families were much larger, the older girls were more likely to choose Religious life or focus on careers outside the home, because they’d already had the experience of helping rear their younger siblings. They weren’t anti-child, but they had spent enough time as proxy parents to prefer becoming aunts.

Do you or don’t you want your own kid, Toni?

And did Smiley stand outside the bathroom door anxiously awaiting the results the ENTIRE time???

Sometimes it takes a few minutes for that second line to appear.

Maybe “negative” means "no, I’m not telling you (yet).

Yeah… It’s negative, and from now on she’s going to make sure that it stays negative.

Relief or disappointment, she should have told Brad first. Not the roommate.

Isn’t Toni too young to be going through “the change”??

Wow three pictures up there an we haven’t seen TJ’s teeth or grin

Changed her mind about a family.

How can someone in their right mind take care of Shannon and still want a kid?

Toni seems to be in two minds about getting pregnant. It may be interesting to see some developments in this story arc. This strip hasn’t had a baby since “Lindy”, whom Luann used to babysit when she was in her early teens, if I recall correctly.

Looks like most of us called it correctly!

So now will she tell Brad that she wants to have a kid of her own?

I’ve always thought that when they get to the stage that Brad or Luann were parents.. they’d probably wrap up the Luann comic strip.

T.J.‘s nosy question, plus his facial expression give me the skeeves. Actual friends don’t pry about pregnancy related stuff.

Tik, tik, tik…goes the biological clock.

Looks like the biological clock jumped forward this week also.

This near miss has caused her to consider a possibility for the future that had, until now, been way back in her subconscious. Now it’s front and center and she’s confused about what she really wants.

Well, Toni isn’t pregnant after all and from the looks of things, it seems she really wanted to be pregnant. I wonder what Brad will think of this when she tells him.

Does TJ still live with them? He has no social life? Brad’s progressing, why isn’t he?

Finally. :)

Awww I was hoping for this moment. Now she and Brad are on the same page, which is always a good place to be.

If she does get pregnant, and it’s a boy, they can name him “Aaron Hill DeGroot”. If it’s a girl, they can name her “Ann Eiffel DeGroot”.

Women have a natural drive to bear Children. That should always be supported and celebrated, not discouraged and disparaged.

Hey, Toni, WTH is Brad and why the H is TJ so much involved?

Called it yesterday.

“O that way madness lies…” Shakespeare King Lear

tick-tock… Tick tock… TICK tock… TICK TOCK… TICK TOCK!!!

It’s a weird feeling when you see the result on a pregnancy test. Even when it’s negative and that’s what you were hoping for, sometimes there’s still a tiny glimmer of disappointment. Or sometimes it’s the other way — you were hoping to be pregnant, and now you’ve learned that well, it’s not this month, and part of you is surprised to be relieved you don’t have to deal with it just yet. Weird mixed feelings. At least, that’s how it’s been for me.

T.J., the in-house therapist.

Interesting expression on Toni’s face in the last panel. Simpering?

There are two possibilities, either Toni is feeling very relieved knowing she’s not pregnant or she just realized that she would like to be. I think the latter is more probable, but both are possible. Let’s see if Toni will answer TJ or leave everyone wondering about this. Or maybe the third possibility, the test just turned positive.

Happened to me a year and a half ago. I wasn’t ready for another kid, didn’t really want another kid, thought I was happy with just one.Then I was late, the test was negative, and I burst into tears.

I now have a 5mo little one snuggled in my arms while I read this comic. :D

But now she is worried about why she is late. If not as baby then what?

it was that darn asparagus for lunch. :-/

I dislike this whole story. TJ has no business being involved. It’s high time he finds his own place.

Hey! Stop waiving that peëd-on stick around! There’s food in here!

she could be kidding and it did show a + sign

I dunno, it looks like in the last panel she is now hiding the stick behind her back. I’m thinking the results were delayed and have changed….

banjo cat is much more interesting

She’s not telling TJ before she tells Brad.

Happy Ides of March!

Yeah, knew TJ’s questions and comments were designed to change Toni’s mind. He brought up the fun things of having a kid— the attention for parents, the sweet newborn, the choosing of a name.

This is a side of TJ that we never saw before!

aw

Ah, shoulders up. Seems Toni May be a bit disappointed?

Too early for postpartum depression

Butt out TJ !!

Twilight Zone-twist ending approaching tomorrow?

Why is she tucking her shirt in at home?

Nice part is she now knows she wants a baby and won’t resent the baby

¿Congratulations?

TJ needs to shut up & butt out

This was very well done. Instead of being sad that it might happen she is sad that it didn’t happen. She was afraid of the change but also looking forward to the change in her life. Brad must have grown on her in more ways than one.

Extremely nice that TJ can recognize it. Many people would not notice but our hero does.

This is just the response that Margaret Hoolahan had upon learning that she wasn’t pregnant. She got to keep her boots, instead of getting booties.

Ah,nuts—-another fake skydive.

Going way back in DOONESBURY—when BD and BooPsie had their baby daughter; BD would put her in his motorcycle sidecar when he went out on CALIFORNIA hIGHWAY pATROL.

Time to Exit Stage Left and Shift back to Luann’s story line.

Something has changed. Toni realizes she does want a baby.

There is as large an opening for a patented misdirection play as the strip offers. I think we will all be surprised, so I’ll wait to see what happens before I try to call it.

One would think all that time spent with Shannon would’ve permanently cured their baby cravings.

Now that got my curiosity going

1) Here’s a little bit of biology for some of the commenters here… When a couple is trying to NOT have children (like Brad and Toni) they take precautions. Which means that NOT getting pregnant means things are going as expected. NOT that someone has fertility issues. Occasionally those precautions may fail, which is why Toni was worried. She did NOT want a kid. And she did NOT want to have an unnecessary conversation with Brad, who would get overexcited then deflated, and then she would have to console him while being happy herself. She took the test before talking to Brad.

2) A woman may be late for a lot of different reasons, most of which do NOT mean there is a medical issue. For example, sometimes it could be due to physical exhaustion, which could easily happen considering Toni’s job. Sometimes they don’t have a very stable cycle. Whatever.

And on a non-biology note, sometimes we only realise how we feel about something only when we are put on the spot. In this case, Toni feeling totally not ready for a kid and dreading a positive result, then feeling a tiny bit of disappointment at seeing the negative. Which is probably the point of having this storyline. Nothing happened, event-wise, but something huge happened, character-development-wise.

She’s a bit disappointed. Look at her face in the second panel.

Happy Ides of March!

Sometimes I forget just what a weird looking person TJ is.

Oh good, now we can move on from all the vitriol from yesterday!

The trick is keeping that same state of mind for 18 years. I think she “missed a bullet” this time. Maybe later, if she still feels the same way.

To quote a cartoon from a looong time ago, “You’ll be sorry!!” Or maybe not.It’s Very complicated, trust me.

Always double check with a different test.

If she was on the pill to might take a while (6 – 12 months) of attempts before she can get pregnant. There might be stress at work, home, elsewhere. All sorts of things. It could also be Brad. It took us almost 2 years with no fertility drugs or any other “help.” And then we had twins. Who celebrated their 6th/24th birthdays about 2 weeks ago. It might be worth it to see a doctor for some information and help. But what do I know, I’m just a practicing MD hoping that with enough practice I’ll get it right.

Whoa! Hold on here! Let’s give TJ of all people for being the voice of reason. Who woulda’ thunk it?