Pregnancy Q&A

When is your due date?

February 12, 2021! We might be getting a little baby for Valentines Day!

How did you find out you were pregnant?

Having been trying for awhile, I got soooo nervous every month. This particular month I was especially nervous – to the point of not sleeping because I didn’t want to wake up to the disappointment of my period. I was due on a Friday and when I woke up with nothing, I tried not to get too excited and told myself it was probably coming later in the day or in the next few days. Well Saturday and Sunday went by and still nothing. On Sunday, I had started to have this feeling that I might actually be pregnant. My boobs felt really heavy but once again, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Walt and I had agreed we weren’t taking a test until I was a week late. Well the next day I actually had to go into the office to pack up my space since my office was moving. Once I got home I told Walt I didn’t think I could wait till Friday and he agreed. I went upstairs to take a pregnancy test and after a few minutes I sent Walt in to see what it said. His reaction was not at all what I expected as he just looked at me and said “Does it normally say that?” I then looked at the test to see the words PREGNANT and responded “well if you’re pregnant it does!” I think we were both just in shock and I’m pretty sure we high-fived and said “we did it!”

Any symptoms that made you think you were pregnant?

I didn’t really have any symptoms other than my period was late but with my irregular cycles I wasn’t trying to get my hopes up. I will say I felt very out of it the first week I was technically “pregnant” but didn’t know it yet. Walt and I were working out that week and I just kept saying how I wasn’t into it. Oh and my boobs felt heavy, if that makes sense. LOL

Were you trying and if so for how long?

We had decided to start trying in August 2019, thinking it would happen very quickly…. however that was not the case. I’ve always had irregular cycles before going on birth control so I should’ve known going off birth control they wouldn’t magically be “regular.” This was very confusing and made tracking things very difficult as sometimes I would go a month and a half before getting a period or even longer. We know we are very lucky to have conceived naturally and in a relatively short period of time and our hearts go out to those struggling – don’t lose hope!

Were you tracking your cycle?

As I mentioned above, yes I was attempting to track my cycles as best as possible due to them being irregular. I used several apps: Premom, Glow, and Clue. I also used both the PREGMATE test strips and the ClearBlue digital ovulations tests. The PREGMATE ones are very cheap, so I used those to test every day near my cycle and then I used the ClearBlue ones to confirm if I thought I had a positive on the PREGMATE ones. I still remember the first time we got a positive smiley face on an ovulation test – I think I had more of a reaction to that than seeing pregnant!

Have you had any morning sickness? Any cravings or food aversions?

YES, YES & YES! I remember the first few weeks after finding out I was pregnant thinking this is so easy, and I’m gonna be one of the lucky ones with no morning sickness – boy was I wrong!! While I will still say I’m lucky to not be getting sick every day, the “morning” sickness (aka all day nausea) hit me hard around week 5-6. All I was able to eat the first trimester was carbs! I would get so nauseous all of a sudden and be like “I need a pancake now!” I haven’t had one set craving, but I definitely crave certain foods at different times and then the next day, I’ll think that same food is gross. My biggest food aversion has been anything BBQ especially BBQ sauce. There was a spicy BBQ sauce I was obsessed with before getting pregnant, and I can’t stand the smell of it now!

What worked for morning sickness?

Honestly eating every two hours is the best thing that worked for me. Also eating 3-4 saltine crackers before even getting out of bed every morning seemed to help calm my stomach. Sour things are supposed to help so I would suck on lemons or eat Sour Patch Kids. I did buy Preggie Pops and they seemed to help, until I got sick one day after just eating one… then they became gross to me. I tried wearing the sea bands and I can’t say one way or another if they worked, but worth a try. The only real issue I’m still dealing with are my migraines and getting sick when I have them.

Which prenatal vitamins are you taking?

I’ve tried several different brands of prenatal vitamins and finally think I’ve found one that doesn’t make me sick and I can take relatively easily. I was first taking Nature Made Prenatals but they were giving me stomach issues every morning so I switched to Ritual Prenatals after hearing so many good things about them. While they are smaller in size, you need to take two a day and as someone who is terrible at taking pills, taking two was not ideal. They also have a lemon scent/taste and it really grossed me out. I am now taking One A Day Prenatals and finally think I’ve found a winner. They are still big pills, but they have no taste/smell and they don’t upset my stomach.

Are you going to find out the gender?

Yes!! In case you missed it, we are having a boy! We decided to have the MaterniT21 test done at 11 weeks which checks for genetic issues as well as the gender. Everything came back normal and we found out a few weeks ago at a small gender reveal party.

How has pregnancy during COVID been?

The only thing that’s bothersome is that Walt can’t come to any of my appointments with me. So he hasn’t been able to see the baby or hear the heartbeat in person. We are hoping the doctor’s office policy changes soon but you just never know.

How many children do you want?

This depends on if you’re asking Walt or I. LOL Walt wants two and I want four, or a colony of kids as I call it. I love big families and want our kids to grow up with one, so I say four. Although, I guess we will see how I feel after the first one!