My Pregnancy Journey So Far

I have so much to catch you up on! Or maybe I should say catch my blog up on because I'm not too sure how many of you will be interested in following my pregnancy journey, but I can hope and pray most of you will! First, I have to start this off by giving a quick, but sincere thank you to everyone for your comments yesterday and all the comments on my instagram. I feel so fortunate to not only have my close friends and family, but all of you who make this whole experience so much better. I feel like I've "known" so many of you these past few years, and it's seriously wonderful to learn about pregnancy/motherhood and have a support group, of sorts, here through my blog. Thank you.

OK, as you might have guessed I have been itching for the past three months to share about my pregnancy and finally, it's here. Just let me have a moment here....I'm having a BABY! Holy cow. Yup, it's definitely real now since it's on the blog. Today, I just wanted to catch you all up on what's been going on (behind the scenes) these past couple months....

Billy and I have always known we wanted kids, but it was never something we felt rushed to do. We didn't care about our age, when our friends decided to start trying, how many years we had been married, anything like that. Our number one goal was just to be on the same page together and begin the journey when we both felt ready. It was that simple and it was a decision we made, as a couple, without any outside factors determining our decision. We are definitely planners and wanted to be in a great place financially and personally before deciding to bring a little peanut into our world. Besides, we have had some of the most fun times/memories these past few years without little ones. We also wanted to get a lot of traveling in before, and definitely accomplished that (and plan to continue it!). We just knew the time was right for us (if you would've asked me this last summer-I would've told you I wasn't ready. It is just one of those things that you know when you know) and I couldn't be happier with the timing and how it has all come together!

How have I felt?

In short, my pregnancy has been nothing short of amazing. I'm enjoying being pregnant so much. I have actually felt much like my normal self for the past 12 weeks...zero morning sickness, energy levels have been the same, only a couple days with sore ta-ta's, minimal headaches, and I've been able to keep up with my workouts (I've just adjusted them slightly-like running slower and taking breaks often.) It's safe to say I feel so thankful about this and trust me when I say this isn't me bragging about it because there have definitely been days that I've cried my eyes out to Billy because I want to feel more. have more symptoms. and been worried that something might be wrong because I didn't realize it was possible to actually feel good during the first trimester.

Billy and my doctor (who I absolutely love!) always manage to make me feel better about this quickly afterwards (and laugh at my expense), but it has happened. Obviously I know everyone's pregnancy is different, but I just have to say that it IS possible to feel good, girls! I've attributed this to two things: one. I started taking prenatal vitamins a couple months before we started trying and I think that helped my body adjust, and two. already being in good shape and good health. If you're thinking about starting a family soon, I recommend doing these two things...I'm not saying healthy people can't get morning sickness or it doesn't happen, just that these things can only benefit you in the long run! (again, I will say it once more-this is my personal experience on what has helped me..everyone has a different pregnancy!)

 

{a sweet momma-to-be package from Steph}

What do I think I'm having and will we find out the gender?

Honestly, I go back and forth everyday. Some days I swear it's a girl, other days I think "well, it just HAS to be a boy because I've felt this good. Surely a girl (with my genes no less) would give me more trouble, right?!" As for our family and friends, everyone (minus my best friend Lindsay, Angela, and friend Cara) think it's a BOY. Some of our family members (looking at you Kev!) have even gone as far to give nicknames for the little babe, ha. Billy thinks boy as well!

And YES! Absolutely YES we will be finding out the gender. We do have the option of getting it done early at 14 weeks, and as of right now this is our plan (which means it could be just another 3 weeks before we find out! Ahh!). Absolutely, how could I pass that up?! Patience is NOT my thing...I wanted to know like yesterday.

**Probably my favorite moment so far: I actually had a very vivid dream during week 9 with my Mom in it. We were having a little gender reveal party and she was there with us for it (and in my dream-the baby reveal was a girl.) I woke up slightly in shock and turned to Billy and told him about it. I honestly took it as a sign from her and God that she IS in fact with me every step of this pregnancy and I really pray I have many more dreams with her in them.

And now, I'm crying (have I mentioned I have been overly emotional? Because I definitely can cry at the drop of a hat now.)

Any weird cravings?

Remember how I've been a vegetarian for the past 3+ years? Right after I peed on those pregnancy sticks (four to be exact), I've been craving meat. Funny how that works, isn't it? I never thought that I would and sure enough it's happened. I decided from the beginning that I would eat meat when my body felt like it, but on the days it didn't I would continue on with my vegetarian lifestyle and that's exactly what I've done. I haven't been eating meat daily by any means, but maybe once or twice a week. I am still getting enough protein by eating lots of eggs, beans, and quinoa!

I'm also craving any and all fruit (pineapple, grapes, and watermelon the most), fruit smoothies, and carbs like they are going out of stock at the grocery store (specifically soft pretzels and bagels). I cannot get enough fruit and carbs...gimme.gimme.gimme. That's about it though-I've had zero salty cravings and no aversions so far!

Funny story: One night we went grocery shopping but sure enough nothing in our cart I felt like eating for dinner. I was starving but wanted something else, so Billy drove me all around our suburb looking for places to jump out at me that sounded good. I finally landed on IHOP (out of all places!) but then when we showed up I realized there wasn't a drive-thru, so I wasn't interested. What was I thinking?! We ended up getting me a blueberry bagel from Tim Horton's and I'm pretty sure that bagel was the best bagel I've ever had in my life. Talk about RANDOM as heck! Billy was laughing hysterically...(and thought I was borderline insane)

How have the ultrasounds gone and what is baby K's heartbeat?

As you can expect, the ultrasounds are even better than you'd ever imagine in your wildest dreams. We have had two so far and seeing baby K wiggle and move inside my body is basically the coolest and craziest thing ever. After our first ultrasound, we found out from my blood work that my thyroid levels were too low, so the doctor requested that I take medicine once a day and then re-check my levels again in a month. At first I was really worried because I have never had a thyroid problem in my life up until now, but my doctor reassured me it's common to develop with a pregnancy and is easily treated. Our ultrasound technicians have been so sweet and when pointing out baby K's body parts during our 2nd ultrasound we got a really good glimpse of his/hers nose and I immediately saw (what I thought) was MY nose. We will see if this ends up true, but I was pretty excited over it, ha! I also, of course, love that Billy is there with me at each appointment and is into it just as much as I am.

Oh, and hearing the heartbeat just makes our heart explode into a million pieces. Baby K's heartbeat was 161 at our first ultrasound (at 7 weeks) and was 150 at our second ultrasound (at 10 weeks).

Will I be doing weekly updates?

I will be posting some sort of update every week for sure (definitely not everyday-just bare with me the next few posts so I can get caught up!), and I love the "journal" type updates that everyone does so that I can track everything, but I'm not so sure I will be doing photos (at least the ones that look really good) weekly with them! To be honest, I hate having my picture taken and I'm lazy when it comes to it. We will see what I can come up with but yes, I'm really excited to post updates throughout this process! I also want to make sure I include as much info as possible (for those who might be pregnant in the future-I know I loved bookmarking thing/baby must haves before we found out!), but I will say as of right now my shopping the past few months has been pretty non-existent. For both me and baby. We've bought a couple cute things for baby, but that's about it.

Has Billy been the most supportive and loving husband ever during this time?

Of course I had to throw in a special shout out to my other half in this journey. Billy is a true champ. He has been so supportive, loving, and patient. Even if he is super busy at work, he manages to make it to our appointments and it means so much to have him by my side. At the beginning, he loved calling baby K by the size of the fruit it was that week ("how's our baby raspberry doing today?", and I melt when he rubs my belly and says good morning to baby. His sense of humor and commentary at our doctors appointments always wash away any worries I have and I know he is going to be the best Daddy in the world.

 

{Billy got me this journal for my first Mother's day, and also apparently attempted to make a baby face out of strawberries and raspberries...can't stop laughing at this #nerd}

Phew, props to those who made it this far! I hope I didn't bore you all to death.

Coming up tomorrow might be my favorite post of all-how we found out and how we told our friends and families. I have some pretty priceless stories and some videos! Can you tell I'm excited about all this? Let me have my moment(s)... :)