Baby Reed <3

Hi Balanced Beauties!

It has been a LONG time since my last blog post. After such a hiatus on social media platforms, family and friends began to reach out and one common question they all had was “are you pregnant?!” Well, in fact, yes I am, and VERY pregnant at that! SURPRISE! We are one third of the way through our greatest adventure yet. Baby Reed is on the way and I am due in early 2020. With that aside, I apologize for my absence and have a lot to catch you up on!

I am currently 14 weeks along in my first pregnancy. Hello Second Trimester, I’ve been so looking forward to you 🙂 We are so grateful for our little surprise on the way, however, it has felt like the first trimester went on for a lot longer than it actually was! In this blog post, I am going to cover how I found out we were pregnant, how we announced to my family, and my personal experience/symptoms during the first trimester.

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Christian and I recently celebrated our 1^st wedding anniversary by taking a long weekend trip out to California. Little did we know, our wedding anniversary weekend getaway was full of surprises (helicopter rides, whale tours, hot air balloon rides and..pregnancy!). This, by far, was the best anniversary gift we could have ever expected. Our anniversary became even more special than it already was. While in Napa, California, I began to feel like well, I got hit with a bus! We had the best day at a beautiful winery and as we left Napa to make the trek down to Monterey and the Big Sur, I started to feel extremely drained, tired and truly felt like I got hit in the face, lol. I knew something inside was off, but I figured it was just coming up on that time of the month. The real funny business happened when Christian and I took an early morning whale tour in the Big Sur. I felt so dizzy, nauseous and almost passed out on the boat, little did we know, these symptoms were not the Monterey Flu (as the locals prefer to call it). After a few hours out on the water and seeing some amazing humpback whales, dolphins and marine life, we docked back at shore. You couldn’t get me off that boat fast enough! My body was shaking like a leaf, and I knew right then and there that something was NOT normal. I thought to myself, maybe I am pregnant? At this point in our trip, I decided not to stop and test for a potential pregnancy. Fast forward 48 hours, we arrive back to our house from the airport at 3:00am. Ironically enough, my family snuck into our house and beautifully decorated it for our one year anniversary surprise. Of course upon walking in, I started to bawl my eyes out.

After taking some time to appreciate and experience our anniversary surprise, Christian hopped in bed and I took it upon myself to take a pregnancy test secretly in the bathroom. After a few minutes, there it was..a big, fat, POSITIVE TEST!!! I sat in the bathroom, emotions everywhere, shaking, and in complete shock. Every emotion humanly possible was coursing through my body in that very moment. I ran out of the bathroom, quickly put a bow on the positive test, placed it in our oven and told Christian that I had one more anniversary surprise for him. So, at 3:30 in the morning, Christian crawled out of bed (with his hands in his pants and with one eye open), gently opened our oven door to find the positive pregnancy test. Just as shocked as I was, the first words out of his mouth were; “NO WAY!!!!”. We both sat there in our kitchen in pure shock, knowing in that moment our lives were going to change forever, in the most amazing way possible.

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Ever since we started dating, we have always talked about how much we loved kids and had a strong desire to be parents one day! Looking back now, every single conversation we’ve ever had, came true in one magical moment that I will NEVER forget. What surprised us the most about this ecstatic news was that we found out I was pregant only a couple days after my missed period. My pregnancy symptoms started exactly at 5 weeks. These symptoms came on so strong that when I met with my doctors, they were questioning if I was pregnant with twins (woof!). From week 5-12, I threw up every single day, 3 to 4 times a day! Yes, actually throwing up, with no control whatsoever. Extreme nausea (in my case, throwing up) was a daily occurrence and no it was not only the morning (don’t believe those lies!).  The primary reason I was feeling so tired was because I was very dehydrated (not good) and lacking a lot of nutrients. Almost anything, including water, that I put in my body, would come right up! I am not going to lie, since this is my first pregnancy, I was SO nervous and SO anxious. Every time I had experienced these severe symptoms, I would only pray that my baby did not feel it (which they don’t) and hoped I was still providing it some nutrients (which they actually get before I would even get it). However, being a first time mama to be, these became extreme concerns for me. So much so, that I didn’t tell my own family that I was pregnant until almost 10 weeks. A big part of this decision was driven by the fact that I was so worried and SO beyond sick. These insane symptoms (as I’m sure most of you mama’s have experienced) are what drove me to be totally MIA from friends, family and social media. Some other typical symptoms that I have experienced are sore chest, acne, a lot of bloating and severe cramping in the beginning. After 8 weeks, I started to feel little flutters in my lower belly, and they haven’t stopped since – this, by far, is my favorite feeling ever! My hormones were intense, but if you experience any of this, know that it is actually HEALTHY and the nurses/docs are happy to hear that you’re so nauseous. My doctor told me that these symptoms help indicate that my hormone levels are doing what they are supposed to be doing, and that the baby is healthy. However, every single person and pregnancy is different, so always check/consult with your doctor about your symptoms.

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Photo Credit: Magdalena Studios

As I am currently in my 14th week, starting my second trimester, the throwing up is a lot less consistent than it was. (WAHOO!) Instead of vomiting 3-4x per day, now my best friend (the toilet bowl) and I will only meet once daily, or if I am super lucky, I will actually skip a day (which are the best days, ever!) The hormones are starting to level out and we are starting to tell more people about our pregnancy. A few of the reasons we waited so long to make it publicly known was because I wanted to enjoy the celebrations after my sickness started to taper. Secondly, I wanted to make sure that everything was safe with the baby, and the test results came back with all good signs. Lastly, Christian and I wanted to enjoy this time together, really enjoying every moment/experience the first time around!

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Find these wood signs at http://www.etsy.com

We announced to our families at 9 and 11 weeks with cute wooden signs and our sonogram photos. Go check out my story highlighted “Baby Reed” on instagram to see their cute reactions!

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Photo Credit: Magdalena Studios and Dress: Forever21

Now although this is such an exciting time in our lives, it is also a bit worrisome. Just like anything new, Christian and I have been putting this process and journey in Gods hands. Any mom who is trying to get pregnant, has been pregnant in the past, or is currently pregnant, there is so much that every single mom or mom-to-be worries about. For me, it is so uncontrollable! I want to give so much love to every single mama out there, because this journey is something that only we can relate to and it is not an easy one! Although we are only 14 weeks in, the first trimester was a tough one for me personally being so sick on top of hoping the baby was safe/healthy. Knowing this makes me appreciate and admire women and what we are capable of doing! You all are warriors and I am so proud to join this special club.

I hope I answered some questions and stay tuned for our gender reveal next week!!!!

Happy weekend & stay balanced!

Love always,

Sammie