Happy “Due” Date

Well, we have been talking about March 1st since June 24, the evening I found out I was pregnant. We’ve been prepping and planning for this date. Lately I’ve been working more than 40 hours each week to help prepare my teammates, I have worked to stay ahead on homework assignments, and of course have been organizing and making room for all of the baby stuff in our home. Everyone tells you the likelihood of your first baby being late is high; however, there is so much focus on “when are you due” that it is hard to wrap your head around going past that date.

Luckily I’ve had a pretty decent pregnancy. I don’t think I am overly uncomfortable, just as comfortable as one can be with a full-term baby still cooking away inside. I am still working and walking on the treadmill but have found that with every move, especially if any core engagement is involved, I am a lot more vocal. Sorry to those around me, it is probably annoying to hear me grunt so often.

But overall, I am thankful that my blood pressure thus far has stayed in a normal range, my canckles and overall swelling appear to be of no concern, and the baby still moves around plenty and jams herself into my ribs if she feels the need for a real good stretch. Each uncomfortable movement is a reminder that she is doing well in there.

I don’t want this post to be a woe is me since tomorrow I will officially be “overdue” (although, I know with each date they provide it is simply a guess and a benchmark) so I thought I’d share some of my favorite things that have helped me enjoy the final trimester of my pregnancy.

1. Our Treadmill – Since a Minnesota winter typically involves plenty of cold air and ice-covered walkways, all of my walking has taken place inside. Luckily we have a treadmill so it hasn’t been too hard to still get a walk in 3-5 days per week. Not only has this helped with my energy, but it has also helped me somewhat manage my pregnancy weight gain. Hate treadmills? Plug in a Friends DVD and the time flies!

2. Tums – Lets be real. If you know me at all you know that you can count of me to have some Tums nearby. However, since going gluten-free I have relied on them less and less each day. That was until I learned about pregnancy heartburn. Pregnancy heartburn is not like normal heartburn. It can sneak up on you without notice or cause and travel all the way up your esophagus in about .5 seconds. It is actually kind of impressive. For me Tums have been enough to manage it. Thank goodness.

3. Friends and Family – We have been showered with a lot of love over the past three months. Lots of gifts, well wishes and support from all of those around us who already love Baby B. We can’t wait to introduce her to everyone.

4. Starbucks – I know, I know. Probably not the best source of nutrients for growing a human but sometimes a girl just needs to start her day with a decaf latte. Especially if it gives her the kick in the rear that is needed to focus through a working day and homework at night. So Starbucks, thank you for existing.

5. Prenatal Yoga – Justin signed me up for a 5-week prenatal yoga series as part of my Christmas present. Unfortunately it ended two weeks ago but showing up every Sunday was the best thing I could have done for myself during my pregnancy. I only wish I would have started sooner instead of waiting until the final stretch. Ps. Yoga is hard in general. Yoga while pregnant is even harder. Ufdah.

And without being too mushy, I have to mention that without my husband none of this would have been possible. Haha, obviously. But he has been patient and supportive and has even helped me with my compression socks a time or two. And why those aren’t on my top 5 list is beyond me. They are my favorite things ever right now, right behind the husband. 🙂

With all that said, I am going to throw on my compression socks and hit the treadmill. Until my next post, I will leave you with this picture from this morning because I think it is funny.

My feet are still down there.

Certified to Parent

Yesterday Justin and I spent all day in the classroom. The teacher shared a story with us about her almost eight year old daughter and trying to explain the test you take in order to receive your driver’s license. The little girl was intrigued and then wanted to know what type of test her Mom’s students have to take at the end of her class. Well, her Mom teaches prenatal parenting classes, and crazy enough, there is no test at the end.

We attended an express, all-in-one day, preparing for childbirth class. We took the class through Amma Parenting and had a great registered nurse, Meggin, as our instructor. Amma was recommended by our provider and they also contract with the hospital we plan to deliver at. After looking at their course offerings and realizing we really don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to more classes since I am still in grad school and Justin is wrapping up his thesis we decided to do the all-in-one.

The all-in-one is more high level, touches on a lot of things, but doesn’t go into great detail about everything. I found this to be just fine for what we were looking for, and Justin was happy with it as well. The first half focused on labor and delivery and the second half was about nursing and newborn care. The only thing I question now is whether or not we should look into a labor and delivery class that teaches more coping mechanisms since after watching the labor and deliver video I was like, “Hells no.” And if I am being honest, the video wasn’t even that bad and was only 12 minutes long so I probably need to buck up here pretty quick.

I thought our instructor did a great job keeping things light and exciting as I am sure most couples looked confused and terrified at different times during the class. She also did not push any opinions or objectives on us. She did share personal stories from her births when asked and what she has seen as a long time labor and delivery nurse but always stressed that there is a pattern to labor but not one is the same.

I know Justin said he is feeling a lot more confident especially now that he has some ideas of what he can do to support me through labor and learned more about new-born care. I am not so sure my confidence is any higher yet but I am more informed about what we have gotten ourselves into. Haha. Just kidding. Sort of.

Proof that we are certified to parent!

I also thought I’d take this opportunity to briefly share some other resources we have taken advantage of throughout the pregnancy as well.

Bump Club and Beyond – Twin Cities
Justin and I have attended two paid Bump Club events together and I have attended one free one by myself. The paid ones can be expensive depending on what type of tickets you buy. For instance, the first one we attended, Gearapalooza, cost $130 total for us both to attend. Our ticket included a Beco Carrier retailing about $130 and a swag bag worth $150. I also won a Baby K’Tan which retails about $50. The second one we attended was for expectant parents that was a dinner and presentation all about sleep! Such an important topic. We paid about $160 total for us both to attend. Our tickets included a Motorola Video Monitor retailing about $200, another swag bag, and I ended up winning a Skip Hop Duo Baby Bag retailing about $60. The information was awesome as well!

The free ones are about an hour-long, held at a Target in Minnetonka and also offer great information. I went to a car seat basics one and learned more about car seat safety…which is always important since I think about 80% of people are using them incorrectly! I didn’t win anything but they do offer 10% off in baby for that night so it is well worth the trip for the education and the discount.

This is almost all Bump Club swag.

Everything that is included in the gift bags is legit, useful stuff too. It isn’t just a bag full of samples and brochures. Totally worth it in my opinion!

Sacred Pregnancy Retreat
I also attended a Sacred Pregnancy Retreat in November hosted by Moon River Wellness. I didn’t learn about how to care for a baby or survive childbirth, but it was an awesome opportunity to connect with myself & baby, as well as other pregnant mamas. It was a day retreat with three other woman, and we did multiple activities and rituals to help us connect and understand that being pregnant can and should be a sacred journey. I really enjoyed it and left feeling a little less anxious about the process. I still think about it today now that I am in my final trimester, and when fear starts to creep in I light the candle we made and spray the essential oils we mixed and just reconnect with myself. I would highly recommend you look into this if/when you are pregnant…and it is not just for first time Moms!

I’d love to hear if you found any resources particularly helpful during your pregnancy. Comment below!

Operation Don’t Ruin The Nursery

I’ve often heard that parents want their children to have the best, and many will do whatever it takes, within reason, to make sure that happens. There were many times this weekend I stopped and thought, “Hmm, that must come after the baby is born, because if I really wanted Baby B to have the best I would have hired someone to do this.” In all seriousness, this weekend was a major nursery weekend. Since Justin was out-of-town deer hunting I decided to enlist the help of my parents and gets some stuff done.

I had originally set a goal to have the spare bedroom, which was to become the nursery, all cleaned out by our 20 week ultrasound. I missed that goal by weeks, but had the motivation to finish it before we had our carpets cleaned last weekend. This is what it looked liked before.

Catch-all Room

 

I seriously went through about 15 years worth of stuff and donated about 10 bags full of clothes from my late teens and early twenties. Whoa, I wore a ton of halter tops.

I’ve been scouring Pinterest to find ideas for our nursery and came across a project I wanted to attempt that required me painting something on a wall. I am not all that creative or artistic so I went in to this project with the wall paint re-shook just in case it turned out to be a disaster. My parents came over to assist with moving furniture, painting it and hanging up shelving. Selby also tried to help but wasn’t very effective.

The Happy Helpers.

We decided to use my old bedroom set for the nursery furniture to not only save money, but I have had the set since I was a kid, and it was my Mom’s grandmothers so it has been around a long time and was still in fairly good condition. We sanded it, repainted it white and then I repainted the trim. When I was growing up the trim was pink. Since pink has always been a favorite color of mine, but I figure we will be gifted lots of it, I decided to accent Baby B’s room with purple.

Before & After

Before & After.

We painted a tall dresser, a desk and a nightstand. The trim was absolutely dreadful to do and will require some touching up. For now, don’t get too close or you will see I do not have a future in furniture painting. The desk will be turned into a changing table once we get all the needed accessories for it, but we should have plenty of storage for diapers, wipes, and all the other necessary baby changing items.

And now you are probably wondering how my Pinterest project turned out. Well, I have to be honest, I am super excited and happy with how it turned out. And if I am being really honest, I am pretty proud of myself!!! 🙂

Pinterest Photo…Not Mine.

My Finished Product!

The Pinterest one looks way more professional and more like a tree than mine does but that is ok. It is better Baby B learn now that her mother isn’t perfect. 😉 Overall, I’d still say I nailed it.

It has been a labor of love this weekend trying to get the nursery started and I am definitely feeling it today. Getting out of bed required a lot of limping as my lower back feels like it fused together. Oy! Where did my core strength go? So on that note, I am relaxing for the rest of the night with some laundry and plan to do some stretching before bed. This Mama is exhausted!

 

 

 

Favorite Things – Pregnancy Edition

Things have been busy since our 20 week ultrasound! I immediately felt like it was go time since we are over halfway until baby time! If you follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, you already know that we are having a GIRL!

 

From my previous post, you know Justin thought it was girl, while I was leaning towards boy. I had a name picked out and a nursery theme ready to go for a baby boy so that figures! Although we don’t have a name for our little girl yet or a definite nursery theme, there are some things I am for sure loving during my pregnancy so I thought I’d share. Drum roll please…

1. Green Tea Pomegranate – This baby is not 100% caffeine free. With that said, I’ve always been sensitive to caffeine so I typically have just one cup of this green tea in the morning (unless I am cashing in my once a week treat for a decaf latte). It helps get me going and clear the fog of baby brain, a little. I also think it tastes amazing and sometimes green teas taste like earth.

2. Coconut Oil – Did you know you could use this stuff for just about everything? There are many items on the market for belly balm, body lotion, stretch mark reducers and erasers, etc. This stuff works just as well, is natural and is not nearly as oily as it sounds. I am loving it! I won’t claim it reduces stretch marks either. I am pretty sure that all depends on your genetic makeup, not the type of expensive cream you might be lathering on, but it helps with the itchiness of dry and stretched skin.

3. Leggings – I actually never wore leggings prior to pregnancy, but I am now obsessed. Maternity pants just don’t always fit right or want to stay up if your belly isn’t quite big enough yet. Leggings, however, seem to do the trick and are cute with a long tunic style shirt or sweater. Not to mention they are totally comfy. 

4. Taking Walks – This is obviously an activity versus an item, but it is something that I have really tried to keep up with. Working out was not super appealing the first trimester due to exhaustion, and I think I am overly cautious about my movements now so I don’t accidentally overdo it. Walking has been a great way to get me exercise, get Selby out of the house, and an opportunity to catch up and connect with Justin. Hopefully the weather continues to be somewhat pleasant so we can stay outdoors as long as possible.

5. Cheese – Last, but certainly not least, I am loving cheese. Mini Babybels have been a preferred snack choice of mine, and I don’t see that ending any time soon. I try to limit the total quantity of cheese consumed within a day for various reasons, but I typically have my cheese snack by 9am. I even paired it with a decaf latte the other morning. Kind of strange, but how can two great things together be something bad? Hopefully my current love for cheese is helping Baby Bradshaw build some strong bones.

Do you have any favorites that you want to share that you have experienced or seen others love during pregnancy?

Any guesses?

This is the week Justin and I have our 20 week ultrasound. First, are we for real halfway there? And second, I really hope the kid cooperates and shows us their goods, but of course what I am really hoping for is a child who checks out as healthy as can be! I definitely have some anxiety going in to this appointment instead of all excitement. What else is new though?

With that said, are you leaning one way? Here are some things to help make your guess a little more educated.

1. Justin thinks it is a girl. I think boy.
2. I have no idea if I am carrying high or low because the belly isn’t that big yet and frankly I don’t entirely know what that means, but I feel like I am carrying a little more out than expanding horizontally (or is that just wishful thinking?). I think that means boy.
3. My skin has not gotten worse, except right now it ain’t so good, so that could mean boy.
4. The baby’s heartbeat has always been 160+ so that means girl.
5. Per the Chinese birth calendar, it is a girl!

 

 

 

Maternity Clothes

In my last post I confessed a slight fear of maternity clothes. More specifically, maternity pants. After posting a link to my blog I had several moms and moms-to-be attempting to reassure me that maternity pants are indeed a wonderful, wonderful thing. I’ve heard this from most everyone who currently is or has been pregnant before. I mean, why prolong the inevitable when you are SUPER uncomfortable?

Luckily for me the maternity pants that I ordered from the GAP arrived earlier than expected which made me feel even happier about paying the lowest shipping rate possible. When I got home last night I immediately ripped open the package and held them up to show my husband. I think I exclaimed, “Look at these weird things, honey!”

This morning I chose to venture out of the house in my first ever pair of maternity pants. And let the record show I still believe maternity pants are freaking weird! When I went to slip them on I immediately looked for a button, a zipper, a snap…a anything! But there was nothing to be found. You literally slip them right on just like the pants you put on your baby, toddler or perhaps your grandparent. I hosted them up, way over my belly and thought, “Are you supposed to wear belts with maternity pants?” Nope, no belt loops either!

I ordered one size up despite the advice received from a fellow pregnant person so they are a bit big. However, I figured I am not done growing, and one of us will more than likely end up shrinking them in the laundry anyway. They are also quite long so I think I see some hemming in my near future.

GAP Maternity Full Panel Modern Boot, 18 Weeks

Puppy Photo Bomb.

I also ordered the GAP Maternity, 1969 Full Panel Sexy Boot Jeans. I don’t have a picture of them on yet, but I will add one this weekend when I am out and about feeling sexy and pregnant in them. In all honesty though, they fit well, and I think I will be very happy to have them.

I think I will be ordering one more pair of pants from GAP Maternity for work, and I have a few dresses to wear as well so hopefully I will be set on work clothes. I will also probably order a few more tops but luckily I have a wonderful sister-in-law who gave me a huge box of her maternity clothes. I still need to sort through them to see which ones will work and which ones won’t, but the tops don’t make me nearly as nervous as the full panel craziness.

If you have any must have suggestions for my maternity wardrobe feel free to share! My next quest will be for a better bra since mine are quite small and I currently have an underwire poking me.

18 Weeks and Counting!

It is hard to believe we are almost halfway there! In fact, it is kind of scary as well! I feel like there is a lot left to be done, and I just hope we are doing enough now so we aren’t incredibly overwhelmed the last few months of pregnancy. But, instead of dwelling over my lack of productivity, I will fill you in on some things I have found interesting about being pregnant.

Everyone cares way more about your wellbeing than they ever did before.
How are you feeling? This is definitely the most frequent question received to date. Sometimes it throws me off when it is asked and I have for a brief moment forgotten I am pregnant. Sometimes I respond with, “Gooood?” Like it is almost a question back. Why wouldn’t I be feeling good? Then I am reminded that they are inquiring about the pregnancy. People typically seem really genuine when asking which is nice.

Napping is the best thing in the world.
I’ve always been a pro-napper, but seriously, the exhaustion felt during pregnancy, especially the first trimester, is incredible. There were quite a few weeks that I would get home and have to lay down for at least 20-30 minutes if I expected to get anything done that evening.

I desperately need this shirt.

Simply rolling over could leave you breathless. 
Walking and talking? I am trying to focus on walking and breathing! Justin and I have tried to remain active by taking our dog on a 1.5-2 mile walk each night. Sounds simple right? Well, I have found that I become winded a lot quicker than usual. Today for instance I was hiking up a flight of stairs, carrying food (of course), talking to a coworker and chewing on a mint. No joke, I almost choked. The poor girl, who probably doesn’t know I am pregnant, was probably thinking, “You should probably consider less Thai takeout and more stairs.”

Eat, and eat often! 
I do find myself getting fuller quicker, but when hunger strikes I better be prepared otherwise I might get real hangry. The hunger is intense!

Drink, and drink often!
Unfortunately, I am referring to water here. There is a good chance I will be giving birth to a water baby because I drink water ALL day and still feel thirsty a lot of the time. That reminds me, I am outta water and I have to pee.

Maternity clothes are kind of scary.
When you realize that your pants are so uncomfortable that the only way you will survive your commute home is by unbuttoning them, then you know it is time for maternity clothes. When this happened to me I thought I’d first check out the selection at Target. Looking at the weird waistbands and the full panel of extra fabric had me realizing what was to come and I sort of panicked. So, leggings and tight pants it is for a little longer! I did order some online from the GAP (because online is less scary) and they are expected to arrive this week. I will let you know when they arrive.

Sexy? I will be the judge of that!

I could continue to go on, but it is after 9pm which means it is past my bedtime. Good night!

Baby On Board

Do you ever have those moments when driving where you look away for split second only to return your eyes to the road and realize everyone is at a dead stop in front of you? Usually you screech to a halt, say a few swear words, catch your breath, and vow to be a more present driver for the rest of your years on the road. Well, what happens if you are just a fraction of a second too late? Then you have a Thursday like I did!

Car accidents are never recommended, but they are especially frowned upon when there is a baby on board. That goes for kids in utero too. I will keep the story relatively short because let’s be honest, car accidents are no fun. Luckily in my case, all four of us involved are fine, but I am sure there were plenty of curse words sent towards the blonde chick who rear ended a guy who then rear ended another guy.

After the smashing occurred I quickly called Justin. Not knowing what exactly he was going to do, but I guess I kind of hoped he’d be like, “Omg, I happen to be behind you and can come rescue you from this horrible nightmare.” Turns out, he didn’t happen to be right there (go figure since he left two hours before I did) so I had to deal with everything head on…literally.

After apologizing to the man in front of me who I hit, and the man in front of him who he hit, I called the authorities and a nice State Trooper quickly joined us on the side of the road. Everyone asked, “What happened?” And I didn’t have an answer for them. How dumb. I can tell you for sure I was NOT looking at my phone. That was in my coat pocket so did I look at the radio, reach for a drink of water? I. Have. No. Idea.

One bright spot…one of the guys (car #1) was driven by a young 20 something who had better style than me by a long shot. While we were on the side of the road his friend past us and sent him a message, “You should get her number, she looks cute.” Thanks for helping the situation out random guy driving by!

Anyway, once I finally got to the parking ramp at work I called the doctor since I had to be sure Baby Bradshaw was fine and I didn’t dislodge them. (Anyone else have this fear while pregnant? I get nervous on bumpy roads too.) Anyway, they recommended I go to the ER. Say what?!!! After also phoning my insurance company, I kind of started freaking out and my emotions got the best of me. I made it into work, grabbed my computer and quickly retreated.

That brings us to Baby Bradshaw’s first trip to the ER and mine for that matter. They checked me in, checked the usuals like blood pressure and oxygen levels, and then checked for the heartbeat. At first she only found mine which made me a bit nervous, but luckily she quickly found a super rapid one…BABY’S!

Heartbeat…Check!

After that I waited to see the doctor who was a physician’s assistant about the same age as me and we have a mutual friend. Small world. She suggested we do an informal ultrasound just for fun, and I wasn’t going to turn that down! After a bit of trouble with the machine I was able to see the baby wiggling around and waving its arm. Still can’t feel the movement but just thinking about it swimming around in there is crazy. I saw the spinal cord too which actually made the baby appear to be more alien/lizard like that human, but it was a lovely looking spinal cord. No shots of genitalia so still an unknown gender. 😉

After that I ended up working from home for a few hours, brought my car to the shop to really assess the damage I had done, and then worked some more before finally napping. OY! Hope your day was better than mine, but we are all thankful me and baby are gonna be just fine! Wishing I could unwind with some wine, but I suppose a Tylenol and bed will have to do!

Trip Out West

I thought I’d spend a little more time this morning highlighting some of the other great aspects of our trip last week. In my previous post I shared our Bottle Feeding Experience at Yellowstone Bear World. It was awesome! That came early in our trip though and we spent three days in Montana afterward.

Our time spend in Idaho Falls was quick. We flew in to a fairly small airport, especially compared to MSP. The flight was just over two hours and was pretty easy. I was slightly nervous about flying, well, I am always nervous about flying, but this time around due to the fact that I still have a little nausea every now and then. It is very minor, but who wants that on an aeroplane? Not me!

Seriously, where is everyone?

Once we made it towards our hotel we decided to stop for lunch since it was about 11:30am and we were both pretty hungry. We stopped by a place called Snake Bite. They had amazing waffle fries (obviously! It is Idaho after all.) and I enjoyed shrimp tacos made with fresh corn tortillas. Yum. Justin started out vacation right with a flight of local beers. Lucky.

Snake Bite.

After lunch we strolled through a local farmers market and then went to check in at our hotel. We ended up using our points and stayed at Marriotts while on vacation so nothing too crazy to report there. We are always happy with Marriotts and know what to expect which is nice.

Before heading back for a quick nap before dinner we stopped by the Museum of Idaho. They were featuring, The Race to the End of the Earth exhibit. It was a nice exhibit and we learned about the first two groups to make it to the south pole, which has nothing to do with Idaho. 😉  We had dinner at a recommended spot, Jakers. They had a separate gluten-free menu which I was happy to see, and I had a massive baked Idaho potato and was happy as can be!

Before heading to Bear World the next morning, we stopped down to the falls that give Idaho Falls its name.

Really gloomy, but pretty falls.

First of many selfies.

Gimme all the potatoes.

Bear World is recapped here so after our eventful afternoon we drove to Bozeman. Unfortunately we did not stop for any pictures on the beautiful drive. Not even through Big Sky!!! That is our one regret, but both agreed we would be back and spend more time in Big Sky. The drive was amazing and took about 3.5 hours. We had dinner at Montana Ale Works. We shared a gluten-free spinach dip with tortilla chips, and I enjoyed some fish tacos and a pomegranate No’jioto! Our waitress also is also dating a guy from Afton, MN. I haven’t cracked open my yearbook to find him yet, but talk about a small world.

Cheers to Bozman!

Waking up and seeing mountains out the window is by far one of my most blissful ways to wake. For our first full day in Montana we decided to head to Livingston. It had a nice and quaint downtime with a beautiful view. It was labor day so perhaps that is why it seemed like it was also an empty town. We did some walking around though and then enjoyed lunch at Rib and Chop House. They were donating part of the proceeds that day to the Wounded Warrior Project and we couldn’t pass that up. They also offered us 25% off since Justin is in the military. How awesome! They also had a separate gluten-free menu. Wins all around.

Downtown Livingston.

Can’t get enough bear time.

Sacajawea Park.

Paradise Valley.

Before heading back to Bozeman we drove through Paradise Valley which is on your way to an entrance to Yellowstone National Park.  It was amazing. Once we returned to Bozeman we took a nap (such a great vacation theme) and went to the Museum of the Rockies.

Museum of the Rockies.

In an effort to wrap this post up before it gets way too long, I will end with our final full day in Montana. We decided to head into Gallatin National Forest and hike to the Palaside Falls. I researched it ahead of time and it was only about a half mile hike to the falls. Nice and easy for this newly pregnant lady.

Gallatin National Forest.

Palisade Falls.

We made friends with wildlife.

Top of the falls. 

Trees for miles and miles.

Hiking at that elevation while pregnant turned out to be slightly more difficult than I expected. It took me awhile to catch my breath, but it was a fairly easy pace and we brought plenty of water and snacks. Justin made a nice chipmunk friend and we really enjoyed the view. On our way back to Bozeman we stopped by a little river since we didn’t feel ready to leave the beauty of it all. While we were sitting there having a quick snack, Justin noticed some black animals coming out of the woods. His initial thought was black bears, but we were happy to see they were just friendly cows looking for a bite to eat.

Cows. Not bears. Phew.

Peaceful.

As we left the forest and received cell service again, I messaged my parents to let them know we’d be in a tent by the river and they should start driving out with Selby. We LOVED it there. The Gallatin National Forest was about 25 minutes outside of Bozeman and offered other hiking trails as well. It was gorgeous.

For the rest of the afternoon we toodled through the shops in downtown Bozeman. The rest of the evening was spent just relaxing and taking in the last few hours of our vacation. We got a lot of reading done (I finally finished Wild and LOVED it!), took plenty of naps, enjoyed the company of each other and of course, enjoyed the beauty that is Montana. We are already talking about when we will go back and what we will do.

Whoa Baby!

Most of you probably saw via Instagram or Facebook, but I recently announced that Justin and I are expecting our first child. It has been a pretty surreal experience thus far, and uttering the words, “I’m having a baby!” still seems a little awkward.

I found out I was pregnant towards the end of June while Justin was at annual training (for Army) in Kansas. I found out the Tuesday before he arrived home on Friday. I decided to wait to tell him until we were face-to-face so the secret stayed with just me…and Selby. I took about seven pregnancy tests throughout the next couple of days leading up to him coming home just to be sure. I also found myself checking back on the tests to see if they still said positive, just in case they did anything tricky and change a few minutes, hours or days later. Turns out, they don’t.

When Justin got home I picked him up from a local armory and we went out for pizza. Justin loves pizza. Once I parked the car I gave him a card and he assumed it was a nice welcome home gesture. Which, I suppose it kind of was. On the front of the card were different monkeys swinging in trees and it said, “Have you been monkeying around lately?” The answer was pretty obvious.

We both got a little emotional, he was a little shocked, but ultimately super excited. Right off the bat I think he wanted to tell everyone we encountered. He was 100% excited. Meanwhile, sleepy me watching him have a glass of wine was about 60% terrified and 40% excited. I quickly explained to him the reasons for waiting to tell people and we both agreed we’d wait until after our first appointment.

Justin told a coworker three days later.

His two bosses were a couple of weeks after that, and basically every day I’d ask him, “Who did you tell?” He actually did pretty good, but he is a horrible liar, which I guess I can’t totally fault him for. It did seem weird to lie to people for quite a few weeks or refrain from sharing our joy. It is definitely a lot more exciting when people actually know. I am thankful we had an appointment at 10 weeks and told our families right after that.

I will also post about how we told our family and friends in the next few days. For now, it is almost my bedtime. Just kidding, I took a long nap today so I am good for a few more hours. 😉