first trimester thoughts & a very disney daddy reveal
So... I'm a little late on this blog post (week 18 over here), but I've been wanting to write a little summary of my first trimester, along with the story of how we found out we were pregnant... and how I shared the news with Jordan! So I'm skipping the long intro (I have a feeling this post is going to be a long one on its own), and jumping right in.
F I N D I N G O U T
We tried, hoped and wished for Ava, for 12 long months. So knowing that making a baby was not as easy as I had once thought, we planned on having to wait a bit for the second one to grace us with his or her presence.
Well... we were wrong. It happened much more quickly this time around! Which was GREAT but also came as a bit of a surprise to both of us!
Because I'm impatient, I had purchased an early detection pregnancy test just to see. I took it in the morning, expecting the single line I had grown so accustomed to seeing the first time around. NOPE. Two lines appeared. TWO LINES!!!!! I literally stood there alone (Jordan was already at work), repeating two profound words, over and over again.
Holy. Shit.
I ran into Ava's room to share the news. 'YOU'RE GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER!' I said. She looked at me and smiled - ready to be taken out of bed; the word 'sister' being a brand new one, not often spoken around our house until now. Ava and I already had a fun Disneyland playdate planned with an old friend I hadn't seen in years, so we got ready for the day as my mind swirled with ideas of how to share the news with Jordan.
On the drive there, while racking my brain on how I could get my hands on a 'big sis' tee before the days end, it dawned on me.
The Mad Hatter! The hat shop on Main Street where you can get Mickey ears embroidered with anything you want. It was perfect, and so fitting, since this day that would change our lives forever was being spent at the Happiest Place on Earth.
I giddily picked out a classic black Mickey hat, anxiously awaiting the embroidery machine to finish the inscription, and then marveled at the sight of my little toddler sporting her brand new title: 'BIG SISTER' (cue the mom tears).
That night, I had Ava show Daddy her souvenir from Disneyland. He looked at the hat, puzzled, and read aloud, 'BIG SISTER?', in a tone that told me this was not computing in his head. And then in an instant, I saw it click. He switched his gaze to me, and I saw his expression turn from pure confusion to what can be most accurately described as, 'deer in the headlights'. 'BIG SISTER..!' he said again, finally realizing the meaning behind this felt and plastic souvenir.
He spent the rest of the night dramatically pacing around the house like a cartoon character, only to stop dead in his tracks every so often to shout, 'TWO?!?!?!?!?!'. This is very true-to-form and a part of the story I love because it is just SO Jordan. We were both shocked and thrilled and yes, slightly terrified at the prospect of being responsible for two crazy little humans.
T H E F U N B E G I N S
I'm going to spare you the unpleasant details and leave it at this: This was not an easy first trimester. Much more taxing than the first. I was much sicker, usually feeling nauseous for the entire day and getting pretty darn sick at night. It lasted for the first 14 weeks and there isn't a strong enough word to describe how happy I am that that portion of my pregnancy is over!
T H I N G S I L O V E
B U T T H E B A B Y H A T E S
Scented candles (this was torture through the holidays)
Anything acidic (pasta sauce, orange juice, lemonade)
Holiday decorations (yes this sounds crazy, but after about a week and a half of staring at all that green and gold, my holiday decorations made me nauseous and overwhelmed. I could not WAIT to take them down!)
Looking at my phone (my screen time must have decreased by at least 75% because scrolling through my phone gave me the worst motion sickness EVER)
Sweets. I usually LOVE sweets but they aren't my thing this pregnancy
C R A V I N G S
TACOS (grilled shrimp, fried fish and ground turkey are my favs)
Peanut butter on toast or an english muffin (so good and one of the only things that would settle my stomach in the beginning. I would often eat a slice right before bed to keep the nausea away)
Steamed dumplings (I dream about the ones at our local Thai place... the dipping sauce is SO good and the delivery guy knows me by name)
Chicken Shawarma Sandwiches
Pancakes (I feel like a great mom, making a hot batch of pancakes for Ava every Friday morning... but truth be told, they're really for me baby girl)
D O E S T H I S B A B Y M A K E
M Y B U T T L O O K B I G ?
I started showing SO early with this little babe. After Thanksgiving (8 weeks in), I had people commenting that I was already starting to show! No everyone, this is just the turkey + the carbs I've been eating to keep from tossing my cookies every night. But all joking aside, I really felt like I started to show around week 10 or so. I was CONVINCED I would be so much bigger this time around (which let me be clear, I love my pregnant body and will happily watch my waistline expand to accommodate the miracle that is our little baby), BUT when I did a side by side comparison of both pregnancies around week 12, I was surprised to see how similar my belly looked!
(Ava on the left, baby #2 on the right)
So that's it! I'm going to try and do a recap after each trimester so I can remember this special time in our lives.
