It was the end of the summer in 2019 and my husband and I had finally scheduled and planned our trip to Hawaii. We had been talking about visiting since 2011, but had never made it happen. The time was now, we were scheduled to take off in mid-September.
Just before we left for our vacation, I had my 30th birthday and we celebrated at a local park with friends and family. It was a blast, but I was just not feeling quite like myself. My cycle was a bit late, but that is fairly normal for me and I was extra stressed from my job and recent travel for work. Plus, we had just started our journey to conceive, so being pregnant didn't even cross my mind...at first...
Like the planner that I am, I decided to take a pregnancy test on the morning of my birthday, just to see before flying off to Hawaii. Boy was I surprised! So much so, that I didn't really believe it. It didn't really sink in until after our trip when I had my first ultrasound. Check out the full story on my YouTube channel.
It was official, I was pregnant!
We were so excited, but also nervous because of how new and fast this happened. To be fair, it was all in the plan we just didn't think it would be so quick. I know there are a lot of women who struggle to conceive and I can imagine how frustrating it could be. Since this pregnancy came on so quickly, I had a different reaction...fear. I was scared that I would miscarry, so with each passing week and each time we heard the heartbeat, I became a little less concerned.
By the time I had reached 12 weeks, we decided it was time to tell our parents. We told them each in person and presented them with the ultrasound, a onesie and a little poem called The Grandparent Starter Kit. Considering our baby is the first grandchild on both side of the family, to say they were elated would be an understatement.
The weeks continued to pass and my worry eased, but continued. Each doctor's visit was great, yet I couldn't shake the underlying fear that something could go wrong at any point. The first trimester tiredness and nausea finally subsided a couple weeks into the second trimester and my belly finally started to grow at around 20-22 weeks. I used belly butter every day to reduce the itching of by growing belly and loved every ultrasound because we could see our little girl. All signs continued to point to a healthy growing baby.
More info on my second trimester and failing my glucose tolerance test on YouTube!
As I continued to progress, she continued to grow and kick with more vigor every day. My the time I had just a couple months left of pregnancy, COVID-19 came to town. My husband and I were lucky enough to be able to work from home, starting March 13 but due to the mandatory lock down, we could no longer see our friends and family in person. This led to a series of video chats and virtual games just to break up the monotony of the days.
Our baby family baby shower was cancelled (luckily the yoga studio I teach at held one for us about a month before the lock down!) so our dear friends and family dropped off their gifts to our parents or mailed them directly to us. It was sure a strange experience, but we were so grateful for their generosity and love. We got baby girl's room set up well before her due date and enjoyed reading some of the books to her (in my belly) at night.
As I am writing this, I am about five days from her due date and we are both still doing very well and are healthy. The doctor even told me that I am having a textbook pregnancy! We are so excited to meet our little girl and begin this journey as parents!
By the way, if you have made it this far, thank you!! I hope you take a moment to leave a comment to let me know if you have children or if you are just beginning your journey to parenthood.
Comments