All About Baby

Thank you so much for all of your sweet messages of congratulations on here and Instagram. Chris and I are so incredibly excited, and I am grateful it’s out in the open now, and I can finally talk about my pregnancy. Plus, it’s nice to be able to give y’all a real explanation as to why I’ve been posting less over the last few months! Haha. Today, I wanted to share some of the details about our little one!

Our Baby Story:
I have always wanted to be a mama. If you asked me in first grade what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would tell you I wanted to be a writer and a mama. I put that dream on hold while we were relying on my income to get through medical school. Our original “plan” was to get pregnant a little before we moved home from Chicago, so the baby would be born during Christopher’s easiest year of residency. Instead, I got diagnosed with a massive endometrioma and spent months worrying about whether I would ever be able to have a baby.

Thankfully, I ended up with the best-case scenario, and after a visit to my obstetrician in October, I was told Chris and I could start trying in January. Y’all, this last holiday season was tough. I remember sitting there at Christmas Eve candlelight service, my body filled with hormones, silently crying as I watched families celebrate the holiday together. I had so hoped we would be one of those families that year. I can’t say I know what going through infertility is like (and I am truly grateful for that), but I have a special place in my heart for those struggling with it. If you are reading this and struggle with infertility, know that I am praying and hoping for you.

I started out January with a lot of hope. I even made it my word of the year. I didn’t say it at the time, but that was mostly because of our hope to have a baby. When it came time, Chris and I gave it all to God, praying Lord, if it is your will, please give us a child. We went into it with low expectations, thinking it would be a long road ahead. Because of my situation, my OB had only given us three months of trying naturally before she wanted us to come in and discuss options. Friends, it didn’t even take a full cycle. I kept seeing what I thought were signs of pregnancy, but I didn’t let myself believe it, because how is it possible I could get pregnant on our first time of ever trying? On February 17, I finally took a test, and that second line showed up within seconds. It’s hard to describe that feeling of overwhelming joy I felt. I sat down on the floor and cried and prayed for an hour. God is so good. So, so good.

I share this because it has become a big part of Christopher’s and my testimony. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

The day we found out I was pregnant. So much joy! 

PS-I’ll share later about how I told Chris and our parents. It’s been an amazing few months!

How far along are you? When are you due?
I’m 16 weeks! I’ll be 17 weeks on Friday. I’m due on October 27. October is my favorite month of the year (and Chris’s too!), so it’s really special to me that it’s when I’m due. My dad actually turns 50 on November 3, though, so he’s hoping I hold out one more week! Haha.

Are you finding out the gender? Do you have a guess?
We are! We decided not to do an elective ultrasound, so we are finding out at our 20-week ultrasound on June 9. We might do a small gender reveal with friends and family, but there is a lot going on during that time, so we haven’t decided yet. I don’t really care what we’re having as long as it’s healthy, but I currently think we are having a boy because Chris and I are 100 percent sure on a girl name and are having trouble with a boy name. Haha!

Are you showing?
I have always been pretty small, but I lost even more weight after surgery. Right before I got pregnant, I was just under 100 pounds. I only say this because I don’t really expect to be showing for a while. At my latest appointment, I was told I probably won’t be obviously pregnant until I’m about 26 weeks. I can definitely tell a difference, though!

How have you been feeling?
I’m not going to sugarcoat it. My first trimester was extremely rough. I basically spent most of my time from six weeks to 15 weeks being a hermit because I was so sick. (Remember that time I launched a new Instagram hashtag all about going outside and seeking adventure (#seekadventuredaily) and then could barely walk my dog? Life is funny). I was really worried because I wasn’t keeping any food in my body, but she told me it was fine as long as I stayed hydrated. My big bummer was that I was hoping I would get some relief at my 10-week appointment, but my doctor said there have been some studies that show the possibility of negative effects from Zofran on the baby, so she didn’t want to prescribe it to me. She prescribed me another medication, but my mother-in-law (who is a pharmacist) wasn’t keen on me taking it, so I basically tried to push through.

Remember how I was super stressed about moving? The biggest reason was because I was 14 weeks pregnant and still feeling super awful. I could barely function, so when I said my in-laws were rock stars during our move, I really meant it. I wasn’t much help, so they worked super hard to help our move go smoothly.

After the nausea and vomiting calmed down, I ended up having constant migraines for days at a time (apparently a common symptom during this stage in pregnancy)…which also caused nausea and vomiting. Saturday was my last really bad day though, so I’m hoping things are getting better.

I did find out a few days ago that pregnancy has caused me to have hypothyroidism. Thankfully, it’s not too bad, and I’m on medication for it and will be seeing an endocrinologist to monitor it, so hopefully everything will be OK.

Honestly, even though it’s been rough, I’ve been so thankful for this baby that it hasn’t bothered me all that much. Last year I had a lot of difficult symptoms for a completely different reason, so it feels like such an incredible blessing to have symptoms for a good reason this year!

Five weeks pregnant in Colorado! 

Have you had any cravings?
I’ve mentioned it a few times on the blog without saying why, but I am so obsessed with eating fresh berries right now. I also have been desperately wanting peaches, but they aren’t in season yet. So far, I’ve been satisfying this craving with Simply Peach juice, but I seriously can’t wait to eat a fresh peach.

Will you be doing weekly updates?
As much as I like reading other’s bump dates, showing weekly updates of my belly and sharing about my weight is just not my style. Instead, I’m planning on stealing my friend Chelsea’s idea and sharing things I want to remember each week. Pregnancy is such a special time, and I don’t want to forget the little moments!

You post a lot about travel. Will your blog change?
Yes and no. I still have about a million travel posts to write (I need to finish our California Road Trip, Lake Michigan Circle Tour, a bunch of Chicago posts, our Smoky Mountains road trip, and our Colorado road trip, just to name a few). That said, my blog has always been about my life, so obviously, there will be pregnancy posts and posts about our little one once he/she is born. We also hope to travel with the baby a bit, but Chris has such a crazy schedule next year that I don’t think we would have traveled much even if we didn’t have a baby.

Phew! This might be the longest post I’ve ever written, so I’m going to stop here for now. Thank you so much for sharing in our joy, friends, and I am so excited to share the rest of this journey with y’all!